Working in The Province of Papua New Guinea

Mothers' Union was first established in Papua New Guinea in 1949, and has branches in all five dioceses. 85% of the population live in rural areas, and as three quarters of the island is covered with dense tropical rainforests, with few roads, travel has always been extremely difficult. This perhaps has contributed to the development of almost 800 individual local languages, some spoken by only a few people. Now English, Pidgin and Motu are the main languages spoken.

Mothers' Union in Papua New Guinea is lively and active. It has over 20,000 members in the five dioceses of Aipo Rongo, Dogura, Popondota, Port Moresby and New Guinea Islands. Mothers' Union is involved in a wide variety of activities there, including hospital visits and community outreach, raising awareness of HIV/AIDS, and organising trainings on communication and gender issues. Mothers' Union is also involved in running projects throughout the Province, such as fishing, baking, sewing, embroidery and other handicrafts. It intends to expand income-generating projects to enable members to sustain activities in their own dioceses.