Lasallian Alumni & Friends Association

INTRODUCTION

The La Sallian Alumni and Friends Association Incorporated was formally launched on Saturday 25th May 2019 at a private beach in Gaire village of Central Province, Papua New Guinea.

It was a collective initiative from some of the former students of De La Salle High School now Secondary School in Bomana. Our participation was aimed at finding a path or revamping the LaSallian Cause after numerous weekend get-togethers.

The LaSallian Cause is a path established by the founder, St. John Baptist De La Salle who had created institutions around the world to inspire others on how to teach and care for young people, how to meet failure and frailty with compassion, how to affirm, how to strengthen and heal.

The cause is the gist of our establishment and that is creating a networking hub for ex-students to incorporate their skills and find ways to support the teaching vocation of LaSallian institutions throughout PNG.

We have derived our Constitution and Structure from the five (5) Lasallian Guiding Principles:

1. Concern for the Poor & Social Justice 2. Faith in the Presence of God 3. Quality Education 4. Respect for All Persons 5. Inclusive Community

Our motto is “It’s Our Time to Educate, Equip and Engage”. The motto represents us as former students of LaSallian institutes giving back to our former schools by enhancing their teaching environment and facilities, to equip the current students with updated skills to engage productively for their betterment and for Papua New Guinea as a whole.

AIM

Our aim is to function as an independent body to maximise our outreaches for raising funds and providing services to our former schools.

VISION

Our vision is to assemble skilled and like-minded individuals within our network to create an engine room to utilize our knowledge and skills to help our former schools through supporting their educational, infrastructure, social and spiritual programs.

OVERVIEW

Our future goal is to further enhance the unification of all the LaSallian education institutions in PNG through our membership and enabling them to unite and function as one.

The main source of funding comes from fundraising activities and donations, which our team of active and selfless patriots have proven. Late last year we begun two projects that kicked start our campaign.

The La Sallian institutions include;

•

De La Salle Secondary School (NCD)

Mainohana Catholic Secondary (Central)

Rosary Secondary School Kondiu (Simbu)

Sacred Heart Teachers’ College (NCD)

Jubilee Secondary School (NCD)

Holy Trinity Teachers’ College (Mt Hagen)

Mun Primary School (WHP)

Rabiamul Elementary School (WHP)

La Salle Technical College (NCD)

LASALLIAN ALUMNI & FRIENDS ASSOCIATION

PROJECTS

Projects will be identified and rolled out to other LaSallian institutions apart from De La Salle Secondary School, Bomana provided these institutions have Chapters with members already affiliated to the Alumni.

Projects and other services initiated by the Alumni solely depend on the availability of funds.

Our first project was the repainting of the De La Salle Secondary School stone wall signage, which was subjected to graffiti and vandalism. The stone wall is an iconic monument because it was erected when the school was first established in 1964.

The second project was the reviving of the annual school magazine, which had its last publication back in 1998. It was the best highlight of our journey and provided us the stepping stone and confidence to progress further.

Our ongoing project is the Clean IT Program from Telikom Foundation Inc. (TFI). This is a program offered for schools where e-library solutions are provided. We are working closely with TFI to bring this solution to De la Salle Secondary School as an impact project. This is a co-funding partnership project with Telikom Foundation Inc. and the schools. These projects and others will be rolled out to other LaSallian institutions that have Chapters affiliated to the LaSallian Alumni and Friends Association Inc.

The Alumni acts as the bridge to connect with institutions and other stakeholders to bring about the much needed services.

We have recently been blessed by La Salle Tech at Hohola in National Capital District, Papua New Guinea with an office space through generous support of Br. Thomas M Yapo, FSC and Ms. Grace Wrakia.

Since our inauguration, we have weathered the storms and overcome many obstacles in our pathway but with the endless support from our families, faith in Jesus with the love for our country, we have grown stronger.

We are now reaching out to the ex-students and Lasallian education institutions within in the country and abroad to join the Association and support the cause.

“You are called like the Apostles to make God known to others”….St John Baptist De la Salle