Dressed for a party!

Kogl Kara Elementary School teacher Peter Kunjil was all dressed in his traditional attire and had his face painted in Mul-Baiyer, Western Highlands style, to mark the occasion of project launching and distribution of new vehicles to the Mul-Baiyer Lumusa district.
Mr Kunjil, from Bukapena village, was among several others who decorated themselves in traditional attire and performed traditional dances to color the event.
Mul-Baiyer MP and Internal Security Minister Sani Rambi initiated the launch of several projects and distributed nine vehicles to schools, health centres and district administrations.

US woman gives birth to octuplets

A US woman has given birth to eight babies, becoming just the second person recorded in the US to have delivered a set of living octuplets, BBC reports.

The six boys and two girls, who were nine weeks premature, were delivered by Caesarean section in the hospital in Los Angeles, California.

The babies weighed in at between 1lb 8 ounces (820g) and 3lb 4oz (1.47kg) and are all said to be doing well.

They were screaming and kicking around very vigorously, a doctor said.

The mother, whose identity has not been revealed, has asked that limited information be released about the births.

A hospital spokeswoman described the deliveries, which took place in the space of five minutes, as "truly amazing".

The medical team had scheduled a Caesarean section for seven babies, but doctors were surprised when an eighth came out.

"Lo and behold, after we got to Baby G, which is what we expected, we were surprised by Baby H," said Dr Karen Maples.

Three of the babies needed help breathing, but all were otherwise doing well, a doctor said.

The babies will be in incubators for at least six weeks and the mother is planning to breast feed them all, the hospital officials said.

'Just enjoy it'

The world's first live-born set of octuplets were delivered in Houston, Texas, in 1998.  

One baby died about a week later - but the surviving children celebrated their 10th birthday in December.

Their Nigerian-born mother, Nkem Chukwu, said the new parents had much to look forward to, the Associated Press agency reported.

"Just enjoy it. It's a blessing, truly a blessing," Mrs Chukwu was quoted as saying.

"We'll keep praying for them."

 

Skerah.com brings PNG entertainment and business online

Skerah.com - http://www.skerah.com/ - is one of the fastest growing entertainment and business websites in Papua New Guinea.
It is owned and operated by Skerah Agencies, a 100% nationally-owned business.
The business is managed by Roselyn Vai with the help of friends and family members with expertise in IT and entertainment.
What initially started off as a fun idea to provide event and entertainment information has grown and attracted reputable businesses and event organisers to provide their event details for promotion on Skerah.com.
“Our core business is to provide event information and entertainment opportunities to our targeted audience, both local and international, so that it is simple, easy and fun for them to find the information they want anywhere, anytime,” Ms Vai says,
“We do not simply list any event but carefully choose events our target audience will appreciate.
“Focus is on quality, well organised and entertaining, of course, events that can also attract corporate involvement.
“The information and opportunities in Skerah.com is sourced from third parties and these are then published in a user-friendly and attractive form.
“Our fortnightly e-newsletter reinforces the information and opportunities we have on Skerah.com while at the same time providing exclusive updated information to our subscribers.
“Our objective is twofold:
•       Inform our audience in a easy and fun format to help them with their entertainment needs; and
•        Promote Papua New Guinea.”

Contact Details  
Skerah Agencies
Lau Vagi Cresc.
PO Box 542, Port Moresby
National Capital District
Papua New Guinea
Mobile: (Digicel) +675 7210 0883 (B-Mobile) +675 692 8479
Email: admin@skerah.com

Letter from China

By MATHEW YAKAI

My baby sister called me this morning at 5am when I was still sleeping asking me to send her 1, 300 Papua New Guinea Kina for her Grade 11 fee.

She cried on the phone.

I share the pain that she feels.

She wants a school because I am happy she knows that her future is secured through education.

Now, the school she will do her Grade 11 is in a trouble zone in Western Highlands province, Papua New Guinea.

I am so concerned about her safety.

I also know that the school does not have proper library, or just a building with no books.

No computers and other necessary staff you would expect in a school.

My dad is poor.

 Including my mum.

I went to a school in the remote Tambul.

Woke up at 5am, roasted kaukau over the fire, had with cold water, no proper shower, torn clothes on my body, and attended Grade 1 to 6 at Alkena Primary School.

 I was accepted to do Grade 7 at Tambul High School.

When students from well to do family came with good clothes and shoes, I was with my same old dirty clothes, smelling of smoke from fire.

I tried so hard in school, have been to several countries, and am now in China.

Malum, what am I saying here?

Some of us are working very hard to be where we are, but where is the guarantee that we will get a better job?

And for those, like my poor sister whom I will pay her K1, 300 for a school fee, should be safe at the school with good facilities provided by the government.

Parents are paying huge sums of money for their children for better future, when yet, our politicians and well-to-do run down the country and consequently hate our education system and send their children overseas.

I went to school with some of these politician’s children in Japan, Fiji and now in China and you know what?

They are stupid; they do not know how to ask a question in class.

But when you talk about party, they are good and I think they are well-trained for service industries like hotels and tourism industries to be good PR people.

But mind you, some or most do not have manners.

Are we really serious that we love PNG, Mr Chief Somare?

Mathew Yakai

China

Lessons from America

The United States of America last week celebrated a momentous occasion in history when Barrack Obama was sworn in as 44^th President.

His election shows that the American people wants change, youth, vision, dynamism, and transparency.

While the USA has opted for youth, Papua New Guinea has chosen to hang on to tired, old men who no longer have any more vision for the country.

Allow me to paraphrase from President Obama’s speech into the Papua New Guinea context:

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking Papua New Guinea.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.

The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.

We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.

We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost.

We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.

And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.

All this we can do.

 All this we will do.

 

Send a message to our Papua New Guinea cricket team in Argentina

To get in touch with our Papua New Guinea cricket team in Argentina at the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 tournament – to either congratulate them or wish them luck – log on to www.skerah.com/pngmilobarra.htm

 From there, you can send good luck messages to the team by completing the form in the page. 

The team will access from their hotel. 

 Comments received will be posted each night.

 

 

Questions the Papua New Guinea government must answer

• Julian Moti affair of October 2006 in which an international fugitive was spirited out of Port Moresby to Solomon Islands in a clandestine operation on a Papua New Guinea Defence Force aircraft, apparently ordered by the Prime Minister as revealed by the PNG Defence Commission of Inquiry;
• Failed $US29.8 million (K85 million) Taiwan diplomacy scandal in which Papua New Guinea citizens are alleged to have received bribes. In May 2008, allegations were made of a government minister allegedly signing a draft communiqué for Papua New Guinea to set up “full diplomatic relations” with Taiwan in September 2006 in Port Moresby.
• $US40 million (K145 million) in Singapore accounts, money from log exports, allegedly sitting in a bank account of a Papua New Guinea government figure and looked after by a “consortium” in that country;
• Prime Minister allegedly not declaring his shareholding in Pacific Registry of Ships Ltd. The official registry showed Sir Michael is a shareholder “in trust for the Independent State of PNG”.
• Prime Minister’s continued court actions to stop the Ombudsman Commission and the Public Prosecutor from performing their mandated duties on allegations of the Prime Minister not completing or providing annual returns since 1992.