Meet Marie Mondu (Interview with Missionary)

Hi my name is Marie, I am 26 years old and working with Caritas Australia on the STI Managment Program as a research officer. My mother is from the highlands of New Guinea (Enga Province) and my dad is from the coasts (Madang Province).

Papua New Guinea is a very diverse country, rich in culture, and natural vegetation. We have more than 700 different indigeneous languages! 19 provinces and almost 5 billion people. People's physical upmake are very different just like our cultures. Some of our people from the islands and southern part of PNG look more like micronesians. My people are more aggressive, short and stocky. There is an island full of very dark people who look like African's - The Bukas. Each province have their own staple food. PNG is indeed diversed.

95% of these populations are Christians, the churches that dominate are Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran and United Church. We have so many other postelates churches springing up every year as well. 97% of land is customarily owned. 85% of people live in rural communities, villages and are subsistent farmers.

HIV is a growing socio-economic issue in the country right now. We have an infection prevalence rate of 1.6%, which the data is not fully accurate or representative. Our country is rough, rugged and there is no effective data system in place for accuracy in this kind of work. I do HIV research and try to minimise stigma and discrimination by educating people. I have a strong voice for women rights and issues as we are still suffering from male dominated prejudice.

I travel alot and as a female, I worry all the time of being raped, robbed or end up dead in an accident. Air travel is quite expensive and we travel by road mainly. I think that's the greatest challenge. I think personally, I'm suffering from starting up a relationship, as I'm constantly moving around and no boyfriend would like that. So that's the sacrifice I had to make for this job.

I don't know the spirit of volunteerism I suppose. I've learnt that it makes me trully happy when I give something to the little people, people who have not had a chance to go to school like I did. Besides I love traveling and meeting new people. I guess people and places generally amaze me. If you look close enough you can see how great God is when you look at the myriads of people and places you've experienced in your life...

I hope through the church we could administer programs that would involve many out- of-job youths, to make sense of their lives. It's really a desperate situation now as we have a high number of young people dropping out of school every single year. It's hard to instil hope and give a mission to hopeless youths. We need your prayers in that.

I see mission as a job, task or obligation I must commit to, to make the world a better place to live in. In laymen's term, it is mostly a compassionate action. It can be a paid thing or volunteer job but the most important aspect of reaching out to others encompasses 'SELFLESSNESS -and something to DO WITH THE HEART'.

From left: Mayb, Sherlyn, Marie, Dominica, Daryl