Healthy Life Program

Next time you walk into an NCS dining room – keep your eye out for NCS Healthy Life Program posters on the walls and on the tables.

The Healthy Life Program has been specially designed and produced for NCS to help educate clients and staff about some very basic and simple diet and lifestyle principles that affect us all. The resources provide a balanced view of a particular topic with some practical tips on changing behaviour or habits.

The table talkers have proved particularly popular and interesting reading in English AND Pidgin.  We hope that this will also help people improve their understanding of both languages!

You may have already seen the “Water for Life” and “Fruit Facts and Tips” information over the last few months – and we are proud to present to you two new topics:  The Scary Tale of Sugar and The Good and Bad about Salt will be appearing at an NCS table near you before Christmas.

NCS’ support helps cancer awareness program on Lihir.

On the evening of 14th August, the Lihir Sports Club was awash in a pink glow as the inaugural Pink Dance was held. The Pink Dance is the first event of its kind organised by Lihir Medical Centre for the community of Lihir. It was not only a fundraising event, but it was also the official launch of the Island’s Cancer Awareness Program.

As always, NCS Catering Manager Felix Holi, and his team worked closely alongside many other members of the Lihir community to ensure that the night was a success as over 220 of Lihir’s community attended dressed in various shades of pink and feasting on an array of delicious finger food.

Graham Potter, Manager of Anitua Security asked for his personal thanks to be passed on to NCS staff at the club.

“The NCS Staff at the club were professional in every manner. The night was a huge success for both the hospital’s fundraising and all who attended. The night was only so successful due to the excellent, world class service from your company.” said Mr Potter.

“Nothing was too much for your staff and the consistent smiles on their faces showed they enjoyed the night as well. A true honour to see – ten points!” he continued.

Over 17,500 PGK was raised during the event – which will go toward implementing cancer education and awareness programs on Lihir.

ABOUT THE CANCER AWARENESS PROGRAM ON LIHIR

The need to have a cancer awareness program became evident after reviewing the LMC Women’s Health Program 2009 which identified a great need for providing education and awareness of a range of diffent kinds of cancers that affect both women and men. The aim of the program is to:

• Provide a means of education & awareness about the prevention of cancer
• Increase the number of Pap Smears and Breast Examinations ensuring early detection of cancer in women
• Promote the importance of regular testing for men for the detection of Prostate Cancer
• Other issues of awareness will be Sun Smart & Quit Smoking.

A story about a blanket donation that will warm your heart

Staff at NCS Morobe decided to donate excess blankets they had on site to hospitals and clinics in the local area in September when numbers at the site decreased, freeing up the excess items.

Goroka Base Hospital was the major beneficiary, receiving over 300 blankets. It took two 10 hour round trips in a 3 tonne truck by hospital staff to collect the blankets from the Hidden Valley and deliver them back to the hospital.

Director of Nursing Services, Ms Sonya Vano said that this donation was the first of its kind – particularly in such quantity! As Goroka has a temperate and cool climate, the blankets are very much in need and are so appreciated, particularly by patients who travel to the hospital from remote areas with little or nothing to keep them warm.

NCS’ Romeo Robinson, who was the liaison for this project, was invited to visit the hospital to see for himself that the blankets had arrived and were being put to good use. Romeo, a Goroka local, was very pleased to see how these much needed blankets were appreciated by hospital staff and patients as he was shown around the wards.

“The appreciation was all too evident with the smiles from staff and patients as I was introduced as the representative from NCS” said Romeo.

As Romeo toured the hospital, he met a vegetable supplier to NCS Raibus, Mr Silas Waromo. He was recovering in the hospital from an incident. Keeping him warm was an NCS donated blanket.

It’s great to see NCS doing such great work in the local community. Well done to Romeo and the NCS Morobe team for this initiative

NCS Meets the challenge with ADF

Once again the Australian Defence Force has called upon NCS to assist in their time of need.

Only too willing to assist, Operations Manager Mick Pye arranged for one of our finest chefs from Unitech, Paul Abagava, to head over to Igam Barracks and work alongside the chefs of the Australian Army.

Paul is grateful for the opportunity as he is learning a great deal from the Aussie digger chefs, not just about food but life in the military as well. “ I never thought I would be doing this sort of work “ said Paul

Paul is pictured with two members of the Army as they wait for their hard earned evening meal.

Celebrating 35th PNG Independence Day – Kainantu and Wau

The way we celebrated 35^th PNG Independence Day – 16 September 2010

All around Papua New Guinea, NCS people celebrated the 35^th Independence Day with great pride, joy and of course, feasting!

NCS staff had the awesome responsibility to prepare and serve a feast and a celebration – for their clients, guests and colleagues at our sites across PNG. We hope you enjoy some photos from our celebration album and a few special stories too.

Kainantu: elebration a success despite challenges

The team at Kainantu showed that they could still produce a splendid feast despite some last minute supply challenges!

“Our regular supplier of fruit and vegetables failed to supply local vegetables that resulted in my organising an early morning market run with Tex our storeman to get some supplies from the local market” said site manager Aviuah Karu

“Once we overcame those issues and a few other minor hiccups, everyone had a wonderful time. Our Independence celebrations went really well due to co-operation from all NCS staff” she continued.

NSSMTC

A happy and proud group at NSSMTC in Wau at morning tea

Celebrating 35th PNG Independence Day – Lihir style

The way we celebrated 35^th PNG Independence Day – 16 September 2010

All around Papua New Guinea, NCS people celebrated the 35^th Independence Day with great pride, joy and of course, feasting!

NCS staff had the awesome responsibility to prepare and serve a feast and a celebration – for their clients, guests and colleagues at our sites across PNG. We hope you enjoy some photos from our celebration album and a few special stories too.

Lihir: Traditional Island-style flavours for Lihir

NCS Lihir wanted to showcase the best of local flavour and style from the islands for this year’s Independence Day banquet. The dining rooms were decorated in local flora and a feast of local delicacies included lobster, mud crab, snapper and shrimp supplied by local fishermen.

Pork Mumu, kau kau and plenty of fruit and vegetables were presented in traditional palm baskets, rice was flavoured with coconut and served in small handmade palm nests, special festive breads and grand celebration cakes were baked in the brand new NCS bakery which opened only the day before.

Particular thanks go to Felix Holi and his family for the many hours of hard work making the traditional baskets for serving the feast and congratulations to all staff who worked very hard to make this

a special celebration.

Celebrating 35th PNG Independence Day – Kurumbukari & Basamuk

The way we celebrated 35^th PNG Independence Day – 16 September 2010

All around Papua New Guinea, NCS people celebrated the 35^th Independence Day with great pride, joy and of course, feasting!

NCS staff had the awesome responsibility to prepare and serve a feast and a celebration – for their clients, guests and colleagues at our sites across PNG. We hope you enjoy some photos from our celebration album and a few special stories too.

At Kurumbukari and Basamuk:

TUG OF WAR part of the challenge at KBK

An impressive array - including our people at KBK

Some time for fun and games at KBK

The Ramu NiCo mine site at Kurumbukari (KBK) came alive for NCS Raibus staff who embraced the spirit of “Meeting the Challenge – Every Day” when client MCC organised a “mini games” as part of their PNG Independence Day celebrations.

The NCS team led by cook Roger Kauken managed to not only participate, but also come in first place in the tug-of-war despite being on a tight schedule for preparing the special Independence Day feast.

Some of the games organised by MCC included: basketball and tug-of- war, for which teams from Raibus Security, MCC and SJ Construction PNG all put up strong competition.

The National dining room transformed into a jungle, adding to the celebration atmosphere for the Independence Day Feast. The transformation of the dining room was incredible with trees and plants transferred from the jungle outside – the impact was impressive as you can see!

Congratulations to KBK Site Manager Ora Tueti who worked tirelessly with the help of all staff to prepare and serve a magnificent feast AND be part of the fun and games for the day.

Celebrating 35th PNG Independence Day- Hidden Valley style

The way we celebrated 35^th PNG Independence Day – 16 September 2010

All around Papua New Guinea, NCS people celebrated the 35^th Independence Day with great pride, joy and of course, feasting!

NCS staff had the awesome responsibility to prepare and serve a feast and a celebration – for their clients, guests and colleagues at our sites across PNG. We hope you enjoy some photos from our celebration album and a few special stories too.

At Hidden Valley:Praise from the top at Hidden Valley

The following words from MMJV’s General Manager Mark Mitchell say it all – about the feast prepared at Hidden Valley.

This is to let you all know that I think everyone did have a very beautiful day yesterday to celebrate the 35^th Independence anniversary of PNG. It is good everyone has gathered in harmony to celebrate the PNG day. I am happy and very pleased to have this opportunity to work side by side with you all.

I am very thankful to NCS for making the day happen with a variety of food yesterday. That was a very top one.

I am looking forward to a continuing good social and working relationship here at Hidden Valley and in PNG.

Thank you very much.

Lihir’s world-class kitchen and dining room opens

NCS staff on Lihir celebrated with Newcrest Executives and Lihir residents at the long anticipated opening of the new dining room and kitchen complex on 1 October.

Newcrest Chairman of the Board, Don Mercer was joined by Rick Lee and Richard Knight to “do the honours” and cut the ribbon marking the opening of the facility which will be the “belly” of the island as far as food production and service is concerned.

The new kitchen and dining room has been a major project for both NCS Lihir and Newcrest (formerly LGL) with the design of the complex originally conceived in 2007.  It will primarily replace the existing three kitchens which have certainly seen better days – having been in continual use preparing meals for over 3000 people each day for last 15 years.

“This new facility will improve working conditions for kitchen staff and offer our customers even better service efficiency and comfort whilst ensuring the highest qualities in food and service as Lihir continues to grow” said NCS Lihir General Manager, John Honan.

“This is a fantastic result for NCS, bringing together all catering operations under the one roof. Catering to the needs of  residents every day is a remarkable effort by the NCS team.” said John

John went on to say that the beauty of this new facility, apart from the benefits of moving to new equipment, is now we can accommodate our resident meal production under the same roof as the bakery, butchery, vegetable preparation and functions, providing tremendous efficiencies in labour and cost management. Operationally, NCS will now be able to separate areas for various production, improving our productivity and compliance to QA Certification.

“I believe it is the best mining camp facility in the country, if not beyond.  It is equipped with state of the art equipment, fully air conditioned, ample storage and a great ambiance.” he said.

The Dining Room:

• Can currently accommodate 520 diners in one sitting
• Has two dining areas – one with air-conditioning and one al fresco
• 3 main hot servery, 2 crib areas, a cold/ sweet servery and 3 drink stations

The Kitchen contains:

• Main kitchen, butchery, bakery, pastry section
• Functions department
• Vegetable preparation area
• BBQ facilities
• Large refrigerated storage and dry storage area
• Clean up area for washing and refuse

The old kitchen and dining facilities will not go to waste. Camp 1 and 2 will be reassigned by our client for other use during busy construction phases for Newcrest projects, and camp 2 kitchens will continue to be used for Non- resident meals, equating to 180,000 meals for the month of September alone.

WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF THE NEW LIHIR FACILITIES

“It’s good to have new equipment everything is very open and easy to work with.” Policarp Katapurea (Acting Head Chef)

“Very nice bright open space makes a good working environment.” Luke Pas (Chef)

“Everything is clean and bright I am enjoying working here.”    Lucil Balaguan (New Hire second day)

“I must say congratulations on the first meal being served in the mess last night and it is indeed a pleasant environment to be dining in.” Amy Phillips, Newcrest Mining Limited – Lihir

A “family” celebration as NCS turns 17!

It was fortuitous that Anitua Executive Director Colin Vale was with NCS’ leadership team in Cairns on Thursday 14^th of October to celebrate the company’s 17^th birthday. Colin, who oversees the NCS group as Executive Director of parent company Anitua, said he considers NCS his “baby”.

“I’m very proud of NCS. I’ve seen it grow from a fledgling labour hire company to what is today – the largest hospitality company in PNG. Just like a child I’ve watched the company grow and have seen it mature into a strong robust entity that has the capacity to take on many new and exciting opportunities.” he continued.

Positioned for growth and success

Colin believes that NCS is brilliantly positioned for amazing growth in the coming years. “I’m proud of what has been achieved in the last 17 years and I’m excited at the growth opportunities.

Heipi 17^th Bondei NCS!

A Rai Coast Welcome for NCS Raibus Challenger

On Wednesday 6 October, NCS’ new 51ft steel barge named MV “NCS Raibus Challenger” took its official maiden voyage from Madang to Basamuk across Astroloble Bay. On arrival at Basamuk “The Challenger” and crew were greeted with a traditional Rai Coast welcome from community elders, dancers and the singing of the National Anthem by students from the Mindre Elementary School.

The Challenger, licensed to carry vehicles and cargo and up to 38 passengers, will be used by NCS for transport primarily to the Ramu NiCo Project Basamuk site where NCS provides catering services.