PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT - GRADE 10

Anna Solomon (Department for Community Development)- Focus on violence and abuse distracts us from the needs of family.

Yatu Idauman (School Principal)  If we look after needs of family, violence and abuse looks after itself.

Needs of family

In Papua New Guinea, family consists of father, mother, sons and daughters. This is the nuclear family which exists within the extended family of the clan.

Families have basic needs which include food, shelter, clothing, medicine, love, caring, respect, education, lunch money, bus fares and protection from abuse and violence.

The family has basic rights which include the right to be cared for, given nutritious food to prevent malnutrition, gender equality for all family members, freedom from violence and abuse, education and employment in a job, access to medical treatment, access to gardens and freedom from HIV/AIDS.

A husband and wife have the responsibility to care for their family, provide a loving environment, protect the family within shelter, give values and living skills, treat all members with gender equality.

Older children have the responsibility to support their parents with care for small brothers and sisters, disabled family members and older people living in the family. 

They have the responsibility to free parents of stress and worry and to study at school to secure employment and support their family. They have the responsibility to accept values and living skills for marriage and rearing children in future years.

All family members need peace and love. They need to be respected as people. Wives need to be cared for with no fear of violence from drunken husbands. Men need to be respected and not suffer bashing from violent wives. Family needs to be free from abuse of alcohol, home brew and marijuana.

Families do not need polygamy with the man marrying two or more women, bringing home HIV/AIDS and not earning enough money to look after two or more families of children.