A pair of best friends from Texas are proving that adventure doesn’t have an age limit – even when you’re 81. Ellie Hamby, a documentary photographer, and Sandy Hazelip, a physician and lecturer, toured the world in 80 days, adventuring from the beaches of Bali to the deserts of Egypt. The octogenarian grandmothers started their ambitious adventure on January 11, according to the blog the two have used to document their travels. Their first stop was a location that eludes even many seasoned travelers: Antarctica. Getting to the southernmost continent first required crossing the Drake Passage, the notoriously rough waters between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands. “For almost two days, we were a rocking and rolling and a slipping and sliding through the Drake Passage and we were holding on for dear life,” Hamby said in an interview with CNN. “It was just wild.” “But when we stepped foot on the ground on the Antarctic, you forgot all of that,” she recalled. “The beauty of the Antarctic is just unbelievable to see the penguins and the icebergs and the glaciers – just, this was amazing.” Since that first venture, the pair have visited 18 countries across all seven continents, often while clad in matching T-shirts. They’ve also accrued a loving social media following who track the “traveling grannies” on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Hazelip told CNN that she met Hamby after her husband died in 1999. Before his death, he “planted the seed in my heart that we should start taking our grandsons on mission trips in the summer,” she said. This led her to the Zambia Medical Mission, a project run by Hamby and her husband in southern Africa. The two bonded over their shared interest in travel and commitment to prioritizing unique experiences over comfort and amenities while abroad. Both became closer as widows after Hamby’s husband died in 2005. Hazelip says the idea for their trip originated a few years before they were each set to turn 80. “I just got the idea because we had traveled previously together internationally,” she said. “And so about four years before we were going to turn 80, I mentioned to her one day, ‘Ellie, wouldn’t it be fun to go around the world in 80 days at age 80?’” On their website, Hamby and Hazelip say they dedicated the trip to their late husbands, Kelly and Don. “We miss you and wish you were joining our adventure,” they write. Originally, the two planned to disembark in 2022 when they were 80 years old. “And COVID shut those plans down,” Hazelip went on. “But COVID didn’t shut us down. So we went this year, and our theme was, ‘At 81 and still on the run.’” Over the past three months, the pair have ridden camels in Egypt, met elephants in Bali, danced in Nepal, and observed the Northern Lights in Finland. And despite the challenges international travel presents, the best friends say they finished their trip without any arguments. “We’re both independent, very stubborn. But we seem to allow each other to give space,” said Hamby. “We just understand each other and we know this is a good thing we’re doing and we kind of respect each other’s feelings.” For Hamby, the highlight of the trip was the people they met along the way. “We love all the sights that we saw, but the things that we remember the most are the people that we met,” she said. “We met some of the most wonderful, kindest, friendliest people in the world. We just have friends now all over the world that we love dearly.” “We always say when we started this, we did not plan a vacation,” she added. “We planned an adventure. And every single day was an adventure.” Although Hamby and Hazelip have finished their worldly quest and returned home to Texas, the two are already planning for their next trip, they told CNN. And they shared a crucial piece of advice for any travelers worried about the language barrier on their own adventures. “You know, people ask us often about the language, how we manage it,” said Hamby. “We say with Sandy and Ellie, there’s one language and that’s a smile. And we found that worked wonders because we were often aware that there was not English spoken. But a smile covers all languages.” They also encouraged other older travelers to not let age hold them back. Aside from some small concessions – like deciding not to ride a motorbike in Bali because of concerns about falling – they said their age didn’t affect their itinerary abroad. They said felt confident that if they were injured on their trip, their children “would have been at peace knowing that we were doing what we absolutely wanted,” said Hazelip. Hazelip described 81 as “the perfect age” to embark on their trip. “Getting older does give you a little bit of wisdom of making decisions,” she said. “And so that’s the fun part. I think at this age I appreciate so much [of] the beauty and I can really just soak it in. And for me, this was the perfect age to go. I’m so thankful.” Source: CNN News

A university lecturer believes artificial intelligence has the potential to personalise learning and provide students with in-depth feedback. AI-driven technology has been on the rise with open access tools such as ChatGPT, allowing people to ask the bot any question. Students have been able to use the technology to help them write assignments, with some universities introducing ways to detect bot-written work. Alex Sims, an associate professor in the Department of Commercial Law at the University of Auckland, said there are benefits that can come from AI tech within the classroom. "It can give much more individualised feedback; it can take a lot of time to give feedback with 300 assignments to mark. "What we have to do is give students a list of common mistakes, but the students don't think they've made those mistakes." Sims said academics have been able to use AI to tailor far richer comments for the students. Many assignments tend to test students' writing ability rather than how well they know the subject. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="788"] Associate Professor Alex Sims. Photo: Supplied[/caption]   Sims said assessments will start to see redesigns in the future moving away from essay writing which in the end will level the field for students. "I've taught students that have had dyslexia or English as a second language who know the answer but have trouble communicating getting lower marks. "Compared to someone else that doesn't know the content but can write it well, but now we have tools that can write even better than people." There have been courses implementing ChatGPT having students critique the answer given by bots, fact-checking the information. Sims said there are already academics embracing AI, but there will be many that are going to find the change difficult. "For a number of others it's very challenging, what they've learned all their lives has all changed which will be difficult." The plagiarism software Turnitin has now begun updating the tool with the ability to start checking work for AI-generated content. The tool is used across all universities in New Zealand, but academics are sceptical on how accurate it will be. Source: rnz.com

 “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” powered up at the box office with an impressive opening. The movie ran up the score with more than $200 million in the US and Canada for its five-day opening run, according to a news release, and an estimated $377 million worldwide – the latter topping the box office launch record for an animated movie, previously held by “Frozen 2.” It marks the biggest global box office opening of the year, with “Super Mario Bros.” standing ahead of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which brought in the $225.3 million during its February opening. The movie is based on the world of Nintendo’s classic 1985 “Super Mario” video games and stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach. [caption id="attachment_38635" align="alignnone" width="788"] Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor Joy, in 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie.'[/caption] Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Kevin Michael Richardson and Sebastian Maniscalco round out the cast. Actor Charles Martinet, Mario’s longtime official voice in the games – who many gamer purists felt should have been cast as the titular character instead of Pratt – makes a special appearance in the movie. “Super Mario Bros.” follows Brooklyn plumbers Mario and Luigi as they’re transported down a mysterious pipe while working underground to fix a water main. The brothers wander into a “magical new world” and when they’re separated, “Mario embarks on an epic quest to find Luigi,” according to a synopsis on the movie’s website. The solid opening is a healthy sign for movie theaters headed into the summer box office season, with the next “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie, also starring Pratt, kicking off in May. Source: CNN News

Other members of BTS have gone solo, but none as big as Jimin. According to Billboard, his “Like Crazy” single has debuted at No. 1 on this week’s Hot 100 chart, making him the first South Korean solo artist to ever top that chart. The successful start for “Like Crazy” was driven by sales of the five different versions of the song, Billboard reported. Grammy-nominated BTS is one of the most successful boy bands in music history. In addition to Jimin, its members are Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, V, and Jungkook. Jimin’s new song sold 254,000 song downloads and CD singles combined and drew 10 million streams and 64,000 radio airplay audience impressions in its first week, according to Billboard. The artist has been making the rounds to promote his new music, including recently appearing on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Source: CNN News

273 students of Mapex Training Institute in Port Moresby have finally attained certificates and diplomas during the schools graduation on Friday after continiued postponements since 2022. The graduating students are from last years  batch of graduands especially from the Business Management Department that couldn't graduate due to certain policy issues between Mapex Institute and Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology. Founder and Chief Executive Director, Mr. Marcus Palem Kara, said this was a special occasion for the institute as it portrayed yet another successful outcome for the school since its establishment in 2015 and with challenges encountered throughout the journey, has only strengthened the institute to improve and progress forward. “The dreams of becoming a National Training Institute in the country and then a National University is yet a long journey which we are aiming for moving forward.” Kara outlined five courses which have been approved by the Department of Higher Education, Research, Science & Technology online selection for school leavers. The courses which are Human Resource Management, Business Management, Tourism and Hospitality, Accounting and ICT, which received accreditation by the Department as academic courses. “Reaching the level of a university isn’t easy but we as an institute believe that we can perform well to achieve our prime goal. We have professors and doctors from the Universities such as UPNG and Divine Word University writing books for the five academic courses. “Consulting from our own professors nationally, gives them the opportunity to write the books in the PNG context that will be well understood by our students when applying for their degree.” In addition, with the help of the National Training Council and DHERST, Mapex is able to work towards achieving their goal in becoming a University. Kara thanked all stakeholders as well its main partners who helped move Mapex ahead to where it is now. “This partnership arrangement we have is to train our students; the success of this nation lies in the hands of these young generation that we are graduating and through this partnership I can say, we have successfully grown from where we started.” Furthermore, based on the transformation that Mapex has gone through the years, has shown their commitment towards producing quality education and that comes with new and improved infrastructures. “We now have a new state of the art learning facility and that is part of our dream of being the best learning facility. Despite obstacles we faced, we produced our end result which was seeing our students graduate with flying colors.” Kara congratulated all the graduating students of 2022 and commended all hard working staff and parents for their support in making the graduation a memorable one.

Prime Minister (PM) James Marape, officially opened the East Sepik Provincial Specialist Hospital recently in Wewak, East Sepik Province. According to PM Marape, the National Government made a decision to build provincial hospitals around the country in the 22 Provinces and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. "We made that decision after COVID-19 shutdown the country and revealed to us that we had only 44 beds with inbuilt oxygen valves in the whole country. Another thing was that Health and the economy go hand in hand; therefore in 2022, we gave more funding to the health sector. "PM Marape stated that in the 2022 Budget, his government also increased funding for education infrastructure and roads that will contribute towards reducing the time people use to travel to their nearest health facilities.” Today we have more than 300 contractors working in road construction, health infrastructure development and education.” "Modern Health care is an entitlement for our people and a security for our economy." The Specialist Hospital is an asset for not only the people of East Sepik, but also the people of Papua New Guinea (PNG). In addition to that, the National Government has already allocated K15 million to start work on staff housing so that specialist doctors can be brought in to work at the hospital. The PM further added that he has brought in another K5 million for the hospital to start work on a seawall to protect the state asset from rising sea levels and another K3 million for the Provincial Government to start feasibility studies on alternate sources of energy (power) supply. Marape said that the government will now work on sourcing cheap loans to ensure all the other provinces can have hospitals that are built to standards like the East Sepik Provincial Specialist Hospital. By doing so, PM Marape said he does not want to pass on the development burden to the next generation. He also urged the people to trust that his government is not taking out loans that will make the country so indebted with no way to pay back the loan. “We getting loans to invest in infrastructures and assets like this that will carry the country.” PM Marape placed on record his acknowledgement of the contributions and work made by the former O'Neill Government on the Specialist hospital. He also thanked the contractor, VAMED, for working through challenges like during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

A total of ten students attending the University of PNG and the PNG University of Technology are the recipients of Ok Tedi Mining Limited’s (OTML) 2023 Undergraduate Scholarship Award Scheme with a funding of over K250, 000. The students who are in their third year of studies are studying various science and engineering courses. Of the ten students, three are studying Environmental Science, and Geology at UPNG while seven students are studying Applied Physics/Instrumentation, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Electrical and Communication Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mineral Processing and Mining Engineering at Unitech. The 2023 batch of awardees include five females and five males. The total amount of the two-year scholarship program is K253, 781.44 and covers the cost of their tuition fees, boarding/lodging, book allowances, travel assistance, and stipend for each student for this year. Of the total amount, K49.200 has been paid to UPNG and K204, 781.44 to Unitech. The Undergraduate Scholarship Award Scheme is an initiative of OTML to help support high performing students attending tertiary institutions in PNG. OTML Manager for Organizational Development and Training, Ian Strachan, said the Program aims to assist third-year university undergraduate students with school fees and other associated costs while ensuring OTML maintains an industry-institution relationship with respective universities that provide graduates into its training programs and workforce. “An additional component to this scholarship is the opportunity for these awardees to conduct their industrial training with OTML. It also sets a pathway for them to join our Graduate Development Program upon completing their studies.” The scholarship program is dependent on each student’s academic performance in the first year of the scholarship whereby the student must maintain a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.5 or above to continue the scholarship for a second year. Since the inception of the Undergraduate Scholarship Program in 2007, Ok Tedi has so far sponsored fifty undergraduates

PNG’s well known brand in the fashion industry, Lavagirl and Maku Gifts, will be hosting their first ever Lavagirl Xplosion Fashion Show which will take place on the 6th of May at the APEC Haus. Entrepreneur and Owner of Maku Gifts, Annette Sete, said the Runway Show will be give them the opportunity to be able to tell a story on their journey and challenges showcasing them as a homegrown business in PNG. Being the first ever runway show for Lavagirl and Maku Gifts, Sete said preparations leading to the big event, took over two years which has been budgeted for as she shared her journey towards the event as something both exciting and scary at the same time. “For this year, we decided to have a show that is particularly ours. We wanted to be able to tell a story based on our journey using a creative side and making sure that we see that Lavagirl is committed to the PNG women in particular.” Several partners have come onboard in assisting in the Lavagirl Xplosion Fashion Show with more partners to be introduced as they on with their preparations. In addition, the main objective of the Fashion Show is for Lavagirl diversity as well as to showcase their products a little bit more into driving traffic into the shops as well as diversify. “One thing we are showcasing is that it is not just about the clothing but about the creativity that Maku Gifts and Lavagirl bring to the market. It’s a mixture of fashion, as well as creative spirit we bring to the market and new items that we are planning to put out this year.” Tickets are now on sale for K300 and can be purchased at any outlets or via their Facebook page.

Papua New Guinea- Australia Partnership highlighted how Incentive Fund is contributing towards empowering women across PNG. This following the recent PNG Women’s Day which took place on the 24th of March. Through Incentive Fund Phase IV, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) - Australia Partnership is supporting women from across the country to access economic and education opportunities and to participate equally in all aspects of society. Across all Incentive Fund projects, 80% of projects are empowering women and girls. Since 2015, Incentive Fund has: • Provided livelihoods and sanitation training for over 3000 women • Worked with 17 partner organizations to improve how they include and work with women and girls, and people with disability • Upgraded or built facilities at schools, universities and other education institutions to improve quality, safety and security for women and girls accessing education, including constructing 388 new beds in female student dormitories • Renovated 3 hospitals to provide better maternity and women's healthcare, covering a service catchment area of nearly 400,000 people. • Constructed 1 new women's resource center and 1 new early childhood center • Provided new water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities to over 7600 women Australia is proud to work with partner organizations all over PNG that will create opportunities for women and girls and set a better foundation for the future.

Bilum Books are proving a valuable resource to teachers who want to foster both fluency and a love of English among their students. Rachel Damien, a teacher who has taught for fourteen years, said she was first introduced to Bilum Books six years ago in which she has found them to be of positive teaching and learning resources. “Bilum Books have helped our students to build their reading skills at an early stage, starting from Preparatory, Grade 1 and 2 and from there are then ready for Grade 3.” “The child-centered learning activities and lessons are interesting and promote good student attendance. "Because the children are interested in what we are teaching them, they come to school every day.” Ms. Damien was among 150 early grade teachers who recently undertook a three-day intensive workshop on the use of the Bilum Books texts, dictionaries, and teacher guides. The books are designed to assist teachers in teaching the National Department of Education Standard-Based Curriculum English Syllabus. The workshop also gave her the opportunity to refresh her teaching approach to English reading, comprehension, and phonics. Another teacher and participant, Agnes Kairu, explained that the training helped her to assess children individually and to identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to help assist her in preparing quality lessons. “I have taught in schools for 25 years, and I can see that Bilum Books will help young children with phonics, speaking better English at an early age and to really understand the content of English; written and spoken.” The training was facilitated by Bilum Books and supported by the NDoE through the Sandaun Provincial Education Department, with support from the Papua New Guinea and Australia Partnerships for Improving Education (PIE) Program. Similar training activities have also been completed for Central and Enga provinces as well as the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

The World Health Organization PNG recently hosted a two- day consultative workshop on the 23rd of March along with key stakeholders and partners. This was part of a process to develop the Country Cooperation strategy (CCS) for PNG for the next five-years (2024-2028). This follows on from one-on-one consultative meetings which was held recently with the National Department of Health, key development partners, donors and relevant UN agencies who work closely with WHO to help achieve the country’s health agendas. In opening the workshop, WHO PNG Country Representative, Dr. Sevil Huseynova, said the country cooperation strategy is; WHO’s strategic framework to guide the organization’s work with a country. “The WHO CCS responds to the country’s National Health and Development Agenda and identifies a set of agreed joint priorities for WHO collaboration, covering those areas where the Organization has a comparative advantage in order to assure the impact on public.” “The National Health Plan is certainly a key basis for identification of CCS priorities.” The two-day workshop was a wider group consultation process which allowed for all partners to build consensus, ownership and agree on more than three top priorities for PNG. NGOs, CSO’s and faith-based organizations were also invited to attend to provide valuable insight and feedback on priority areas. Dr. Huseynova further stated that WHO CCS would also outline how it would contribute to the attainment of outcomes in a United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) being developed for PNG, which frames the new partnership between the UN and the Government of PNG. The session had key technical officers and program leads from WHO who covered areas on Health Systems, Family Health and Social Determinants of Health, Non-Communicable disease and Mental Health, Communicable Diseases, Health emergencies, Climate change and environment. They presented based on the key achievements, challenges, lessons and also recommendations for the next five years. In addition, group sessions were also held to discuss thematic area priorities, where the findings were presented. These will set the strategic agenda for WHOs cooperation with the government of PNG. Meanwhile, Secretary for Health Dr. Osbourne Liko said he was happy to support the process and through the consultative meetings, was confident that the CCS will align very well with the National Health plan in delivering health services to the people.

City Pharmacy Limited (CPL) Group is pleased to announce the opening of our newest City Pharmacy branch in Eriku, Morobe Province. The new branch, placed conveniently in the heart of the busy suburb of Eriku, now takes the total number of City Pharmacy outlets in the Morobean Capital to three, adding to the number of branches in Top Town and Market. The opening of this new branch further strengthens City Pharmacy’s commitment in providing quality and affordable healthcare as well as wellbeing retail services to the people of Morobe and Papua New Guinea. City Phamacy Eriku was officially opened with a traditional singsing group, led by CPL Founder, Sir. Mahesh Patel, Morobe Provincial Health Authority Chairman, David Wissink and CPL staff. Sir Mahesh Patel said that in a country like Australia in terms of healthcare, a pharmacy can cater for 4,000 people and in PNG, have 70,000 people for one pharmacy. “So you see we still have a long way to go. We’ve got our nurses, pharmacists and amazing staff here to serve you now and thank you Morobe for making us feel welcome to do business here”. Meanwhile, Morobe Provincial Health Authority Chairman, David Wissink congratulated City Pharmacy Ltd on behalf of the PHA, for coming back to set up another pharmacy in Lae. “In healthcare, we’re trying to get it to where we can provide good service to the population of Morobe, and we need good partners like CPL.” The opening of City Pharmacy Eriku now brings the total number of branches in the Momase region to eight, with three being in Lae, two in Madang and one each in Vanimo, Wewak and Maprik. Customers will also be eligible to sign up and use Real Rewards Plus, CPL’s customer loyalty program at the new Pharmacy. City Pharmacy has over thirty Pharmacies across the country, strengthening the company’s vision to help Papua New Guineans live better and healthier lives.