Gisborne resident Sophie Cairns from the charity From Me has recently returned from Papua New Guinea where she and some of the team helped set up libraries at schools in the Highlands region with books donated from across New Zealand. She shared her experience with Kim Parkinson . . .

The charity From Me chose PNG as the recipient of the books because the founders, Sam and Rachel O’Connell, had lived in the country as children. Sophie Cairns also spent her childhood in Papua New Guinea where her father worked for Deloitte, which has an office there.

It took three flights to get to the Papua New Guinea settlement of Goroka.