Frieda River Limited (FRL) recently surprised the school community at the Paparom Primary School in the Yangoru Saussia district of East Sepik with school stationery supplies and corporate merchandise worth more than K5000.

The school board and management positively characterised the donation as the ‘first ever support from a mining company’.

“It’s a lot of goods you have delivered. We didn’t expect such donations; and we are very thankful,” said Mrs Eunice Yawi, Acting Head Teacher.

FRL made the gesture in return for the hospitality and welcome provided to the company staff by the school and local community when the helicopter transporting FRL employees encountered a malfunction and needed to land immediately on the school’s playing field. While the helicopter’s aircraft issues were being resolved, the school community hosted their unexpected visitors and provided refreshments. FRL staff connected with the school management and learned that the facility was in great need of essential educational materials for students in grades 6, 7 and 8. Mrs Yawi said the donation would firmly establish the Frieda River Limited brand within the school community – a name the community had long recognised but never directly associated with the major nation-building development project.

FRL’s education support for the Sepik communities includes school fee subsidies for the proposed mine-affected students at the Ambunti and Telefomin secondary schools, as well as transportation to and from these two, and other education institutions, at the start and end of each academic year.

FRL Country Manager Dr Joel Hamago described the future copper-gold mine as the Sepik Development Project in which both Sepik provinces stand to benefit.

“The Frieda River project is more than a mine. It is a significant commitment by the company that we strongly believe will bring much needed economic and social change to the Sepik region.”