Mental Health First Aid

Project 8542

Recent data shows that missionary kids living on the field are almost twice as likely to experience serious mental health challenges compared to young people in their home/sending countries. The reasons are varied and complex, but the reality is clear: missionary life is demanding, and missionary families sacrifice deeply to follow Jesus. Accessing appropriate care on the field is often extremely difficult, which means prevention, early identification, and skilled support are essential for protecting these young people and their families.

The SIL Medical Centre at Ukarumpa in PNG has identified mental health concerns among missionary children as a critical area requiring action.

Mark van Rossen, a retired Wycliffe Australia member with decades of lived and field experience, is undertaking specialised mental health training in 2026, including Mental Health First Aid. His goal is to equip field‑based first responders—teachers, youth group leaders, Staff Care team members, and others—with the skills to support young people and their parents during a mental health crisis. Mark will train these frontline supporters to recognise early signs of mental health difficulties, engage in safe and compassionate conversations, and guide families toward appropriate help. Strengthening this network of trained responders will also help prevent emerging mental health challenges from escalating into full‑blown crises.

Mark is also preparing to extend this training to Wycliffe Australia’s partners in Bible translation across PNG and the wider Pacific/Oceania region, multiplying its impact.

To make this possible, Mark is seeking to raise just over $11,000 in 2026 to fund his specialised training (phase 1) and to begin rolling out mental health first aid training to those working closely with young people (phase 2). This work is vitally important for missionary families, and your support would be deeply appreciated.

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Budget target: AU$11,111 per year

Excess funds will go towards the following year’s target.

(image from Google Gemini)

Translator Training Vanuatu

Project 8343

Having seen its usefulness and expansion over the past several years, SIL Vanuatu continues to facilitate a course for those involved in Bible translation and local church leadership, designed to develop higher level thinking skills which are applied to careful Bible reading, analysis of cultural practise and other daily life situations.

Five nationals are trained to teach the material in each of the three two-week residential courses which make up the Trenem Tingting (Train your Mind) course. Participants are required to complete field assignments in their home communities before returning for the next course with the hope that what is learnt will have a far-reaching effect.

Funds are needed for transport and for the associated costs of the residential courses.

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Our partnership target for 2026 is $32,666.

If we receive extra funds, this will go towards next year’s target.

NITI Scripture Publishing – PNG

Project 8610

The New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, is home to several major gold mines, but men and women from 11 communities in this province are digging for something much more valuable.

The New Ireland Translation Institute (NITI) provides quality training for Bible translators in the region. To date Nalik, Feni, Label, Notsi, and Sokirik New Testaments or portions have been published thanks to the work of NITI.

Praise God, there are more language groups in New Ireland getting ready to publish New Testaments.

Wycliffe Australia is working together with a Trust to support the publishing and distribution of Scriptures produced by the various language groups assisted by NITI.

A next step will be making an audio recording of the Label NT.

Your gift to this project will go towards the same cause. Thank you for considering making an eternal investment worth far more than gold in the lives of the New Ireland people.

Please contact us at projects-assist@wycliffe.org.au to express interest in gifts donation

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Our partnership target for 2026 – to be advised

If we receive extra funds they will go towards publishing future New Testaments completed through the NITI project.

Gulf Delta Training project

Project 8516

The delta area of Gulf Province in Papua New Guinea is remote, underdeveloped and swampy. Among the network of rivers and creeks, in the village of Ubuo, God has enabled the building of the Oroi’io Madei (Living Word) Training Centre (OMTC). This is a hub for local language communities to gather and learn God’s life giving word. With a classroom, a dorm, kitchen and staff housing (see Project 8522), local people gather at the OMTC for a week or so of training, then take their new skills and knowledge back to their communities to share with people there.

The training held at the OMTC can be divided into three main areas;

1) Translation: six language communities have completed a series of six workshops to learn to tell 40 Bible stories in their own languages, and to tell them clearly, accurately and naturally. From this group, 12 local storytellers have been chosen to be trained as Oral Bible Storytellers (OBS) so that they will be ready to train the next nine language communities when they come and learn storytelling.

2) Scripture Engagement: Courses such as SALT (Scripture Application and Leadership Training) and Story Based Trauma Healing have been taught, so that people can deeply engage with God’s word in their lives and be transformed by forgiveness. These course have also resulted in local trainers who can now teach in villages all over the Gulf Delta area. The church is requesting more teaching, and on more topics.

3) Vernacular Literacy: Kids have the best chance of success at school if they start their education in their home language. This is why we have been training local volunteer teachers how to teach literacy in their own language (the vernacular) and how to bridge from vernacular to English, which is the official language of education in PNG. We are also making local language books to support these literacy teachers and classes.

All this training costs money and involves a lot of logistics and administration. As the OMTC is in a remote location, we need funds for planes to get trainers into the region, and for boats to get everyone to Ubuo and home again. Each workshop has food, materials and other expenses. Participants contribute towards course costs, but the full expense is beyond the income of subsistence farmers.

With all the logistics and administration involved in running these courses, a project manager is needed. Hiring a skilled and committed Christian Papua New Guinean to oversee logistics and administration will allow the work to continue and to grow. The immediate and urgent need is for funds to hire a project manager as soon as possible, with the longer term need being the continuation of this role through 2026 to ensure as many training courses can go ahead as possible.

God is doing truly great things in the Gulf Delta area of Papua New Guinea. Would you be able to help this growth continue?

Partner with us

Our partnership target is for $27,778 by the end of 2026, with $5,000 needed urgently by the end of December 2025.

Excess funds will go towards the following year’s target.

Ubuo Village House

Project 8522

Hanna Schulz has been living alongside the Kope people in Ubuo village, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea, since 2015. In that time she has seen God bless and multiply the ministry of Bible translation, Scripture engagement and vernacular literacy from working with just the Kope, into the Gulf Delta Cluster Project, working with 15 language communities. This has included the building of the Oroi’io Madei (Living Word) Training Centre (OMTC) in Ubuo to enable training of local people in this work.

The house that Hanna lives in (which is also the female staff house during OMTC workshops) was built with bush materials and desperately needs replacing with something stronger and more permanent. At the moment, termites are eating out roof, wall and floor structures!

The plan is to build after Easter 2026, competing the new house in early May.

Please consider assisting with the costs of building a new, longer lasting, village house for Hanna and the OMTC’s visiting female trainers to live in. This house is critical for the translation work and training to be able to continue.

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Our partnership target is for $55,555.50 by the end of June 2026.

Highland Audio Bibles Project – PNG

Project 8150

The Highlands Audio Project (HAP) records and makes audio Scriptures available to over 45 Highlands languages in PNG. The Scriptures are loaded onto the newer efficient solar powered Audio Bibles, and then sold to the people at a significantly discounted (subsidized) rate.

These players are critical because 70-85% of the people in the remote villages are illiterate. Many cannot read the Scriptures for themselves. These players have had a tremendous impact on thousands of people in PNG as they are now able to hear the Word of God in their own language.

The purchase price of the players is between $35-40 USD per unit including all fees. The players are sold for an average of 15-20% of the purchase price, or roughly a day’s wages in PNG. A large percentage of the players are purchased by the older generation, whose family members gather around together to listen.  However, the younger generation has been buying these players at increased rates when we load tokples (local language) gospel songs in addition to the Scriptures.

These Audio Bibles continue to have a tremendous impact in bridging the gap between illiteracy and receiving God’s Word in the languages that most clearly speak to their heart.

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Our partnership target by the end of 2026 is $16,555

If we receive extra funds, this will go towards the following year’s target.

Capacity Building in the Pacific

Project 8861

There is an urgent need for more local leaders on translation projects throughout the Pacific region, particularly in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. ‘Capacity Building in the Pacific’ is a project designed to increase leadership and management skills of local translators, and to create sustainable funding options for ongoing language projects. It is hoped that the project will become self-sufficient within the next five years, but it will require significant funds to get all of this set up. We are hoping to raise enough funds to support this project for at least two years.

Would you like to be a part of building initiatives and providing training to support Bible translation in the Pacific for many years to come?

Target: A$22,222