Batuna

We have a number of enterprises. Vegetables, rice and poultry are sold in Vagunu and surrounding villages. We also manage a general store, a fuel depot, a National Bank of Solomon Islands agency, and a building service. The $10,000 we make from our sales each year, helps cover the costs of running the centre, making us partly self-sufficient. Fishing, timber milling and carving also produce an income.
Most of our buildings are concrete. We have three classrooms, four workshops, a library, kitchen, dining hall, one boys' dormitory, one for girls, and seven staff houses. We have a generator for electricity and two radios for communication. Sanitation is fair - we have ablution blocks, standpipes and 10 rainwater tanks. We have two canoes with outboard motors, and the centre has its own wharf.
We have 16 staff members and can accommodate a maximum of 200 students. The European Union provides equipment for the centre. The SDA Church pays teachers' salaries. The local community helps by allowing us to use land and sea resources. Batuna is a Full Member of SIARTC.

In the early 1970s, the Church abandoned the milling industry and Batuna became a Seventh Day Adventist missionary school, before broadening into a vocational centre in 1979. Our aim is to guide young people, who have dropped out of the conventional school system, towards reclaiming their sense of belonging. They learn life skills, as well as cultural norms and values, which they can use in both rural and urban areas. Most of our students are SDA school-leavers, but students from all denominations, both male and female, are welcome. As an SDA centre, we promote health principles, which include a policy of not working on the Sabbath (Saturday), no alcohol and no smoking. Our graduates have a reputation for being reliable and hardworking, so they usually find employment quite easily. As far as we aware, Batuna is the only rural training centre in the Solomon Islands that offers a full electrician's course. We contribute a steady supply of skilled workers to our province and beyond, helping to uplift and improve the quality of life for our people.