From Balimo to Port Moresby

Captions: 1. The 1979 PNG Pukpuks rugby union team in Suva, Fiji, with Badi Seyawa (second from left, front row). 2. Badi Seyawa (white beard) surrounded by his seven children and nine grandchildren. Picture by AURI EVA. 3. Waliya’s Badi Seyawa does his famous ‘flying tackle’ on University’s Arnold Amet.

 

The opening lyrics of that great song by Bruce Springsteen, Glory Days, came immediately to my mind as I sat down and enjoyed a beer with long-serving Telikom employee and former PNG Pukpuks rugby union legend Badi Seyawa at the Paddys Bar.

I had a friend was a big baseball player

back in high school

He could throw that speedball by you

Make you look like a fool boy

Saw him the other night at this roadside bar

I was walking in, he was walking out

We went back inside sat down had a few drinks

but all he kept talking about was

Glory days,  well they'll pass you by

Glory days, in the wink of a young girl's eye

Glory days, glory days

Seyawa, 59, from Saweda village in Balimo, Western province, leaves Telikom next month after a distinguished 42 years of service to the organisation – from an age of telegraphs to the internet, from the glorious colonial era to what is now a ramshackle Papua New Guinea.

But for all that he has done for the organistion, Seyawa has not been duly recognised,

something that he is somewhat bitter about.

And apart from his career, he also excelled on the rugby union paddock in the halcyon days of the 1970’s and 80’s, as a feared centre for the much-vaunted Waliya team from the Western province, against men like Mekere Morauta, Anthony Siaguru and Arnold Amet,

Those memories of another day, including the loss of his beloved wife Renagi last August, came back as we downed our beers.

“Waliya was ‘the’ team then,” Seyawa reminisces.

“Waliya was the team to beat.

“I was captain/coach and I did some magic things for Waliya.

“We were premiers in 1973, 1974 and 1975.

“In 1977, 1978, we tried and we failed.”

Seyawa, in fact, represented Papua New Guinea at the 1979 South Pacific Games with other great names like Kainantu’s Barevo Amevo, Milne Bay’s Sab Doiwa, Western Highlands’ Philip Num, and fellow Western province ‘barramundis’ Kolesi Mili, Tagala Nago, Wagubi Pilisa and Toby Warapa.

In his photo album is a newspaper cutting of him making a flying tackle on University’s Arnold Amet, team manager of the 1979 SP Games, and who was fated to one day become Chief Justice of PNG and Governor of Madang.

“University beaten in rugby union” screamed the Post-Courier headline of that story by renowned sportswriter Graeme Boyd.

“Last year’s unbeatables University had their colours lowered for the first time in 14 months when they met Waliya in the Port Moresby pre-season rugby union competition on Saturday,” wrote Boyd.

“Waliya ran out winners 16-10.

“The men who made the game for Waliya were Badi Seyawa and Kapiya Mase.”

The Balimo warrior has come a long way since he started school at the Evangelical Field Mission in 1955.

“I completed grade 4 there and then I was selected to government school at Balimo Primary School,” he recalls.

“From Grade 5, I was selected for Grade 6 with my brother.

“Four of us were selected to go to Daru Post-Primary School in 1962.

“Out of the four of us, I was selected to go to Kerema Junior High School.

“I spent three years there and graduated in 1965, with Sir Mekere Morauta being my senior at that time.

“I was selected to come to Sogeri Senior High in 1966.

“As soon as I completed Form 4 in 1966, Post & Telegraphs got me.

“I was on holidays when they sent me a letter, and I joined them on March 22, 1967.

“I grew up with a Christian family and I wouldn’t have achieved all this without a Christian upbringing.

“I must thank them (family) and thank God for bringing me up to what I am today.”

Seyawa started off very humbly in those far-off days.

“I started off as a clerical assistant,” he tells me.

“I started off at the post office in downtown Port Moresby.

“That’s where the P & T head office was.

“My job was to bill the customers who were using our system.

“P& T was under the Australian government.

“In 1970 and ’71, I was selected to go down to Sydney for the Commonwealth practical scheme.

“There were two of us from P & T selected to do this training for six months in Sydney.

“I was attached to the Post Master General’s billing office in Sydney.

“After I came back, I was given the responsibility of looking after telephone accounts.

“I was in that job for about two years.

“After the two years, I was given another position as administrative officer, which was basically recruitment, training, and everything human resource.

“Organisational changes saw me promoted to divisional administrative officer of finance, the position which I’ve been holding for 37 years now.”

The technological changes which have taken place over the last 42 years, including the growth of Port Moresby and PNG, have been phenomenal for Seyawa.

“Technologically, there have been very big changes over the years,” he says.

“Whatever has taken place from when I started up to now is hard to describe.

“My life within the Telikom organisation has been like a family, which I grew up in.

“The changes have been remarkable.

“My simple advice to our young people is to be committed, dedicated, honest and respect your superiors.

“That’s what I did and all my friends have all the respect for me.

“These four things made me what I am today.”

Badi Seyawa officially finishes from Telikom on March 14, 2009, exactly 42 years after he started with the then P & T.

The loss of Renagi, from Gagagaba village outside Port Moresby, his beloved partner of many years last August, brings tears to his eyes as he brushes his white beard.

“I’ve got a lot of plans for my kids,” Seyawa says.

“I’ve got seven kids and nine bubus (grandchildren).

“Coming from Balimo to Port Moresby is a long way.”

 

Port Moresby morgue bodies finally laid to rest

Those of you who have been following the Port Moresby morgue saga would be pleased to hear that the rotting corpses - which caused a big stink recently - were finally laid to rest at Nine-Mile Cemetery last Friday.

A total 75 corpses, including 26 babies, and various body parts (limbs) were mass buried.

I spent the day at the morgue and later at Nine-Mile with two Australian photographers and it was a very 'smelly' affair.

In traditional Papua New Guinea society, bodies of the dead are treated with respect, however, this seems not to have been the case.

My apologies

My apologies to the many readers of this blog from all over the world for what seems to have been a deliberate attempt by outside forces to hack this blog and post junk.
Those of you who read this blog over the weekend may have noticed the two junk postings from Nigerian scammers.
This was not my doing and I sincerely apologise if you thought it was my doing.

Malum

A thought for Valentine's Day

Hula, my Darling,

Today, I will see all the lovers having a good time, but you are not here to share with me.

Why, why, why?

The times we spent together, in Lae, Goroka, Port Moresby, will be cherised forever.

You left me all alone on March 23, 2008, with our four lovely young children.

This picture is one of the happy times we had in Goroka in 1999.

Hula, I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU!

Malum

Happy 7th Birthday Gedi 'Boy' Nalu

Happy 7th Birthday to my second son, Gedi 'Boy' Nalu Jr, who turns seven years old today, Friday, February 13, 2009.

I love you son, and God Bless You as Your prepare to take your place in this wide, wide world.

Love from Dad, as well as big brother Malum Nalu Jr, sister Moasing, and baby Keith, plus family and friends in Daru, Lae, Goroka, Papua New Guinea, Australia and the world.

Papua New Guineans join BBC Expedition

Over 20 Papua New Guineans are part of a group of 50 scientists, explorers and TV presenters on a BBC expedition to one of Papua New Guinea’s last frontiers, Southern Highlands Province’s Mt Bosavi.

The team, who are part of the world-renown BBC Natural History Unit, are filming a major TV documentary series entitled ‘Expedition New Guinea’ which will be aired in the UK and around the world towards the end of the year.

Daniel Huertas, a British researcher with the group, highlighted the international composition of the expedition team and in particular the pivotal role played by the PNG participants.

“We have a number of PNG scientists and local community members assisting and advising the international team in species recognition and location finding. The project would not be possible without the support and amazing knowledge of our colleagues from Port Moresby, Kiunga, Fogomaiyu, Talisu and Siena Falls,” he said.

British High Commissioner to PNG, David Dunn, welcomed the team to PNG and highlighted that the shooting of such a major documentary series reinforced the special relationship between the BBC Natural History Unit and PNG, which started more than 50 years ago by British broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough.

“Sir David's ‘Zoo Guest’ series, which heralded his entry into wildlife television documentaries and 50 years of broadcasting, brought him to PNG in 1957. That much remembered pioneering series changed the way broadcasters filmed natural history forever and opened the wonders and beauty of the planet and in particular PNG to the world. Although the technology has changed dramatically since those early days the warmth of the welcome and generous support given to the numerous and regular visiting BBC teams by the people of PNG has not. I would like to thank the Government of PNG and all those associated for their continued help, support and collaboration and I look forward to PNG showcasing to the world its amazing beauty and bio-diversity through the Expedition New Guinea programmes,” he added. 

Mt Bosavi, a dormant volcano endemically rich in flora and fauna, has been the subject of various studies by international research and conservation groups in recent years.

Mr Huertas said the mountain’s isolation and the enthusiasm of the local communities for their forest to be part of the documentary series made it the first choice for the BBC.

·        The expedition team’s adventures can be tracked through the BBC Science and Nature News website http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature and a Blog by expedition member and the University of California’s curator and department chair for ornithology and mammalogy, Dr John Dumbacher http://www.calacademy.org/blogs/jdumbacher/

 

200

By IAN TAUKURO

 

I'm on a roll today, lads...

Today marks the 200th birthday of two great men of history.

The first devised a theory that still causes much debate and controversy

among scientists and is a constant irritation to the church, although,

atheist's rejoice in the theory's teachings.

Let us all stand and offer a round of applause for the late but great,

Charles Darwin, who was born on February 12, 1809.

His theory of Natural Selection, which promoted the idea of evolution,

when first put forward, represented a great challenge to the teachings

of the church which, based on the bible, said all living things on the

planet are the result of Intelligent Design.

The other great man whose birthday was on February 12, 1809 is Abraham

Lincoln, who was the 16th US president who served from 1860 to 1865.

A great monument in his honour stands there in Washington DC erected as

a token of appreciation by the American people for what he did to save

the United States.

If a lesser man had been president during those tumultuous years of the

American Civil War, the United States would surely have become two

separate nations, North and South. It would never have grown into the

powerful nation that it is today. Lincoln realized that blood must be

shed to protect the ideals of freedom and democracy and, on the fateful

day in 1860, made the decision to send in supplies to Fort Sumter in

North Carolina, which was considered an act of war by the Confederacy,

the rival government to the US government, whose troops had surrounded

the fort. So began the Civil War, which went on for 5 years, ending soon

after Lincoln's assassination in 1865. America emerged from the heat of

battle bloodied and weary but re-born nonetheless.

Aside from the Lincoln Memorial, there is even a powerful warship, the

USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that patrols the high seas,

protecting the interests of the US just like the great man did when he

was alive.

What's common to Lincoln and Darwin? Well, aside from being full of

character and virtue they both had that unshakable belief in themselves

and the decisions they made and they never gave up as a result.

That's a good lesson for us all to learn ... whatever you do, don't

quit!

 

Ian