Papua New Guinea / Bougainville
In 1963, a secondary missionary endeavour saw five Sisters of Charity travel to Papua New Guinea where, in the village of Bundi they opened and ran a boarding school for children of the highlands area. This PNG ministry was later broadened to include inspection of primary schools, secondary education at Madang, tertiary education at the Teachers' College at Rabaul, and involvement in the Melanesian Institute for Pastoral and Socio-economic Services.
In 1989 during the time when the nursing sisters were working in Bougainville, another Sister of Charity joined the staff of St Mary's High School in Asitivi, a Catholic secondary boarding school. Even at this early stage, rebel Bougainvillians were intent on sabotaging the huge copper mine at Paguna. During her time there her roles ranged from teacher and infirmarian to motor mechanic. After she left in 1989 the members of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army ransacked many schools and religious houses and the religious teachers were forced to escape.
In 1990 the work of one of our Sisters in the health centre at Tunuru, Bougainville, was cut short when nine expatriate Sisters were forced to evacuate to Australia. The Sisters saw this as a tragedy for the people. They had been trying to steer a middle course between the militants and the members of the occupying military, giving both factions health care as far as they could. The clinic was left in the care of indigenous health workers - wonderful people who nevertheless were very frightened and who knew their resources of money and medical supplies would soon be exhausted.
From 1990 to 1992, three Sisters worked in the Diocese of Vanimo. Their work comprised Religious Education in the schools, Justice and Peace sessions, retreats for teachers and mission personnel, setting up medical centres, instructing the villagers in hygiene, nutrition and ways of repelling the dreaded mosquitoes. They were also involved in office work as Diocesan Secretary and project coordinators of various health and education initiatives.