Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

  I wish to congratulate the students of Holy Cross Catholic Primary School at Bondi Junction in my electorate of Wentworth, who have worked together with SolarBuddy and Origin Foundation volunteers to build solar powered lights for their fellow students in Papua New Guinea. Holy Cross is one of 55 schools participating in this program to build solar powered lights which are then sent overseas to children living in remote communities. The lights are small, portable and waterproof. They work for eight to 16 hours. Just a few weeks ago, 4,000 of these solar powered lights were delivered to villages along the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea. Approximately 40 per cent of children under the age of eight in Papua New Guinea can't read or write. In part, this is due to a lack of lighting after dark. This is an entirely preventable issue, and yet without adequate lighting for study a child's ability to develop the skills needed to read and write to break the cycle of poverty is impeded.

The SolarBuddy workshop aims to tackle social injustice in the sphere of learning, and highlights the importance of light in a child's education. In Australia, lighting is a resource we take for granted, and it's certainly not the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about study resources. However, in countries like Papua New Guinea it is just as important as pencils, paper, books and teachers. The students at Holy Cross primary school are the bright future leaders of our community, and have become conscious global citizens. They're committed to doing their best to help their fellow students in other countries.