Australia Week: Yumi Piksa to continue producing films at University of Goroka

Caption:Ms Stephanie Copus-Campbell (Head of AusAID in PNG), Mr Wep Kanawi, HE Mr Ian Kemish, Ms Stella Lukula, Ms Klinit Barry and Ms Verena Thomas at the Komuniti Tok Piksa launching.

A film screening of Australian and Papua New Guinean short films last week, as part of the Australia Week celebrations in Port Moresby, was deemed a success.

The Papua New Guinean short films shown at the screening were those produced by the Yumi Piksa team last year at the University of Goroka.

The films which have been shown in Tahiti, Australia and on CNN (America) were premiered at the University of Papua New Guinea to both students and the public for Australia Week.

Audiences were welcomed to the screening on the night by Australian High Commissioner His Excellency Ian Kemish.

Deputy Head of AusAID PNG Ms Margaret Calla also spoke on the night emphasising the importance of short films and the continued support given to filmmakers in PNG by AusAID.

Australia Network was also present on the night and presenter Tania Nugent invited Yumi Piksa members attending the event to share their experiences with the audience.

Verena Thomas, facilitator of the workshop, Klinit Barry and Stella Lukula participants and emerging filmmakers emphasised the importance of working with the communities when making films in the Highlands.

For Yumi Piksa, as Klinit Barry said: “It is important to speak the same language as the community and develop trusting relationships with the people in order to develop engaging and meaningful films.”

The other highlight of the evening was the launching of the Komuniti Tok Piksa project based at the University of Goroka.

Mr Wep Kanawi of the National Aids Council Secretariat (NACS) officially launched the project and explained that it would be about using filmmaking in communities as a way to create more dialogue in PNG about HIV and AIDS issues.

Mr Kanawi stated that: “The Yumi Piksa films are real stories, about real people in real situations in real PNG. Papua New Guineans love storytelling and conversations that last a long time in their minds and more so in their hearts.”

NACS is a supporting partner of Komuniti Tok Piksa in collaboration with AusAID for the next 18 months.

The Australia Network will also work with Komuniti Tok Piksa this week to feature the project in an episode of its television program Pacific Pulse.

The short film screening of Australian and Papua New Guinean productions demonstrated how the medium of film is able to connect people from different nations, and how it strengthens the ties between Australia and PNG through the sharing and understanding of our stories.

The Komuniti Tok Piksa project is a collaboration between the University of Goroka and the University of Technology (UTS) Sydney, Australia.

Lead investigator is Professor Rick Iedema from UTS who is experienced in video communication for health communication and social change.

As part of the project, student and staff researchers from UOG will be trained to use video cameras to undertake research and to record community stories about HIV and AIDS in an effort to reduce stigma and to better understand its impact on local communities.

A response to claims that Australia interfered in PNG law

From PAUL OATES

A response has been posed to the PNG PM and Governor Wenge about their claims that Australia interfered with internal PNG law.
Check the comments to this article.
http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2010/03/png-take-interfering-australia-to-world-court.html

Landless Papua New Guineans - Is this the future?

By SCOTT WAIDE

We came to  Benny Mangua's village at about   Midday. This trip was for  a story of  how a foreign company  allowed into the country by the government of Papua New Guinea was treating the local  people - the original owners of the land.

I had packed a camera and several tapes not expecting anything major apart from a few disgruntled landowners who had not been paid their dues.  As I was going to  discover, I'd come to Kurumbukari mine site quite unprepared mentally.

            Benny Mangua  an  elderly man of  in his mid sixties greeted  a teammate of mine, Steven Sukot -  quite warmly but then whilst I shot a few seconds of  footage, the old man  broke down   and wept.   Steven responded  as any Papua New Guinean would – embracing the old man  and tried to calm him down as best he could.

            "My tears keep falling. I've lost my land. I've lost my home."

He continued to weep as I brought the camcorder  around to him and clumsily adjusted the audio settings . In 10 years  of  television this, to me,  was  truly a rare moment.  I never dreamed that I would  live to see the day   when this happened.  This was a Papua New Guinean landowner  who    had been forced off  his land by a foreign company.  Benny Mangua of the Mauri Clan  was  born and raised on this land on which his ancestors  had settled many generations ago.   In a matter of months, he had become a landless  Papua New Guinean.

"I've become like a parasite. I have no place  to stay."

He wasn't exaggerating when he said it. For Benny Mangua's  entire clan's land  area   contains   some   the  richest nickel deposits  in the Southern Hemisphere.   It is here that the Chinese owned company – MCC  - will begin  the  controversial  US1.4 billion  dollar  nickel mining project. 

            About 50 of his clan members left  for a temporary resettlement area – a forbidden,  sacred site where Benny Mangua's   ancestral spirits  dwell.   It was a kilometer from  where we were.   But sacred as it was to the Mauri Clan of Kurumbukari,   the site has been designated  as a stockpile area for nickel ore. 

            Only two houses now stand on Mauri clan land. Both  belong to  Benny Mangua's two sons - Peter Kepma and his younger brother,  John.   They've refused to leave.

            "There is a permanent relocation area. But the land belongs to another person... another clan, says Peter Kepma.  "If we go and live on the blocks of land there, we won't be able to plant food gardens or hunt." 

            MCC  began issuing  food rations  to the Mauri clan  since the relocation began. But the clan members say the food rations   can only last them a few days. 

            " The company is annoyed that we  made gardens here," John Kepma says pointing to  cassava and taro growing on the stockpile area. "Even where the forest is… they don't allow us to plant food. 

"But we have to. If we don't we'll starve to death."

            John Kepma chuckles as he tells me about the company's attitude towards local people. 

            "If we have a problems and we  try to bring it to the company's attention, they treat it like a criminal matter."

            Police have came to  his elder brother's house  eight times already. Peter Kepma is the more serious type. Quiet undemanding yet stubborn. 

"They tried to intimidate me," he says. "They came well dressed in their uniforms and carrying their weapons. But I told them: "You're not from China. You all own land just like me… I'm here because of my land. This isn't State land. This is my land and I've still got it."

To say "the  Mauri clan faces   a difficult future"  is a gross understatement.   As I filmed  along the track  leading to   the temporary  settlement,   a  five year old girl,   walks ahead of me. She is in  the shot nimbly picking her way through the kunai grass.  I can see the audio levels on  my camcorder peaking to the patter of her tiny feet on the yellow  nickel rich earth.

I wondered  if she  understood why the old man had wept in front of total strangers  about  half an hour earlier. 

He understood very well that  She would not have  the pleasure of learning  the  ways of old  on her  grandfather's land nor gather eggs from the forest   like her mother's mother did many years ago.  The old man understood  that unlike other Papua New Guinean's she   was leaving behind  the land  that sustained her ancestors for generations. She was leaving behind her past and future.

 

 

- Scott Waide  was  as a senior Journalist for EMTV and Producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He  currently works as a  documentary producer. 

Conspiracy theories

From PAUL OATES

It has been suggested that PNG's ruling leaders are really not that bad at all. That PNG's current ills are merely an external conspiracy to undermine the PNG government.

This could be a very convincing and convenient argument if it were true. Afterall, PNG has long been dependent on external assistance in order to function and an external conspiracy theory could be a breath of fresh air to the current government if it were found to be true. Were this suggested piece of misinformation to be accepted by the majority of PNGians as the cause of PNG's current political impasse, if would relieve the pressure on the Somare government to change direction. In a stiff credibility test however, it is difficult to imagine how external influences are responsible for poor government health services, run down education, non existent public works and any amount of PNG's reported internal problems. The PNG media is consistently full of complaints that the PNG government is not effectively looking after its own people and that some PNG leaders are increasing becoming obsessed with the sole intention of retaining political power at any cost..

The regrettable position of the Prime Minister, as head of the PNG government, is that he must accept responsibility for his government's action or inaction. Currently, the only reaction by the PM and his government seems to be to attack anyone who suggests the government is failing in its duties. Its as if, as has been suggested, the PM and his team believe they are now above the law. Now this suggestion may have some merit when one examines the recent claims by Somare that he is the reincarnation of a Sepik crocodile River god. Those that remember Somare from his early days as Chief Minister might recall his observed frustration with organised religion.

Now it appears Somare has effectively set his country on an undemocratic path with the dismissive treatment of the PNG Constitution and Parliament. That being so, the next logical step is to rule without Parliament, a course that seems inevitable if the PNG PM continues to govern without allowing the Constitutional and legal system of his country to operate properly.

To function as a head of state without following the Constitution and the law is tantamount to dictatorship. To repeat an old truism, 'Those that turn their back on history are doomed to repeat it'.

"Dealing with a dictatorship is like dealing with a snake. If you tread on its tail, it will bite you. You must deal with its head." said a German woman as was explaining about her first hand experience with the German dictatorship during World War 2.

Speaking about the how the German dictatorship rose to power in the 20th Century, the initial steps along the road were to gradually weaken the powers of Parliament and then to abolish it and any other the checks and balances altogether. The powers of the country's President (the equivalent of PNG's Governor General) was effectively removed and given to Chancellor Hitler (the equivalent of the role of PM), and any opposition was then effectively eliminated and silenced.

At every point throughout the build up of the German dictatorship, while they still have an effective opposition in their Parliament, the German people could have stood up and demanded the slippery slide into dictatorship stop. The problem was that most people were too concerned with finding a way of relieving their suffering and domestic worries to take notice of what was happening to their country. In addition, all it would have taken is for Germany's neighbours to have demanded a stop to the process yet no one who had a voice made any statement of dissent because they were afraid of creating another war. Yet that is what they ended up with anyway.

Upon attaining political power, Hitler then rapidly suppressed public comment to the point that many people came to believe the propaganda they were told by the government controlled media was true. Those who then stood up against the tyrant were either murdered or had to flee their country.

While its not suggested that PNG and her PM is quite at this stage yet, unless the law is allowed to take its course, this is where it can easily lead. Remember, you don't have to go too far from PNG to find a military dictatorship so it can and does happen very easily. Fiji's press is now effectively muzzled and her court system is now controlled by the unelected government. No one would surely suggest that the current Fiji dictatorship was the result of foreign involvement. The current suffering of the people of Zimbabwe is also another salient example. Both were home grown revolutions and dictators.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Defence Force transports rubber from Manus

Caption: Galley Reach Holding factory assistant, Laki Iovai (second from left) with help from DAL rubber section staff, organises the uploading of the rubber after arrival in Port Moresby

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

The Government’s export driven and green revolution policies are well and truly serving the interests of the rural farmers.

This was evident especially for rubber growers in the Manus province who have faced difficulties in transporting their cup lump rubber for processing and export to overseas markets.

Thanks to the PNG Defence Force, the PNGS Seeadler was mobilised last week to assist in transporting 33 bags or 600kg of cup lump rubber from Manus to Port Moresby.

As part of its civil-military cooperation, the PNGDF has agreed to use its aircraft and naval vessels to assist rural and remote communities transport their agricultural produce to markets.

With the support of the commanding officer of the Naval Base in Lombrum, Manus, the shipment of the rubber was done on a trial basis, however, farmers and the provincial division of agriculture and livestock are very excited.

The successful outcome of the trial shipment will determine whether the PNGDF will continue to provide similar assistance in the future.

The shipped rubber from Manus was unloaded and transported to the Galley Reach Holding rubber factory at Doa in Central province.

The last shipment of rubber from Manus to Galley Reach factory was in 2004.

Manus agriculture advisor Benedict Bulungol said the assistance from the PNGDF was appreciated and a boost to morale of farmers who had struggled for many years to transport their produce.

He said rubber production was small due to lack of market, however, plans were in place to revitalise smallholder planting.

Currently, there are 126 farmers and there is potential to increase production to 100 tonnes per year.

Mr Bulungol said the strategy to revive rubber included conducting awareness and mobilising farmers, carrying out rehabilitation and introducing high-yielding planting materials, capacity building including training, transportation and marketing of cup lump rubber and establishment of cooperative societies.

He said the provincial administration, with the support of National Department of Agriculture and Livestock, PNGDF and relevant agencies aimed to win back the confidence of the farmers.

The support by the navy in transporting the rubber has rekindled the interest of farmers in the province, who have been waiting for such assistance for a long time.

“Rubber, like the other cash crops in Manus is an existing commodity and redeveloping the industry is the responsibility of the division of agriculture and livestock, the farmers, local level

governments and all stakeholders,” Mr Bulungol said.

“The rubber industry in Manus can be revived and has the potential to grow, given the right support from relevant stakeholders.

“The immediate beneficiaries are the farmers, women and children who have suffered for a long time.

“The revival of rubber will assist in providing cash income earning opportunities and improve the standard of living in the rural communities.”

Conservative coffee farming a way to go

Caption: The forests of Yus are critical habitats for Huon (or Matschie’s) tree kangaroos, an endangered species that is one of Earth’s unique creatures

 

By YVONNE NGUTLICK of CIC

 

 Coffee Industry Corporation’s extensive extension services have paid off again following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Programme (TKCP in Lae, Morobe province. 

 TKCP is a programme of the Woodland Park Zoo, a non-profit organisation based in Seattle, Washington, United States of America.

 It has offices in Lae and Cairns, Australia.

The TKCP works closely with Conservation International (CI) and other like organisations in PNG and throughout the world.

The MOU should see coffee farmers in the Yupna, Urawa and Som (YUS) areas of the Kabwum district producing coffee grown under environmental conservative practices that target gourmet coffee buyers who value such systems and offer premium prices.

 CIC’s extension services and firm commitment to local development through coffee shares the same vision as TKCP to improve the livelihood of communities.

The MOU outlines the philosophies through which TKCP and CIC Ltd intend to work together over the next two years.

It focuses on delivering a series of technical trainings on garden management and quality improvement to coffee growers around the YUS Conservation Area of Kabwum district, under the broad project goal of improving livelihoods through coffee sales.

Given its isolation from main centers, the YUS areas derive their income from minor sales of fresh food and coffee.

 All smallholder coffee growers there are accessible only by air transport thus growers would be mobilised into groups to attain maximum possible income.

The CIC appreciates the opportunity to work with TKCP and to integrate conservation and landscape planning into its extension programmes.

This partnership should pave the way for CIC to gain an understanding of conservation in coffee production and an add-on to their much-admired extension services throughout PNG.

 

 

Goilala has great potential to produce temperate vegetables

Caption: Farmer Apo Airo and FPDA horticulture advisor for Southern region Michael Atuai displaying vegetables that can be grown in Goilala

 By GARY FAGAN of FPDA

GOILALA area has been found to be the greatest potential producer of temperate vegetables in Central province.

This is according to a recent finding of an agricultural technical team that has been tasked by Central province Governor Alphonse Moroi.

The team was sent out to all districts of the province in February to establish an agricultural development database for Central province.

The team visited all the districts the province, talking to people and identifying their development constraints and possible intervention strategies.

Fresh Produce Development Agency was also part of this technical team, and was represented by Southern region horticulture advisor Michael Atuai.

The development of the database, according to Mr Atuai, would be to identify possible projects and a pairing matrix would be used to prioritise projects.

With the identification of possible projects aimed at improving rural livelihoods, partnerships would be established with organisations and individuals with common interest to help the rural people of Central province.

Mr Atuai said “One of the major areas would be the LNG market and the need to establish potential production areas, improve the market chain and provide technical assistance, by sourcing both external and internal assistance.”

 “Of all the districts visited by the team, Goilala stood out as having the greatest potential of producing the temperate vegetables as similar to those to those grown in the Highlands of PNG.”

He added Mr Moroi believed that shortening the value chain, improving post-harvest practices and proper packaging of vegetables would see city residents enjoy high quality vegetables on a consistent basis.

“Central Province has the potential to make this happen, given the right kind of support from stakeholders and authorities,” Mr Atuai said.

 “Mr Moroi would want to see that that all other districts in Central province who have great land masses with huge potential for vegetable production would receive assistance.

“This would include establishment of some irrigation practices with some soil improvement to turn the large flat areas into productive areas.

“The Governor does not want the people of Central province to be bystanders, rather be partakers in major developments such as the LNG.”

Meanwhile, the FPDA would be a key partner in the whole activity.

The vegetable component of the agriculture sector would have high prominence due to Port Moresby being the biggest fresh produce market in the country.

FPDA would hence be playing a pivotal role in the whole market chain in the vegetable industry in Central province.

The current demand for food and the likely increase to come due to the LNG project would see demand rise further, therefore,  it would be wiser to mobilise resources closer to the market due to PNG’s poor marketing infrastructure where quality of fresh produce deteriorate very quickly n transit over long distances.

Apart from the direct royalty and employment benefits, the rural people of Central province will be empowered to take on and benefit from the LNG project by empowering the rural economic sector.

The coastal people are also very good seafarers and that potential will also be tapped into through assistance to be sought for marine products.

Another crop that is also to be looked into is the arabica coffee, which is grown in the higher altitudes, while robusta grows well in the lowlands.

Smallholder rubber producers and cocoa and coconut farmers will also be assisted through the agricultural development database currently being established.

Livestock activities are also being seriously considered due to large flat land masses in Central province.

Improved pastures and drinking water for the free ranging ruminant and other improved establishment for other animals like poultry and pigs would also be taken into account.

The team has also identified through consultation that infrastructure has to be in place and in good condition for successful agricultural production and marketing. Infrastructure includes marketing facilities, roads and bridges and airstrips to remote locations.

The need for district marketing depots has surfaced and the team is seriously considering district depots in Central province that will feed the main Boroko market facility that will be in place soon.