Sunday 10 November 2013

Mambulaoan secures funds for orphanage in PNG

Photo shows from left: Ivan Lu, executive director of RH Group PNG; Penny Sage-embo, Tembari founder; Malaysian High Commissioner Jilid Kuminding, Chew Pang Heng, MAPNG vice-president; and Hayward Sagembo, Tembari president. The picture was taken at the Temberi center. – Photo courtesy of JENNIFER NKUI/TheNational



A MAMBULAOAN based in Papua New Guinea has secured a new funding for an orphanage/day care centre operating just outside of the capital city Port Moresby.

Alfredo P Hernandez, a journalist working with daily The National, recently obtained a K40,000 (Php620,000) funding for the Tembari Children’s Care (TCC) Inc from the Malaysian community, through the Malaysian Association of PNG (MAPNG).

Hernandez is the vice-president and financial controller of Tembari, a community-based organization (CBO) operating at a settlement outside of the city.

This was the third year that Hernandez obtained funds for the Tembari children from the Malaysian expatriates.

MAPNG in October decided to cancel a cash grant for this year and instead give only foodstuff and other materials the facility would need after it learned that the grant of K15,000 (Php232,000) it gave in 2011 was “misused” by the Papua New Guinean officers.

The anomaly only surfaced in an audit of the 2011 funds made late last year by a volunteer auditor from Deloitte PNG, an international accounting and auditing group.

Hernandez, who was then working as a volunteer, was requested by the MAPNG to look after the funds it donated last year, an amount of K40,000.

With this, Tembari was prompted to appoint him as vice-president and financial controller to continue receiving the grant.

Advised recently by MAPNG of its decision to scrap a cash grant to Tembari this year owing to the misuse of funds donated in 2011, Hernandez wrote to the association a few days ago, explaining that Tembari’s operations would be crippled should it stop funding the facility.

He assured the MAPNG charity committee that since he took over the handling of the K40,000 grant given last year, and which was deposited with Westpac PNG, the cash flow has been closely monitored and all spending properly recorded, backed with supporting documents that included check vouchers, petty cash vouchers and other cash flow monitoring forms that included staff payroll.

He also took over the check-signing authority with another Tembari officer and a British expatriate-volunteer.

Hernandez told the MAPNG that these were the checks he installed to see to it that there was transparency in the use of the money.

The MAPNG, in its recent charity committee meeting, reconsidered and subsequently turned over a check for K40,000.

Tembari looks after 200 abandoned, neglected and orphaned children from the ATS Oro settlement.

The facility provides them with early education (pre-school) as well as elementary and primary education aside from feeding them from Monday to Saturday.

It employs three teachers, an administrator and three cooks.

Tembari, which was founded in 2003, also gets funding assistance from companies and private organizations and foundations.

The Malaysian association is the biggest donor to charity in PNG.

Hernandez, who joined Tembari as expatriate volunteer in early 2010, has been seeking donors of food, funds and materials to meet the daily needs of the children.

To know more about the Tembari children, please visit www.tembari.blogspot.com.


For comment, email ahernandez@thenational.com.pg  and alfredophernandez@y7mail.com







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