World Radio Day!

Happy World Radio Day, Papua New Guinea! 

Today, on World Radio Day, we recognise the power of radio to inform, educate and change lives. It’s a powerful medium that connects people and communities – none more important than the remote regions highlands of PNG where our Sr Maryanne Kolkia (pictured) has been broadcasting nightly sessions for as a long as 14 years with an estimated reach of 500,000 listeners.

In 2021, the studio Sr Maryanne broadcast from in Simbu burnt down due to an electrical fault. She began recording information on USBs to distribute to community leaders and travelling with a loudspeaker to disseminate information across the highlands.

We are thrilled to share that BRAND NEW radio equipment so generously donated by the Noel and Carmel O’Brien Family Foundation in Australia, has arrived and has been installed in the MW office in Mengende PNG and is now operational. 

Our Mercy Works Radio programs have now resumed broadcasting this month  across the Highlands to over 500,000 people. Pictured here is Sr Maryanne interviewing Mercy Works PNG team staff member, Gabriella Kawage.

Our radio service plays a vital role in raising awareness and disseminating current and correct COVID-19 information, and on a range of other critical educative, health and social issues which impact communities.

Our daily radio program broadcasts across the remote Simbu province in Papua New Guinea, to raise community awareness on the many different topics impacting the lives of local people – from campaigns to end gender-based violence, to people’s civic responsibilities to participate in voting, to COVID awareness, information about many Mercy Works training opportunities and SME activities, and the sharing peoples’ stories of success in these endeavours. 

Programs planned for this year include topics such as awareness raising of women’s issues, the rights of the child (International Year of the Child), organic farming skills, UN Sustainable Development Goals, and climate change and global warming. They will also be promoting powerful local stories of change from the people who benefit from MW programs.

Radio is such an essential source of information, especially in rural areas. We are grateful to all the radio stations and journalists who keep us informed and connected! Thank you Noel and Carmel O’Brien Family Foundation for your generosity in making this happen! Your support over the years has seen thousands of remote and vulnerable communities in the provinces of Goroka, Mt Hagen and Simbu benefit through increased access to training, education, healthcare and awareness of local and global issues which impact their wellbeing and future quality of life.