The Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC) is proud to sponsor the Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival (KKDF) for the sixth consecutive time.

MRDC presented K50,000 to the KKDF committee to go towards preparations for the festival this year (2016).

The company has been presenting K50,000 every year since the festival started in 2011. The company’s continuous support and sponsorship to the festival will total up to K300,000 this year.

The Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival is an annual event held by the people of Kutubu in the Southern Highlands Province to celebrate the cultural and biodiversity of the region. The festival involves performers from within Kutubu, Bosavi, Samberigi, Kikori, Nipa and to some extent, the Enga communities.

The festival will showcase different cultures and traditions from the different participating groups. The main highlight will show the extraction of the digaso oil, which embodies strength, cure, power, social status and wealth in the Kutubu region.

The two-day festival will see the union of the people from Upper to Middle and Lower Kikori River with the people from the Kutubu and Erave regions. This provides an opportunity for the people to come together to celebrate, gather and exchange information.

KKDF has also put Kutubu on the world map by attracting tourist from all over the world as well as local tourists.

The festival aims to educate the people about the significance of the conserving the environment and the culture of Kutubu and also to challenge communities in the Kutubu region to embrace development through preserving their cultural identity.

This year, the festival will involve schools in the region where students will be given the opportunity to display their traditional singsing and dances.

The theme for this year’s festival; “Tingim Gut Bihain Bilong Yumi” aims to encourage the local people to recognize and value their natural environment in the present day, tomorrow and for the future generations as a means of survival.

By investing in the livelihood of the indigenous communities, MRDC has the opportunity to shift the paradigm.