In memory of Betty Gali Marlpo, dear PNG friend

Our beloved friend Betty Gali Marlpo has died on March 4 in Madang, Papua New Guinea.

She collapsed last week and died in Modilon General Hospital, Madang on Monday. She was 47 years old.

Our hearts break for her husband, Joe, and her three beautiful children - Tara, Oliver and Denzel, who is only 5.

Betty was a devoted and highly educated community development worker, exactly the kind of person that PNG needs.

She was a champion of women and the underprivileged and held roles within the Anglican Church of PNG as the PNG Church Partnership Program Coordinator, with the PNG Department of Community Development, and most recently with Divine Word University in Madang.

In 2014, Betty won an Australian Development Scholarship, supporting her to travel to Adelaide with her family to study a Masters of Public Administration (Policy) at Flinders University.

I first met Betty in 2011 when I started working at the Anglican Board of Mission as PNG Coordinator. Betty was my PNG counterpart and she was such a pleasure to work with. Funny, kind, thoughtful, dedicated to her work and also to her kids, she was a few years older than me and someone I looked up to.

She even stayed with my parents when she visited Melbourne for work, and they loved her just as much as I did. For years afterwards she would ask me 'How's Mum?' in reference to my own mother :)

We shared an amazing trip to Simbai in 2012, attending a literacy graduation and seeing hundreds of people from the Ramu valley, mostly women, proudly receive certificates.

As well as a proud mother, devoted wife, supportive aunty and loving daughter, Betty was a leader and an educated professional woman who earned an income for her family, an income which will be greatly missed by them all.

Please give what you can - all funds raised will go to support Betty's family in PNG.

In memory of Betty Gali Marlpo, our beloved sister from PNG