Four sons of Papua New Guinea find each other in the USA

 TULSA, Oklahoma was the meeting place, a place of destiny for four young men from different villages in Papua New Guinea to meet for the first time.  

Home away from home in the USA. (From left) Wilson Kalama, Edwin Ako, Clement Abai and Moses Pagi.-Pictures by CRYSTAL THERIOT

Each had traveled over 10,000 miles to this place that was once just a dream in the young boys’ hearts, a dream that had become a reality. 

Each one arrived at a different year or time for a different reason, and last Saturday, Nov 12, 2011, they found in each other a kindred spirit and a unique bond. 

Clement Abai, Wilson Kalama, Moses Pagi, and Edwin Ako looked into each other’s faces and saw their home, family and friends. 

A strong will, a lot of courage, and some defining moments and key people brought them all together. 

This incredible meeting began when Wilson Kalama, whose love and passion for media and cameras seeded a dream and desire that wouldn’t be silenced.

He left his home in Rabaul, East New Britain province, to find his destiny in the State of Oklahoma this past September.

Kalama applied for an internship at a worldwide television ministry, LeSea Christian Broadcasting and was accepted.

Crystal Theriot, Passageway Ministries administrator, was a key player in connecting Kalama with LeSea Broadcasting for this internship.

Theriot and Dan Smith, general manager of LeSea Broadcasting, worked for many months to design a specific internship that would train him in every aspect of production, from the beginning of a show to editing and to finalising the production. 

“This type of training would normally take four to six years to learn, but is being accelerated for Kalama to learn in about six months to one year,” Theriot explains.

Pastor Ella Coley of Passageway Ministers of Bixby, Oklahoma, had an established friendship with him and became his sponsor for the duration of his internship with LeaSea…and everything fell into place for Kalama,

(From left) Edwin Ako, Wilson Kalama Clement Abai and Moses Pagi in a shopping centre

“He arrived in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Sept 30, 2011, after almost three days of non-stop flying,” Theriot adds.

“His stops included a 10-hour stay in Los Angeles, several hours in Salt Lake City and then flying into Atlanta for a few hours before finally arriving in Tulsa.

“Wilson is now actively involved in the Praise and Worship Team at Passageway Ministries, and is warmly received and already loved by the people. 

“Playing music is not strange to Wilson, who is versatile on drums, bass, guitar, and keyboard. 

“His father, William Kalama, is a pastor in East New Britain and works with over 30 churches in PNG.

“A strong believer in God’s purpose and destiny for his life, Wilson is passionately engaged in his destiny in the States…a destiny that seems to be unfolding each and every day before his very eyes.

“Upon completion of his training, Wilson hopes to take his experiences, his knowledge, and his training someday back to his homeland to assist ministries in broadcasting on television.”

In July, Theriot found out about Clement Abai, a former athlete from PNG who was living in Oklahoma, just a short distance from where she lives.

She stuck up a friendship with Abai in hopes that when Kalama arrived, he would have a friend from home to connect with. 

Soon after his arrival in Tulsa, Kalama and Abai began corresponding through Facebook and texting.  

Clement Abai came to the USA in January 2000 on a full athletics track and field scholarship offered by Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

At Tulane, he studied and competed for the university throughout his college career until 2004.

As part of the team, Abai traveled to different places in the US to compete, which gave him the opportunity to see new places, meet new friends from all over the US and the world, and learn new cultures.

However, being a student athlete without the family support was tough physically and mentally at times.

 He had to do everything on his own such as doing laundry, cooking, etc, after practising six hours a day (three hours in the morning, three hours in the afternoon) during the season, working three hours a day on campus for extra cash and going to classes at night,
Graduating with a computer science degree in 2004, Abai was hired to work for his alma mater (Tulane University) for a year and also decided to stop doing the sport of track and field that he enjoyed doing.

After working for a year and his temporary work permit expiring in 2005, he changed his status to a dependant status under his wife’s student status to be legally here in the US. He stayed two years at home taking care of his newly-born son while his wife continued with her PhD programme.

 In August 2005, as a result of Hurricane Katrina, he and his family moved from New Orleans, Louisiana to Stillwater, Oklahoma for Mrs Abai to pursue her doctorate degree at Oklahoma State University.

In August 2007, Abai was hired by Oklahoma State University as the assistive technology specialist and was granted a six years work permit.

 As the assistive technology specialist, 80% of his time is spent on managing the assistive technology software; help develop accessible websites for the four campuses of Oklahoma State University in the state of Oklahoma and ensuring the university is in compliance with the state and federal disability laws in regards to technology.

They plan on working here for few more years until their work permits expire and then will pursue opportunities in other countries, mainly Australia or New Zealand to be closer to home (PNG) or Kenya in Africa where his wife is from.

The whole experience taught Abai how to commit and dedicate himself to doing sports and school, scheduling his time correctly, make realistic life decisions, controlling his emotions physically and mentally, etc.

He says none of this would not have been possible without the support from family and friends, his coaches, especially Naomi Polum in Port Moresby, the PNG Athletic Union, his alma mater (Tulane University) and most of all God for blessing him with his talent, education and a beautiful wife and two children.

It was shortly after Kalama arrived and began talking with Abai when another young man from Papua New Guinea appeared on the scene. 

Friends of Passageway who had also visited Papua New Guinea (Ben and Andi Stephens) were having coffee at a local coffee shop in Tulsa after service and stuck up a conversation with Edwin Ako, and learned he was from Tambul Village, near Mt Hagen.  They quickly invited him to Passageway Ministries Bible Study….and he accepted. 

Ako shared how he came to the States in 2006 to attend a Pensacola Christian College in Florida for four years. 

Destiny again unfolded to Ako when he moved to Tulsa just two months ago to attend Victory Bible Institute.

He readily acknowledges his dependence on God and attributes his success to his faith in Christ.

His plans are to continue to study here in the States and continue his journey of Faith as God directs. 

Ako found friends with warm hearts and outstretched hands in the Stephens’ and at Passageway Ministries.

Excited about meeting his new found friend from his homeland, Ako then brought another young man to Passageway, Moses Pagi, of Lae. 

At the tender young age of 16, Pagi came to the States to stay with extended family in the State of Ohio.

He left his parents and family behind in his village of Erave district, Southern Highlands province, to pursue a dream that was bigger than the young boy dreaming it. 

Fighting loneliness, he courageously pursued the course that was set in motion by his parents who wanted only for him to have a better life and a greater future.

 Upon graduating high school, he moved to Florida to attend the same Bible School that Edwin was attending. 

It was there they became friends. 

Pagi plans to finish school here and gain some good experiences that he can take back later to his home and family in PNG.

He hasn’t been home since he came to the States and he really misses his family.

Pagi has been in Tulsa for about a year and is also attending Victory Bible Institute.

“Wanting to connect with these friends from home, Clement drove to Tulsa on Saturday to meet and spend time with the guys from his beloved homeland,” Theriot recalls.

“Laughing, sharing memories and unique stories, Wilson, Clement, Moses, and Edwin have an amazing story to tell…simply put it is this…God is a God of Divine Purpose and Destiny, and when we submit and surrender our plans to His, anything, yes, anything is quite possible!

“For how else could four young men from different villages and different lives in Papua New Guinea end up together 10,000 miles away from home in a place called Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA if God had not ordained it to be so?”

PNG boys in the USA. (From left) Clement Abai, Moses Pagi, Edwin Ako and Wilson Kalama

Food crops processing- a potential sector that can drive Papua New Guinea forward

By JOEL G. WARAMBOI

This year PNG celebrated 36 years of nationhood.

Joel Waramboi (left) carrying out extrusion of sweet potato

One thing that has not stopped growing ever since is our population, and in the last 10 years, our population has been growing rapidly at about 2.4% per annum, reaching 8 million people in 2011.

During the same period, although there is no concrete data, our per capita gross domestic product could have declined dramatically due to several factors like lower outputs from agricultural crops and commodities.

 On the other hand, the consumer price index has risen, which now sits at around 10%.

This is an alarming trend, and by 2016, the population is expected to be around 12 million, which even is far more worrying than we were 10 years ago.

This will place huge demands on increasing food production and assuring food security for our people.

Reports from the Asian Development Bank shows that, the natural resources sector (agriculture, forestry, fisheries) contributes almost 70% of total cash income for people in PNG.

These industries will continue to be prime movers of the local economy.

From 2014 onwards, massive revenue inflows are expected from the LNG project.

 In September this year, Agriculture and Livestock minister, Sir Puka Temu called on the government to put some of these monies into food and agriculture industries.

His calling is timely, and must be supported at the political level.

In 2005, the PNG Government adopted the Green Revolution and Export-Driven Economic Recovery Strategy.

For the sector, this strategy was aimed at improving production and creating market demands for our crops to meet the growing domestic demands, and also to seek export market opportunities.

 In recent years, we have seen several vehicles that could have taken the sector forward gone by, like the Public Investment Programme and the National Agriculture Development Plan.

Last month, a forum aimed at setting the road-map for policy intervention to develop the food and agriculture sector was held in Madang.

Several projects and programmes have been tried out before on tree crops, livestock, fisheries and other natural resources industries.

As far as the food crops are concerned, no investments have been made to develop these industries.

One potential food crop that requires minimal capital injection is the sweet potato (kaukau). 

Sweet potato

Since being introduced nearly 300 years ago, it is now the most important food crop in terms of both production and consumption.

Total annual production for PNG has been estimated at 2.9 million tonnes, with the Southern (620,000) Eastern (470,000) and Western (425,000) highlands provinces being the main producers, followed by Enga (340,000) and Chimbu (294,000).

It is a staple food, and provides 64% of the energy needs for people.

Five years ago, per capita consumption was 2.2 kg/person/year, and this year, increased to 2.8 kg/person/year.

One reason to explain this is that, in the last 10 years, sweet potato has been traded in increasing volumes as a cash crop in urban centres of Port Moresby, Lae, Kokopo and other centres.

There are many constraints that affect production and marketing of the crop, including soil fertility, rats (which can destroy up to 10% of the crop), poor access to roads, lack of farmer extension services, and poor post-harvest handling practices that lead to rotting, broken roots and subsequent loss in monetary value.

Currently, a few ‘commercial’ sweetpotato farmers are located in the Asaro and Waghi valleys, who grow mainly for coastal urban markets.

Currently, utilisation and consumption of sweetpotato in PNG has primarily been in the form of boiled or roasted roots.

There is no processing of the crop.

In the past, some research and product development work was done at the PNG Unitech into products like flour, chips, crisps and composite bread. Recently, NARI successfully released sweet potato-based feeds (silage) for pigs.

Experiences from Vietnam and China have shown that, the crop could be highly utilised for livestock production, where it constitutes 70% of pig feeds.

Past and current R&D work on sweet potato suggest that it can be a potential commercial crop for PNG.

On-farm processing of sweet potato could form an additional income-generating activity where a constant supply of the fresh roots and demand for processed products is secured.

With government assistance, this industry can be transformed from its currently under-utilised status to a commercially viable industry.

At the University of Queensland in Australia, new research by this author on the flour, starch and processing properties of sweetpotato conducted since 2009 has generated valuable information that has the potential to trigger industry development in PNG.

In the initial study, 25 varieties were studied, and from there, four of them, namely, Beerwah Gold (Australian) and three PNG varieties (Northern Star, Snow White, L49) were processed into ready-to-eat pasta (noodle-like) products using extrusion cooking technology.

The studies showed that, sweet potato can easily be extruded by controlling processing conditions like moisture content, screw speed and temperature to produce high quality and nutritious products.

The flours were extruded at three moisture (30, 35 and 40 %), and screw speed (150, 220 and 300 rpm) levels, while the temperature (120 °C) and feed rate (1.5kg/hr) were kept constant.

The study has also generated vital information on process engineering, energy input, flow properties, cooking characteristics, nutrient retention, product quality, as well as protocols for cultivar selection, unit operations and flour milling.

Sweet potato processing is increasingly being commercialised in many countries in Africa, Asia and the United States.

In November 2010, ConAgra Foods in the US opened their new, state-of-the-art, and environmentally-friendly processing plant near Delhi, Louisiana, designed primarily to process sweet potato fries and other products.

This investment created 275 jobs, and future expansion is set to increase the total number of jobs to more than 500.

In Louisiana, the swee potato industry is the largest in the country that is worth $68.4 million in gross farm income and $24 million in value-added (processed) products for the state.

In Australia, the sweet potato industry is worth A$40 million annually.

This year, McCain’s launched a new line of gourmet sweet potato superfries. 

The oven-baked fries are thin, crinkle-cut, and cooked in canola oil and seasoned with salt. 

The product is healthy, has high vitamin A and mineral contents.

TV advertisements have successfully supported the launch, and a 450g packet is selling for $3.89 (about K9) in supermarkets around Australia.

There are low-cost extrusion equipment available, costing as low as $10,000 (K24,000) with production capacity of 30 kg/hour.

These have successfully been used in rural communities in Vietnam, China, Peru, Kenya and other countries to make noodles, pasta, vermicelli, flakes, crackers, puffs and other products.

Besides extruded foods, these communities have also used sweet potato flour for substituted biscuits, bread and scones, while fresh roots have been processed into chips and crisps.

Currently, fresh sweetpotato roots are sold at around K2-5 per kg in the open markets in PNG.

Although there are no statistics, some rough calculations show that, if processed, the dry flour could cost as low as K0.80 per kg, providing a cheaper product compared to wheat flour.

This means that, retail margins can be relatively good for entrepreneurs. 

Processing not only increases the utilisation and consumption, but also fetches premium prices if sold, increases cash income opportunities for people, and avoids bulkiness during handling.

 Sweet potato processing technologies are relatively simple, and can be adopted easily through farmer co-operatives and women’s groups like the PNG Women in Agriculture, Foundation for Women in Agriculture for Development in Maprik and Rural Women’s Development Initiative in Mt Hagen.

Generally, there appears to be a strong and all-year round demand for processed products.

Changing food habits, increasing urbanisation, demographic changes and population growth are all positive factors that can make food processing a viable option in PNG.

The PNG government and all line agencies must now take a complete policy shift and focus, and realign both macro-economic and sectoral policies, and allocate funding and resources to develop the agriculture and food processing industries in the country.

 Alongside this, it should also invest in rural infrastructure programmes to create enabling environment that will support industry development and growth in rural communities.

We should also take a stock of what and why the industry has not developed over the many years.

If past investment options (if any) have not worked, what other models and options can we try?

How about setting up an organisation specifically mandated to drive development in this sector?

It is about time, that the food and agriculture sector takes this course to revolutionise and hardness the potential to fullness.

Until and unless this is done, crops like sweet potato will continue to be treated as poor man's crop.

Downstream processing and value addition has the potential to benefit en masse, raise the economic value, and create market demand for local crops. 

It will also improve food security and cash income levels, increase trade and replace/substitute imports, thereby contributing to broad-based economic growth and improvement in the living standards of the people.

Peeled sweet potato

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Joel  Waramboi is a Senior Scientist with NARI. He will be completing his PhD degree in 2012 at the University of Queensland, Australia. He has published several papers on his sweetpotato research internationally. He can be contacted on j.waramboi@uq.edu.au or through mnalu@thenational.com.pg

Prime Minister sticks by his deputy

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill said allegations raised against the Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia leading to his suspension would be left to the bureaucracy to pursue, The National reports.
Arriving back from Hawaii where he was attending an Apec meeting, the prime minister commended the “courageous decision” of his deputy prime minister Belden Namah for both the decision to suspend the chief justice last Thursday and to rescind it on Monday.
O’Neill said: “The government stands together on this decision in the best interest of the country.
“We have pledged to the nation that we will make decisions without fear or favour.
“Whether it is the prime minister or the deputy prime minister or any minister … nobody is above the law.”
He said the matters arising which led to the suspension of the CJ and the appointment of a tribunal were the end result of bureaucratic processes that had been pending government action for a while.
The matter would now be referred back to the bureaucracy and placed with the auditor-general and the Ombudsman
Commission to pursue, O’Neill said.
He said cabinet had been advised that the matters leading to the suspension of the chief justice and the special supreme court reference by the East Sepik provincial government were not related.
“Many of the issues are very important and have been referred back to the bureaucracy.
“We will allow due process to take its course.”
The prime minister said he was also advised not to comment on the Supreme Court reference or speculate on any outcome.
He joked that every time he was out of the country something “exciting happens” and pledged that he would take no more trips or attend to overseas commitments.

High court refuses bid to stay order

By SAMUEL RAITANO

THE Supreme Court has refused to hear an application by two senior government ministers to set aside a court order which directed that they be charged with contempt, The National reports.
Acting Prime Minister Belden Namah and Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat appeared before a five-man bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia who they had sought to suspend last week.
According to the court, the refusal was because the application stemmed from events related to the East Sepik provincial executives’ special reference. And, as far as it was concerned, the only unfinished business in the case was the ruling expected on Dec 9.
The court refused to hear what it termed as an “interlocutory application” and, instead, delved straight into the contempt issue.
It allowed lawyers representing Namah and Marat to only talk about how much their clients would pay for bail and what orders the court would issue to the contemnors so that they did not interfere with the court’s handling of the special reference and its decision expected on Dec 9.
The full bench, headed by Sir Salamo, ordered Marat and Namah to pay cash bail of K5,000 each.
The court ordered the Supreme Court registrar to file and serve a formal motion for contempt
against the two defendants by next Friday.
The two will appear in court for contempt charges on Dec 12. The payment of K5,000 was one of two conditions set by the court in order to grant them bail.
The other bail condition was that Marat and Namah “and their agents/servants, or their principal, shall not interfere with court deliberations on the decision on the East Sepik provincial executives’ special reference set for Dec 9”.
Though Marat’s lawyer John Griffin tried to raise the urgent application, Sir Salamo said the court was not interested in entertaining any more interlocutory applications in regard to the special reference case.
Sir Salamo said last week’s turn of events, in which the executive arm of government seemingly crossed blades with the judiciary, was because of the special reference.
Sir Salamo, therefore, said the court would not hear an application stemming from the special reference, as everything related to the matter was complete and the decision alone was awaited by all parties.
On Monday, Namah and Marat had voluntarily surrendered themselves to police to be arrested and detained, following last Friday’s Supreme Court orders. They were released on their own recognisance bail which lapsed when they appeared in court yesterday.
The order for their arrest stemmed from last Thursday’s decision by the National Executive Council to suspend Sir Salamo on allegations of misconduct.
Supreme Court judge Justice Bernard Sakora then ordered a stay on the suspension and issued orders for the arrest of Namah and Marat for contempt of court.
It was because the decision by the NEC was allegedly coordinated by Namah and Marat and purported to interfere with the ruling on the special reference questioning the constitutionality of the formation of the O’Neill government on Aug 2.
Sir Salamo heads the five-man bench in that ruling.
Yesterday, state lawyers Griffin and Manuel Varitimos told the court that the NEC decision to suspend Sir Salamo had been revoked, following a meeting on Monday evening.
Griffin said according to an affidavit sworn yesterday by his client, Marat had supported the revocation of the NEC decision.
Namah’s lawyer Varitimos also said the same of his client.
Derek Wood, the lawyer representing the National and Supreme Court registrar, told the court that he did not oppose the presentation of the affidavits to court.
Meanwhile, Marat and Namah were detained yesterday at the Waigani courthouse to await the issue of their bail certificates. They were released to pay the bail at the finance office by 4pm.
They were accompanied by several ministers and MPs.
The substantive hearing of the contempt proceeding is set for Dec 12, which is three days after the ruling on whether the government was formed constitutionally.

Tiensten arrested

By: JUNIOR UKAHA

MEMBER for Pomio and former national planning minister Paul Tiensten has been arrested and charged by police in Port Moresby, The National reports.

Tiensten speaking to the media outside the Boroko police station after he was released from custody on a K5,000 police bail yesterday.-Nationalpic by AURI EVA

The charges were related to a K10 million funding released to East New Britain businessman Eremas Wartoto. Tiensten had allegedly released the funding last year when he was national planning minister in the (former) Somare-Abal government.
Police fraud squad director Insp Timothy Gitua said Tiensten was charged with misappropriating K10 million, conspiracy to defraud the state and abuse of office.
The charges were read out to Tiensten before he was taken into custody.
Task Force Sweep leader Sam Koim confirmed Tiensten’s arrest, saying a formal media statement would be released when all matters had been formalised.
Gitua said Tiensten had jetted into Port Moresby on a Qantas flight at 8.30am yesterday and was met at the Jackson International Airport by police and Sweep members.
The politician was then taken to the fraud squad headquarters at Konedobu for a formal interview.
The National was at the Boroko police station when Tiensten was brought there by police at about 3pm.
He was charged and locked up for 20 minutes before being released on a K5,000 police bail.
Gitua said Tiensten had evaded arrest since September. He had fled to Australia until his
arrest yesterday.
Gitua said Tiensten was the second suspect to be arrested and charged with the K10 million saga. The first was former acting national planning secretary Ruby Zariga.
Gitua said others who had been charged included Wartoto, who would be recalled for questioning.
Last Tuesday, Tiensten said from Australia that he would fight the allegations levelled against him in court.
“I have decided to return to fight the purported charges after all avenues for a fair hearing have been exhausted,” Tiensten said.
He refused to comment on his arrest yesterday.
He is expected to
appear before the Waigani Committal Court today

Expat charged with sexually assaulting stepdaughter, 3

By JUNIOR UKAHA

POLICE in Milne Bay have charged an expatriate for allegedly sexually assaulting his three-year-old stepdaughter, The National reports.
The man, whose name has been withheld to protect the identity of the child, 41, from Mildura, Victoria, Australia.
He was charged by police with one count of sexually penetrating a child after his arrest on Oct 10.
Police alleged that the man had an argument with his wife of Morobe origin and chased her out of the family premises.
Police said he then proceeded to his stepdaughter’s room and took the girl downstairs to his room, placed her on a couch and sexually assaulted her.
Provincial police commander Lincoln Gerari said the wife peeped through a gap in the fence and noticed Atkinson allegedly raping the child.
Gerari said with the help of her neighbours, she then alerted police who went to their home and arrested him.
Gerari said doctor’s report confirmed that the child has been sexually assaulted.
Gerari said the man’s passport was confiscated but he was let out on a K500 bail on Oct, 11.
He said the man was scheduled to appear in court later this month.
Police said the expatriate was a private contractor in Alotau and had four children, one of which was the girl.
Gerari said the girl was now under the care of welfare officers at a safehouse.

Ban on Chief Justice lifted

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE national government has backed down on its decision to suspend Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia, The National reports.
The National Executive Council held an urgent meeting yesterday afternoon where cabinet agreed to rescind its decision last Thursday to suspend the chief justice.
It culminated a day of drama which saw the arrest and charging by police of acting Prime Minister Belden Namah and Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat.
The government also sought to set aside last Friday’s contempt of court order by the Supreme Court but that matter was postponed to today in order for Namah and Marat to be present.
Namah said in a media conference, surrounded by his full team of cabinet ministers including Sir Mekere Morauta, Don Polye, William Duma and Bart Philemon, that cabinet had decided to rescind the decision based on national interest and national security.
“I want to inform the people of this country of the urgent National Executive Council meeting this afternoon considering the events unfolding since the cabinet decision on Nov 10 based on allegations against the chief justice on misconduct in office,” Namah said.
He said last Friday, a lone Supreme Court judge had issued orders for the arrest and detention of himself and Marat.
“This (yesterday) morning at 10 o’clock, we voluntarily fronted up at the police headquarters where we were formally arrested and detained while our lawyers made bail application and we were released on our own recognizance.
“Our actions demonstrate that leaders have respect for the laws and we humble ourselves to demonstrate to our people and the world that nobody is above the law, including the prime minister, deputy prime minister and ministers.
“I want to inform the nation that our lawyers appeared at the Supreme Court (yesterday) to set aside the Supreme Court orders.”
Namah said the Supreme Court constituted a five-man bench including Sir Salamo and Justice Bernard Sakora, the judge who issued the arrest orders.
“It is really unfortunate. We would have thought that the chief justice and Sakora would have stepped aside due to a conflict of interest situation,” he said.
“These, as I see, are the judges causing the direct confrontation between the judiciary and the executive government.
“If we go through this confrontation, it will lead to a constitutional crisis and, because we are a government for the people, the National Executive Council has now rescinded its decision of Nov 10 and the NEC decision to reaffirm its stand on Nov 12,” Namah said.
“We made the decision to rescind NEC’s earlier decision based on national interest and national security.”
Namah said he would be in court with Marat this morning.