Library & office services
At Luman Hipakoko ​HWC operates a small community library and low-cost office services such as printing and photocopying, which were previously not available locally.
Since 2019, Luman Hipakoko has provided a Flexible Open Distance Education (FODE) centre for 30-40 Haku students school leavers who could not otherwise progress beyond Grades 8, 10 or 12 due to lack of space and resources in Formal Education.
SInce 2019 HWC has received generous support from the indigo foundation, which makes it possible to pay a small allowance to HWC members for their work they do at Luman Hipakoko, contribute to maintenance costs such as fuel to operate the generator, and suport for school age students using the library. This has made a tremendous difference enabling the women to commit to working regular hours and keep services operating at Luman Hipakoko.
Agriculture Hub
The Agricultural Hub building holds a rice mill where people can mill their rice for a small fee, and a generator to operate it.The building was funded from an Australian Aid Friendship Grant and with help from Partners in International Collaborative Community Aid (PiCCA).
Backyard Farms Project
As part of the Agriculture Hub project, HWC established a demonstration garden (nursery) and gardens and in 2019 delivered a training program to help Haku people learn to grow some of their food close to their homes in the villages. This is more intensive than the traditional food gardens, which for many people are a long distance from where they live. "Backyard farm" gardens enable people to grow and harvest rice and nutritious vegetables where they live, to supplement the traditional food garden crops such as taro and sweet potato.
Backyard farms are especially important for families who are caring for someone with a disability, households headed by women and young vulnerable people. The initial training program selected participants from these groups, including 30 people with disabilities, 30 youth and 30 vulnerable women - representing 90 vulnerable farmer families.
Meri Seif Haus
The Meri Seif Haus (Women's Safe House) and Family Referral Service are key services of HWC and constitute the only service of this kind in the Haku language area. The Meri Seif Haus is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Women and children escaping family violence can access emergency shelter, counselling and referral to longer-term services. We started with a single room (below left) to shelter women in crisis. In 2020 we are constructing a new building for the Meri Seif Haus (below right), so we can shelter more families escaping violence and provide them with more comfortable and appropriate facilities. We need to raise further funds to cover the internal fitout and make essential furniture such as beds, cupboards and tables.