BAUKA SCHOOL PROJECT
Aiyura Valley, Obura-Wonenara District
Eastern Highlands Province
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
The Bauka International Christian Light Academy School (Bauka ICLA) project provides a double elementary school classroom, water tank and sanitary facilities on the edge of the Bauka Plantation which is in the Obura-Wonenara District, in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea... about two hours east of Goroka in the Aiyura Valley. In terms of education, the district was listed in an Australian National University research paper as number one, on a list of the top ten least developed districts in all of PNG. The project provides a much needed expansion of the school.
The school’s location is in the heart of a coffee producing community and will support the education of children whose families are involved in the growing of coffee - small-holders/subsistence farmers and plantation workers.
An Early Learning Centre was established in 2015 as a home school for the children on the farm (Bauka Micro Farm) of Marey and Jon Yogiyo. The school was subsequently expanded in 2016 by the Bauka Women in Coffee Association (BWiC) as a community service and was accommodated in a room under a residence for upper grades, with lower grades using a church building. The first intake was 33 students aged between four and eight years old, Kindergarten to Year 3. At that point the school needed to run some classes outdoors to make space for other classes.
In 2017 with the assistance of donations arranged by a district parliamentary member, a new semi-permanent classroom was built, which was completed in July and enrolments increased to 40.
In 2018, enrolments increased again to 52 and now, in association with the Tom Aynsley Foundation, a new double classroom has been constructed by a generous partner/donor on the ground in PNG. This will support an enrolment increase to 100 students in the 2019 year.
The Bauka ICLA project comes at a total cost of K190,000 (approximately A$80,000) and is a double classroom building with teachers’ office space in between. Also included are solar lighting, student and teacher desks and chairs, blackboards and whiteboards, 9,000L water tank, two ventilation improved pit toilets and a ramp providing access for students with disabilities.
On the 15th of January teachers, students and community members gathered at the Bauka Farm for the official inauguration of the school’s new double classroom project.
Jon Yogiyo expressed deep gratitude “for this new gift which is for our children. These children will be educated in this quality classroom to learn, grow, prosper and contribute to the development of Papua New Guinea,”
Mike and Belinda Aynsley, who established Tom’s Foundation following his passing, attended to formally hand over the project to the School and to dedicate the classroom to the memory of Tom.
Mike spoke to the community about Tom and the background to the establishment of the Foundation, and the hope of the Foundation to continue to actively support the District’s coffee producing community:
“In his short life, Tom packed in a lot. He finished high school in Sydney and proceeded on to university where he completed Bachelors degrees in Business Administration and Arts.
While Tom studied, he also worked part time to earn money so he could take some time travelling following University. It was during his travels of 2 years that he decided to devote his career to the coffee industry. He spent many days, that led to weeks and month educating himself about coffee and the industry generally.
Tom had a great interest in building a career based on learning about coffee and the industry from the ground up. He particularly liked the atmosphere that surrounds coffee believing that ‘it generates a lot of positive energy’. He became interested in the communities that produce coffee and believed that these communities should be ethical and preferably produce organic coffee. He began his career in coffee with the view that he needed to learn about the industry from the ground up and wanted to pursue an entrepreneurial path... sourcing, roasting and distributing coffee beans. Although Tom had thought about and embarked on his path, he was only a few weeks into it when he passed on.
It is for this reason that we decided to focus his legacy around his interest in the coffee industry and to establish a charitable foundation that can help the industry develop... starting with those that grow the coffee beans.
Tom’s Foundation is focused on helping coffee producing communities, through grants and projects that will support people and their communities.
We are delighted to work with such a generous partner who has kindly donated its management time and substantial funding to make this very important school project possible.
It is our hope that this project is the first step in developing a long-term relationship between Tom’s Foundation, the Bauka ICLA and the community that the Bauka ICLA serves.
We hope that we will have the opportunity to provide further support, not only to this school, but also to other important community needs in the future.”
With the unveiling of a memorial plaque, Belinda delivered the dedication to Tom:
“As Michael has told you, Tom passed away peacefully and unexpectedly, one month prior to his 25th birthday on 16th March 2017. He was a thoughtful and kind person, who valued honesty, integrity and ethical commitment in all parts of his life.
Tom was a person who was humble and avoided the ‘lime light’ but he would be incredibly proud and approving of this project that we hope will do much to support the development of the children in this community.
Through the Tom Aynsley Foundation, Michael and I, along with Tom’s partner Lizzie, and his siblings, Rob, Chris and Emma and their partners, are honoured to present this dedication plaque to Bauka ICLA.
It is our sincerest hope that the young students who attend here will learn honesty, integrity and fairness, and carry these values with them throughout their lives.”
The longer-term plan is to develop the school up to grade/level 12 by 2026 and Tom’s Foundation is keen to work with both the school and the community as they move forward.
The following selection of photographs show the development of the Bauka ICLA School as it has evolved from a small Early Learning Centre into a substantial facility serving the needs of over 100 students in 2019.
BAUKA MICRO FARM & THE WOMEN IN COFFEE
The Bauka Micro Farm is situated in the green rolling hills of the Aiyura Valley backed by beautiful mountains, 1,200 to 1,800 meters above sea level, in the Obura-Wonenara District of the Eastern Highlands Province of PNG.
The surrounding mountains are covered with tropical rainforest. It is home to more than 114 species of birds identified so far, out of 842 different types of birds found in Papua New Guinea. Of the 42 species of Birds of Paradise, 4 have been identified on the ridges around Aiyura.
Up to 50 different birds are frequent visitors to the shade trees, coffee gardens and the secondary forest along the waterways. This is a perfect environment for an environmentally friendly coffee farm.
Coffee production is the backbone of the rural economy in the Highlands and, across the nation, about one-third of PNG’s people depend on coffee production for cash. Coffee was introduced into the Highlands in the 1930s and incorporated into the subsistence farming efforts of the farming community.
Jon and Marey Yogiyo purchased the land that is the Bauka Micro Farm in 1985 and for the past 33 years they have focused almost exclusively on the farming of coffee. Jon has pursued the evolution of their coffee growing activities to a commercially viable and sustainable business and is keen to work with and help the local growers to improve their productivity and to also move towards longer term sustainability of the District’s coffee production.
In 2000, Marey established the Bauka Women in Coffee (BWiC) initiative, founding the Bauka Blue Koffii, to encourage women in the District to make coffee a way of life to support themselves and their families. Marey recognised that the women spend a lot of time making and producing quality coffee, however, when everything was done, the men take the coffee to the markets and get all the money. The BWiC group decided to do it themselves so they could better support their families, paying school fees and attending to health requirements.
As the Yogiyo’s plantation and involvement in the community grew, they saw the need to provide an education service to their staffs’ children. The children were walking up to 2 hours just to get to the nearest school. Jon and Marey allocated land on the edge of the farm for a school and in 2015 opened an early learning centre. This has now grown into a school that in 2019 will serve around 100 students from the surrounding coffee producing community.
The successful farm that Jon and Marey have built is a wonderful example of how the subsistence farming efforts of coffee producers in PNG can evolve to sustainable businesses.
Please consider making a donation to Tom's Foundation. 100% of all donations received in our account will go to Tom's Foundation which was established to provide coffee producing communities with much needed support in day-to-day areas of life as they move towards longer term sustainability.
Tom's Foundation is registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission ABN 65 624 241 505.
