PNG poverty not recognised, says priest

Transcript

A Catholic priest whose NGO provides help for orphans as well as women and children at risk in Papua New Guinea's capital says recognition that poverty is a problem in Port Moresby is lacking.

Father John Glynn of WeCare says that among the teeming masses in Port Moresby's squatter settlements, there are many people, especially the young, who are falling through the gaps.

He spoke to Johnny Blades:

JOHN GLYNN: The first step in taking ownership of the problem is to recognise that the problem exists and a lot of people just don't like to admit that the problem exists. It's an eye opener when somebody says this problem doesn't exist and the problem is staring them in the face. It's amazing how human beings are able to do  that, to say it is not so when it is obviously the case.

JOHNNY BLADES: Do you have any statistics for instance on how many orphans there are in Moresby or PNG?

JG: No, nobody does. Nobody even knows the population of the city. All sorts of figures are quoted. The last one I heard quoted by the Prime Minister, he said oh I'm sure we have over a million people. As to how many orphans there are, I don't know. Anyway, that word, it's difficult to say who is an orphan and who isn't.

JB: Because so many people coming to Moresby from other provinces could be orphans in a way, couldn't they?

JG: Yes but children are, believe it or not, abandoned by their families and I mentioned earlier: the big family of fifteen people, say, in a house, and the children going out every day, the boys especially, begging on the street, collecting bottles, sometimes they just don't come home. They live in little gangs under trees here in Boroko or up in the old parliament building, in town, or in various spots around the city, and they don't come home: are they orphans? We deal with children sometimes and we find that oh yes, they've got a Mum and a Dad but they're miles away and they're not interested in them. I'm supporting... Two of the kids we're supporting at the moment are girls. One of them is a genuine orphan because I've known her since she was a baby. Both her parents died of AIDS and she was taken up by extended family members and she went through one hell of a time and when her education seemed to be coming to an end in grade eight, she came to me and I was able to help her, and now she is in secondary school - she has no Mum and Dad. The other girl has. But her father is one of these people who has more wives or mistresses than you can shake a stick at, and he has children he acknowledges and children he doesn't. Now he will not lift a finger to help this particular daughter of his. So those two girls, one who is a genuine orphan and the other one a practical orphan I suppose, I'm paying for their accommodation in a hostel run by nuns who take in students at the moment, costing me a fortune. But at least it's giving them a chance at life.