Twilight over Gerehu, Port Moresby

I was walking home from Stop & Shop Supermarket, Gerehu, to home last night when I looked towards the Baruni backroad and saw the silhouette of trees against the last rays of sunshine.
Poetry in motion, I dare say...

And the times they are a'changing...at least in Port Moresby

I was sitting down on the traffic isle along Waigani Drive yesterday arvo, opposite our office at The National, watching the world go by and I pulled out my camera and took these pictures.

Indeed, as Bob Dylan sings, "the times, they are a'changin..."...at least in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea

Single marketing arm for coffee-eyed in Papua New Guinea

By JOHN FOWKE

 

A vision was floated at recent meetings in Goroka by a well-meaning academic.

The meetings were reported by Zachary Per in Friday 2^nd.October’s The National.

The advocate for a single coffee-marketing organisation received his listeners’ plaudits because he spoke to people who heard what they wanted to hear.

It was an emotional response rather than one based upon any prior reflection or knowledge of the reality.

PNG’s coffee-entrepreneurs at large remain in ignorance of the way their market works. And, as it appears, so does Professor Kaluwin, even though he was in a good position to consult other academically-qualified Papua New Guineans who do know, before speaking.

In spite of attempts over the years by CIC to explain to local entrepreneurs and to small growers, just how the market works, most of these people are puzzlingly ignorant of the truth even though some of them have invested large sums in their coffee-based enterprises.

Aside from running week-long training courses for factory-owners and others interested in maximising both price and quality for their own benefit, CIC has printed and widely distributed more than 40,000 copies of a TokPisin booklet entitled "STORI BILONG KOPI." 

 This well-illustrated publication, which was also sent to all 119 members of Parliament and to all High Schools, explains the whole system in simple, easily-understood terms. Anyone at all with knowledge of simple arithmetic and a calculator is enabled by this booklet to work out the fairness or otherwise of the prices being paid for coffee in the main Highlands towns on a daily basis, and to understand questions of crop-financing and what happens to our coffee in the consuming countries as well.

 It is true to say that small farmers all over the world are inclined to believe what they want to believe.

 It is also true to say that the greatest boost to profitability through more efficient marketing is created by giving farmers the best possible physical access, and information-based access, to their market.

 In other words, by giving them properly-maintained road access and telephone or media access to daily market-reports.

The way towards improving rural cash income in PNG is simple and within the ability and the purse-strings of big government, but it is ignored in the same way that improving rural health and rural education and policing services are ignored.

In place of simple, common-sense plans and the exercise of discipline over those entrusted with implementation, we see an everlasting parade of “new” development strategies, taskforces, 20-year-plans etc., etc., all with the requisite major conferences and seminars held in comfortable surroundings.

 Venues for people making “names” for themselves with no intention of taking responsibility and facing up to big tasks.

 None of these plans have made a significant difference in recent decades, a time which has seen a falling-off of economic and physical welfare in most of the population.

The secret to rural wellbeing and prosperity in PNG is simple; it is ROADS, ROADS, and ROADS."

Roads means not only access to markets, but also for health and education services, police patrols, agricultural field-workers and school and village-court inspections, all to reach rural areas and establish themselves as part of daily life, to the peoples’ great benefit.

 I know Mr Huk Avute and many of the others addressed by the Professor, and I am sure they will recognise my name and the fact that I am not one who speaks outside my own sphere of experience. 

 The truth about the coffee market, as I have previously written, is that the biggest slice of the ultimate total retail selling-price for coffee is appropriated by the roaster-marketers, the major brand-proprietors and their distributors in the coffee-consuming countries.

 The five largest international brand-name owners, namely Nestle,-(largest) - Kraft, Sara Lee, Folger and Tchibo - (four of them are American) - draw more than half of the world's total output of green coffee-beans into their operations each year.

This means that they have a huge influence over the way the market in consuming countries works.

All medium- and small-volume roaster/packagers follow this lead.

 These are the middle-men who hold down both the coffee-growers interest and that of the coffee-drinker.

Neither side has ever been able to break this grip.

Even the feel-good NGO-related and ”fair-trade”  “organically certified”,”Rainforest-friendly” and "coffee-connoiseur" marketing organisations follow suit- their share of the total retail value of the coffee they sell is far in excess of what linked growers may expect to get, even when their grower bonuses are included.

This fact can be ascertained simply by comparing the daily New York C-contract market average for Arabica with the advertised price for a kilo of “fair-trade” or “organic” coffee as sold on the internet by the NGOs and others involved in this trade.

 In Australia, and expressed in Kina terms, these agencies are getting up to K80.00 per kilo for their roast-and-ground certified product, where the “registered and certified” supplying small grower in PNG will be very lucky to get K6.00 for enough good dry parchment to make a kilo of roast and ground.

 Whilst it is possible for growers to obtain worthwhile increments over the ordinary daily price paid at the factory door by forming a properly-organised marketing group and selling by competitive tender, no-one has yet managed to get such a system running on more than a small scale.

Nevertheless, such an organisation is still in the same boat with all other growers, factory-owners and exporters; no-one is able to break out of the grip established by the major roasters of the world.

The same market-conditions hold true for any large-volume agricultural commodity.

Any economist will explain this in detail.

 Copra, rubber, rice, wheat, meat, processed fruit-juices, milk-powder, cocoa, tea, sugar; all these are traded in complex markets where the big brand-owners and processor-marketers keep the major share for themselves.

A loaf of bread will sell for anywhere between $1.80 and $4.00 depending on its type and quality in Australia right now.

But the Australian wheat-grower will get only a few cents a kilo for his product.

It’s a situation which it is easy to be resentful about, but it is a system which is not going to respond in any favourable way to a single-entity coffee marketing organisation in PNG.

Beyond this there are many, many things to think about: for instance;

 

• The annual crop harvested in PNG needs an input of some K 460 million to finance it. This has to be borrowed overseas, and exchange-rate fixation and coverage are very important. This is what the present registered exporters do, using their networks of overseas contacts. They then funnel the money out to factories on the basis of contracts to supply, and thus it passes on to buyers and eventually to the growers. All these overseas financing linkages will have to be replaced if a single entity is to be empowered to trade all PNG’s coffee each year.

 

• Coffee for export must be re-processed by the exporter even though it has been milled and bagged in registered factories. There are often discrepancies and too many defects in coffee delivered from factories. The re-processing and warehousing facilities of the current exporters could perhaps be purchased to physically handle the coffee as it comes in from the factories, but they are relatively small and spread around so management would be very tricky indeed. On the other hand a single assembly and re-processing establishment would be hugely expensive to build.

 

• The record of single-entity or central marketing agencies elsewhere in the world is not good. In the case of Kenya, which people in PNG are most familiar with, the industry was set up based on co-operative mills selling through the Coffee Board of Kenya, but after years of falling quality and major accounting problems the system has been altered drastically to allow private exporting. The main problem encountered in the central marketing period was delays in decisions and paper-work, corruption, and a creeping expansion in the size of the staff. There was much wheeling/dealing, for instance in the awarding of cartage and supply contracts. Would this be PNG’s experience, also?

 

Some more pictures of Goroka from the 1970s

Housing project at Goroka, what used to be known as Council Camp, now Banana Block. Pictures by former Goroka resident BRIAN WILSON at www.ski-epic.com/.../goroka/index.html

Goroka rooftop water heater - looks solar powered? Remember this was in Goroka in 1972 so it was more about practicality than environmentalism. Also notice the house is on stilts

Goroka Steamships- nick named "Steamies". It was both a grocery store and a department store, imported everything. The fellows in the foreground are students from the Teachers College

Goroka Saturday afternoon West Goroka - the crowd as many out of town people come in from the surrounding villages to trade at market

"Goroka rugby scrum" - a rugby league game in Goroka in 1972

Goroka aussie rules football halftime, at what is now Independence Park, with the famous Goroka Sports Club in the background

Goroka village next to market - a really huge number of people came from the surrounding 30 miles from Goroka to participate in the Saturday market

Goroka market pig counter - pork for sale in the Saturday market in Goroka, 1972. Pork was a very special item and was to bought and sold only by senior tribesmen. It was used to pay debts and establish obligations on someone

Goroka International School, 1972

Goroka Teachers College basketball game - this was a national tournament between colleges in PNG

APEC Ministers determined that SMEs should be stronger, more resilient

Issued by the APEC Secretariat

Singapore, 9 October 2009 – APEC Ministers responsible for small and medium enterprises have considered policies and initiatives to increase access of SMEs to global markets.

View their official statement:

http://www.apec.org/apec/ministerial_statements/sectoral_ministerial/small___medium_enterprises/2009_small_and_medium_html.html

View excerpts from the related press conference on You Tube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kAc0Sfmf-c

 

For more information, contact:

Carolyn Williams at cdw@apec.org or at (65) 9617 7316

Anita Douglas at ad@apec.org or at (65) 9172 6427

 

Port Moresby's king of affordable housing

Eke Lama (left) supervising building of a new three-bedroom house at Gerehu

Eke Lama watching building of a new three-bedroom house at Gerehu

Eke Lama at his Ta Wanu units at Gerehu

Ta Wanu units at Gerehu

Eke Lama at his new property development at Gerehu

Eke Lama points to where his workmen are cutting up the hillside at Gerehu

Yumi Yet Properties units at Waigani

Eke Lama at one of his leased commercial properties at Waigani

Eke Lama at his second leased commercial property at Waigani

New units being built at Three-Mile

Yumi Yet Properties’ new units under construction at Three-Mile

Eke Lama (second from left) personally supervises concrete pouring at Three-Mile

Leased shop at East Boroko

On a hill at Gerehu Stage Two, which offers panoramic views of Port Moresby’s most-populated suburb, a massive property development over 31 hectares is taking place.
Yumi Yet Properties, owned by Southern Highlands businessman Eke Lama, is cutting up the hillside to build more units which can be afforded by the average Papua New Guinean.
He owns residential and commercial property all over Port Moresby and Mt Hagen.
Mr Lama, for those who came in late, is known in Port Moresby as a man who is making housing affordable to hundreds of Papua New Guineans in Port Moresby, me included.
These are simple, self-contained units, nothing fancy a’la Touguba Hill.
“Currently, we have one-bedroom, two-bedroom and hostel-type rooms,” he says.
“We have 237 units altogether in Port Moresby right now.
“We are renting out to average Papua New Guineans.
“We are not ‘cutting their necks’ by giving them affordable accommodation.
“Our units are at Four-Mile, Waigani and Gerehu.
“Across the board, we are leasing for K600, K700, K800 or K900 per month for a one-bedroom unit.
“Our two-bedroom units are going for K1, 400-K1, 800 per month.
“Three-bedrooms are going for K1, 600-K2, 000.
“These are reasonable rates we are giving to Papua New Guineans.”
As we stand on the hill last Saturday marveling at the view, Mr Lama points out where a proposed new freeway, once the LNG project gets underway, would pass through to Jackson’s Airport.
And yet, this self-made success story never made it past Grade Three, and started off buying and selling coffee cherries
“I went to mission school in 1972,” Mr Lama tells me.
“I finished my Grade Three in 1975.
“My ‘university’ finished there.
“I started my business in 1979 in my village, Wala, in Pangia, Southern Highlands province.
“In 1979, with K200, I started buying cherry coffee at 20t a tin.
“When I sold the coffee, I bought goods from Mt Hagen, which I used to run a trade store in Pangia.
“From those humble beginnings, I started spreading my wings
“I started running trade stores at Wala, one at Pangia station, one at Waigani, one in Mt Hagen and one at East Boroko.
“I was in the coffee-buying and trade store business for 25 years, before going into real estate.”
Mr Lama is a relatively new kid on the lucrative real estate block of Port Moresby, only having been there since 2006, but he is already creating ripples.
“I went into the real estate business in 2006,” he recalls.
“I firstly acquired property at Section 378, Lot 10, Gerehu.
“Then I acquired property at Section 42, Lot 14, Waigani, for commercial purposes as well as Section 41, Lot 35 and Lot 5, Waigani.
“I also have one at Section 16, Lot 35, East Boroko.
“And now, we are working on this land, Portion 2577.
“It’s 31.35 hectares.
“I want to build split-level units on the first 9.5 hectares.
“I’m looking at building 240-250 units.
“On the other 22 hectares, I’m going to put up houses.
“I’m planning to put up the first building by December or January.
“I believe I’m going to finish within two years, between 2010-2011.”
For someone who is 55, Mr Lama shows a lot of energy, as he showed by supervising workmen on his properties at Gerehu, Waigani, Three-Mile where a new block of units is going up, and East Boroko last Saturday.
Recently, when I had a plumbing problem at my unit, he was there to take charge of the whole operation.
“I’m 55 years old but I look young and strong because I work from 7 o’clock in the morning to 7 o’clock at night,” he explains.
“I own the properties.
“I don’t let other people run it.
“When I build a house, I’m the foreman.
“I’m the plumber, mechanic, electrician, carpenter, painter, road builder, bridge builder, a jack-of-all-trades.”
Mr Lama says real estate agents are also to blame for the high rentals in Port Moresby
“I don’t want my property to be managed by real estate agents because they put up the rentals by imposing their own fees,” he says.
“I don’t want my tenants to be affected.
“I look after my properties myself, and I only pay tax to the government.”
Mr Lama has also assisted in infrastructure development in his home province for the church as well as in conjunction with the Southern Highlands provincial government, such as church buildings and schools.
“I wanted to help others back at home.
“My business helps church groups,” he says,
“At Wala, my home village, I’m sponsoring 32 students from Grade 9 to university.
“I want to be an example for Papua New Guineans.
“I seriously want to tell Papua New Guineans not to sell out land in Port Moresby or elsewhere.
“Do not be lazy.
“If you want to be a businessman, you have to commit yourself first, and then put your money in.
“If you want to sell buai, cigarettes, run a tradestore, anything, put yourself in first.
“Then put your money in.
“Look after the business like a baby and it will grow.
“When the business starts to grow, there is no looking back from there.
“When you make money, don’t play around with it.”
Mr Lama says the real estate business is a pot of gold, especially with the LNG project coming on stream.
“Real estate business right now is very good,” he added.
“I want to retire after I have completed 300 new units, and when I own 500 units all over Port Moresby.”

Mr Lama can be contacted on telephone 3236979 or mobiles 6920757 and 72200653.

Weathering the eye of the storm: a book review

Cover of Through The Eye of The Storm, by Dr Limbie Kelly Kelegai

A powerful new book Through the Eye of the Storm by Dr Limbie Kelly Kelegai tells of how he overcame being a quadriplegic to achieve his dreams.
Dr Kelegai, from Ialibu, Southern Highlands province, sustained a spinal injury in 1980 in a rugby league accident in Lae and became a quadriplegic while studying at the University of Technology.
On the night of Sept 22, 2005, Dr Kelegai received his PhD in information technology from the vice chancellor of the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.
His two sons were on either side proudly groomed in their traditional Ialibuan attire.
The rest of his family was very close in the rows soaking the accolade with pride and joy - it was a momentous evening.
This was the pinnacle in Dr Kelegai’s career.
This is the story of how this young man lived through trauma with hope to achieve his dreams: never giving up regardless of the enormity of the trauma.
It is a love story of how he met his wife Rose, a nurse at the Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae, and how she stuck with him through good and bad times,
In these times, this book reminds us of the values we have lost: self-worth, self-belief, courage in the face of adversity and the power of hope.
It is a celebration of our heritage and our people and is a much-needed source of inspiration to instil hope in the hearts of many throughout this country.
If ever there was a perfect example of the power of human spirit and of love, this is it.
It is the extraordinary journey of an ordinary person who refused to succumb to negativity and hopelessness and allowed God to take control in every aspect of his life.
This book is a demonstration of the strength of positive thinking and has been highly recommended by notable members of society including Governor General Sir Paulias Matane and managing director of PNG Sustainable Development Program David Sode as a must-read for everyone.
“I have read dozens of books in recent years but have not read anything like Dr Limbie Kelegai’s most impressive and positive life story,” Sir Paulias says.
“Limbie does not accept difficulties.
“In fact, he converts difficulties, negative to positive thoughts and actions.
“He believes that nothing in the world is impossible to achieve.
“To him, words like impossibility, can’t or difficulty are not in his vocabulary and actions.
“To know more about this positive thinker and performer, we must read this book, which I now recommend to the Department of Education to buy copies of and distribute to all schools in PNG.
“I want to see our young people learn from Dr Kelegai’s examples to change them to be positive in life and actions.”
Mr Sode said Dr Kelegai and has family had been on an amazing journey through life.
“This is a story of an ordinary young man with an extraordinary twist in life: born free, reaching for his dreams and then, his world was turned upside down,” he said.
“Limbie starkly reminds us that life can shift you into reverse gear without notice.
“In a matter of seconds he was transformed from a healthy, promising, energetic young man to a quadriplegic in a football accident in Lae on Mar 9, 1980.
“As you read this book, you can’t help but enter with Limbie into the fellowship of the dark room of despair, pain, broken heartedness, shattered dreams and a crashed life – inconceivable, leaving the option of death as a very valuable and sweet relief.
“But you will also feel the triumph as he defiantly clung on to life determined to live. “And amazingly he struggled on, overcoming scores of obstacles, and in the midst of this turmoil found amazing love, and against all odds persevered to, remarkably, achieve his dreams.”
Dr Kelegai writes: “By the time I reached 18, I had lived my life.
“It was all but over.
“And the events that followed were like nothing I had imagined.
“I offer my personal story in the hope that it helps others elegantly clear hurdles of aloneness, grief and fear far faster than I did.
“I hope it encourages those enduring life’s challenges and who are in dire need for a ray of hope – you are not alone.
“And for others it might perhaps enlighten their hearts to appreciate the passing moments and value life a little more.
“It is by far the toughest thesis I have tackled.”
Dr Kelegai was born in 1961 in Yamex village, Ialibu, began his primary school education at the Lutheran Mission Primary School in 1968 and completed Grade Six in 1973.
In 1974, he attended Ialibu High School and completed his Grade 10 in 1977.
He then undertook mechanical engineering studies Unitech 1978.
On Mar 9, 1980, Dr Kelegai had a football accident and sustained a spinal injury.
He became a quadriplegic.
He was then undertaking his third year of studies at Unitech.
After a year-long rehabilitation at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, he returned to PNG.
Despite his disability Dr Kelegai enrolled for an undergraduate programme in computer studies at Unitech in 1981.
At the end of 1983, Dr Kelegai graduated with a bachelor of technology in computing.
On August 1, 1980, Dr Kelegai married his sweetheart, Rose.
They have six children.
He began his career with Unitech in 1984 and was with Unitech until his resignation in 2007.
In 1994, Dr Kelegai studied for his post-graduate masters in information technology, at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia.
He successfully completed the studies in 1995 and was awarded his masters degree.
In 2000, Dr Kelegai studied for his PhD in information technology at the QUT.
He submitted his thesis in mid 2005 and after successfully completing the programme,
he was awarded his doctor of philosophy by QUT.
Dr Kelegai and his family are currently residing in Brisbane, Australia.The book is on sale for A$39.95 from publisher L’Ora International, P.O Box 1702, Capalaba, DC, Q4157, Queensland, Australia, telephone (617) 449221775, email info@lorainternational.com and website http://www.loranternational.com/