New Zealand volunteers - helping Papua New Guinea for 39 years

Caption: NZAID official in the field, Bougainville.  Photo courtesy Caroline Newsom

Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA), New Zealand’s international volunteering for development agency, has been sending volunteers to Papua New Guinea since 1970.

 In 1998, VSA set up a field office in Arawa to co-ordinate the programme in Bougainville, with the programme for the rest of PNG being co-ordinated from Wellington, New Zealand.

Up until 2005, PNG-based VSA volunteers worked with NGOs and government agencies in Bougainville and the mainland provinces only.

 In 2005, the first volunteer took up an assignment with the East New Britain Province’s secondary education office and since then VSA, in response to the development needs of the Island provinces, has shifted its focus and placed a number of volunteers in the New Britain provinces.

VSA recognised that to strengthen its relationship with the New Guinea Island provincial governments and communities and to assist them with their development objectives, plans and projects, that VSA needed to move closer and become part of the local community, as VSA has already done successfully in Arawa, Bougainville. 

 In December 2008, Camille Kirtlan, VSA’s programme officer for PNG, moved to Kokopo, East New Britain and is setting up the new VSA field office there. 

Currently, VSA has 11 volunteers working in Bougainville, seven in East New Britain and two in West New Britain – not to mention a number of their partners who make significant contributions of their own to local communities.

 Later in 2009, VSA plans also to work with the New Ireland provincial government and communities, to extend its relationship with the New Guinea Island provinces, and work alongside the New Guinea Island people, assisting them in their development.     

 

 

New Zealand receives first Papua New Guinea fresh produce export

Papua New Guinea has successfully completed a trial export of ginger to New Zealand, the first time PNG fresh produce has been exported there for commercial distribution.

Many other Pacific countries already export significant quantities of tropical fresh produce to New Zealand, and PNG coffee and spices can be found there, but to date PNG fresh produce has been missing from shop shelves. 

Under the 2008 trial, coordinated by a committee of PNG government departments established to explore fresh produce export options in cooperation with the Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commission office in Auckland and the New Zealand High Commission in Port Moresby, the PNG ginger sent to Auckland complied fully with New Zealand’s relevant import health standards and was distributed on to interested importers.  

Both sides agreed that there is scope for PNG fresh produce to be marketed commercially in New Zealand, especially in Auckland given its large Pacific population. 

The key now is to fully explore the commercial viability of exports to New Zealand, including other crops in addition to ginger, and to strengthen the capacity of PNG growers and exporters to ensure continuity of supply and quality, and correct treatment, packaging and handling of produce. 

In the meantime, New Zealand consumers will continue to wait for their “taste of PNG”.

 

Banker + gangster = bankster

 

A POINT OF VIEW

It seems timely to resurrect this Americanism from the 1930s - one of many evocative words the United States has contributed to the English language, says Harold Evans.

Americans are pretty good at adding words to the English language. We owe them pin-up girls, highbrows, killjoys, stooges, hobos, drop-outs, shills, bobby-soxers, hijackers, do-gooders and hitchhikers who thumb a ride.

The Americanisms are so much more concise and vivid. Instead of saying "sorry we're late but drivers ahead of us slowed us down when they craned their necks to look at a crash" you can say "we were held up by rubberneckers".

Words pop in and out of our language as social conditions change. The American gangster, which is still with us, has been around as a noun and a reality since 1896 according to my Shorter Oxford, but it seems to have dropped another Americanism from the 1930s and I think now is the time to revive it.

The word is bankster, derived by a marriage of banker and gangster.

It was coined, as far as I can deduce, by an American immigrant, a fiery Sicilian-born lawyer by the name of Ferdinand Pecora. He was the chief counsel to the US Senate Committee on Banking set up in the early 30s to probe the origins of the Crash of 1929.

He exposed quite a lot of the Wall Street practices that Harvard's Professor William Z Ripley had condemned in 1928. The believable Ripley called them - get ready for these Americanisms - "prestidigitation, double-shuffling, honey-fugling, hornswoggling and skullduggery".

The professor had vainly tried to warn President Calvin Coolidge that Wall Street was full of gas and was bound to blow up. To great discomfort all round, Pecora identified Coolidge himself, by then out of office, as one of those who'd been in on the honey-fugling.

The great banking house of JP Morgan had the president on a "preferred list" by which the bank's influential friends were given a chance to buy stock at half price. Shall we say, they made out like bandits?

Today the term bankster perfectly fits Bernard Madoff, whose crooked Ponzi scheme lost $50 billion of what the trade calls OPM - other people's money - invested with him.

Costly rug

But the revelations come thick and fast. People are now struggling for words to describe the latest example of Wall St's money madness. The fabled investment bank Merrill Lynch, run by one John Thain, had so many big zeroes on its balance sheet it would have been liquidated in December but for a merger with the Bank of America.

That was actually a shotgun marriage - in the US vernacular - since the Bank of America was forced to take billions of government money when it learned later that Merrill Lynch was down another $15bn.

Then what? In the few days in December while he was still in charge, Mr Thain reportedly spent nearly $4bn on staff bonuses. That's peanuts on Wall St. In 2007 Mr Thain himself received $83m.

But a week ago, CNBC's Charles Gasparino, in a detailed scoop on the Daily Beast website revealed that during the time Mr Thain was busy cost-cutting, he spent $1.1m doing up his office - $86,000 for a rug, $35,000 for something called a commode on legs.

Readers bayed for blood, posting comments such as: "Oh how I wish this was Revolutionary France and we peasants could storm the offices."

The anger about the greed that got us into our mess is, in my view, wholly justified. And now we hear that 10 of the big banks that got $148bn from Uncle Sam so they could make loans to get things humming again have actually reduced their loan totals by $46bn.

Mr Thain now is history, having resigned, but the great Bank of America, the biggest in the US and maybe the world is now on the list of banks that may have to be nationalised - a word no red-blooded American ever thought would be uttered in the land of enterprise.

Have money, will lend

The piquancy of all this is that if the term banker is ever to be restored to its former prestige, the public and Wall St might reflect on one highly relevant example of a banker who was not a bankster.

It is the story of Amadeo Peter Giannini, a big man on the side of the little man. When the transcontinental railway started services to California after the line's completion in May 1869, he was among the very first passengers.

He was in the womb of his newlywed mother, 15-year-old Virginia. His father, having made money in the goldfields, had gone back to Italy for her. It is nice to think that as the young immigrants crossed the Rockies, their adventurous spirits somehow crossed the placental barrier.

Amadeo was born on 6 May, 1870. He grew up on a little farm, whose produce his mother and father sold in booming San Francisco. In 1877 when he was six, he saw his father gunned down. His mother moved to the city to buy wholesale from farmers and sell to shops.

Amadeo - or AP as he became known - grew into a tall, strong man, more than able to hold his own in the rough auctions for fruit and veg on the wharfs where traders met the farmers' boats. He helped to build a thriving business.

When he was 31 he sold his share, saying he had no interest in accumulating wealth. "No man owns a fortune," he said. "It owns him." It was the motto of his life.

He'd married and on the death of his father in law, was persuaded to take his vacant place on the board of a little bank in North Beach. He was appalled that they'd not lend money to poor immigrants. The rows in the board room reverberated over North Beach until AP walked out and started a little bank of his own to do that, the Bank of Italy.

From his work on the wharves, he'd become a shrewd judge of character, so he'd cheerfully lend money to pay doctor's bills for delivery of a baby if he judged the couple had integrity.

Phoenix from the rubble

On Wednesday 18 April, 1906, San Francisco was devastated by earthquake and fire. AP rushed to get all his gold and paper money out of danger, hid it under orange crates to conceal it from looters, and stood guard all night in his home.

It must have been a debilitating moment the next day to find his baby bank a mass of charred rubble. The bigger banks, who had vaults too hot to open, had no records and were not lending.

AP instead went down to a wharf close to the smouldering North Beach, flung a plank across two barrels, and with his baritone booming across the desolation, started lending some of his $80,000 to rebuild San Francisco.

He looked for steamship captains he knew, shoved money into their hands, saying "go north and get lumber". AP radiated so much confidence, making a big show of jiggling his little bag of gold, hundreds who'd been hoarding cash and gold banked it with him. North Beach was built faster than any other area.

By 1918 he'd established California's first state-wide banking system. A little local bank in the valley that would have closed in a run after a bad harvest could now keep open by borrowing from the city branch.

He set out to build a nationwide banking system so that distressed areas could be helped by ones that were prospering. Wall St hated him. He beat off their attempts to destroy him. In the Great Depression, he took every opportunity in the New Deal legislation to get California revived in time for the war and the boom that followed.

He did it by putting the community first, himself last. He set up low interest instalment credit plans which enabled thousands to avoid the loan sharks and buy cookers and refrigerators and autos, and he built a whole new electrical industry with his loans.

He financed the Golden Gate bridge, and the Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

No man could do so much good without being maligned. It was said he wore the mask of populism to create a dangerous instrument of personal power and personal wealth.

The truth is that the man whose life was money had no interest in money. He refused to take increases in pay and spurned every bonus. He banned insider trading. Shortly after retiring in 1945, when he found himself in danger of becoming a millionaire, he set up a foundation and gave it half his personal fortune.

And the little bank for the ordinary man that he founded?

The Bank of America.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/magazine/7861397.stm
Published: 2009/01/30 17:11:35 GMT
© BBC MMIX

 

InterOil Safety milestone

InterOil has achieved a major safety milestone for its operations throughout Papua New Guinea.

Figures just released show that at the end of January 2009 the company had notched up a total of more than 6-million man hours without a lost time injury (LTI).

InterOil President Bill Jasper says such a result would be the envy of any major industrial company anywhere in the world.

“It is a tribute to all our employees, particularly those involved in our health and safety programs”.

The figures show InterOil’s Port Moresby Refinery has operated for more than 2,400,000 man hours without an LTI.

In fact, the Refinery has never had a major safety incident since being commissioned.

 The company’s Exploration Division has also operated for more than 2-million man hours without safety incident. 

InterOil Products Limited, the company’s distribution arm, also boasts a flawless safety record totaling more than 1-point-7 million continuous man hours.

“The equation for our entire operation in PNG is more than 6-point-1 million safe and productive man hours”, Mr. Jasper said.

 Despite the impressive record to date, Mr. Jasper said that the Company and its workforce were not resting on their laurels.

“It is the responsibility of everyone involved in our operation from our most senior manager to our newest employee”.

“Safety doesn’t just happen”, Mr. Jasper said.

“It only comes about when everyone involved takes the safety message seriously and acts accordingly”.

“We put safety first and consider the health and well being of our people as paramount”.

“When we first established ourselves here we made a series of commitments to the nation and people of Papua New Guinea”.

“The most important of those commitments is to our workers and our environment”, Mr. Jasper said.

For further information and to arrange media interviews please contact

Susuve Laumaea

Senior Manager Media Relations InterOil Corporation

Ph: 321 7040

Mobile: + (675) 684 5168

Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com  

 

Get Your Greek On!

The Biggest Toga Party in Port Moresby

 

 This is a theme party where everyone has to come dressed in a Toga or something Greek-like.

 Gods and Goddesses K30 per person.

All slaves entering without proper attire will be fined K5 for use of a Moresby Arts Theatre Rent-A-Toga.

 Venue: Moresby Arts Theatre

Time: 7pm-onwards

Date: Saturday, 28th February

 Complimentary shooters on arrival plus prizes for best dressed will be handed out.

 Cartoon sketching will be available too!

 A really fun way to get out of the house and network in a safe and creative environment.

 For tickets or other enquires they can contact us on (675) 685 5665 or (675) 687 3591.

 

Termites: Stop them in their tracks

It's estimated that termites cause millions of kina worth of property damage in Papua New Guinea alone every year—imagine what the figure is worldwide!
In Lae, termites have already eaten parts of Angau Memorial Hospital, police barracks, Forest Research Institute and several houses in the city.
While termite swarms and mud tubes are easy to spot, other signs of infestation are more subtle.
Tap at your baseboards to see whether they've been hollowed out from within.
Check for small, brownish-black spots or small piles of “dry powdery muck” that looks like pepper (it's actually termite waste) along baseboards or in kitchen cupboards.
If you think you may have termites, don't dawdle.
Have a certified, pest-management professional inspect your home right away
A giant Australian termite accidently introduced to PNG during World War II has the potential to ravage our cocoa, coffee and timber plantations.
The 1cm termite, known as Mastotermes darwiniensis, is believed to have been introduced accidentally to Lae in contaminated wood imported from Australia during World War 11.
Thought to be eradicated in the early 1970's, the mastoterme has been rediscovered in just over one square kilometre of Lae, where it has already destroyed part of the Angau Memorial Hospital.
Experts say PNG authorities need to eradicate it.
It is a termite which occurs in northern Australia and Papua New Guinea now, and if it gets out of the present wet area in Lae into the drier areas where there are a lot more susceptible crops, the damage could be catastrophic.
Current preventive measures to control termites infesting parts of Lae are limited and inadequate but treatable.
The infestation is treatable with Fripolin, a much less-persistent chemical with good termiticidal properties which is currently used in Australia to eradicate the termites.
This is according to Dr Brian Thistleton, the leader of a team that recently completed a scoping survey on the termite in Lae.
The survey on the termite, carried out in 2005 and 2006, aimed at determining the existence of the termite and the potential problem it posed to the country.
The termite travels through the ground, making it difficult to control and monitor. Research has shown that the termite is very destructive to a wide range of trees, horticultural crops and buildings and can spread quickly, especially in drier areas.
 The termite not only destroys wooden buildings but is also a potential pest of horticulture.
 It is the most common horticultural pest in the Northern Territory, damaging and killing many types of tree crops including mangoes, citrus, cocoa, coconut and forestry trees - all of which are important in Papua New Guinea.
It is completely subterranean, with no mounds, and is one of several species that also damage houses in the Territory.

Campaign against sorcery needed

The National Editorial

Last Friday, The National reported on its front page yet another gruesome sorcery-related killing.

A man was dragged from his home in the dead of night with his wife and teenage son and, after a brief pretence of a trial witnessed by Village Court officials and local pastors from the Baptist, Four Square, Lutheran and Seventh-Day Adventist churches, he was taken away and literally chopped to pieces.

Our report came from a person who buried the “pieces”.

The kangaroo court and the killing were witnessed by many people but be sure nobody will give reliable information to the police should an investigation be initiated.

This is the nature of sorcery killings. It is condoned by the society. That society is unlikely to dob in a person or persons that carry out their collective wishes.

Another man was being slowly tortured to death in the same area when the president of the National Doctors’ Association, Dr Kauve Pomat, who was in the village at the time, is said to have successfully pleaded with the torturers to spare the man’s life.

These latest incidents happened in Unggai-Bena, just a few kilometres away from the Eastern Highlands capital of Goroka.

It is the electorate of Minister for Environment and Conservation, Benny Allen, a soft-spoken, God-fearing and peace-loving man.

So many prominent and educated people hail from the district, among them Dr Pomat. If their pleas fall on deaf ears, then nothing short of a state of emergency will sort out this matter of sorcery. And it might well come to that.

Even the purported plans by the chairman of the Constitutional Planning Committee, Joe Mek Teine, to introduce tougher legislation will not do it.

Mr Mek Teine knows very well what goes on. His own Simbu province is the bastion of rumours of sorcery practices and the manner of killings in these parts would rival the most cruel and painful tortures anywhere.

Those accused of sorcery have been roasted over a slow fire; nailed to crosses; hung in public places and beaten to death; tortured with burning rods; locked inside homes and burnt; weighed with stones and thrown into rivers; bludgeoned to death; chopped up; poured over with kerosene, set alight and released to become a human torch.

PNG is made up of close-knit tribal groups. Conflict is resolved amicably within that setting now as it has been for eons. When the tribe accuses one of its own members or a group of practising sorcery, the accused group is ostracised and cut off from that tribe. Death is the punishment.

Sorcery and witchcraft are not exclusive to PNG. They are practised in many parts of the world.

Witchcraft and related-killings were as prevalent in Europe among the English, French, Welsh, Dutch, Germans and all other Europeans whose distant relatives today might frown upon the practice in PNG.

Like religion, sorcery is related to a set of stories, symbols, beliefs and practices, most often with a supernatural or superhuman quality that is associated with evil. Indeed, Christianity branded sorcery and witchcraft stories and practices the world over as the work of the devil.

The concept of the devil was easier to understand and associate with in most societies as a result, while God remains still a mystery beyond our sensory perceptions.

Sorcery is practised, it is believed, through rites and rituals, in the utterance of arcane incantations, and in the way of life of those who choose to live the life. It is not hereditary in that it is not passed through the genes but passes through familial ties normally, it is believed.

Like religion, sorcery cannot be proven but is believed in with a kind of faith that is most difficult to expunge. Place yourself in a circle of very well educated Papua New Guineans and there will be a number of them who believe in sorcery. Indeed, many educated people believe that they are being sought after by jealous relatives or less fortunate tribesmen who have hired and set sorcery assassins after them.

This is why sorcery and witchcraft in PNG, like in Europe, is likely to pass out of the system given time and education, not by legislative dictate or political edict. Nothing short of a massive awareness campaign costing millions of kina will begin the process to eradicate the belief system.

Belief in sorcery is prevalent in all parts of PNG but sorcery killings are prevalent in only some provinces. Most killings have been reported in Eastern Highlands, Simbu, Western Highlands, Morobe, Madang and East Sepik provinces.