In May, Motivation Australia’s Katrina McGrath spent some time in Papua New Guinea with the National Orthotic Prosthetic Services (NOPS). During this in country visit Katrina followed up on a number of project activities and provided mentoring and continuing professional development.
Motivation Australia was pleased to see the positive impact of effective service provision for people who use wheelchairs during follow up visits around Port Moresby. Katrina, accompanied by Almah, Alfred, Mike, and Sammy visited three people who had received wheelchairs following our refresher training last year. Katrina enjoyed seeing more of Port Moresby, working with a great team and meeting some fantastic people.
All three of the people visited have experienced positive benefits from their wheelchairs. Peterson’s wheelchair allows him to go to University where he is studying law. Idau’s wheelchair allows her to attend physiotherapy which is helping her recover function after a stroke and Samuel’s wheelchair allows him independence and to spend time with his friends.
Peterson says, “My wheelchair helps me to achieve my academic purpose.”
Peterson is in his third year of law school, with a focus on international and human rights law. An appropriate, well fitted wheelchair is crucial for Peterson to realise his academic ambitions. Peterson is working hard so that he can improve access and rights for all people with a disability and he hopes to soon start an organisation for other students at the University with a disability.
NOPS Port Moresby continues to work hard and provide an outstanding service to the people in their community. While they are significantly under resourced, they continue to put the needs of the users of their service first. Motivation Australia looks forward to our continued work together.
Acknowledgements
MA would like to thank the NOPS team for their time and support during Katrina’s visit.
Motivation Australia acknowledges the valuable contribution of the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) to this project.