Completion of Torokina church and community space...

Torokina is a district that is located on the West Coast of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. While Torokina might be considered small, it is important for people in central Bougainville to access services. Interestingly it also has had a very interesting history including being a major military base in WW2, and more recently in the civil war – it was also the location of the first ever State of Origin in 1945 between NSW and QLD!

The west coast of Bougainville is largely not accessible by road, which means that services, aid stations, schools are scarce and travel is very expensive and largely done by boat (or helicopter) or by foot.

Bougainville was the centre of a 10 year civil crisis and upheaval in the 90s, 10% of the community were killed and a lot of services were destroyed while there was a battle to take control of the mineral rich mine, at the time the largest open cut mine in the southern hemisphere. Torokina is located close to the mine, and was severely impacted by the crisis (as were all communities across Bougainville). An impact that is still felt throughout the communities today – while development has been positive and the people of Bougainville are working towards independence, there is still a long way to go.

More recently, the small community has been raising money to rebuild a number of their meeting and spiritual places. For more than 10 years, this community has been working hard to raise money to rebuild their church – which is central to community life. In Bougainville, churches are not simply places of worship, they are where community and its leaders meet regularly through the week, after the service on Sunday the community will hold important meetings, awareness’s and education. The church is central to communication, support to the wider area and is often where the women come to sell their goods to raise money for school fees, clothes and other things. It is also where the sick come to be treated when they have no other options and transport is hard to find.

In 2017, the church started to be rebuilt as the old one was deteriorating quickly. The community has raised all the funds for their church to date, the build has been slow but steady over the past 5 years – with limited funds and an increase in the cost of materials and transport and the ongoing impact of the pandemic. The project has now come to a point where the need critical funds to finish the church – which is incomplete and already being used.

This is where we need your help! I am helping to coordinate a fundraising from Australia to support the communities in central Bougainville – I have lived and worked in Bougainville and visited many times, and I understand the importance of these central community meeting places. The church is more than a place of worship, it is the heartbeat of the community, it is where meetings are held, community decisions are made, challenges are discussed. It is of course a place of worship and spiritual importance for the community, the schools in the area and for the leadership, and it is critical to a healthy community to have a neutral place where groups can meet safely to discuss and manage the issues, planning for the future and support to those in need.

The people of Torokina and Bougainville have worked hard raising funds to ensure their community is well serviced, and they need our help. They appreciate any donation you might be able to give, or if you have items such as books to donate (no clothes, no toys, no garbage), please message me.

All funds come to me and are then transferred by international transfer to the project directly - every cent raised is transferred to contribute to the building.

Thank you!
Bec – on behalf of Fr Louis Lobosi and the Torokina community.