The Welcoming

The first afternoon with our entire team here was a buzz of activity. We had a team meeting in which Russell (our Project Coordinator) gave an outline and welcome to the whole team, formalities, housekeeping and finally gave each department a chance to have a mini meeting. For example, all the cardiac ICU staff got to talk about their roles, rosters and any specific details relevant to their group. During the group meeting we were presented with our official Open Heart International hats and t-shirts that made the group look rather smart and stylish!

The meeting was followed with an official welcome party at the Yacht Club. There were dignitaries, yacht club members and team sponsors present. Associates and members of the local OHI Papua New Guinea community made a number of speeches.

Speakers included: the commodore of the Yacht Club Megan Taureka, the PNG Minister for Sports and Pacific Games Justin Tkcencko, our very own Russell Lee and Cathy Johnson who is the deputy chairman of the local PNG OHI community. Cathy’s speech moved more than one audience member to tears, including my roommate Laura George. The most memorable and humbling moment of the night for our team was when the Royal Papua Yacht Club presented OHI with a cheque for 29000 Kina. This had been raised over the past year from members of the Yacht Club. It really is kind acts like this that makes it possible for OHI to operate.

The funds raised by the local PNG community stays in PNG. These funds help the local team become self sufficient in the future, they don’t support the cost of the Australian team visiting. The local community is really supportive of the project, and its great to see.