July Update 2026
After two weeks in Australia, we arrived back in PNG on the 30th of June. The two girls are well travelled now but it is fair to say Matthew is getting to the ‘fun’ age where it is very challenging for him to stay in the same square metre for 4 hours. It was definitely an interesting flight but we managed and arrived safely in the late afternoon to some nice warm weather. It was pretty much straight back into working on our new house the next day. Johan worked a week or so by
Aug 114 min read
June Update 2026
Our June update comes a little late - We had a whirlwind month which started with two tradies, Ray & Keenan, arriving from Australia to assist with the renovation of our house. As we shared in our last update, there is a two-bedroom house at the Bible College campus in Port Moresby which we’re planning to live in for our time here. The house is on stilts which allowed us to fill in the bottom to accommodate our growing family, as well as provide us with office and homeschool
Aug 113 min read
April Update 2026
Another busy month here in PNG with plenty of things happening. At the beginning of the month Covenant Christian School (9 Mile, Port Moresby) experienced quite the transition in staffing. Two teachers handed in resignation letters at the end of March for separate reasons. Due to the training we had done last month there were available people ready to step in and the school board was able to hire two new teachers. We left for Lae around this time and Johan advised the board a
Aug 115 min read
May Update 2026
Greetings from PNG! We tried to put work in the schools on hold this month while we prepared for the renovation of our house at the Bible College. Johan bought all the hardware and timber for the work throughout the month of May and did some prep work in time for his brother and friend (both trades-men from Australia) to come in the first week of June and finish as much as they can. Our house is on stilts, and is currently a two bedroom, one bathroom which isn’t ideal for a g
Aug 113 min read
March update 2026
This month it has been great to get stuck into some training in the schools. At the beginning of March, we went up to Beretete (a village about an hour drive into the mountains) and did some board training as was requested by them. There are a number of people willing to serve in this capacity but they lacked the confidence to do it. We’ve made a very simple “Board Handbook” in Tok Pisin, which the training was largely centred around. The topics in the handbook include: -
Aug 114 min read
February Update 2026
Things have been going very this past month. The highlight was a couple of weeks ago Ada could have her cast and pins removed! She was very nervous about going back to the hospital as she had some very painful memories of going there the first time. With thanks to our heavenly Father it all went well and she was back home a couple hours later with a little jar containing two pins. Her biggest excitement about having her cast and pins removed was now she could run in the rain
Aug 114 min read
December/January Update 2026
Hello from the van den Dolders! It’s been a while since you heard from us. We spent the month of December 2025 in Australia on holiday and came back to PNG in January 2026. Because we didn’t bring our possessions from Australia in a shipping container, we used this opportunity to bring the last round of boxes and suitcases full of things we need to settle here. Our family has greatly enjoyed settling more permanently at the Reformed Churches Bible College in Port Moresby. W
Feb 265 min read
