On March 2, the Esesson Foundation will host a fundraising event at The Commonwealth Club, in Yarralumla, for an upcoming charity healthcare trip to Papua New Guinea.

Dentist Ajitha Sugnanam set up the Esesson Foundation in the hope she could provide quality and free comprehensive healthcare to vulnerable people around the world. 

“I honestly just wanted to give back to the community, and there weren’t a lot of programs that were doing just healthcare,” says Ajitha. 

When she looked into volunteer opportunities, Ajitha says there were a lot of governance and framework limitations, and many places wanted people to pay money for the opportunity to volunteer.

“I just wanted to do it, so I set up the foundation originally to do it for myself, not for anyone else to do it with me, then people started joining me,” she says.

On March 2, the Esesson Foundation will host a fundraising event at The Commonwealth Club, in Yarralumla, for an upcoming charity trip to Papua New Guinea. 

“We chose PNG because we’ve never done anything in the region before,” says Ajitha.

“We’ve always gone to India, southeast Asia, Mexico, Africa, and it’s our region, and the safer our region is the better our relationships are and the more we can all work together, so I thought we would start doing more within our region. 

“We do work in Australia also, but we like doing work in countries that don’t have the same sort of support as Australia does.

“The fundraiser is Pacific Island themed – we’ve made a cocktail – and people can mingle and get to know each other, there’s a silent auction and a live auction, there’s entertainment, islander-themed food, there’s a drinks package for the four hours and there will be regional performances from the islands.”

Ajitha says that she and a team of 21 other people will be in PNG for one week, and will see 3000 children in that time. 

“We have a gynecologist and obstetrician coming to do female health and consultations, we have a public health physician and a team of 14 oral health professionals, so dentists and oral health therapists,” she says.

“We are going to do everything, general health, female health, public health and dentistry.

“We are all healthcare professionals that do the work and you can donate on our website. 

“Esesson prides itself on 100 per cent of its donations going straight to healthcare.

“The fundraising doesn’t go to any administrative costs, we are completely volunteer run so there’s no staff costs. 

“This is the first time we have ever spent money on marketing, and I am paying for it myself, not the foundation.”

Ajitha says that the Esesson Foundation is also ACNC registered, meaning any donations over $2 are able to get a tax-deductible receipt.

“Doing something worthwhile with my skill set for people that really need it and being surrounded by people who also want to do it, it’s a really positive environment to work in” says Ajitha.

Tickets from humanitix.com/esessson-foundation-fundraiser. More on the Esesson Foundation at esesson.org