Help save a life with our Chicken and Egg June Tax Appeal
Thousands across the remote region of Maucatar in Timor-Leste face extreme hunger and malnutrition
Timor-Leste remains one of the world’s poorest countries. Maucatar is a remote mountainous area where there is chronic malnutrition, high mortality rates, especially high maternal and baby death rates (38.1 of every 1,000 births under the age of five). These communities have little or no access to clean water, sanitation, roads, education or infrastructure.
For the 13,240 people who live across 22 villages here, there are no homes with running water, bathroom or toilet facilities and most villages do not have electricity. Families here live off what they can grow and find in the forest.
It is here Mercy Works partners with the inspiring Hospitaller Sisters of Mercy to provide a maternity clinic to care for, to educate and to conduct outreach work in remote villages.
These Sisters SAVE LIVES and have developed a project to improve the nutritional status of mothers and young children by providing extra protein through the distribution of eggs and egg-laying hens in the area.
Our latest Cocoa Cash Crop initiative, in Iowara, located in the North Fly district of Western Province in Papua New Guinea, began as a tiny bud of an idea by our Mercy Works Project Coordinator in Kiunga, Steven Dude.
With cocoa bean production in PNG reaching 35,000 tonnes in 2021- and it being one of only 23 countries recognised by the International Cocoa Organization for its fine flavour, Steven is promoting cocoa as an alternative cash crop to support families.
is generating much excitement.“People are full of joy when the MW Kiunga team is in their villages…. They feel our presence brings hope and satisfaction,” Steven says via zoom from Kiunga.
His goal is to see 800 cocoa farmers in Iowara, each with between 300-500 cocoa trees on a two to three hectare cocoa plantation, within a few years. So far they have introduced 18 varieties of cocoa buds, created from a clone seed in a mini-nursery, which will be planted every Tuesday and Friday. The buds are ready to be distributed for cultivation, with Steven anticipating 10,000 root stock will be planted.
The aim is to create a whole new economy for the impoverished area which faces many challenges including climate change, geographic limitations and difficulties accessing markets. You can read more HERE
Our Christmas Appeal
This year Mercy Works is hoping to raise money and support our new project in Cebu city in the Philippines.
YOU can give Hope this Christmas and HELPend human trafficking in the Philippines by giving young women a voice to be heard. DONATE HERE or learn more about our latest project HERE
We Are A Team
We are a team, standing up and saying “No” to racism.
Upholding human dignity and promoting equality for every race and people remains our social responsibility.
Our mission to improve the quality of life of thousands of the vulnerable people is a privilege and an opportunity given to us by God, the creator of humankind.
Therefore, as a development partner with Indigenous engagement, all participation is based on mutual respect, trust and understanding.
Maryanne Kolkia RSM, Mercy Works Ltd PNG, In-Country Coordinator
Walking with our First Nations People
Mercy Works Ltd is committed to walking with our First Nations people in the journey of reconciliation. We accept and honour the Uluru Statement from the Heart and support an Indigenous voice to parliament and constitutional recognition. We especially acknowledge the tireless and important work of First Nations women across Australia.
Concern for the people of Papua New Guinea with growing COVID Crisis
Mercy Works Ltd is a member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID). Mercy Works have PNG national staff in our offices in Kiunga, Wewak, Goroka, Mt Hagen and with new work beginning in the Province of Simbu. Therefore, we are most concerned for the health and wellbeing of all our staff and the local people of PNG.
Mercy Works has been deeply committed to working alongside the people of Papua New Guinea for the past decade and the developing COVID crisis is extremely concerning.
We ask you to add your voice to urge our Australian government to be generous in responding to this complex and growing crisis on the doorstep of our nearest neighbour Papua New Guinea.
One of our key values here at Mercy Works is to build capacity, opportunity and self-reliance of all our staff and the communities we serve.
In this issue we show you some heart-warming progress of this happening in the remote and disadvantaged rural Iowara community in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. Here ourMercy Works Kiunga Project Coordinator, Steven Dude, shares our latest Cocoa Cash Crop Initiative which is transforming lives by creating a new economy.
His plans to plant 10,000 cocoa buds – and a goal to see 800 cocoa farmers in Iowara – is bringing hope to the impoverished community and generating much excitement.
However, transport remains a major issue here, with it taking up to two days on foot to the main town of Kiunga, where access to the port and markets is, from Iowara. Mercy Works is hoping to find a generous donor who may be able to donate a vehicle to Mercy Works and transport hope for the people of Iowara.
Meanwhile, our Mercy Connect Program, supporting refugees and asylum seeker students with in-school mentoring, is finally up and running in schools and our team of volunteers couldn’t be more enthusiastic!
In this edition we also share the wonderful story of Peace Aziawor, a former Mercy Connectstudent in Ballarat, who arrived as a shy Year 8 student from West Africa over a decade ago. Peace has just completed the Rotary Youth Leadership Award Program and has an amazing future ahead of her. We couldn’t be more proud and neither could her Mercy Connect mentor, Margaret Adams, who she still sees regularly.
It feels like we are writing to you from a very different world this month. Finding ourselves in the midst of yet another extended lockdown in Sydney and some other parts of Australia is far from where we expected to be at this point of the year when it started. But if we have learnt anything from this global pandemic, it’s that life is even more unpredictable, uncertain and fragile than we knew. We hope you are all keeping well and safe in these days!
In this month’s Mini Bilum, we focus on ‘Connections’. Our phones and other digital devices have quickly become our connection to the rest of world. While the digital world has become a lifeline for community groups, organisations and businesses, it’s the individual connection that has become a beacon of light for our Mercy Connect Program. In this edition, you’ll read about how a group of school students with very different life journeys forged a connection through photo taking and how we are still making connections with schools.
Your support of Mercy Works enables disadvantaged and displaced people to transform their communities through development projects in Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, the Philippines and Australia. Thank you for making that possible.
We have officially crossed the halfway mark for the year and it truly feels as if time has sped past us at a record-breaking pace. You don’t often notice growth or change until its already happened, when it’s obvious. This is what the last six months look like for Mercy Works, little things have created the biggest of changes.
In this month’s Mini Bilum, we focus on ‘Growth’ both here in Australia and overseas. We have grown our support for Indigenous communities in Australia with five new partnerships. We have also added the Philippines to our Asia Pacific outreach. We are now partnering with two new projects which support vulnerable young women and girls who have experienced human trafficking. Growth comes in many different forms and for one Mercy Connect volunteer this came in the form of new understanding as they reflect on their years of teaching.
Your response to our PNG COVID Appeal was beyond what we had expected, your generosity is invaluable, and we can’t thank you enough for your support. The difference you’ve made in the lives of the people in vulnerable communities in Papua New Guinea cannot be underestimated.
Your support of Mercy Works enables disadvantaged and displaced people to transform their communities through development projects in Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, the Philippines and Australia. Thank you for making that possible.
It has been more than a year since we were put into a national lockdown due to COVID-19 with no idea about how long enforced restrictions would guide our lives. This time has shown us just how resilient we are. Building on what we have learnt over the past 12 months, we remain focused on ensuring that all our Mercy Works programs and projects are operating with safety as the priority.
In this month’s Mini Bilum, we focus on ‘Resilience’ in two of our domestic programs. The first six months after lockdown have been challenging but the resilience present within the Mums & Bubs group at Baabayn Aboriginal Corporation in Sydney has helped them become a tight knit group. Before the end of 2020, a Pilates studio in Brighton, Victoria came together and generously donated culinary delights to our Mercy Connect Adult Literacy Class asylum seekers and refugees at the Dandenong Library.
Currently we are also very mindful of our nearest neighbours in Papua New Guinea as we hear reports of a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. Our partners in Timor-Leste also need our ongoing support as they endure serious flooding on top of COVID-19 outbreaks.
Your support of Mercy Works enables disadvantaged and displaced people and communities who are our beneficiaries to receive the development assistance they need. Thank you for making that possible.
Concern for the people of Papua New Guinea with growing COVID Crisis
Mercy Works Ltd is a member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID). Mercy Works have PNG national staff in our offices in Kiunga, Wewak, Goroka, Mt Hagen and with new work beginning in the Province of Simbu. Therefore, we are most concerned for the health and wellbeing of all our staff and the local people of PNG.
Mercy Works has been deeply committed to working alongside the people of Papua New Guinea for the past decade and the developing COVID crisis is extremely concerning.
We ask you to add your voice to urge our Australian government to be generous in responding to this complex and growing crisis on the doorstep of our nearest neighbour Papua New Guinea.
Easter: Living with Radical Optimism and Active Hope
I believe that ‘Radical Optimism’ and ‘Active Hope’ … gives us the faith and courage to face the difficult realities that are being unveiled in our times.
from Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation – Telling a new story, 15 January 2021
At Mercy Works, in very tangible ways I have come to know that such ‘radical optimism’ does lead to ‘active hope’, a reflection of Mercy In Action, a reflection of Easter.
Such ‘radical optimism’ goes much deeper than merely having a positive attitude to life. At Mercy Works we approach each local community that we work alongside from a strength-based approach. For example, as we begin to build relationships of trust and respect, we ask the local people – How can we work together? What is positive about this community that you would like to build on with support from Mercy Works?
As I reflect back on my own life journey, I realise I was once a ‘glass half empty’ person. More recently I know I have become a ‘glass half full’ person. I attribute this to the Grace of God, a very deep Presence working in my own life, who touches and heals the core of who I am. Such Presence is the root of our reality. Such Presence is at the heart of the good news of the Gospel. Such Presence is at the centre of the Easter story.
Let me share with you three of our current Mercy Works stories which are underpinned by ‘radical optimism’ and are evidence of ‘active hope’. With each story I will offer some inspirational words from the Letters of Catherine McAuley (Founder of the Sisters of Mercy). Words I believe she would say to us today.
In Port Augusta, South Australia, last year Mercy Works began a new pilot project called “Prospering After Prison”. We have partnered with Centacare and the Catholic Diocese of Port Pirie. This project provides casework to support aboriginal women through developing relationships of trust as they transition from prison life and reconnect with family and country. We hear stories of pain, grief and loss from the women. Yet we also gradually see signs of the healing of trauma and a growing resilience in the women’s lives.
In response I believe Catherine McAuley would say “The tender Mercy of God has given us one another”.
As we wind down our work among the people of Goroka and Mt. Hagen in Papua New Guinea after 15 years, we are very grateful for all that has been achieved in these communities. We are also very excited about our new work in the province of Simbu. We are currently laying the foundations at all levels of the community for our new work in Simbu in life and skills training for income generation.
Our work in Papua New Guinea always brings life to Catherine McAuley’s words “The poor need help today not next week”.
As we begin our new work in the district of Baucau in Timor Leste we are delighted to form a partnership with the Australian Marist Solidarity. Our two projects there are with Uai Lili, a computer and English language centre, and with a local NGO Katilosa who offers outreach to children and adults living with a disability.
I believe Catherine McAuley would value deeply the courage and competence of the local Timorese people who facilitate these projects saying, “We must strive to do ordinary things extraordinarily well”.
During this Easter season, let’s all consciously live our lives with such radical optimism! In doing this our world becomes alive with active hope which is surely needed in the “difficult realities that are being unveiled in our times.”
Welcome to the first edition of the Mini Bilum for 2021!
Hope and optimism are always at the forefront of our minds as we begin each new year, this year is no different. With 2020’s challenges still present we are still facing increasing uncertainty in our daily lives. Our Mercy Mission is still as important as ever in the face of a global pandemic that continues to wreak havoc on our global community. What we have learnt in the past year has only helped Mercy Works to ensure that we keep the safety of those we support through our programs and projects our top priority.
In this month’s Mini Bilum, we focus on ‘Different Experiences’, showing you how we have kept our connections alive in the Mercy Connect program and how our invaluable volunteers have paved the way for programs to continue after they have moved on.
Your support of Mercy Works enables disadvantaged and displaced people and communities who are our beneficiaries to receive the development assistance they need. Thank you for making that possible.
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