Image credit: US Embassy Port Moresby
By Lillian Sopera Keneqa – EMTV News, Port Moresby
The US Embassy in Port Moresby is sending five female athlete students from 5 secondary schools in the National Capital District on a 10-day Sports Visitor Program in the US. This follows the remarkable performance of the first group of 9 female students in 2017 in which Papua New Guinea was again selected to participate in the 2019 Youth Soccer and Leadership Camp.
U. S Ambassador, Catherine Ebert-Gray said, “We’re helping to empower women of this country by talking with community groups and the Government itself, of the value of having women involved in society.”
Sports visitors are youth athletes and influencers who travel to the United States for a short-term sports cultural exchange. It also includes sessions on nutrition, gender equity in sport, sport and disability, and team building. The program aims to help young people understand how success in athletics can translate into achievements in the classroom and also in life.
The all-female group who are all in grade 11, includes Norah Nahua of Port Moresby National High School, Therese Pomat of Jubilee Catholic Secondary, Talitha Kotauga of Marianville Secondary School, Forchinia Sakat of Caritas Technical Secondary School and Talitha Elias of Kilakila Secondary School.
The students will be accompanied by experienced chaperone, Concepta Wut, from the St. Josephs International Catholic College.
They depart Port Moresby on Friday June 28 for the 10-day sports visitor program in New Jersey and Philadelphia, as the program starts on June 29 and ends on the 13th of July.
The sports program is one part of the United States’ commitment to the trilateral partnership with the Papua New Guinean and Australian Governments that began during the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in 2016.
