Josie Sirivi is an inspirational woman who has given much to her people in Bougainville.
She is a founding member of Bougainville Women for Peace and Freedom which played a large role in ensuring the Bougainville crisis could come to an end. She was one of 1000 women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
Josie, with her husband Sam Kauona, run the Tunaniya Open Learning Centre which provides training in literacy, vocational skills and community leadership as well as supporting various local elementary schools.
Palms Australia was introduced to Tunaniya in 2007 and was able to place Kevin Wilson as a Program Coordinator with Tunaniya. This short video is an excerpt of an interview with Josie about Kevin’s contributions to Bougainville and includes Josie’s express hope that Palms and Tunaniya can continue to work together.
We hope to celebrate our Golden Jubilee with more videos, so if you would like to record your message for Palms, our volunteers and our supporters, please do so.