Foursquare Fresh Water Ministry (FFWM) is a community service arm or subsidiary of the Papua New Guinea Foursquare Church. This particular division of the church is concerned with the provision of clean water supply and community sanitation services. The other three arms of the church are evangelism, health and education.
At the moment the water wing is primarily involved in a bore hole drilling program wherein workmen, machines and resources are utilised to undertake drilling for underground water for interested communities and organisations.
The organisation then has the potential and capacity to undertake various levels and volumes of drilling to make available clean and reliable water to communities. The sanitation aspect is also integrated into the package so it enhances the living standards of people.
The Port Moresby office of the Foursquare Church operates a similar program under Living Waters Ministry (LWM) which concentrates on the Southern or Papuan region from Milne Bay to Western. This team has been involved in a very extensive drilling project in Kiunga recently.
FFWM is responsible for the Highlands and the Momase or the northern mainland region.
According to the FFWM Project Manager, Jacob Kopi, the goals of the ministry are:
- To increase the opportunities for clean water accessibility of the communities in the Highlands and Momase region of Papua New Guinea through the underground drilling and installation of water wells and pumps.
- To promote the people’s living standard by improving the water quality and community health and hygiene.
Kopi highlighted the objectives of the ministry stating that by the end of the water drilling exercises:
- Most of the people in the targeted area should have access to clean water.
- The programs and activities of schools and churches within the target areas will stabilize and normalize because they will have alternative water source to rely on especially in dry or wet seasons.
- The people’s health will be boosted due to drinking/using cleaner water, living in a cleanlier home environment and readily available water for washing.
- The problem of time and labour wastage in travelling distances to cart water will be reduced to induce productivity in other important areas such as agriculture and macroeconomic activities. This in turn will complement the peoples’ living.
- Ownership of water supply sources will be given to the communities concerned to achieve sustainability and care for the well and pump.
“Since the establishment of the company as a ministry to serve the people, we have been engaged by many organisations, institutions, government, businesses and individuals to provide fresh water services to them,” Kopi said.
The ministry is currently engaged by the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) on a project to supply 17 fully completed water pumps to four different provinces in the Highlands region of Papua New Guinea which are Enga, Jiwaka, Simbu and Hela.
FFWM is extending an invitation to any potential organisation, institution, government agency and business that wishes to engage them in drilling and providing fresh water for consumption at whatever location they prefer.
They can be contacted on Phone: 532 9258 or Email: jkopi1@hotmail.com
