Papua New Guinea
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Papua New Guinea is the second largest island in the world, just north of Australia in the South Pacific. Constant flooding, piranha and crocodile infested waters, and malaria-carrying mosquitoes make this country a dangerous place to raise children. Kids Alive International began working in Papua New Guinea in 1992, and today our programs include the Sepik Christian Ministries Schools, College of Distant Education, High School, Bible Training Center, Women’s Ministries, Bible Translation Revision, Marsh Medical Center (with patrols to other villages), Hauna Church and Sunday School Program, Vocational Training Program and the Evangelistic Outreach Program. When Kids Alive first came to Hauna village, in the swamplands on one of the country’s largest rivers, the mortality rate for children under age five was eighty percent. Because of an effective immunization program and medical care through the Kids Alive clinic, today that number is less than twenty percent. |
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Kids Alive also has a wonderful education program in Hauna that continues to expand to other nearby villages. In the last twenty years, Hauna and surrounding villages have progressed from an illiterate society to one in which many can now read and write in three languages: Sepik Iwam, Pidgin English (the trade language), and English. After such success, Kids Alive is constantly invited to come to remote villages to provide education for the children. The main goal is to reach people in these remote areas with the education they need, as well as to provide various services relating to their health and spiritual well being.
Ministry Sites |
Missionaries |
Support Sepik Christian Ministries
Sepik Christian Ministries
Missionaries first came to this area in 1968 to translate the Bible into the previously unwritten local language. In 1979 Shirley Killosky went as a literary specialist and teacher. After the translation of the New Testament was finished in 1989, Shirley joined Kids Alive to continue the teaching program on the Upper Sepik River and to provide other, less fortunate villages with an educational program. Today, the Kids Alive ministry has a large mission house where meetings are conducted, a school, a church, and several other buildings for a variety of activities and vocational training (sewing, carpentry, stores, laundry, mechanic shop, etc). Over 500 students in Kids Alive schools receive basic education as well as training in three languages, Bible, and Christian discipleship. Because of the high rate of malnutrition and sickness in this area, the mission provides a nutritional daily meal to these day students who return to their families at night. A total of about 5000 people receive assistance of some kind through the ministries of Kids Alive in the Upper Sepik River area.
Support Sepik Medical Center
Sepik Medical Center
Kids Alive also operates a Medical Center, which averages about 500 patients per month and is the only medical care available in this remote location. When Kids Alive first came to the Hauna Village, the mortality rate for children under the age of five was 80 percent. Because of our effective immunization program and medical care, today that number is less than 20 percent.
Support Shirley Killosky
Shirley Killosky
At a time in her life when most folks are retiring, Shirley is “still going strong!” Before going to Hauna Village in 1979 to work in literacy, she taught school in northwest Indiana, and holds a B.S. degree from Indiana University and a Master’s Degree from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana.
Shirley founded the Hauna Schools where currently over 600 students are enrolled in our elementary and high schools. Current responsibilities of Field Director and Supervisor for CODE High School in Hauna occupy most of Shirley’s time. Since Hauna Village affiliated with Kids Alive International in 1992, the Sepik Christian Ministries National Board was formed and the ministry continues to expand to remote jungle regions. Kids Alive has ongoing requests to open new schools “up river” to teach children and adults who have never had the opportunity to read, write and hear the Gospel.
As a mother of three adult children with their own families (James, Lisa and Donald), Shirley’s passion is to support and care for the people of Papua New Guinea. “I saw how much the people in the jungle needed assistance in all areas of life – both physical and spiritual. I think there is still much to do and many people still need to be reached.”
