Iruupi, like every place you’ve never been

Typical Iruupi village house

Papua New Guinea today remains one of the most culturally-diverse and unexplored nations on the planet.
Scattered inland are many small villages, each group practicing their own native tongue and traditions, eking out a living from the surrounding land.
Travel to the remote village of Iruupi, Western province, and you will have to be prepared to do lots of walking.
To travel to Iruupi, you have to fly in to Daru Island, and then be prepared to make a crossing back to the mainland on a fiberglass dinghy.
Despite the short crossing, with a heavily-laden boat, it can be quite treacherous at times when winds make for heavy seas.
Once across the strait, the dinghy sets a course adjacent to the mainland shore along the beach and an extensive coastal coconut grove comes into view, the subject of a fierce land dispute between Badu-suki tribe and others for centuries.
The dinghy gives the mouth of the Fly River a wide berth, paying respect to its strong currents before again trekking close to the shore, and to the mouth of the Kura River about 30 minutes later.
From here the 5 to 8km journey along the Kura is much slower, low tides necessitating care is exercised in negotiating fallen trees, sand banks, the occasional goanna and keeping an ever-present watch for a disgruntled crocodile.
Finally, it reaches the landing point Lani, the mangroves and palms along the muddy riverbanks giving way to grassland and a few of the ubiquitous gardens that would later become evident.
From Lani is a narrow marsh road to Iruupi village.
A short walk by village standards, some 5-6km, weaves through overgrown grasses, bamboo forests, swamps, marshes, and surprisingly, many eucalypts.
For the people of the village, every tree, every scratch in the dirt and ever tract of water is inextricably linked to some significant story or event.
Traversing a waist-deep small swamp reveals the first sighting of traditional Iruupi houses – bamboo constructions on the outskirts of the village, supported by poles with an under storey platform where inhabitants can gather away from the heat of the day, each distinctively different in those erected in other provinces through Papua New Guinea.
Upstairs are verandahs, bedrooms and a traditional kitchen – the timber strutted floors covered with woven mats to maximise comfort (in Daru, many of the more ‘westernised’ pre-fabricated houses still have a traditional bamboo kitchen erected at the rear).
In the main village, houses are erected around the periphery, enabling the central areas to be used as common meeting, play and performance areas.
Villagers do all the hunting, cooking, washing and other chores, leaving visitors idle to simply enjoy the surroundings.
Villagers tend to their gardens each day, rich with taro, bananas, greens, melons, pineapple and other fruits planted for harvesting in the dry season.
Skilled hunters meant there is a ready supply of deer, wild pig, wallaby and cassowaries.
These will be brought back to the village strung over bamboo poles, while hunting implements are carried in a free hand.
Kupilute is a large lagoon, believed to be sourced by a well of unknown depth in the middle, and linked to creation stories of the Bewani people.
It is believed the well forms the basis of a tunnel that goes all the way to the Australian mainland.
When diving for fish, prawns or lobster in the lagoon, locals skirt the edges, fearful of an encounter with Sapi-dade, a dreaming spirit.
Paying homage to the spirits in the appropriate way ensures there is a plentiful supply of seafood.
Yet another walk to a place called Imbade reveals a broad and pristine river that must be crossed in a dugout canoe or outrigger to reach the village of Masingara, home of warring tribes and family of the Badu-suki tribe of Iruupi village, some 2-3 hours away.
Most nights are filled with exotic and traditional dance in preparation for an upcoming event.
Pointing the torch to the lagoon beyond the washhouse reveals the red eyes of a crocodile, each night keeping watch.
For the people of the village, a simple taro or coconut is treated as a prize, yet readily shared among others, to ensure no one goes without.
Each and every person is proud of and well-schooled in their culture and identity, benefiting from an almost unspoiled existence with limited contact with the white people, in contrast to some of the major centres where the negative effects of colonisation and decolonisation, subsequent to Independence, can be observed.
In leaving the village for the long walk to Lani, through a procession of well-wishers and tearful souls, one can enjoy the breathtaking scenery.
At Lani, it is last goodbyes, the sun poking through and the promise of a return in the future to renew special bonds, as the dinghy heads for the open sea.
Minji, Mamne, Ato!

An exciting new Papua New Guinea Blog

My good friend and writer TIRI KUIMBAKUL now has his own Blog at this address http://tirikuimbakul.blogspot.com/.

Have a look at this Blog to see what books he has on offer as well as what else he is writing about.

A good day to you all.

Malum

Daru on the verge of something good

Canoes in Daru. -Picture by MALUM NALU

Daru is a place that has to be seen to be believed.
Wherever there is a large tidal range, it is usual to find at low tide mud flats, rock pools and a general air of desolation.
True, at Daru, there are mud flats and rock pools.
But desolation is not the word for the waterfront of the capital of Western province.

Every day, outboard motor-powered dinghies and sailing canoes come in from outlying villages.

The passengers are coming to town for a variety of reasons: those from nearby villages may be coming to work – an idyllic way to travel, provided there is a favorable breeze and no rain squalls; others may be bringing their produce to market.
Not that they are likely to do a booming trade – but it gives them a good chance to chinwag with their friends while waiting for a sale.
And then there is the entrepreurial class: fishermen with barramundi catches, prawns, lobsters, sea cucumber, or live dugongs and turtles for cutting up and sale at the water’s edge; farmers with pigs, again for sale on the beach.
Several canoes are anchored semi-permanently on the mudflats, floating homes at high tide.
There are no elaborate cabins on them, just a sail thrown tent fashion over the boom.
More permanent boat homes have sago palm roofs.
No one worries about privacy on the mud flats of Daru.
The town still has that frontier feeling from the colonial days still about, as I found out last week.
It is a place of fishermen, traders, crocodile shooters, conmen, smugglers, and so on.
Australia, specifically the Torres Strait islands, is closer to Daru than Port Moresby and the drug trade proliferates.
Things are pretty slow here and the people seem to be too busy chewing buai, smoking, chatting and drinking away than to cut the tall grass all over town.
That dismal image, however, may change soon with the development of the Daru Port.
Air Niugini is also looking at restoring Dash 8 services to Daru to compete with Airlines PNG.
Indeed, Daru is on the verge of greater things.

A tribute to my wife

At our house in Goroka, 1999

In life, my wife, Hula, often talked about the natural Eden-like beauty of her remote Iruupi village in the Western province, just across the Torres Strait from Australia.
We had talked many times about visiting Iruupi during our 10 years together, however, this was not to be.
My dear wife told me many-a-time of the natural beauty of Iruupi – a virtual Garden of Eden - with its waterways, barramundi, prawns, deer, wild pig, wallaby, cassowaries, taro, bananas, greens, melons, pineapple and other fruits.
She implored me to go and write a feature article of the place and take pictures of its breathtaking scenery.

Sadly, this would never be, as my beloved wife passed away so suddenly and tragically at Daru hospital on Easter Sunday, March 23, so far away from me and our four young children Malum Jr (7), Gedi (6), Moasing (3), and baby Keith (9 months) in Port Moresby.
Hula had been suffering from suspected post-natal complications following the birth of Keith last June.
She visited Iruupi to be with family, however, in the process, fell ill and was admitted to Daru hospital on Easter Saturday, but died the next day, leaving behind a broken-hearted husband and four young children.
Memories of another day came swirling in my mind as I struggled to come to terms with the reality that Hula, who was only 31 years of age, would never grow old with me and watch our four wonderful young children grow up.
My thoughts went back to 1998 in Lae, when I met the most-beautiful woman I had ever seen, and fell head-over-heels in love with her.
Hula, who was then living in Australia with her uncle and auntie, was in Lae for holiday when I first courted her and would not take ‘no’ for an answer.
We started dating, and our love blossomed, to the point that she left for Australia with the promise that she would be back to live with me as my wife.
Towards the end of 1998, I secured a job with the Coffee Industry Corporation in Goroka, and Hula joined me in early 1999.
We had a big three-bedroom house at the Rotary Park in West Goroka, with a big backyard and garden, and life was a dream to a young couple like us.
We’d roll on the grass like children, grow our own vegetables, take long walks along the streets of Goroka, go to market, have long lunches at the Bird of Paradise Hotel followed by a dip in the pool, lie in the park at the airport watching planes land, and catch a PMV or take a long drive to Lae as I pointed out places of interest to Hula.
Yes, indeed, life was a wonderful, carefree dream for us star-crossed lovers.
We were active members of the St John’s Lutheran Church at West Goroka, with Hula being a member of the church choir, and I have so many fond memories of watching her practice and then walking back home with our hands around each other on those cold Goroka nights.
Hula’s radiant personality and friendliness won us so many friends among the people of Goroka.
In early 2000, she became pregnant, and on Saturday, November 4, 2000, I held her at the Goroka Base Hospital and cried after she gave birth to our first son Malum Jr.
We regaled in the joy of becoming parents and enjoyed every minute of Jr growing up at our new home at North Goroka.
Our second son, Gedi, was also born in Goroka on February 13, 2002.
The laid-back lifestyle of Goroka, however, was to end later in 2002 when the CIC underwent a major retrenchment exercise in which about 75% of its staff, including me, was laid off.
We moved to the big smoke of Port Moresby, and although life was good, we never quite got to enjoy the privacy and happiness we once had in Goroka.
Hula, being the good wife that she was, stuck with me through thick and thin.
We were blessed with a third child, a girl named Moasing after my mother, in August 2004 and she brought so much joy to our hearts.
Keith came along last June to complete our hat-trick of boys and complete our basketball team.
At the end of last year, when my three-year contract was up, I decided – after consultation with Hula – to move on to The National where we both believed I could contribute more to the country.
To mark the occasion, we family celebrated by booking a room at the Holiday Inn, where we ate and drank as much as we wanted to.
At the beginning of this year, Hula started complaining of burning sensations in her body, which doctors said was heartburn brought about by child birth.
She was put on medication, however, the sensations continued, by which time Hula insisted that she go home to her village in Iruupi.
I tried to stop her, as she was due for an internal scan and x-ray, however, she would not be moved and flew to Daru, with a relative of hers as babysitter to take care of our children in Port Moresby.
I would never see her alive again.
On Easter Monday, my daughter Moasing and I traveled to Daru with Hula’s coffin, helped to dress her up, I kissed her for the last time, and it was homeward bound on the dinghy hearse for Iruupi.
I held Moasing and cried all the way from Daru Island to Iruupi on the mainland, as all those charming places Hula had told me so many times about, came into view.
We buried her the next morning, next to her beloved father, amidst a throng of mourners.
Before I very reluctantly let her off to Daru, Hula held me, and told me: “Darling, I love you very much.
“ If I do not come back, I want you to take the children to Church every Sunday, and to make sure that they all go to university, because I never went to university.”
I know Hula is in God’s arms, away from all the evil of this earth, and will do everything I can to honour her memory.
Minji, Mamne, Ato!

Death of my beloved wife

It is my sad duty to inform all you readers of this Blog of the untimely death of my beloved wife, Hula Debe Nalu, in Daru on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008.



Hula had been suffering from suspected post-natal complications following the birth of our fourth child, Keith, last June.



She visited Daru to be with family, however, in the process feel ill and was admitted to Daru hospital on Easter Saturday, but died the next day, leaving behind me and four broken-hearted young children.



She was laid to rest at her Irupi village on Tuesday, March 25.



I was away for a week because of this totally-unexpected tragedy which has befell me, and returned to Port Moresby on Saturday, March 29.



Please think of me and my four young children, as well as our beloved wife and mother, in your prayers.



Hula is pictured above giving a seesaw to our one and only daughter Moasing.



Good Bless You All!

Young men with An ICT vision

Anyone familiar with computers will know the famous stories of the enterprising young men who started Google and Yahoo in the USA.

That, however, is not a far-fetched dream.

What started off as a dream started off by a group of visionary young computer students at the University of Papua New Guinea has now become a thriving business.

Itel (PNG) Microtech is a young new Information and Communications Technology (ICT) company started by young graduates of UPNG, which specialises in removing computer viruses.

It was founded as a student academic group at the UPNG Waigani campus in 2006 by Panu Kasar, a young man of Madang and Morobean parentage, doing IT Services of PC repairs, printing, scanning and computer virus removal.

It was a group which consisted of students of the Electronic Computing Strand. The aim was to start a business of the same name after completing studies.

It was initially started as Itel PNG, IT for information technology and EL for electronics.
So strong was the desire to start business, however, after completing school, all members went their own ways, due to the hardships in life faced outside the campus, leaving only Kasar.

Having determination and courage of starting the business, which he initiated, he pursued the dream, while everyone who knew, were watching to see if he would still continue with the idea or give up.

Giving up would be an insult to him, so against all odds, he struggled all through 2007, putting up notices on public notice boards and doing part-time freelance jobs.

By then, he had saved enough money which enabled him to purchase more equipment.

He also registered the business and opened a bank account within the same year.

He was then ready to provide competition to existing firms and realise his dream of being founder of his very own IT firm.

Upon registration with IPA, the business was registered as Itel (PNG) Microtech in 2007.

Business started at a residential house at Waigani until November 2007, when an office space was sought at Five-Mile.

More equipment was purchased including new computers for the business.

With the new office, the client base increased, which saw contracts obtained from new business partners.

Four new members added extra manpower to the business, giving strength and hope to the new business.

“It took a year to fully experiment and carefully test the IT industry before drawing up marketing strategies,” Kasar says.

“The boys had decided to focus at a more specific area than general IT.

“Using the Itel (PNG) Microtech banner, we initiated The PC Clinic to specialise in Computer Virus Removal and Scanning.

“It is sort of a PC Pest Control Service; it became one of the first to fully specialise in that field of IT, that is, virus removal.

“During our one year of experimenting, we tested all sorts of viruses and made a tally of them.

“From these, we were able to purchase specific software, removal tool and fixes for each viral threat.

“We even went as far as infecting our own computers and stayed up all night to figure the counter active measures through careful study of their behavior patterns and symptoms.

“With each exposure, we have gained invaluable knowledge and experience in this specific field, and it is our dream to become the ‘best’ as the years go by.

“This service is in great demand, due to the increase in PC users in Port Moresby.

“Latest threats identified by The PC Clinic are the destruction of data by a virus known as infostealer aka W32.Gammina.

“This virus hides all data in the flash USB disc, making files inaccessible.

“The files exist but they become hidden for the user to access.

“This has caused frustration to the point that the user formats the USB drive, destroying all the data present.

“The PC Clinic provides solutions to this through data recovery techniques.

“This problem has caused businesses in Port Moresby millions of kina in the second half of 2007.”

“The PC Clinic’s basic services are:

PC virus detection, removal and monitoring;
Anti virus software installation
LAN firewall configuration;
Data recovery from USB and external drives;
PC Boot failure repairs from infections; and
Anti virus software definition updating.

The PC Clinic has established business ties with various government departments as well as business houses.

It monitor their systems on a monthly basis, updating their anti virus software and checking their infection rates.

Apart from The PC Clinic, other services are also provided such as website designing, basic PC repairs, database designing and management.

“Our aim is to further the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ by supporting Ministry,” Kasar reveals.

“We believe in ourselves and want to become role models for upcoming PNG businessmen and women in the technological industry.

“It is our desire to tell Papua New Guineans that all success is a result of hard work and nothing comes free.

“Lazy people have no place in this country!

“ If only Papua New Guineans stop criticising and start doing what they were born to do, this nation would rise up to the competitive global arena.

“It’s not about money but simply doing what you were born to do, excelling in it thus fulfilling the purpose of your life by helping others”.

The PC Clinic Crew can be contacted on telephone 325 8912 or 6890616 or72072701 and email http://us.f529.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=pkasar@mail.com .

Their service is on the spot and available 24 hours a day.

mnalu@thenational.com.pg

An ICT revolution in PNG

A quite revolution is taking place in Papua New Guinea which promises to bring about massive development to our beloved country.

This is the development of what is known as PNGARNet, short for Papua New Guinea Academic and Research Network, which is being spearheaded by our universities, in particular the Divine Word University in Madang.

PNGARNET, set to be launched next month, is a company wholly-owned by the PNG Vice-Chancellors Committee.

PNGARNET was formed with the express purpose of facilitating the efficient cost-effective delivery of Internet services to Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) and research in PNG so that PNG tertiary students can receive a world-class education.

Potentially, all those organisations, which are part of the Office of Higher Education (OHE) in PNG, can become involved in PNGARNET.

In its initial and start-up phase, the original formation group of the PNG universities is spearheading the development.

The Universities of PNG are either state-funded or non state-funded.

The state-funded universities are University of Goroka, University of Papua New Guinea, University of Technology and Vudal University.

The non state-funded universities are Divine Word University and Pacific Adventist University.
These six universities are the founding institutions of PNGARNET along with National Research Institute (NRI) and National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI).

PNGARNET is providing efficient Internet resources to its members through a satellite Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN).

The typology of PNGARNET attempts to provide each member institution with complete institutional integrity as well a provide potentials for intercommunications.

At Divine Word University in Madang last weekend, I was able to see for myself initial work on this exciting project, which promises to bring about untold development.

PNGARNET was formed three years ago by the OHE and its stakeholders, the six universities, with DWU’s visionary president Father Jan Czuba appointed as chairman to commence dialogue with Telikom and PANGTEL.

“The benefits will be tremendous,” Fr Czuba said in an interview.

“The whole approach to teaching and learning in PNG will change.

“Having access to information will significantly reduce the cost of higher education.

“Instead of flying in professors, they can teach using video conferencing.

“To improve our quality of higher education, we need to have resources, which are very expensive.

“The PNGARNET will allow have student to have access (to these resources).

“That’s a huge advantage.

“It will open up new opportunities for PNG students, with unlimited access to universities in US, Australia and New Zealand.”

Fr Czuba said ARNET had the full backing of Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and his Ministers.

The PNGARNET system is designed around a VLAN implemented through satellite technology.
It is designed to help answer the challenge that the universities of PNG offer a quality education to PNG citizens.

The third PNG National Educational Plan offers the challenge that the universities provide a world class education to its citizens.

This plan presumes that PNG tertiary students will be able to access the learning resources that are commonly provided via Internet connections, thus, PNG students must become world learners.

PNGARNET will employ satellite technology to link the universities of PNG to each other and to the World Wide Web.

To achieve this linkage, PNGARNET provides the infrastructure to coordinate the satellite system.

PNGARNET enables the satellite dishes to coordinate with central servers, which happen to be installed at this point in time, in Hong Kong.

The company, PNGARNET, also provides the central skill base in order to train staff for each institution.

PNGARNET is designed to not limit the independence of any university and to maximise the skill sharing for all universities.

The vision of PNGARNET is that this satellite link will connect all the institutions of higher education in PNG.

This linking will take time, and in the first stages, the major partners are all the universities of PNG, NRI and NARI.

It is hoped that other institutions of higher education will join the scheme as funding becomes available, as they grow in confidence in the scheme, and as the scheme matures into benefits for PNG tertiary students.

It is also anticipated that other schemes will evolve, similar to PNGARNET, for higher education.
It is hoped that hospitals and secondary schools might also develop similar projects to enhance their provision of services and to better attain their goals.

PNGARNET has the mission to provide efficient, cost-effective Internet to institutions of higher education in PNG.

The objectives of PNGARNET are simple ones.

These objectives are to offer PNG higher education institutions increased bandwidth that is reliable, cost effective and of a bandwidth suitable to be educationally advantageous.

At the same time, PNGARNET seeks to maintain and promote institutional independence and encourage collaboration.

Further, PNGARNET seeks to develop skills and ICT capacities in all its institutions by enabling skill-sharing, inter-institution training, and bringing new skills sets into play.

As these possibilities are exploited and used in daily teaching and administration tasks, then the goals of PNGARNET are being achieved.

Chandana Silva, ICT manager of DWU, and his team have collated the equipment needs of the major initial PNGARNET partners.

The equipment including satellite dishes, antennae and Block Up Converters (BUCs) – a device used in the transmission of satellite signals - for the sites of the PNGARNET partners has been sourced mainly from China.

The coordination of this equipment has been a large undertaking.

Mr Silva is in Hong Kong this week to commission the PNGARNet set-up there in time for the launch next month.

All over this increasingly-globalised world, a massive Information Revolution is taking place as economies use ICT as a passport to what economists call the “New Economy”.

Papua New Guinea will continue to remain light years behind the rest of the world if we do not jump on the ICT bandwagon in this globalised world.

Access to Internet, adequate infrastructure, human capacity building and appropriate policies on ICT are central issues in addressing the digital divide.

Success in this globalised world is predicated on ICT knowledge and successful knowledge-based economies will be based on the efficient and widespread use of ICT by all sectors within any given country.

ARNET is indeed a giant step in the right direction for Papua New Guinea.

Kuimbakul writes another bestseller

I was pleasantly surprised this week to receive a visit from my good friend, writer and former colleague at the Coffee Industry Corporation in Goroka, Tiri Kuimbakul.

He came into my office at The National after collecting five samples of his new book, Young Money, which were hot off the press at The National’s sister company, Star Printers.

It is expected to be launched later this month by none other than the country’s most-prolific book author and Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane.

It includes a foreword by Samuel Tam, founder of the famous Personal Viability Programme, and is a huge vote-of-confidence in the book.

The excited Kuimbakul handed me one of the first copies of Young Money, which like its predecessor Success after Graduation, is destined to become a runaway bestseller in Papua New Guinea.

Young Money basically touches on what working class people need to know and do to achieve financial independence and freedom.

If you have been academically bright or are professionally successful, does that necessarily mean that you are financially successful?

According to this book, the answer is NO!

But everyone, including you, can succeed financially.

Here is what you need to know and do to achieve financial independence and freedom.

In order to succeed in the area of personal finance, you need to budget your money, know what are needs, wants, assets and liabilities, avoid bad spending habits (such as betelnut, cigarettes, alcohol and poker machines), control your cashflow, save and invest (rather than continue to borrow money from the ‘money market’ down the road).

This book covers all these and more, and has been written with your financial success in mind.
In 21st Century Papua New Guinea, or wherever you may be reading from, financial success is so vital that if you fail financially, you fail in every other area of life.

Think about that!

Every other area of your life is influenced by how much money you earn and what you do with it.
This book is about what you do with your money.

If you apply the common-sense advice in this book, you will succeed where 95% of working class people have failed all over the world.

“I wrote this book in view of the fact that many people are struggling financially,” Kuimbakul tells me.

“Most are living in debt.

“What I found out is that it’s not because we don’t earn enough.

“This may be true in some aspects, but generally, what people earn is sufficient, but the problem is management.

“I wrote the book to help working people manage their personal finances.

“That’s what I want to get across to the people.

“It’s not how much you earn that matters, what matters is what you do with what you earn.
“Financial success is so vital that if you fail financially, you fail in every other area of life.

“This book is also timely because of the recent concerns expressed by the government, through the chief secretary, over attempts to stop public servants borrowing from finance companies and informal money lenders, or what you call ‘loan sharks’.”

Kuimbakul’s first book Success after Graduation has become a runaway bestseller since its launch in November 2006.

Since the launch of the book – aimed at young people in general – hundreds of copies have been sold all over the country.

And his star has continued to rise since the launch, with interviews with both local and overseas media; a weekly newspaper column for young people; and meeting many people personally and through an avalanche of emails, faxes, letters, and telephone calls.

This was all something new for the quietly-spoken layman pastor.

“When I first came upon the idea of writing books sometime in July 2005, I did not know what lay ahead of me,” he reflects.

“It has been like launching out into deep waters not knowing what will happen.

“It has really been a journey of faith.

“And I have met so many people I would never have known had I not written this book, many through correspondence.

Kuimbakul, 42, is from Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands, however, graduated with an honours degree in economics from University of Papua New Guinea in 1988.

Kuimbakul has worked as an economist with the Department of Agriculture & Livestock (1989-1990); assistant Export Manager with Coffee International Limited (1991-1992); economist and general manager of Industry Affairs Division, Coffee Industry Corporation (1993-1999); export Manager with Kongo Coffee Limited (2000); and freelance consultant (2001-2008)

He currently manages coffee marketing projects, advises community development associations, does church work, writes and publishes books, conducts seminars, and speaks to students and young people when he gets the opportunity.

Young Money was actually completed last year and was supposed to have been printed then but this was put off by a year.

“My third book is titled ‘Be Your Own Boss’,” Kuimbakul continues.

“It’s aimed at motivating people or readers, especially students and unemployed youth, to go into business for themselves.

“I’m trying to relate all these books to one another.

“My plan is to have 10 books out by the end of 2010.

“These books will cover how people can succeed in school, professionally and financially.

“I’m writing four other books aimed at empowering students to do well.

“From these four books, I have developed a workshop which I’m calling Academic Excellence Workshop.

“This workshop will take students through areas such as goal setting, time management, note taking, revision, preparation for exams, etc.

“This workshop will be conducted during school holidays.”

Young Money. By Tiri Kuimbakul. Published by SECOS Books. Goroka, 2007. 180 pages. ISBN 9980-86 -038-3. K60.Phone/fax: (675) 7323950. Mobile: (675) 6880033. Email: secos@global.net.pg .

History being rewritten with Bulolo Airport

Many people who have been long fascinated by the story of the gold rush days of the 1930’s, feel that history is being rewritten with the re-opening of the Bulolo Airport.

The greatest airlift the world had ever known started from Lae to the Bulolo goldfields in the 1930s.

Built in June 1930, originally the Bulolo strip was 1,150 yards by 120 yards.

Later it was expanded to 1,300 yards in length, covered with grass.

This airstrip was used in conjunction with flying supplies and equipment for gold dredging at Wau and Bulolo.

On January 21, 1942, Japanese Zeros and bombers attacked Bulolo.

At Bulolo, they set fire to three of the Junkers G31 tri-motors on the ground, destroying them.
Gold dredging work ceased as most of the men employed entered military service.

Five days, later, on February 5, 1942, Bulolo was bombed at 11am by five twin-engine bombers.

The discovery of gold at Edie Creek above Wau in 1926 sparked off a gold rush which led to the exploitation of the rich deposits of the Bulolo-Watut river system by large-scale mechanised mining.

The rigours and cost of the eight-day walk into the goldfields and the difficulty of building a road from the coast led to the early introduction of an aviation service.

The driving force behind the development of the goldfields was Cecil J. Levien, a former Morobe District Officer, who has been described as a “rare and formidable combination of opportunist, practical man and visionary”.

Levien persuaded the directors of Guinea Gold N.L. that startling profits would be made by any aviation company that could provide a service to eliminate the arduous walk between Salamaua and Wau.

He secured an option on a small DH-37 plane in Melbourne and engaged a pilot, E. A. “Pard” Mustar, to bring it to New Guinea.

The aviation service was a success from the start.

After two unsuccessful flights around the mountains south of the Markham no one knew exactly how to find Wau from the air.

Mustar landed at Wau for the first time on April 16, 1937.

He began the service the next day with a shipment of six 100 lb bags of rice, charging a shilling a 16, and, making two trips a day, five days a week, carried 84 passengers and 27, 000 lbs of cargo in the first three months.

Rival aviation companies were not long in arriving to share the profits.

Ray Parer, the proprietor of Bulolo Goldfields Air Service who had been competing keenly with Mustar to be the first to land at Lae, came from Rabaul after many delays, and A. “Jerry” Pentland and P. “Skip” Moody soon joined them.

There was ample business for all, and by April 1928, a year after the service began, Guinea Airways (the aviation company that grew from Guinea Gold N.L.) had acquired two extra planes and was employing three further pilots and two more mechanics.

Then in March 1929 a new company, Morlae Airlines, began a weekly Lae-Port Moresby run, meeting ships from Australia and bringing passengers and frozen foods across to Wau, Bulolo, Salamaua and Lae.

At first Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd and its parent company, Placer Development Ltd, had thought of building a road to the goldfields, but the length of time it would take and the high cost of construction and maintenance persuaded the companies to accept Guinea Airways' proposition that “skyways are the cheapest highways”.

On the advice of Mustar, Bulolo Gold Dredging purchased three all-metal, tri-motored Junkers G-31 aircraft from Germany, which Guinea Airways was to operate under licence for the gold mining company.

Guinea Airways also purchased a Junkers G-31 of its own.

They were huge planes, each capable of carrying a payload of 7100 lbs or 14 short tons together.

The airlift began in April 1931 and continued for eight years: the first dredge began work in March 1932, the eighth in November, 1939.

Another crane at the airstrip lifted the heavy machinery into the planes and a rail crane unloaded them at Bulolo.

Eventually operations became so efficient that nine round trips a day were possible.

The airlift was a remarkable undertaking.

It pioneered the use of aviation in the transport of heavy cargo and, in the words of one writer, “in every respect it constituted a world record”.

Preserving Port Moresby’s WW11 history

SOMETIME last year, a friend of mine asked me to be a tour guide for a retired American WW11 veteran, who is also a bit of a history buff.

The old American wanted to be shown all the prominent WW11 sites around Port Moresby, war relics, Bomana war cemetery, as well as the start of the Kokoda Trail at Owers’ Corner.

To prepare for the job, I had to be well-versed in the WW11 history of Port Moresby, so I brought down all my old books down from the shelves, made notes, as well as searched the Internet.

The big day came, and I showed the US veteran such places as Burns Peak, Paga Hill and the wreck of the Macdhui near Tatana Island before we hit the highway bound for Bomana war cemetery and Owers’ Corner.

We made a brief stop at what used to be the site of Schwimmer Drome at Laloki, on the banks of the great river of the same name, where we inspected all the WW11 relics at an impromptu war museum run by Gulf man Thomas Richard Auhava.

By 1944, Port Moresby had six airfields, one of which was Schwimmer.Jackson was the largest of these, and was named after Australian ace pilot John Jackson, leader of RAAF Squadron 75, who was killed in a dogfight against Japanese planes over Port Moresby on April 28, 1942.

The wartime airfields were Kila Drome (3-Mile) airfield for fighters and bombers; Ward Drome (5-Mile) airfield for heavy bombers and transport planes; Jackson (7-Mile) main airfield still in use today; Berry Drome (12-Mile) fighter and medium bomber base near Bomana; Schwimmer (14-Mile) fighter and medium bomber base; Durand (17-Mile) fighter and medium bomber base; Rogers (Rarona, 30-Mile) fighter and medium bomber and Fishermen’s (Daugo) emergency landing strip on offshore island.

Schwimmer Drome, according to various airmen who served from it, was the “eye and mind” of the 1942-1945 Pacific War, because it was from here that aerial surveillance missions of Japanese positions were made.

The US airmen forming the 8th Photo Squadron commanded by First Lieutenant Karl Polifika, a Russian, first landed at Schwimmer on May 2, 1942, and flew from Schwimmer until July 27, 1944, when the squadron moved to Durand Strip.

There are also other squadrons from the US Air Force like 435th Bomb Squadron, 3rd Attack Group assigned to do fragmentation bombing, 43rd Bomb Group assigned to do long-range bombing missions, 39th Fighter Group and 9th Fighter Group.

Mr Auhava has, over the years, been collecting the numerous war relics in and around the site of the old Schwimmer Drome in a labour-of-love.

He is fighting a lonely battle against scrap metal hunters and dealers, who without any scruples, do anything to get an extra buck.

This week, he brought a proposal to the National Museum and Art Gallery in Waigani, Port Moresby, for funding to set up a proper museum.Mr Auhava has been living at Laloki for the last 20 years and knows every nook and cranny in the area.

“Over the years,” says the former PNG Defence Force soldier, “I’ve been collecting these war relics and I’ve been featured in newspapers.

“Because of this media publicity, tourists started visiting, and I’ve decided to start a proper museum.

“The proposal for the museum has been signed by the landowners already and will be handed over to the National Museum.

”The war relics include human bones, helmets, dog tags, tools, hand grenades (defused), bombshells, bullets, coins, jerry cans, 1940’s Coca-Cola bottles and assorted paraphernalia.

One of the prized possessions of the collection is the remains of the plane of Australian air ace, John Jackson, after whom Port Moresby’s famous Jackson’s International Airport is named.

Jackson crashed on the hills overlooking Laloki after a heroic dogfight against Japanese fighters.

Mr Auhava, originally from Iokea village in Gulf province, is a self-taught historian and is a walking encyclopaedia as I found out.

“History is very important,” he extols.

“This generation, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to know anything about the war.

“Historical sites like Schwimmers should be preserved for educational purposes, tourism, etc.

“These relics should be preserved and protected.

“Scrap metal vendors are getting their hands on these war relics.

“If we lose these war relics, we lose history.

“People are just taking them out and selling them to scrap metal dealers.

“I decided to bring them all to one place and take care of them.

“After that, I began to find out about the place itself, its history.

“I borrowed some WW11 books from a historian and did research.

“I realised that it (Schwimmers) was a WW11 US airbase.”

According to Mr Auhava’s proposal to the National Museum, a museum built under the name ‘Schwimmer War Museum’, would be a fitting tribute to the thousands of Americans and Australians based in Port Moresby during WW11.

It would focus on history, war surplus material protection, a site for educational excursions and a shrine for the future generations.

It would also protect war relics from being sold to unscrupulous scrap metal dealers and would promote community tourism values.

“I’m submitting a proposal to the National Museum to see if they can gurantee a budget for the (Schwimmer) museum, because these relics are State property which I’ve been protecting,” Mr Auhava said.

“The government talks so much about war surplus materials, and yet, they are not putting their money where their mouth is.

“Looking after these relics is hard work, for which I’m not paid.”

Ramu Agri-Industries set to take PNG into the future

Leading Papua New Guinea company Ramu Agri-Industries is poised for a very exciting future as it changes from a one-product company into the premier PNG agri-industrial business.

As part of the strategic positioning of the business, the company last year changed its name from Ramu Sugar to Ramu Agri-Industries Ltd, to reflect the broad spectrum of activities the company was now undertaking.

Despite the name change, the company, of course, continues to market its products under the brand names of Ramu Sugar, Ramu Ethanol and Ramu Beef.

The company was formed in 1978 and first produced sugar in 1982.

Its turnover last year was K107 million, out of the total PNG GDP of about K17 billion at current prices, which shows the important role Ramu plays in the GDP of this country.

The total work force is approximately 750 permanent employees plus 1,500 part-time employees.

Both of these numbers will increase in the near future as the oil palm expansion proceeds.
The major shareholders of the company are IPBC (26%); NasFund 19.75%; W R Carpenters 17%; Nambawan Finance (7%) and MVIL (8%).

Ramu exports sugar to the USA, beef to the Solomons and ethanol to Australia.

Its major problems revolve around the pests and diseases which are endemic to the Ramu Valley and to the fact that cane originated in Papua New Guinea.

Board Chairman Peter Colton makes no qualms that the company is “forward looking and future driven”.

“The domestic sugar market is clearly expanding,” he said.

“Revenues from oil palm look very promising.

“The prospects for our beef operation are excellent.

“We have recently leased an additional 7,500 hectares of land.

“The agreement with outgrowers to farm the disputed land will further increase our land bank.

“This will enable us to plan to grow all key businesses in stages over the next several years.

“The prospects for cashew and bamboo offer further prospects for diversification.

This means that during the current financial year, the company will be producing and selling crude palm oil and cattle and beef products, as well as sugar, molasses and ethanol.

The prospects for oil palm look very promising, so much so that the Board has decided to approve an increase in the planted area from 5,500 hectares to 7,500 hectares.

“This will enable us to increase the capacity throughput of our mill from 30 tonnes per hour to 45 tonnes per hour to fit in with the full foot print of the foundations and buildings,” Mr Colton said.

“We have in effect accelerated our expansion plans to take advantage of the fact that our yields are better than projected and the buoyant state of the palm oil market.

“Phase II of the oil palm division will be a doubling of the existing 7,500 hectares in the Dumpu to Walium area and a new mill.

“The timing of this is yet to be determined.

“While we do have some of our own land available at Dumpu, this phase will be very dependent on our ability to obtain secure title to sufficient land and the involvement of village farmers.
“The prospects for oil palm are very promising.

“The price for crude palm oil in Europe is at record highs.

“Most industry analysts are forecasting a price of between 600 and 700 US dollars per tonne for crude palm oil.

“Our oil palm consultant advises that the palms are growing well and he expects yields per hectare and overall extraction rate to be on or slightly above his targets.

“Village farmers have around 100 hectares under development at the moment and we hope to increase this to 750 hectares.

“Progress has been slower than we hoped due to land disputes between village people.

“We have signed an agreement with National Development Bank and the Madang Provincial Government to help achieve the target of 750 hectares”.

Ramu has been successful in leasing an additional 7500 hectares of land at Leron for its cattle.
“This increase in our land bank will assist us in our objective to expand the beef herd to around 25,000 cattle,” Mr Colton said.

“The annual turn off will then increase from the current 4,500 head to 8,000 head.

“A market study commissioned last year showed that we have 9% of the domestic beef market.
“The company plans to increase its market share to 20 per cent through import substitution.

“Hand in hand with our own expansion will be a drive by the company to increase the number of smallholder cattle farmers.

“I am pleased to report that we are already enjoying enhanced weight gains and lower slaughter age and that we have been able to improve the feed quality for our cattle by growing and harvesting sorghum for the production of silage."

Mr Colton said the Ramu Board was reviewing the feasibility of establishing the company’s own genetic improvement programme and introducing new bloodlines to improve the weight for age equation and improve the eating quality of the meat.

“This has favourable implications for the whole of the PNG cattle industry,” he said.

“During this process the centre of the beef operation will shift from Dumpu/Gusap to Leron/Markham.

“The board continues to position Ramu as a future driven company.

“The implications of the larger herd size, the weight gains and our target of a 20% market share, are that at some time in the future, the company will need to consider the replacement our existing abattoir.

“The strategy we have adopted should substantially improve the returns from the beef division.”

After the disappointment of 2006 in which the company’s main revenue earner, sugar, suffered from a combination of adverse weather conditions and pests and diseases, it is back on the rebound.

Last August, Mr Colton was able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the parties who were disputing ownership, to give Ramu Sugar full access to this land.

“This is significant because we can now resume normal production of cane close to the sugar factory rather than 25km away at Dumpu,” he said.

“As soon as it became obvious that we had cane supply difficulties, we took immediate action to restructure and strengthen the agricultural function by outsourcing cane production to our former corporate managers Booker Tate.”

The Board last year received a report stating that “the cane recovery programme is well on track and we may expect to achieve our target of 500,000 tonnes of cane in 2009”.

Also last year, Ramu’s diversification programme kicked off in earnest and its reliance on sugar started to reduce.

PNG Coffee Festival & Trade Fair makes a comeback

The hugely-successful PNG Coffee Festival & Trade Fair makes a comeback in May this year after a year’s lay-off due to the 2007 national elections.

Founder and president Norman Carver (pictured left with co-ordinator Genevieve Roberts) made the announcement.

“As the president of the PNG Coffee Festival & Trade Fair Inc, it is with great pleasure that I announce that the 2008 event will be staged on the 8th, 9th and 10th May this year in Goroka,” he said.

“The PNG Coffee Festival has truly become a unique event in PNG.

“This has been achieved through the successful partnering of agriculture, tourism, business and government for the common good of promoting social and economic life in the region.

“The event purposefully targets children and school students because the future progression of Papua New Guinea will become the responsibility of this young generation of Papua New Guineans.

“Coffee is lifeblood of the people that live along the Highlands Highway.

“ The coffee industry has become the backbone of the Highland’s economy and generates income for many individuals therefore we continue to promote Coffee as the No. 1 economic activity in the Highlands due to its long successful association with the people of this region.”

The festival is expected to attract in excess of 20, 000 people with more receiving the Coffee Festival message through an extensive media publicity campaign.

Organisers are also expecting an increase in exhibitor and singsing group participation this year as well.

The main event and trade Fair will be held at the Raun Raun Theatre with traditional sing sing groups, cultural performances, and an art s crafts market,” Mr Carver said.

“Coinciding events include an art exhibition, a night show at the University of Goroka and the Coffee Festival Ball at the Pacific Gardens Hotel.”

For more information or to participate in the PNG Coffee Festival & Trade Fair please contact festival administrator Ms Genevieve Roberts on telephone 732 1703, facsimile 732 3302 or email info@easternhighlands.com.pg

How Taiwan is bridging the digital divide

Taiwan is world-renowned for manufacturing computers, and it also tops the list of countries surveyed in e-readiness rankings by several international organisations.

But these facts do not mean that no digital divide exists on this island country.

The digital divide is a phenomenon that exists all over the world, including in more-developed countries.

In response to the growing global concern for digitally-disadvantaged groups, the Taiwan government launched a campaign to bridge the digital divide, not only in Taiwan but in other countries such as Papua New Guinea as well.

The ‘Bridging SME Digital Divide Project’ is an important project of the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan, aiming to help small enterprises with under 20 employees embrace ecommerce.

The second one is called ‘Narrowing the Digital Divide between Urban and Rural Areas’, and the third is called ‘Asia-Pacific Digital Opportunities Centres (ADOC).

The ADOC programme aims at helping less-developed APEC member economies such as Papua New Guinea address the digital divide

Thanks to progress in information technology and popularity of the Internet, the threshold for small and medium enterprises to introduce e-commerce has become lower, but how to let business owners identify with and personally experience the benefits of e-business poses a major challenge for the promotion of the project.

Fortunately, under the mobilisation of the Information Service Industry Association of the Chinese Taipei, which is responsible for the execution of the project under the commission of the administration, and 21 municipal computer industry associations, staff of the 12 SME e-business assisting teams and over 1,000 information service providers have approached renowned scenic spots and remote townships to promote e-commerce painstakingly among business owners.

Their efforts have successfully encouraged tens of thousands of small business owners to make the small e-step, allowing them to begin experiencing the power of e-commerce in creating business opportunities.

From its inception in 2005, the project has assisted 16,000 small enterprises to establish Broadband Internet access and 32,000 small enterprises to embrace e-commerce, helping them to create over NT$2 billion in business opportunities and bringing business worth over NT$800 million to information service providers.

The ‘Bridging the Digital Divide of the SME Project’ aims at enabling hundreds of thousands of Taiwan micro businesses to use the Internet and e-commerce in their business operations.
This project is sponsored by the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Chinese Taipei.

There are 982,000 registered business entities in Taiwan, 94% of which employ less than 20 employees.

Although Broadband Internet penetration has reached most rural areas and subscription fees are generally affordable by households and businesses, most of these micro businesses are still not active or sophisticated users of information technology and the Internet compared to larger businesses.

Answering to the needs of the vast numbers of micro businesses, the government has staged a nationwide campaign to significantly bridge the digital divide to these underprivileged citizens and businesses.
In addition to the many impressive statistics that illustrate the success of the project, behind the figures are also many touching stories of Taiwanese small businessmen and women who have successfully integrated themselves and their business into today’s digital economy.

For instance, in Central Taiwan, Kukun village is known as the only place in Taiwan for growing coffee.

The original coffee tree seeds were brought to Taiwan by the Dutch from Indonesia about 200 years ago.

On weekends, Kukun is overwhelmed with visitors to the coffee shop, buying coffee beans and souvenirs.

But on weekdays, Kukun turns into a ghost town.

Most coffee shops and souvenir stores are closed and many men and women are idle for five days out of the week.

One of the digital heroes, Mr Ma-Cheng Lin, operates a coffee shop at Kukun.

By chance, he was asked to participate in this project.

As the opinion leader in the village, he convinced other villagers to join the project to form an e-cluster.

This e-cluster has 10 members who share a common website, named, ‘The Legend of the Black Gold’.

In their minds, Kukun coffee is like black gold which brings them fortune.

The 10-member cluster with an average age of 52 started to learn how to key in text, take digital pictures and upload them to their website.

Under the leadership of Mr Lin, who has considerable technical knowledge, the group convenes every week to discuss how to improve the look and content of the website.

A few weeks after the website was launched, Mr Lin finished his coffee baking on a weekday to find a message send to the website, asking to deliver one kilogramme of baked coffee beans with payment already wired to his account.

He could not believe that a customer he had never met would wire cash to his account before the merchandise was delivered.

The email orders kept coming for Mr Lin and other members of the cluster from the website.
Now, on weekdays, they are busy with packing the orders, arranging deliveries and answer growing enquiries from the website.

“I thought those coffee orders were dropped from Heaven,” Mr Lin described of his first experience with e-commerce.

mnalu@thenational.com.pg or SMS 6849763.

How PNG can learn from the Taiwan ICT experience

A COUPLE of days ago, I received an email from a former The National colleague now studying in mainland China, Mathew Yakai.Mathew wrote to seek some advice on writing and I was more than happy to oblige.

He also wanted access to articles on my two trips to Taiwan last year; however, because of stringent Chinese Internet censorship he wasn’t able to access my Blog.

I then trod on his toes when I asked him what he was trying to prove by writing a weekly column on Sino-Taiwan relations in the weekly Sunday Chronicle.

I bluntly told him that this was a very-sensitive international relations matter which would best be left to politicians.

We got into a bit of an argument, however, still remain good friends.Anyway, for the benefit of Mathew and the many readers of this column, a half-century ago, Taiwan was basically on the same boat that Papua New Guinea is on right now.

It was a resource-poor, under-developed tropical island.Through sustained good policies over the past few decades, it has lifted its population from poverty, joining the ranks of the most-prosperous and competitive economies in the world.

Unlike Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong, it was able to weather quite unharmed the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

While advanced Asian countries have emphasised large corporate units, the Taiwanese economy is dominated by 97 per cent small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

While this might seem a disadvantage, the industry is structured in such a way that clusters of SMEs can service larger enterprises.

The entrepreneurial spirit generated by Taiwan’s difficult economic situation and lack or resources in earlier decades emphasised flexibility and cost-consciousness.

Taiwanese companies are accustomed to turbulent times and constant change, and expect to have to change products every six months.This structure provides great flexibility and rapid response times, while allowing for a more human scale and stronger personal relationships within the companies.

Today, Taiwan is a technological powerhouse that ranks among the world’s top producers of notebook personal computers, flat panel displays, modems, motherboards and other electronic components and products.

In 2004 it ranked fourth globally in the production value of its IT hardware.

It was also fifth in the World Economic Forum’s 2005-2006 Global Competitiveness rankings, with a strong showing in the area of technology and innovation, ranking 3rd in the world in the technology index.

The 2005-2006 Global Competitiveness Report highlights Taiwan’s exceptional strength in technology issues, including an impressive capacity for innovation, firm-level technology absorption, university/industry collaboration in research, and its pre-eminent position in the use of the latest technologies, from mobile phones to personal computers and the Internet

.Taiwan is indeed a model for countries, such as our Papua New Guinea, who are striving to improve their performance and competitiveness in information and communication technologies.

Taiwan’s transition from a poor agricultural society into an increasingly-sophisticated powerhouse of high-technology manufacturing and the world’s leading producer of information and communication technology products is, without doubt, one of the most-compelling development stories of the past half century.

However, as with all other countries that wish to maintain a competitive edge, the authorities will have to remain vigilant.

There is scope for further improvements in enhancing the quality of public institutions by increasing levels of transparency and openness.

Taiwan should in coming years aim to reach the standards of the Nordic countries in this area.

It has already matched their technological prowess.

Now it must reach their levels of efficiency in public sector management.

In his case study on Taiwan in the 2004-2005 Global Information Technology Report (Lin, 2005), FC Lin traces the evolution of Taiwan’s ICT industry through the first economic miracle of Taiwan’s transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy (1953-1986), and describes the second miracle of its industrial restructuring (1987-2000), when low technology industries were forced to relocate overseas and were replaced by technology-intensive industries, particularly in the Information Technology sector.

In half a century, per capita GNP rose from US$196 to US$14,032.Lin attributes these successes to the following factors:

* Strong government leadership in maintaining a high growth rate and a strong fiscal situation;
* Manpower development with a high level of science and technology graduates;
* The coalescing of high-tech clusters following the model of Silicon Valley;*
The development of venture capital supporting high-tech small and medium enterprises; and
* A highly-energetic private sector.

He identifies the future challenges as breaking into the advanced industrial and research areas of application integration, technical innovation, and standards formulation as global competition reduces profit margins.

Today, everyone recognises the economic challenge that mainland China represents for Taiwan.

With the rapid growth of the economy in mainland China, there are increasing business ties between the mainland and Taiwan, despite as yet unresolved issues on the political front.

Trade between the two is growing rapidly, and a large number of Taiwanese, perhaps up to a million, are now working in mainland China.

There is a high level of investment as well, now estimated at US$100 billion, as the mainland is the logical place for Taiwanese businesses to delocalise production that is no longer competitive in Taiwan, taking advantage of low land prices and cheap labour.

These strengthening trade, economic and business links will undoubtedly serve to create the conditions for a peaceful co-operative resolution of outstanding bilateral political issues.

* mnalu@thenational.com.pg or SMS 6849763

In Touch Media raises K85, 000 for flood victims

Lae-based local company In Touch Media Limited, in conjunction with its subsidiary FM Morobe 94.7 Radio Station, raised more than K85,000 in both cash and kind for the flood-devastated people of Oro through the 'Hands across the Land – Oro Appeal'.

In Touch Media and its subsidiaries including In Touch Multimedia Productions, Power Haus Records, In Touch Events and FM Morobe went on a 90-hour around-the- clock fundraising drive from last December 14 to December 17.

The initiative was part of In Touch Media’s community service that entailed mobilising corporation as ordinary residents of Lae city and Morobe province gave a helping hand to wantoks in Oro.

In Touch Media general manager, Lady Nohoranie Bogan, said: “The ‘Hands across the Land-Oro Appeal’ is the second for the local radio station, FM Morobe, following the ‘Asian Tsunami Appeal’ in 2004.

“The ‘Hands Across the Land –Oro Appeal’ was a success as it showed that there was compassion in people, especially ordinary people, who made up much of the FM Morobe 94.7 listenership and gave whatever little to the appeal.

“Donations poured in from a diverse group of people including churches, families, middle income workers, betel nut sellers and children who walked in from the street to contribute.”

Lady Nohoranie said the total raised in both cash and kind from business houses and the general public was K85, 241.62 and this was now in the trusted hands of St Andrews Local Parish in Oro for distribution.

“Shipment of the goods was made possible by Consort Shipping Lines,” she said.

“The donations included: one bale of 50 mosquito nets, three suitcases of assorted clothing, nine rainbow bags of assorted clothing, 180 boxes of clothes, two boxes of kitchen utensils, eight bales of assorted clothing, eight bales of assorted footware, 34 dozen garden items and 36 bales of 50 kg rice bags.

“The appeal was launched by the Secretary of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea and supported by Deputy Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Oro’s very own Ambassador Lucy Bogari.

“In Touch Media management acknowledges the following for their support in making the ‘Hands across the Land - Oro Appeal’ a success: Anglican Church of PNG, Ambassador Lucy Bogari and the Eroro community in Port Moresby, Lae police for their constant security presence throughout the appeal, numerous companies and business houses for their support in kind and the faithful listeners of FM Morobe and individual families, churches, organisation, community groups and the ordinary people of Morobe province.

“The donations were transshipped free of charge by Consort Shipping to Father Gombera of the Anglican Parish in Oro Bay and distributed to care centres at Eroro/Oro Bay, Gona/Kurou, and Emo.”

How the Taiwanese government is assisting SMEs in ICT

Taiwan is a good example of a government that is really going out of its way to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

I visited Taiwan two times last year and had the chance to see for myself and study how the Taiwanese government is assisting its SMEs.

“So long as you are willing to make the e-step, a shrimp can be equal to a whale,” are the words of Sun-Quae Lae, director-general of SME Administration with the Taiwanese government.

Under the auspices of the ‘Bridging SME Digital Divide Project’, around 50,000 small and medium enterprises have boarded the e-business bandwagon, creating infinite business opportunities online.

The’Bridging the Digital Divide of the SME Project’ is an important project of the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs, aiming to help small enterprises with under 20 employees embrace e-commerce.

Thanks to progress in information technology and popularity of the Internet, the threshold for small and medium enterprises to introduce e-commerce has become lower, but to let business owners identify with and personally experience the benefits of e-business poses a major challenge for the promotion of the project.

Fortunately, under the mobilisation of the Information Service Industry Association of the ROC, which is responsible for the execution of the project under the commission of the administration, and 20 municipal computer industry associations, staff of the 12 SME e-Business assisting teams and over 1,000 information service providers have approached renowned scenic spots and remote townships to provide e-commerce painstakingly amongst business owners.

Their efforts have successfully encouraged tens of thousands of small business owners to make the small e-step, allowing them to begin experiencing the power of e-commerce in creating business opportunities.

From its inception in 2005, the project has assisted 16,000 small enterprises to establish Broadband Internet access and 32,000 small enterprises to embrace e-commerce, helping them to create over NT$2 billion in business opportunities and bringing business worth over NT$800 million to information service providers.

Successful and touching episodes abound in the assisting process.

An assisting team, for instance, stepped into the tea business clustered in the mountainous village of Pinglin, helping its tea shops solicit online the return of customer groups, who left following the inauguration of the Snow Mountain Tunnel.

Broadband access has cemented consensus among 10-odd stores in the Aboriginal homeland of Taian village in Miaoli County, whose owners learned computer usage together and successfully landed orders online.

A physically-challenged business owner posted his scuba-diving photos and writings on his experience of the sport on his website, thereby finding many other scuba-diving enthusiasts and customers.

Via the assistance of the project, many people formed into e-clubs, discussing website design together, practicing to use digital cameras for taking and posting commodity photos, and gathering to celebrate the miracles of receiving orders for products or reservations for homestays online from various corners.

E-commerce benefits for small and medium enterprises may not be the most eye-catching and the extent of their e-operations may not be at the highest level.

Their innovative spirit and enthusiasm for personal experience, however, embodies the persevering feature of the 1.22 million Taiwanese SMEs in the face of challenge.

Money is not a problem and technology not a barrier, so long as business owners are willing to take the e-step.

SMEA and the assisting teams would help them achieve business takeoff.

In the foreseeable future, such successful stories will be repeatedly played out in Taiwan, making the industrial digital divide a historical footnote.

“After two years of trial and exploration,” Mr Lai said, “I am glad to take part in the project team, not only having achieved all the goals listed by the project but also grasping the essence for the direction of assisting works, in addition to sophisticated techniques for the execution of the project.

“Therefore, I would like to take the opportunity to express my gratitude for the input and contribution of the Information Service Industry Association of the ROC and the 12 e-operation assisting teams.

“The project has won the ‘e-commerce Ultra-excellence award for the Government Category’ of the e-Asia award, sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, in 2006, and represented Taiwan in the 2006 APEC e-Asia Awards contest, which underscores the largest confirmation of the efforts brought on by the efforts of the related parties.”

Cromwell Sustainable Coffee Ltd helps Kabwum growers

Kabwum Valley is in the Huon Peninsula, 115km north-east of Lae, Morobe province.

The valley is surrounded by the scenic Cromwell Mountains on the north-east and Saruwaget Ranges on the north-west end.

Both contain large alpine and rain forests with high biodiversity and wildlife sanctuaries.

Coffee farms are scattered on the foothills of both ranges stretching coastward towards Wasu port.

Ideally, Wasu port handles all coffee moved out of Kabwum Valley.

Coffee was introduced to Kabwum Valley by early missionaries in 1950’s.

Komba, Timbe, Selepet and Urua/Yopna tribesmen - who make up the population of Kabwum - grow this very important cash crop intercropping with taro, banana and other tree crops with no chemical fertilisers.

Currently, 100% of coffee is sold as “conventional” to agents representing major exporters in Lae, Morobe province and Goroka, Eastern Highlands province.

With the closure of Wasu Kabwum coffee mill in 1998, coupled with the constant changes in New York “C” coffee prices, these agents took advantage and paid less than New York “C” prices to the growers, taking large slices for themselves or their processors and exporters.

Lack of transportation and communication infrastructure added to the worsening situation for Kabwum coffee growers.

They struggled to make a living from this most-important cash crop, and most growers abandoned their villages and drifted into urban centres.

These are the producers of the second most-traded commodity in the world.

Out of this structural inequality in Kabwum’s coffee industry, Cromwell Sustainable Coffee (CSC) Ltd was born on August 23, 2005, under the IPA Business Registration Act 1997, and commenced operation in October, 2005.

The main objective has been to act as organic operator under the standards of National Association for Agriculture Australia (NASAA), a third-party organic certifier based in Adelaide, Australia, to assist smallholder coffee growers develop and promote the certification, production and marketing of certified smallholder grown organic coffee from Kabwum.

Cromwell Sustainable Coffee Ltd is headed by Ferro Muga as managing director.

Mr Muga holds a degree in Bachelor of Science (food technology) from Unitech, Lae.

He graduated from the University in 1982 and joined Ramu Sugar Ltd.

During his 22 years of service (1983 – 2005), he has held many senior positions, the latest being distillery manager managing the Ramu Sugar ethanol processing plant.

“CSC, acting as organic operator under NASAA standards, has initiated this organic coffee venture because, although the smallholder growers grow coffee with no synthetic chemical fertilisers, they cannot be considered for market certification purposes because many countries now regulate organic coffee trade,” Mr Muga explained.

“ To sell coffee as organic, the producers and processors must work within and be certified by certification bodies most often according to the standards that meet or exceeds the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement – IFOAM - basic standards.

“This requires a system of regular inspection and certification that helps to ensure the credibility of organic coffee and help build trust in the market place.

“NASAA is accredited by IFOAM.”

As a guideline the following international rule s apply:
Coffee sold as organic to the US must be certified by USNOP (United States National Organic Program);
Coffee sold as organic to EU must meet the EU Standard 45011 Regulation;
Coffee sold as organic to Japan must be certified by JAS or deemed equivalent to JAS (Japanese Agriculture Standards); and
IFOAM – International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement. An over-arching international body that accredits certification organisations and sets standards for organic coffee certification.

“Initially, CSC has committed its finances to purchase parchment coffee from growers and re-sell to exporters in Lae to generate funds to embark on the organic coffee venture,” Mr Muga said.

“There are 30 grower groups (villages) within the operational area each with an organic inspector and an assistant.

“The membership is approximately 3, 500 and still growing.

“The volume of coffee is about 12, 500 bags of 50kg parchment coffee - 3.6 bags per grower.”

CSC has provided the following services to its members:

Farmer registration;
Mapping of coffee growing areas;
Inspection of coffee farms and;
Provide technical advice on rehabilitation of coffee plots and quality control of cherry picking and processing, hence, preparation of good quality parchment coffee; and
Set up internal organic control system to facilitate organic inspection/verification.

Apart form a core business of coffee, CSC has embarked on two community-related projects as follows:

Coffee for Books (CfB) elementary education programmes to address child literacy in the coffee growing communities; and
Community electronic network by way of VSAT stations in several key locations in Kabwum District. It is in planning stage.

“To date, most of CSC’s coffee has been sold to New Guinea Coffee Tea & Spices Ltd, Lae, and New Guinea Highlands Coffee Ltd, Goroka, under green bean contracts,” Mr Muga said.

A PNG success story on the Internet

Fuzzy Wuzzy Expeditions, a 100% Papua New Guinea-owned trekking company, is the new kid on the block that’s taking the Kokoda Trail by storm through the Internet.

It’s a far cry from early 2004 when I first met an enterprising young man named Defol Jabbar(pictured second from left, back row, with a group of trekkers and porters along the Kokoda Trail).

He had just set up his new trekking company and the next three years would be a steep learning curve.

Mr Jabbar has slowly but steadily been building up his client base since 2004, albeit, without a professionally-designed website.

His website http://www.fuzzywuzzy.com.pg/ was properly designed and uploaded last November and the sky is now the limit.

Mr Jabbar, as far as I know, is the first Papua New Guinean owner of a trekking company to have a proper website.

Many overseas trekkers and tourists prefer to use 100% locally-owned companies; however, the catch is that few of these companies are Internet-savvy.

The lucrative Kokoda Trail market is dominated by foreign-owned companies, many of whom use Papua New Guineans as fronts, and Fuzzy Wuzzy Expeditions is indeed a breath of fresh air.

It has already secured major corporate clients such as SP Brewery and Telikom, while the number of site visits and hits increases by the day.

The situation for many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) all over the world, including Papua New Guinea, is that an entrepreneur (such as Mr Jabbar) owns a small or medium enterprise.

The company produces an interesting product such as organic coffee or arts and crafts, or provides a novel service such as taking tourists across the Kokoda Trail.

The problem: How do we use the Internet to sell the product or service?

The general methodology is to plan, analyse and enact E-marketing activities.

This methodology can be used by anyone who wants to use the Internet to access customers.

Components include:
• Goals – What do we wish to achieve through E-marketing?
• Resources – What resources can we expect to support our actions?
• Actors – Who are the marketing actors in the E-marketing process?
• Spaces – Where will our E-marketing take place online?
• Actions – What specific E-marketing actions should we take?
• Outcomes – What outcomes should we expect from our E-marketing activities

“We started in 2004,” Mr Jabbar says.

“I got clients on an ad hoc basis.

“My biggest problem was setting up a website.

“At the end of the last trekking season, I felt that I had to build up a proper website.

“I’m the first local operator on the Kokoda Trail to have a proper website.

“There are about 20-30 operators, all of them foreign-owned, who have their own websites.

“There are only a few local operators, and of these, I’m the only one to have a website.

“Since the website was uploaded last November, there have been a lot of visits.

“Without a website, I found it very hard to get clients.

“Now that the site is up and running, I have been receiving a lot of querries.

“Everyday, I get about 10-15 querries from interested people and trekkers, who want to make bookings for 2008.

“As a local operator, my prices are very competitive.

“My prices are very cheap.

“I regard this as a very big achievement in my life as well as my own small business.

“I also utilise the website to sell whatever I can to people overseas, such as the Ghost Mountain

Trail (between Gabagaba in Central province and Buna in Oro province).

“I can also sell other tourism products from the Oro province on the website.

“We are also looking at selling products from other provinces.”

Mr Jabbar is proud that corporate icons such as SP Brewery and Telikom are utilising the services of his company.

In fact tomorrow, Saturday, January 19, Fuzzy Wuzzy Expeditions will be taking senior Telikom managers for a one-day “Kokoda Taster” from Owers Corner to Imita Ridge, returning the next day.

“We are preparing to attract corporate companies in Port Moresby to encourage their employees to participate," Mr Jabbar said.

“SP Brewery is the first company to support us as a local operator.

“They have already done two Kokoda treks, one in May 2007, and the other in October 2007.

“The general manager of SP Brewery and all his top managers did the trek.

“They have three more treks coming up this year.

“We thank them for their support.

“Telikom is taking the ‘Kokoda Taster’ on the 19th of January.

“Telikom PNG has five ‘Kokoda Tasters’ this year.

“They want to get all their employees involved in this programme to get them fit, healthy and sharp-minded.

“They are also planning two or three major treks in 2008.

“On these treks, they’ll also be looking at setting up their telecommunications network along the trail.”

Mr Jabbar was a banker before being bitten by the tourism bug.

“After I left the bank, I was mayor of Popondetta,” he recalls.

“I walked as the research officer for (former Oro MP) Peter Oresi.

“I saw the potential for tourism in Kokoda and decided to get into the business.

“I set up the company in January 2004.

“Now that I have a website, I think that I’ll do better in 2008.

“I’m now looking at the possibility of building a guesthouse in Kokoda.

“I have already obtained a piece of land in Kokoda for this purpose.
“I’m expecting a lot of trekkers for ANZAC DAY.”

Mr Jabbar can be contacted on email http://us.f529.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=defol@fuzzywuzzy.com.pg or http://us.f529.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=info@fuzzywuzzy.com.pg and mobile 6883231.

http://us.f529.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=mnalu@thenational.com.pg or SMS 6849763.