Information is Empowerment

Access to information is power, but dissemination of information online at your fingertips is empowering. How exhilarating it is to have the ability to communicate, network and ultimately inspire others through the technology and power of Web 2.0 both locally and on a global scale.

The freedom of Web 2.0 unites women around the world by means of social and new media. This is an opportunity readily available, even in a developing nation such as my county Papua New Guinea (PNG).

I have developed a desire to reconnect with the females of my village of Vabukori located here in Port Moresby (the nation’s capital) of Papua New Guinea. I reside in Port Moresby’s CBD area my village is a 15-20 minute drive from my house.

Social media such as Facebook, allows me to post my inner most thoughts and create dialogue. I recently created a page called “Vabukori Sisters Connect”. Honestly, I haven’t been consistent with it and as a result don’t have many members. My vision with this page as a Christian was to move to the next level of reaching out to other sister’s who may be facing hardships, domestic violence or even poverty. As a starting point to identify what small changes we can make to create a more positive environment for the women and children of our small village.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a pacific island nation with a population of 6.5 million and with over 850 different languages spoken, but social media is a global form of communication that everyone can partake in irrespective of your environment, as long as you have access. The international telecommunication company here called Digicel PNG has taken our country by storm since it was launched 4 years ago – currently 60% of PNG’s population are all Digicel users.

In 2010 Digicel PNG introduced broadband internet on their mobile phone handsets as well as DigiModems which come in the form of a flash drive (which I too use at home) to give Papua New Guineans access to the world wide web.

Most Papua New Guineans residing in rural areas and urban villages such as my village Vabukori face difficult circumstances and social issues that affect the local community on a day-to-day basis. Issues including but not limited to HIV/ AIDS, domestic violence, law and order problems, alcohol abuse and poverty just to name a few.

Web 2.0 tools are an extremely effective way of communicating to encourage, assist and empower our fellow women within our community and around the world. I am inspired by the various success stories I’ve read on World Pulse regarding how women around the world are using Web 2.0 tools to reach out and make a difference in their societies, I could definitely take a leaf out of their books. If they can do it I definitely can be more committed to my Facebook page created to reach out to my fellow sister’s in my village. And, maybe just maybe make a difference today for tomorrow.