Building a better future for Nathy

Children are gifts from God. Raising them can be challenging, yet it is a beautiful experience watching them grow, learn and live their lives to the fullest. An experience many say you only get once. But for communities that are prone to violence and limited opportunities, how will this be a reality?

For young parents, Maiya and Delma James of Tulum One community of Mendi-Munihu District of the Southern Highlands province, this question is deeply personal. As young people involved in World Vision International’s Faith in Action for Peace project, they are determined to rewrite their story and build a better future for their three-year-old daughter, Nathy.

Maiya was once caught up in drugs and violence, openly admitted that it is a past he is not proud of. Today, he speaks with joy of the transformation he has experienced; change that reshaped not only his life, but also how he and his wife plan to raise their daughter.

“I really believe that children are gift from God entrusted to us parents. I always believe that whatever we do, the favour always returns to our children. I cannot keep doing bad things and expect my daughter to have a flourishing life in the future. I needed to change for Nathy. Therefore, I have to nature her with love, guide her with discipline, and provide her with a bright future, even during life’s challenges and hardships,” he said.

In April 2024, Tulum 1 and Tulum 2 were selected to receive the Empowered Worldview Training after an initial Peace Building Training through the Faith in Action for Peace project. The first group to be trained consisted of thirty-five faith leaders from nine different churches in the Tulum community.

In addition to the Empowered Worldview modules, faith leaders were trained on complementary topics to strengthen their understanding and leadership capacity. They later returned to their communities to train the young people in their respective communities that were in the youth clubs formed under the Faith in Action for Peace project and facilitated sessions which they were trained on.

“Back then I had no peace in me. I always turn to violence as the only solution to my problems. Since the project was introduced to my wife and I, it broadened our understanding of how a family and community should live a peaceful life”, Maiya shares.

Like many youths in the community, Maiya and Delma left school in grade ten and had limited opportunities for further education or employment. With few options to earn an income, Maiya with many others turned to marijuana cultivation in their backyards at home.

“Instead of planting bananas, sugarcanes and other crops around my house, I was heavily involved in the planting and selling of marijuana, just to earn an income”, he recalls.

In 2021 Maiya graduated from Mapex Training Institute in Port Moresby as an excavator operator. But without a job opportunity, he returned home to Tulum where he later met and married Delma. When their daughter Nathy was born, Maiya knew when he needed to change. Starting over is never easy, especially when the community remembers your past but his determination came from his daughter.

It was during this time of searching for a new path, when the Empowered World View training was introduced to the community by the faith leaders.

“When the project came, I taught that World Vision would teach us new things. I thought World Vision would just teach normal classroom lessons. When I attended, I realized, this training went beyond that. It was about creating a peaceful life within families and communities regardless of education, wealth or social status,” Maiya shared.

Becoming parents to a girl-child, strengthened Maiya and Delma’s hope for a better future. Delma dreams of a future where Nathy grows up safe, educated, and empowered. A life that is free from challenges that often pushes girls in underserved communities into early marriage.

“Maiya and I are both grade ten leavers who married early without fully completing our education or securing a job for a stable income. As a mother, I don’t want my daughter to experience this. It’s tough, so I want my daughter to complete her education and do well in life”, Delma said.

Furthermore, in 2025 the community of Tulum One and Two harvested the first rice crop grown on the land that once cultivated marijuana. The rice seeds supplied through the FAP project, marked an historic milestone for the community.

Since then, the youths have successfully completed their first, second, and third rice harvests. They are now awaiting the installation of a rice mill so they can process their own rice for household consumption and generate income through sales. This transformation not only promotes food security and economic empowerment but also demonstrates renewed mindset and behaviour among the young people in the community.

Maiya and Delma are enthusiastic about the rising opportunities from the project, saying it gave them a purpose and a sustainable skill, in rice farming. Once the community receives their rice mill, they will be able to mill and sell their rice to generate an income and eat it as well.

“Planting rice is something very new here. No one in this community has done it before, we tried and it worked. I am looking forward for what this opportunity will bring for the community as well my family”, says Maiya.

Peaceful and thriving communities are needed for a child’s wellbeing. Through the Faith in Action for Peace project funded by World Vision USA, World Vision Papua New Guinea works closely with communities in Tulum to nurture families and create a community where young children like Nathy are nurtured and protected, allowing them to experience love, stability and the chance to reach life in all its fullness.