PAPUA NEW GUINEA Building a better life in rural areas

'Often I don’t sleep at night as I dream of new things, new possibilities’, says Mariana when asked about the future of her children. Four years after the Backyard Fish Farm Project began in Papua New Guinea’s Eastern Highlands Province, Mariana’s family is one of many which now has a sustainable livelihood, a first in this rural area traditionally plagued by unemployment and poverty.

The Backyard Fish Farm is a co-operative of 200 members that dedicate two days each week to work on the 30 large fish ponds on the communal farm. Once fully grown, most fish are sold at local markets. Most of the profits are distributed amongst the members while a smaller portion is used to manage and expand the farm. CARE partnered with the farm in May 2008 and is working with the members to build the farm’s capacity and address other community needs with new equipment, training and with the help of experienced CARE staff.

For Mariana, the fish farm has provided her with hope for a better future. Her family now has a sustainable income source in place of the meagre and unreliable income once earned during the three month coffee season. This means her husband doesn’t have to leave the family in search of work in the distant city, another cause for her happiness.

Mariana can now afford to send her eldest son to school; ’When Kende, my son first sold some fish and made some money, he used it to pay for his school fees, school books and some clothes. Before this, poverty was really bad and I was worried about how I would ever be able to afford to send him to school. I never thought a fish farm could change my family’s life like this’.

With a range of new initiatives addressing community priorities including education, nutrition and adult literacy, Mariana was recently selected as one of the co-operative’s female leaders. Her role is to facilitate the women’s involvement in these projects. ‘I advise the women and bring them information and new skills that I learn at the meetings and training run by CARE. I also teach them how to do new things like construction work which is not something that women have traditionally done before,’ she says proudly.

Another highlight will be a women’s resource centre where local women can go to develop new skills and improve their lives. The centre will have a small bakery where they can learn how to enrich the nutritional value of their cooking and can even attend adult literacy classes. It will have a nursery where fruit and vegetables can be grown and taken with the fish to be sold at the markets. Using new equipment funded by CARE, they will also start making fish food to help reduce the co-operative’s running costs. What is creating much anticipation for many of the women is the introduction of sewing machines and training; for the first time they will be able to make and mend clothes for their families.

Since the farm was started with just 30 fish, it is has created a powerful movement of change for these isolated Papua New Guineans. It’s hardly surprising that Mariana lies awake some nights thinking about a life she never dreamed would be possible.

‘Before CARE came here, we didn’t have many opportunities. But now we have lots of new developments which will assist all of our families. I now have a vision of a better future. I dream of my community changing – from children to parents – using the skills we are learning and the materials we now have. Everyone is working together in harmony so we have a better future. I look forward to being able to provide for my other young children. I believe this project will help our village in building a better life.’