Montrose, Colorado – The Papua New Guinea Tribal Foundation (Tribal Foundation) launched a campaign to keep Amelia Earhart’s legacy flying high 125 years after her birth and 85 years after her disappearance. Esther Dii, commercial pilot, flight instructor, and project manager of the US-PNG Amelia Earhart Memorial and Scholarship Fund, was born and raised in Papua New Guinea. She and the team at Tribal Foundation aim to build a memorial in honor of the pioneer aviator in the city where she was last seen – the coastal city of Lae in Papua New Guinea.
The memorial will be first and foremost a monument to Amelia’s legacy. Additionally, the Papua New Guinea Tribal Foundation has set its sights much higher – to create a scholarship fund for the women and girls of Papua New Guinea. The fundraising campaign, launches on July 2nd , with Kickstarter on the day Amelia disappeared and ends on her birthday, July 25th. The US-PNG Amelia Earhart Memorial and Scholarship Fund, will include two parts, the first is to build a statue in honor of Earhart. Secondly, the campaign and Tribal Foundation will launch a scholarship fund for women in girls in Papua New Guinea – to pursue careers in science, technology, and aviation. You can pledge to the campaign here or email contact@pngtribe.org for corporate sponsorships.
Amelia Earhart – a pioneer for aviation and women worldwide. She was the sixteenth woman to receive a pilot’s license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, and the first person EVER to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland. Amelia and copilot Fred Noonan attempted another first – to circumnavigate the globe as near to the equator as possible with the technology of the time. Yet, 85 years ago, on July 2, 1937 she departed from Lae, Papua New Guinea and was never seen again.
In 1937, Lae and all of Papua New Guinea was an Australian Territory. And although the country is known for being the most diverse in the world with more than 800 distinct languages and more than 1,000 tribes, it is also the home of engineers, entrepreneurs, and aviators like Esther. Esther’s parents were doctors in Papua New Guinea, and flew from village to village aiding those in need. At age five, Esther took her first flight, and that flight changed her life forever. When she moved to the United States, she followed in the footsteps of Amelia Earhart and took to the skies. Now, Esther and Tribal Foundation want to not only build a monument, but to also provide women from Papua New Guinea the opportunity to follow their dreams as well through the US-PNG Amelia Earhart Memorial and Scholarship Fund.
There is a public memorial to Amelia in Lae that currently stands across the street from the airfield where Amelia took off from on her final voyage. However, that memorial has been severely damaged. Staff with the United States Embassy in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, have been visiting the memorial for years and actively sought to restore it. Unfortunately, the marker cannot be rehabilitated. So, the Tribal Foundation, with critical assistance of U.S. Embassy staff, found a new site for the monument and expanded the project to provide scholarships for women and girls.
President of the Tribal Foundation, GT Bustin, also has deep roots in Papua New Guinea. Mr. Bustin was born in Papua New Guinea and moved to Lae when he was ten years old. He considers Papua New Guinea to be his home, and always vowed to one day help the people of his native country. His family moved to Florida when he was 14 years old. Mr. Bustin was always drawn to the skies and quickly earned his pilot’s license and float plane certification. While still in college, GT founded Samaritan Aviation, a floatplane operation in East Sepik, Papua New Guinea, that has saved thousands of lives though its medical missions shuttling patients to hospitals from areas where access to them was only by water. In 2009 he founded the Papua New Guinea Tribal Foundation, a Papua New Guinea and Colorado Foundation focused on leadership, anti-gender based violence, anti-sorcery accusation related violence, education, and women’s empowerment. So, naturally, the combination of his love of flight, adventure, advancement of women and Papua New Guinea made the project a perfect fit for Tribal Foundation. Tribal Foundation also has an office in Australia.
The Tribal Foundation has been working with the government of Papua New Guinea to prosecute gender-based violence offenders. The US-PNG Amelia Earhart Memorial and Scholarship Fund will further Tribal’s mission to foster leadership and empower women in Papua New Guinea.
Once funded, the new memorial will be housed on the campus of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology and serve as an inspiration to students as they enter the campus.
On his June visit to the Papua New Guinea University of Technology in Lae, Mr. Bustin said, “the memorial will serve as a reminder that with determination and courage, women can achieve any height. And the scholarship fund, which we hope will be created by generous donations from American companies and individuals, will award scholarships for PNG women and girls who want to reach even greater heights in scientific fields.”
The Papua New Guinea University of Technology and partners will break ground on the memorial site in July after a design is chosen through open competition.
The Tribal Foundation has permission to use Amelia’s name and image to promote the US-PNG Amelia Earhart Memorial and Scholarship Fund. But more importantly, Ms. Earhart’s descendants enthusiastically embrace the idea of inspiring women and girls and supporting educational opportunities.
You can pledge to part one of the campaign on Kickstarter and receive rewards for your contribution.
