Rural missionaries need government support

While Papua New Guinea is gearing up to celebrate its 50 years of Independence, many rural areas are in dire need of basic government services such as roads and bridges.

One such forgotten place is Batri Valley in the rural Erave area of the Southern Highlands Province.

The Batri Valley is home to more than 3000 people with more than 10 churches and a primary school.

The road condition is really bad with makeshift bridges built over 5 rivers which also possess great threats to car accidents. This is due to continuous government ignorance which is only causing more problems for the people.

Bruce Collingwood, the son of a New Zealand missionary with the Evangelical Church of PNG [ECPNG], recently shared his thoughts during a visit. He said the government should focus on improving roads and bridges in rural areas to support mission work, especially following the recent declaration of Papua New Guinea as a Christian country.

He adds that such important infrastructure should be made accessible to the people so that they can be able to travel to the churches and local communities.

Batri remains one of the most isolated and unreached places in the country which is also denied of other basic services like health and education.