Australian Prime Minister visits Disadvantaged Youth

 DISADVANTAGED young men from City Mission PNG’s Life Skills Training Centre Farm in Mirigeda, were pleased to host the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott during his visit to Port Moresby on March 22, 2014.

The City Mission PNG’s Life Skills Training Centre is home to over 100 disadvantaged young men between the ages of 16 and 23. Here, they receive agricultural, vocational and life skills training.

Mr Abbott observed the Centre’s literacy classes and participated in some football while he was there. The Prime Minister also visited a new dormitory at the Centre, which was funded by the Australian Government and officially opened on March 11, 2014.

Built at a cost of K66,680 the infrastructure project formed part of an Australian Government grant of K1,042,500 towards City Mission’s programs in Port Moresby and Lae.

Made available through a key partner arrangement with the Australian Government’s Strongim Pipol Strongim Nesen program, the grant will also be used to upgrade City Mission’s facilities in Port Moresby and Lae.

The dormitory will boost City Mission PNG’s efforts towards promoting youth development and addressing the challenges of urban poverty, law and order. City Mission PNG provides young men with the opportunity to gain skills and develop new attitudes and approaches towards gaining employment.

Under-skilled and illiterate youths take part in training and life skills development at the Centre with the objective to become capable of earning an income and becoming part of an educated society.

The young men at the Centre are provided with basic training in life skills, literacy, carpentry, bricklaying, tiling and other vocational skills. They are then encouraged and supported to take up job placements within the private sector.