Pana Wiya

Beans drying, Eastern Highlands (image: Village Coffee)

Village Coffee: a better deal for PNG growers

by Pana Wiya

26 July 2017

Pana Wiya

I come from Baiyer River in the Western Highlands of PNG. After graduating from university in Lae, I was an officer in the PNG Defence Force, Engineer Battalion. Since migrating to Australia in 1980, I worked in the field of engineering with BHP and Baulderstone Hornibrook and for approximately five years with a mining company which took me to USA for two years. I resigned in 1992 because I could not be part of a system that left the needs of the people, the rightful resource owners, on the bottom for the scraps. I've since being doing retail in Sydney and Melbourne to support my family here and those in PNG with school fees, family/cultural obligations and training of Christian leaders through university ministries for the next generation.

I have a heart to make a difference for those I see in the world being unfairly treated. I live for justice where there is injustice. I strongly believe in accountability and transparency, and in thinking of the needs of future generations and passing onto them opportunities that can sustain their lives.

More about Village Coffee project, and the positive future that we are trying to achieve, can be found here.