During its year-end program the Omaura School of Ministry in Kainantu, Papua New Guinea (PNG), held a mass wedding ceremony for student couples to certify their marriage.
The ceremony was officiated by Pastor Gaza Asitore, family life ministry director of the Western Highlands Mission. Sixty-seven couples wedded and received certificates to certify and legally bind their marriage. An initiative of school chaplain Wilfred Amos, it was the first program of its kind at Omaura.
The day was a time for celebration as well as reflection on the meaning and significance of marriage. A number of couples used the event to recommit to one another and consider how they might strengthen their marriages.
PNG has very high rates of domestic violence and abandoned wives are particularly disadvantaged when their customary marriage is not recognised by the legal system. In recognition of these sad realities and in an expression of support for lifelong, monogamous marriage, Adventist leaders in PNG are keen for couples to be legally as well as customarily married.
