A Dictionary of International Units

Around Papua New Guinea and perhaps in other places around the World you have probably seen road signs with the symbol ‘Km’.

And on some bags and packets of rice, and in some supermarkets you’ve probably seen a metric weight label ‘Kg’.

Both of these symbols are inkorrect.

A small k and not a capital letter must be used.

In Britain you might see ‘Kgs’ on the side of vehicles belonging to a national security company; ‘Kgs’ is another symbol that is inkorrect.

The symbol ‘kg’ does not have a plural form.

In fact a leading American Dictionary (Merriam-Webster) accepts the word ‘inkorrect’ exists!

One person who is keen to promote the correct metric symbols is Philip Bladon.

He worked for many years in PNG as a Chemistry teacher and School administrator.

Between 1982 and 2004 he taught at the following schools: Kaiapit/Markham Valley, Aiyura National High, Hoskins, and Cameron Secondary, Martyrs’ Memorial, and Ela Murray International.

I’m an ex student of Aiyura in 1984 and 1985 and I can remember him.

Mr Bladon, 53, is still keen to ensure that students and colleagues write ‘km’ and ‘kg’ (not ‘Km’ and ‘Kg’).

He also points out to advanced Physics students that the correct symbol for ‘kelvin’ (the unit for thermodynamic temperature) is ‘K’ (not ‘K’); the wrong symbol appears in some science textbooks.

Philip Bladon is now staying in England where he has written a book.

This has recently been published, ‘A Dictionary of International Units’, is full of the official SI (metric) units.

The ‘SI’ refers to the International System of Units (in French: ‘Le Système International d’Unités’), and designated SI in all languages.

This book, not only provides an excellent reference source for science students throughout their careers, it’s also a fascinating book for trivia buffs and a delight for enthusiasts of the board game Scrabble.

With a copy of this book you will soon enrich your vocabulary and discover unusual prefixes.

Schools, colleges, and universities should get at least one copy for their libraries.

An ebook version for IBM and Mac Computers is also available for individuals and institutions to buy.

This dictionary will also help teachers to ensure that their students receive the correct guidance on how to write metric names, symbols and numerical values.

For the non-scientists, like myself, a browse through this paperback can be extremely illuminating (unit: yottalux).

For symbologists and symbolists they can ponder over character sizes for example: ‘Zs’, ‘zs’, ‘ZS’, and ‘zS’.

For Historians they’ll discover the six nationalities of the 19 scientists whose surnames have been used for SI (metric) units.

Most are British.

The first letter of these unit names is not capitalized.

Compared to the large and expensive ISO (International Standards Organisation) documents on SI units available from Geneva, Philip Bladon’s Dictionary of International Units is excellent value and it’s fun.

Those with computers and Internet access can buy online from all the major bookstores, for example www.amazon.com.

It can also be ordered through most bookshops and in Australia the paperback costs approximately $18.

The dictionary will make a good graduation prize for maths, and science students especially those doing Physics.

Schools should order copies and allow plenty of time for them to arrive before the end of the year.

If a bookseller or book distributor in PNG contacts the publisher there are large discounts for bulk purchases.

Philip Bladon is a Fellow of the Institute of Science Technology, a life member of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, a member of the International Council of Associations for Science Education, and a member of Australian Mensa.

Mr Bladon’s other interests include outdoor tropical gardening, snake scalation, and the work of the Red Cross Red Crescent movement.


‘A Dictionary of International Units Metric-Matters: Names and Symbols’ Published by www.iuniverse.com . ISBN: 13: 978-0-595 37115-0 (paperback) US $12.95 UK < £8, Australia $18 approx. ISBN: 13: 978-0-595 81515-9 (e-book) US $6.00. Available from online bookstores and can be ordered through leading bookshops.

Helene Holzknecht

Another chapter in the history of Papua New Guinea has come to a close with the death of Helene Holzknecht (nee Schmutterer, pictured above with her beloved husband Karl).

Her death also marked the end of a colourful era in the history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lae, Morobe Province, and PNG as a whole.

Hers is a story of pioneering spirit, love, the horrors of war, and a country and people she grew to regard as her own.

Mrs Holzknecht died on Tuesday, August 26, 2003, after a long illness and was laid to rest at Langmeil Lutheran Church in Tanunda, South Australia onWednesday, September 3, 2003, beside her beloved husband ‘Bingsu’ Karl Holzknecht.

Helene Holzknecht nee Schmutterer was born on February 28, 1917, at Sattelberg Station near Finschhafen.

She was the third child and daughter of Gottfried Schmutterer and his wife Magdalene Pfeiffer, pioneer missionaries of the Neuendettelsau Mission Society in Lae.

Sometime during her first year, one of her older twin sisters, Elfriede, died of suspected meningitis.

A younger brother, Wilhelm, died years later in Germany.

Helene spent her first eight years at the Ampo mission station, now the headquarters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG, playing with and getting to know the children of Butibam and Kamkumung villages, as well as people from Bukawa, Labu, the south coast and the hills behind Lae.

At eight, Helene was sent back to Germany with another missionary family to attend school while her parents remained in New Guinea.

She lived with other missionary couples at the Neuguinea Heim in Neuendettelsau, attending local schools.

From Neuendettelsau, Helene entered and completed nursing training at Schwaebisch Hall, and then Augsburg, where her father was then stationed as pastor.

During her parents’ periods of furlough in Germany in Neuendettelsau, she had met a young seminarian by the name of Karl Holzknecht who regularly delivered the Mission Society’s magazine, Concordia, to her parents and a friendship developed, followed by an engagement.

Helene’s wish to return to her people in PNG was realised when her then fiancée, Karl Holzknecht, who had been originally slated for mission work Brazil, was sent to New Guinea to meet the manpower needs of a rapidly growing mission field.

She followed Karl to New Guinea and they were married in her father’s old church at Ampo, Lae, on December 17, 1938.

The newly wed couple’s first posting was as support missionaries at Malalo near the then – burgeoning gold mining town of Salamaua, undertaking pastoral visits to villages by outrigger canoe down the coast as far as Sipoma and Paiawa, and by foot into the ranges behind the station to the Hote and Kaidemui people.

Helene accompanied her husband on all but the trips along the Black Cat Trail into the Wau and Bulolo valleys, ministering to village women and helping the sick she found in these areas.

The outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 brought this idyll to an end. Karl – being a German - was taken prisoner as an enemy alien by Australian authorities, leaving a pregnant and heartbroken Helene at Malalo.

Her eldest child and only daughter, Irene, was born at Sattelberg, on February 1, 1940, after Karl’s removal to Australia.

Helene and Irene were returned to Malalo, but were eventually evacuated after Japanese bombers attacked Lae and Salamaua.

Helene often talked of seeing those planes skimming the hills on their way to Salamaua, and the horror of the bombing of Salamaua.

Soon after their evacuation by DC3 to Port Moresby, Japanese aircraft also bombed the Malalo Station, destroying all the family’s possessions.

After long trips by plane to Australia and then by train to South Australia with other missionary wives and families, Helene and Irene were eventually placed with the Pech family in Appila, a sanctuary for which Helene was always grateful, making close friendships with the Pechs and their extended families which were retained all her life.

Helene soon worked with other evacuated wives to obtain permission to join their husbands at the internment camps at Tatura, Victoria.

This was eventually granted and Helene and Irene joined Karl in the family camp at Tatura where more friendships were made especially with a group of Palestinian Templar families.

During their enforced stay at Tatura, Helene and Karl’s two older sons, Gottfried (Fred) and Hartmut were born on January 3, 1940, and May 22, 1945, respectively.

The three children joined the other camp children in school and other activities.

Once hostilities in Europe ceased, many mission families sought release from the Tatura camp, most opting to be repatriated to Germany once their cases had been examined by the local tribunal.

Helene and Karl decided that their families in Germany had few resources to cope with themselves, let alone with another five mouths to feed, and opted to remain in Australia pending approval to return to the mission work in PNG.

The family moved to Queensland, finding initial accommodation with Missionary Lehner and his wife in South Brisbane, where Karl worked and helped on Sundays as a guest preacher.

Eventually approval was given in early 1947 for Karl to return to PNG, as the first German Lutheran missionary to go back.

He was sent to rebuild the mission station at Kaiapit in the Markham Valley, first organising suitable housing so that the family could join him three months later.

Helene soon took on the task of establishing regular health, women’s and baby clinics, looking after the boarding school girls when the school was re-established, and training girls in the household, the way her mother had at Ampo.

Sewing, cooking, ironing, literacy were all things that the future wives of pastors and leaders learned at Kaiapit – in addition to basic hygiene and health.

Helene’s family soon grew with the addition of two more sons, Philip and Erich in 1949 and 1951 respectively.

The older children had started school, first at Sattelberg and then at Katherine Lehman School, Wau, where all five currently went.

Following leave in 1969, Karl and Helene moved back to Ampo, Lae – back to Helene’s roots.

Her friends from Butibam and Kamkumung were now the elders of the community, but the friendships forged in childhood remained strong. Karl’s translation duties with the Jabem Bible and later the Wampar language New Testament also allowed Helene a continued interaction with the people she loved the most.

She was often torn between her remaining family and friends in Germany; her own family in Australia and her loved ones in the villages of Papua New Guinea.

Increasing personal health issues necessitated a move from New Guinea to Australia, where they first settled at Fernvale in Queensland near Philip and his family.

Amongst the many people Helene befriended in Ipswich was the son of one of the Palestinian Templar families who had been at the Tatura camp and Helene and Karl rekindled a friendship with him and his wife.

Every brown face she saw in the streets of Ipswich reminded her of her people in PNG.

At the end of 1989, Helene and Karl moved to Tanunda to be near son Erich and his family, first living in Jane Street.

Deteriorating health forced a moved to the Tanunda Lutheran Home where she saw out the rest of her life.

Helene is remembered by most people she met as ‘Mutti’ – a name which sums up what she was to most people who knew her.

She loved people, loved being with people, helping and being part of what was going on, despite growing frailty.

To her children in Adzera, Jabem, Wampar and Lahe, she was ‘Misi’, a figure of love, honor and respect.

But even there, she became ‘Mutti’ to many of her children’s friends.

‘Mutti’ will be remembered for the wicked sense of humour she inherited from her father, for her ability to use three or four languages in one conversation, for her quaint use of the English language, for the love and pride she held to her father and his achievements, but most of all for the love and pride she held for her children and grandchildren – her insistence on seeking knowledge and understanding it, and the love and unforsaken faith she had in her Saviour.

Helene leaves behind her older system Lydia, younger brothers Gerhard and Friedel and their families, as well as her children Irene, Gottfried, Hartmut, Philip and Erich and their partners Terry, Dawns, Sue, Rhonda and Sonia, 11 grandchildren: Aedin, Richard, Erik, Misha, Martin, Richard, Sara, Heidi and Karin, and nine great grandchildren: Ryan, Emlyn, Indica, Sebastian, Alec, Zak, Peyote, Liam and Acacia, with two more on the way last year.

‘Mutti’ is remembered with love and affection by all who knew her and whose lives were touched by her.

She rests now in the hands of her Saviour, free from all her trials and tribulations.

Ian Downs

Many of those legendary Australian kiaps (patrol officers) who helped develop Papua New Guinea into what it is today were sadly not be around as the country celebrated 30 years of Independence.

Such a man was Ian Downs, who died on Tuesday August 24, 2004, in the Gold Coast, aged 89, one of the greatest and most legendary men who walked this country.

Downs is remembered as the principal facilitator of the contruction of the Highlands Highway – linking the Highlands, Lae and Madang - as well as being a powerful influence in the founding of PNG’s great coffee industry.

He was also a member of the first House of Assembly in 1964, when he collected a record majority of over 100,000 votes – which goes to show the respect he commanded – to win the Seat of the New Guinea Highlands, a constituency in the Central Highlands region with a population of over half a million people.

In the face of an increasingly nationalist style of politics he decided not to stand for re-election in 1968, and retired from parliament to take up private interests.

“He’s the one who got the road (Highlands Highway) through,” pioneer Highlands explorer Mick Leahy once said of Downs.

“He’s a man and a half this Downs.

“A few more like him and New Guinea would really get somewhere.”

A man of intellect and a great strength of character, Downs was also a writer of note.

A former patrol officer who rose to the position of Deputy Administrator in the mid-1950s, Downs was a prominent figure in PNG in the last years of the Australian trusteeship, and possibly the only person who combined the roles of administrator, politician, planter and historian.

Ian Fairley Graham Downs was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1915 and was educated at Brighton and Geelong Grammar Schools between 1926 and 1928.

He entered the Royal Australian Naval College as a midshipman in 1915, and in 1935, joined the New Guinea administration as a cadet patrol officer.

Downs took up his appointment to New Guinea in 1936 and was one of the first patrol officers assigned to the Western Highlands.

He accompanied John Black and Jim Taylor on part of their famous Hagen-Sepik patrol in 1938-39.

From 1942 to 1945, Downs was a Coastwatcher with the Royal Australian Navy in New Guinea waters.

Downs returned to New Guinea after World War II and by 1951 was the youngest District Commissioner in the administration, based in Madang.

Between 1952-56 he held the position of District Commissioner in Goroka, before resigning to take up coffee farming and to enter politics.

Succeeding the late George Greathead as District Commissioner to the then Central Highlands, a huge “middle kingdom” of more than a million people stretching from Kassam in the East to the then Dutch New Guinea border in the West.

Disillusioned with official policy, Downs resigned from his post as District Commissioner in 1956 and in the following year gained election as Member for the New Guinea Mainland in the Legislative Council.

As a parliamentarian he was further elected in 1961 to the Administrator's Advisory Council (later known as the Administrator's Executive Council), a board set up to advise the Administrator on policy issues.

Downs resigned from the Government, where he had long been a member of the Legislative Council, to contest this country’s first national elections.

Downs was elected to the first House of Assembly in 1964 with a record majority of over 100, 000 votes.

For the next four years he held the Seat of the New Guinea Highlands, a constituency in the Central Highlands region with a population of over half a million people.

In the face of an increasingly nationalist style of politics he decided not to stand for re-election in 1968, and retired from parliament to take up private interests.

He involved himself deeply in the infant coffee industry, being instrumental in the creating of the original Coffee Marketing Board in 1964, of the coffee exporting company Coffee International Ltd, of the Highlands Farmers & Settlers Association and its trading arm Farmset Ltd, and was active in many areas of PNG’s early political and social development.

It was during these years that Downs pioneered what became known as Korfena Plantations, a group of coffee plantations centred in the Upper Asaro Valley, as well as one of the first village-based coffee marketing groups known as Upper Asaro Coffee Community Ltd.

His novel The Stolen Land was published in 1970, and he returned to Australian in 1970 after 35 years in the country.

His widely respected publication The Australian Trusteeship: Papua New
Guinea, 1945-75 was published in 1980, followed by his autobiography The Last Mountain in 1986.

Ian Downs’ contribution to the founding of modern-day Papua New Guinea was immense, and thousands who knew him well have mourned his passing.

Zia Writers of Waria

From July 10-15, 2000, in the beginning of the new millennium, a novel development took place in Unu village, along the great Waria River of Morobe Province.

Unu hosted the first writers’ workshop of the new millennium, attracting mostly villagers who started writing two years earlier when a conference on Zia language, culture and traditional knowledge systems was organised in Dona village.

Workshop participants included husbands, wives and children, medical officers, village court magistrates, non-government organisation workers, teachers, village elders and youths.

Their lowest educational standard was grade two and the eldest was about 64.

They all wrote creatively their life stories, histories, biographies and the Zia culture during the week-long workshop, which was coordinated by Zia language speaker and University of Papua New Guinea lecturer Sakarepe Kamene, assisted by his colleague Dr Steven Winduo.

The stories talk about Waria people and how their life style is fused into nature, and how it is nurtured in the rich alluvial plain of the Waria River.

They talk about the river that in ordinary times remains tame and harmless, but in the wet season runs wild like a raging boar, causing destruction and misery to people and the surrounding areas.

Some of these stories capture and exhibit the strong sense of moral lessons.

Other stories show a much bigger picture of how nature is closely linked with society and its people.

There are also stories that recount new and sometimes strange experiences when people relocate themselves into new places or situations.

From the workshop has come an 80-page book titled Raitim Stori Bilong Laip (Writing Stories about Life): Zia Writers of Waria, which was first published in 2004 by UPNG’s Melanesian and Pacific Studies (MAPS) Centre, however, is a publication that very little people know about.

In fact I had never seen or heard of the book until Dr Winduo recently gave me a copy as an example of recent MAPS publications.

The collection of writings by the Waria writers is the first of its kind in Papua New Guinea and could serve as a benchmark for future projects in literacy and awareness throughout the country.

“Even though it has taken a long time for this publication to come out, we hope the end product of this publication will benefit others who will read this book,” Mr Kamene and Dr Winduo wrote in the book’s preface.

“It is a publication we feel confident will stand on its own.

“The stories are written in the Zia language, Tokpisin and English.

“The use of all languages in creativity is encouraged.

“In editing this book for publication, we tried to make sure the way in which the writers expressed themselves was maintained, except for basic production issues.

“Through the initial project, we knew we had moved on from basic literacy to literacy that involves people writing their stories and lives down on paper.

“We wanted to make sure those who received literacy training used the skills acquired to transform their lives.

“In the Zia writers’ workshop, this was accomplished.

“The experience we had in running the Zia writers’ workshop and in the production of this book convince us that literacy programmes and awareness programmes must go beyond basic literacy skills.

“Literacy skills and development of these skills must be encouraged.

“Inclusion of literature and various techniques of reading and writing is a must in literacy and awareness programmes.

“This publication proves that anyone can write and have their books published.”

The Zia experience greatly touched Dr Winduo, senior UPNG literature lecture, established writer, director of MAPS, and chairman of the National Literature Board.

“In a week of enthusiasm and nerves to see that our objectives to facilitate the knowledge and skills already present in the participants’ lives accomplished our goals, we were excited that the workshop was a success,” he observed.

“The participants had begun to write their stories.

“Most of them felt that they had achieved what was impossible.
“They can now write their lives down with confidence.

“The Zia people can write their history, culture and lives in books without having to go to university to study literature or how to write books.

“In my view, these students were the most-serious ones and were able to prove to me that writing is not only for those in schools or those studying literature at the university.

“Writing was always with them!

“All they needed was a catalyst to take them one step further.”

Dr Winduo feels that what has happened to the Zia people is also applicable to other villages in Papua New Guinea.

“They village people, especially youths and women, need new kinds of training that involves skills and knowledge already present in their societies,” he says.

“Indigenous forms of learning need to be encouraged.

“Developing new ways of documenting cultural and traditional knowledge systems was the way forward.

“This is one way to renew and revive the skills of reading and writing.

“People are presented with skills of reading and writing everyday, but are never given the opportunity to use the skills to empower themselves in their way of life.”

Dr Winduo has strong words.

“In a book fair in Port Moresby, a lot of views were expressed about the right to read and write, but many people consider writing as a process that empowers individuals and people.

“Writing has the power to transform a nation’s consciousness!

“If a nation can develop its own works of literature consistently, it can continuously evaluate itself and reinvent its consciousness.”

Raitim Stori Bilong Laip: Zia Writers of Waria. Edited by Sakarepe Kamene and Steven Edmund Winduo. Melanesia and Pacific Studies (MAPS), University of Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, 2004. 80 pages. ISBN 9980-9962-0-X

Storm Boy brings back memories of another day

It was while searching a second-hand shop in Port Moresby for books recently that I found a real gem.

That book was Storm Boy, written by Australian Colin Theile, and which was later made into a classic Australian film of the same name in 1976.

I immediately pounced on the book as Storm Boy was a movie that touched my heart – and those of so many other children - so many years ago as a child in Lae.

And, indeed, my children enjoyed every minute of me reading the book to them, which just goes to show the timelessness of Storm Boy.

It also brought back so many memories of another day, particularly of the now-extinct movie theatres, which once abounded all over Papua New Guinea.

A whole generation in Papua New Guinea has sadly grown up without knowing the experience of watching movies in a cinema.

In the “happy days” of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, cinemas were commonplace all over the country.

Those of us who grew up in the roaring that memorable period will know the joy of watching films on the big screen.

These days, with the advance of television, video, VCDs, and the Internet, the movie projector has become as antiquated as the time-honored typewriter.

Anyway, it was in 1978, when I was 10, that my father brought my elder brother David and I to the Huon Theatre in Lae one rainy night to watch Storm Boy.

I remember sitting with my eyes glued to the big screen, following Storm Boy’s every move, until I broke down and wept with him when his pet pelican Mr Percival was shot by hunters along a lonely, windswept Australian shore.

Every once in a while there is a special film, a film that appeals to all ages, a classic family entertainment that celebrates life and joyfully touches the heart.

Storm Boy is that film.

Storm Boy (Mike) lives with his recluse father, Hide-Away Tom, on South Australia's lonely and beautiful coast.

Years before, when Storm Boy’s mother had died, Hide-Away Tom had left Adelaide and gone to live like a hermit by the sea

Here his Storm Boy’s spirit roams with his pet pelican, Mr Percival, and his secret Aboriginal friend, Fingerbone Bill.

He knows no other world.

Suddenly there are intruders, the local school teacher who wants him to take lessons, a resentful wildlife ranger, duck shooters, hooligans with loud music.

Storm Boy, growing up, is forced to choose between a life of continued isolation and the challenges of the outside world.

One time the hunters are in the area, Mr Percival is shot down and Mike does a mad search through the long grass to find him.

The search is unsuccessful and Mike cries as he walks along the beach remembering times they spent together.

Fingerbone eventually finds Mr. Percival and buries him.

He shows Storm Boy the grave he dug, and there are a few moments of sadness, but this is turned to hope when Fingerbone shows Storm Boy a nest with a freshly hatched pelican in it: "Mr. Percival all over again, a bird like him never dies."

The film was one of the first Australian feature films made for children to become well-known and both the book and film are still widely used in school English programmes.

Young entrepreneur talks about the future of IT in Papua New Guinea

The establishment of digital posters is one of the biggest breaks for young IT entrepreneur, Emmanuel Narakobi, since setting up his company Masalai Communications in 2001.

The 29-year-old, (pictured left discussing digital posters with business associates in Malaysia) who turned his back on a lucrative legal career to get into IT, is, however, confident that IT has a big future in Papua New Guinea.

Narakobi, of mixed East Sepik and Morobe parentage, is a graduate lawyer of the University of PNG who was bitten by the IT bug.

He wears many other hats apart from Masalai Communications such as being general manager of Narakobi Lawyers, president of the University rugby union club, and president of the Port Moresby Rugby Football Union.

He is adamant IT can contribute to business efficiency, and contribute greatly to dissemination of information to and from villages.

Digital posters are a new, dynamic and captivating medium in PNG for products and services to be advertised to consumers, which Masalai is running in major Port Moresby supermarkets such as SVS, Stop N Shop, Boroko Foodworld and Andersons Foodland,

Other major projects Masalai has undertaken are data/voice cabling for the four-storey Post Haus in Boroko; data/voice cabling for the National Fisheries Authority in Deloitte Tower; SMS voting for Ice Discovered on EMTV; and the concept of email to SMS for Australian mobile phones which never really took off.

Right now the company is working on touch screens for customer feedback for ANZ Bank and looking at a number of e-commerce initiatives.

“I started Masalai in 2001 and I used to work from my bedroom with a dial up connection,” Narakobi remembers.

“My interest in IT and initially websites first came from seeing the Trading Post newspaper in Australia in 1999, so I thought to myself, ‘what if we had a website like that newspaper in PNG?’.

“I started the http://www.pngtradepost.com.pg/ website and then set about teaching myself how to design websites from a HTML for Dummies book.

“The Trading Post website, due a lot to my lack of attention, has not developed as much as it could have but this was what led me into website development.

“I met a friend called Phillip Korare who worked in Datec at that time and he taught me a lot of the basic HTML programming to get started.

“Masalai itself then came about from meeting two like-minded friends; we thought that we knew something about IT so we decided to give it a go.

“I was actually still in Legal Training Institute after law school and I decided that I wanted to do something different which could make a difference.

“I know that sounds really cliché but my friends and I really believed that.

“They both have since gone their own ways: one is in London now and the other is Brown Omotosho of Nichtosh.

“Brown and I are still very close and we still do a lot of projects together.

“He specialises in electrical and data/voice networks.

“And just so you know, we have started on redeveloping the Trading Post website.”

Masalai’s progress over the years has been like the proverbial tortoise; however, with the great support of his family and friends, Narakobi is proving that “slow and steady oftens wins the race”.

Masalai’s bread and butter is website development, its Content Management System for updating websites without any need for programming skills, and website analytics with Google.

Its major clients include Coca-Cola Amatil, PNG Ports Authority, National Maritime Safety Authority, Internal Revenue Commission, PNG Events Council, National Fisheries Authority, NASFUND, PNG Gas Project, Autonomous Region of Bouganville, Independent Public Business Corporation, Pryde Furniture, Ela Beach Hotel, Supreme and National Courts of PNG, Pacific Assurance Group and many more medium to small clients.

Masalai has done over 30 websites since 2001 and this year has already picked up about 20 jobs.

“I think you go through a lot of different feelings,” Narakobi says about being a young Papua New Guinean with his own IT company.

“I feel a lot of freedom in what I think and can do; I think that would be the big benefit.

“I guess I’m only restricted by my cash flows and dreams really, so it feels good knowing that.

“Of course, with that freedom comes the responsibility I feel of doing something that changes the country, hopefully, and doing it right.

“I also do feel a lot of pressure to get things right and it does hurt when I fail at anything or I fail clients.

“I currently have six staff with me: three of them are freelance contractors.

“Freelancers help keep down my costs and also allow me to source from a wider pool of talent, so I’m not stuck with one creative type of model.

“It helps me to source the best talent for any given project.

“But I am now looking at increasing my staff numbers this year so I could end up with about 10 by the end of this year.

“I feel fortunate to have met the people in my team, they have been a great support in getting us where we are today and obviously we still have more to do in improving ourselves and our skills and services.”

Narakobi feels strongly that more people in PNG must have to have access to IT.

“IT is a broad area and if you separate it into offline usage and online usage, then you can understand better where we are at in PNG.

“IT’s aim is to share information which means that an online PC or a networked PC in an office will have more usage and demands from the user.

“So in PNG, the most-networked PC’s and the most PC’s hooked onto the Internet are the ones in businesses.

“Papua New Guineans today are a lot more familiar with IT and what it can do for them.

“More people now through Internet at work have email addresses now as opposed to back in 1999.

“But IT usage now is primarily in the business world so the social and personal aspect of IT has not been developed enough yet in PNG.

“The only way for people to personally interact on the net is in their work time.

“Why?

“Because the total costs for accessing the Internet at home or personally through, say your mobile phone or a PDA is prohibitive or non-existent, and that is a direct consequence of the pricing hurdles set by ISP’s and Telikom’s Tiare Gateway.

“Businesses bear a lot of costs for IT now and they can afford to, even though it is expensive, but until the cost for personal access and overall access of Internet is lowered, we will continue to lag by 5-10 years behind the rest of the world.

“So two things need to be done.

“Firstly, Internet prices need to drop so Internet penetration rates can be increased; and secondly, entrepreneurs and businesses need to show consumers how their daily lives can be improved and be more efficient with IT initiatives, and I mean initiatives that can touch everyone in PNG from the cities to the villages.

“The future is bright and since we still have a long way to go, the only way is up so to speak.

“Internet prices will drop and the different forms of accessing the Internet will increase, whether it be from a PC at home, a PDA at a restaurant, your laptop at a hotel lobby or your mobile phone in your hand.

“This is inevitable with the way the rest of the world has gone, but for us it is only a question of how quickly that happens?”

For further information, visit the website http://www.masalai.net/ or call Emmanuel Narakobi on telephone (675) 323 6266, mobile (675) 683 6231, or email emmanuel@masalai.net.

Melissa Aigilo is Papua New Guinea's leading woman writer

Melissa Aigilo does not hide the fact that she is passionate about writing and its role in shaping Papua New Guinea.

At only 24, Aigilo is currently the country’s leading woman writer, with a book of poetry, Falling Foliage, published in 2005.

A collection of short stories and another anthology of poetry await publication.

This immensely-talented and intelligent young woman has a big following, especially among high school students, and her work is even being studied in the USA and Australia.

Her mentors, especially University of Papua New Guinea literature lecturers Dr Steven Winduo and Russel Soaba, extol the virtues of their protégé.

Soaba compares her writing to that of the great English woman writer Emily Dickenson.

However, as I found out, Aigilo is a quietly-spoken young woman who shuns the limelight to dwell on writing.

“My one book is called Falling Foliage,” she tells me.

“I also have my poems which are recorded on CD and tape in the International Library of Poetry in America.

“Falling Foliage was published in 2005.

“I’ve written two books so far which haven’t gone in for publication.

“One is a collection of short stories and the other is an anthology of poetry.

“ABC has a website where my poems have been aired.

“The University of Melbourne analyses some of my poems in their literature classes.

“Since my book was published, a lot of high schools and international schools have been ordering a lot.

“I think they’ve run out of copies at the university bookshop.

“I can see the support there.”

In saying this, Aigilo empathises with the women of Papua New Guinea, saying that they are not given enough support to air their voices.

“If only other women writers were given that same support, we could change the face of Papua New Guinea because writing is a very powerful political tool.

“Women have as much to offer as men and their views and opinions need to be expressed.

“Some important issues (concerning women) are still not addressed by today’s government and need to be looked at seriously.

“It is my very strong belief that women are the backbone of society.

“So I’m calling on people in authority to give women a chance to voice their concerns, politically, and socially, through writing.

“We have a lot of women writers, but the problem is not identifying them and assisting them to bring out their work.”

Aigilo graduated from the University of Papua New Guinea in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature degree.

She was at university from 2001 to 2005, including a year studying law; however, she found that she preferred the solitude of writing to noisy courtroom antics.

Before campus, Aigilo attended St Joseph’s International Primary School, Marianville Girls Catholic High School, and then Port Moresby National High School.

She is the eldest in a family of two sisters and two brothers.

Her father, former Police Commissioner and graduate lawyer Peter Aigilo, played a significant role in her opting for a life of writing.

One of her poems The Guardian, published in a recent issue of the literary publication Savannah Flames, is dedicated to her father.

“My dad is my mentor,” she says.

“He’s my strength.

“As a woman, I can say that.

“I like writing anything to do with prose, poetry, short stories, drama, plays.

“I think when I began to learnt how to write, I came up with ideas.

“Basically, because my dad is a lawyer, he emphasised reading and he is a reader himself.

“He used to read to me when I was younger, and that opened up my avenues for creating, so when I learnt to write, I put that creativity on paper.

“Writing is a form of liberation for me because I guess I’m a quite person.

“What I think and feel is expressed on paper.

“…some people keep journals.

“I find that poetry is like my journal.

“I am able to hide behind my words, and the style of poetry that I write is abstract.

“It’s a form of release for me.

“My saving grace!”

Aigilo could be described as a true Papua New Guinean, seeing her family connections.

“I’m from four provinces,” she elaborates.

“My mother’s part East New Britain and Morobe, and my father’s part West New Britain and East Sepik.”

Her future?

“I’ve always wanted to pass on my skills of writing to students, so while writing remains my No.1 passion, my second goal in life is to teach creative writing and literature.

“I look forward to writing more books, with the kind of assistance I’m getting from my lecturers and you in the media.”

Aigilo is blunt about her belief that writing is one of the most-important things in any society.

“I would say that, as I said, writing is a very powerful political tool.

“There are two forms of literature.

“The one that is oral is spoken and forgotten about.

“But the one which is written is preserved, and can be looked at to pave the way for the future in any aspect, whether it be social, political, religious.

“I believe that writing can change the way in which people think.

“The mind is a very complex thing.

“When you change someone’s mind, you are capable of changing a whole democracy.”

SCRIPTWRITERS

Imprinted
Letters so brashly written
Bidding attention
That's what you already have.
Words
They are hard to speak
So they come out as inscriptions.

You and I
Have something in common
You flaunt your inner self
On bus stop seats
And engrave your thoughts
On walls and dust engased shop windows
Scoring for yourself.

What would you like the world to imagine
When it reads your markings?
I create the images of a dramatist
In my mind and I envision you.
Would you remember my concealed scripts?
The way I know yours by heart
If you read them
Would you be able to fashion my personna
The way I mould your form

The words I read
Haunt me at night
Are you really out there

- MELISSA AIGILO