Strong winds cause freak accident in Madang

Captions: 1. Injured local headmaster Simon Douglas being put on a stretcher at Modilon Hospital in Madang.-Pictures by SIR PETER BARTER 2: Local headmaster Simon Douglas, who suffered serious injuries in a boating accident, being wheeled into Modilon Hospital in Madang

 

A banana boat travelling back from Madang last Friday evening capsized at Dungalow village beside the giant Ramu Nico treatment plant at Basamuk, throwing passengers into the sea.

Local headmaster Simon Douglas was pinned between the capsized boat and the shore, resulting in serious head injuries and a collapsed lung along with other possible injuries to the spine. 

Mr Douglas was taken to the small aid post and treated by nursing officer Paul Konare, who managed to contact Kevin Murray who in turn contacted Sir Peter Barter, who went immediately to bring Mr Douglas, Mr Konare and Mrs Douglas back to Modilon Hospital

in his helicopter.  

Director of health Markus Kachau arranged for Mr Douglas’ immediate admittance to the emergency ward.

Sir Peter said despite strong wind warnings which were current, travel by banana boat was extremely dangerous.

“Last week, I visited Karkar and witnessed numerous overloaded banana boats laden with cargo battling against two and three-metre chops, taking in water whilst the passengers continued to bail,” he said.

“Most of these boats do not have floatation, radios of locator beacons, no records are kept of the voyages, the number of passengers or other details pertaining to the type and colour of the boat and remain unlicensed.”

Sir Peter said at the weekend, , another boat  with a full family aboard was reported missing two days after it left Raikos for Madang, and relatives were concerned about the well being of the vessel and the occupants .

“Every year, we lose passengers and in most cases little can be done unless they are reported missing immediately,” he said.

“Their only hope is that they may drift to an island, providing the boat does not sink.

“It is really tragic and could be avoided if only legislation was in place and could be enforced.

“In the case of the accident near the Ramu Nico project, one can only be amazed that such a large project has been constructed without road access, denying the people road access to Madang and forcing them to travel by sea.”

 Sir Peter said he would again bring this to the attention of the company, Government and Department of Transport.

ANZ top brass cruise on Kalibobo Spirit

Senior international executives of ANZ bank spent some time aboard luxury Melanesian Tourist Services vessel mv Kalibobo Spirit in Madang last Friday.

They included Alex Thursby, who is ANZ’s chief executive officer - Asia Pacific, Europe and America.

He is also responsible for leading the group strategy and marketing agenda

Mr Thursby along with Mishael Rowland, CEO Pacific, accompanied by ANZ Asia Pacific executive delegation, flew into Madang in their private jet for a stopover during which time they met a number of Madang people including Governor, Sir Arnold Amet aboard the Kalibobo Spirit and at a dinner that followed at the Madang Resort.

Picture shows Mr Thursby talking to Sir Arnold aboard the Kalibobo Spirit.-Picture courtesy of SIR PETER BARTER

Selling fish for school fees

With the 2010 school year just about to begin, parents and students alike are scrambling to organise school fees.

Young Kapari/Viriolo, Central province villager, Ilamilo Velekiri, is no exception as he took to the sea to catch fish which he smoked to take to market to raise money for his 2010 school fees.-Picture courtesy of DAVID NALU

British High Commission continues fight against domestic violence

The British High Commission has for the third year running extended its partnership with the Port Moresby-based women and children crisis centre Haus Ruth.

“The British High Commission is pleased to continue its strategic partnership with Haus Ruth for the third consecutive year. Our financial assistance enables battered women and children to seek refuge in a safe and secure environment where they are housed, fed and provided with legal assistance. It is a fundamental human right for all women and children to be able to live in an abuse free and peaceful environment and seek legal redress,” said David Dunn, British High Commissioner to PNG.

The UK/Haus Ruth partnership complements the decision in August last year by the British High Commission in Port Moresby to join the successful Meri Seif Ples initiative, an anti-violence programme run jointly by various stakeholders for victims of domestic violence.

The High Commissioner said: “Last August we joined many other partners in Port Moresby and opened our doors to women who are victims of domestic violence by making the British High Commission a Meri Seif Ples.  Domestic violence cannot be fixed overnight but we – hand in hand with partners like Haus Ruth and Meri Seif Ples – have taken a stand against it and so must all Papua New Guineans. Domestic violence is completely unacceptable, there are no excuses, it must stop now."

Haus Ruth manageress Monica Richards thanked the British High Commission for extending its assistance.

“Without such sponsorship by the British High Commission, Haus Ruth would not be able to see the year through. Last year a total of 128 women, teenage girls and children were accommodated at the crisis wing. It is good and very satisfying to see that women and children have a safe haven free from violent and abusive homes in which they can share their experiences with others, seek counselling and hopefully begin to rebuild their lives,” she said.

Haus Ruth is an initiative of the interfaith organisation City Mission (PNG). It was established in 2003 and has since its inception assisted hundreds of PNG women and children escape violent environments.

 

Lae - a story of gross neglect

Potholes along Eighth Street, Lae

A satirical look at Port Moresby and Lae.-From Nasfund Newsletter

Rundown Angau Memorial Hospital, Lae

From Nasfund Newsletter

Living in Port Moresby often means that many of us become too Moresby-focused and we view things through a far rosier prism than we rightly should.

Our media both print and television also suffers from the same Moresby bias.

Even this newsletter can be rightly criticised for being too focused on Port Moresby.

The editorial this month is both sobering and alarming.

It talks about a city in crisis.

Lae is Papua New Guinea’s second largest city and the industrial and manufacturing hub of the country.

It has the largest port facilities and is the gateway to the Highlands.

The Lae gateway and the Highlands Highway is the life line for over 50% of the population of Papua New Guinea who rely on the Port of Lae and Lae town for supplies. Something however is seriously wrong.

The Lae of today suffers from neglect and lack of decisive political leadership due to the inability to work together.

Never have we witnessed such a steady decline of a city than that of Lae.

The heart beat of industry still hums, private sector endures but the decline of infrastructure like roads, water, power and the vital support facilities like the Angau hospital underlie a very serious tale of woe.

The management of Lae city is in a sorry state with a failure to allocate scarce resources in priority areas of road and utility infrastructure.

Political leaders in power prefer the relatively more-lucrative and workable capital of Waigani and when in Lae take refuge in Lae’s “green zone” – two or three comfortable establishments where in air-conditioned comfort; their minders can praise them for their initiatives and tell them what they want to hear over glasses of red wine and cold beer. Outside the green zone a totally different world emerges that should shake the conscience of any one who cares for the city.

Sex workers desperate to etch out a living, bob up and down between the containers that have overflowed on to the old landing strip near town.

If not there, then they can be found under the verandah of Nasfund Haus directly across from the green zone, where lucrative pickings can be! had, from well-heeled hotel guests.

HIV is rife, as it is along the highway right through to the Western Highlands and beyond.

A recent HIV test of workers at one facility found three out of 15 infected.

Young schoolies, whose parents have little, skip classes to join the sex worker throng to buy basics like clothes, food and soap.

Many do it just to ensure they can pay their school fees.

A sophisticated network through mobile phones co ordinate the sex workers with their clients along the Highlands highway including truck drivers and maritime workers from the port.

Through mobile communication, tastes of the clients can be ascertained - whether they use condoms or not, their likes and dislikes, violent, kind or generous – all can be exchanged as part of the workings of this highly visible trade.

Exacerbated by the huge urban drift from the Highlands region, the town cannot absorb the inflow and settlements abound with all the associated ills that such a diaspora brings. Crime from muggings to murder abound and fueled by home brew, grass and alcohol, the hospitals overflow from the rampage of weekend desperation, of disaffected, disengaged youths and communities that have been wearing the brunt of neglect for too long.

Crime is made easy by the collapse in the road system. Not a stretch of road in Lae can be found without potholes, some so deep as to make sections of road impassable.

The two entrances to Lae look more like rural tracks than proud entry points to our second biggest and in some ways our most important city.

The dreadful state of the roads is compounded by the recent “gone missing” of millions allocated to repair a portion of the road system.

The poor state of the roads means that drivers are easy pickings for roadside criminals and ensures that security companies will continue to maintain dominance of the major roads even if it is just to ensure that access to the airport remains unimpeded

Over the last few months security of supply of water and power have both become serious issues.

Water was recently out for three weeks and power remains intermittent.

Once again it begs the question how this has been allowed to develop in what is our manufacturing hub and gateway.

But what is both depressing and beggar’s belief is the cholera camp on the front lawns of Angau Hospital.

Forget the appalling condition of Angau Hospital for a minute; the lack of facilities to treat what in the West would be basic matters; forget the run down wards; or the desperation on the face of women trying to get treatment for breast and cervical cancer. Forget the collapsing hospital infrastructure or the piles of surgical rubbish dumped on a makeshift bonfire to the left of the building.

Let’s just focus on the front lawns - a collection of make shift latrines and tents, a few iron beds in the middle of the lawns and untied black plastic which has failed to hide the camp from road side visibility now flapping in the breeze.

Adults and children lying in tents getting treated for a disease that should not be in Papua New Guinea and certainly not in our second largest city.

Visibility from a major road of those suffering shows how little we respect their privacy and their dignity.

A government cheque for K3 million that was release bounced and so very little has occurred except through assistance from AusAID and other donors.

A government that has pledged K13 million to assist in the cholera outbreak, and still to this day not released anything is a national shame beyond comprehension.

In November, the National government announced its 2050 vision of a people happy and prosperous.

One could possibly not but support such an initiative.

However for the long-suffering people of Lae, they desperately cannot wait 40 years to secure and share that vision.

They need a plan for 2010 - one that delivers better roads, safer and secure water supplies, consistent electricity and major upgrades in the area of health and education.

To continue to ignore Lae, as has been done, is a blight on the nation and corrosive to the collective soul.

Will someone please come forward?

I will be back

Robert with Bubu Tobias on the road into Kaubasis (photo courtesy Chau)

The engagement ceremony taking place at our "Hut" (photo courtesy Chau)

I have a special connection with the old folks (photo courtesy Chau)

Robert during the engagement ceremony (photo courtesy Sebastian)

We finally get to embrace in front of family and clan (photo courtesy Sebastian)

Our hands are joined as symbol of commitment to each other (photo courtesy Sebastian

With a few of the men having a chew and a "stori" (photo courtesy Anthony)

The formalities out of the way and its time to eat! (photo courtesy Anthony)

Goroka-based Australian volunteer ROBERT SCHILT reflects on five years in PNG and why he will be back…for good

After five years of living and working in Papua New Guinea as a volunteer I have decided to call it quits.
As a young man a dream was born within, that one day I would have the opportunity to live and work amongst tribal people.
The last five years have been a dream come true.
Papua New Guinea as a country and especially its urban centres are going through rapid change.
The short time I have lived in the Land of the Unexpected I have clearly witnessed a gradual breakdown of law and order and the inevitable collapse of a social fabric.
City or town living in PNG is hard and for me the village will always hold that special something that makes this country unique.
The walk to the “Hut” from the Highway at Mangiro Junction can take anywhere between one and six hours.
The time it takes depends on who and how many locals we bump into on the way in.
To meet, chat and hug clan members as we etch our way towards our home in the heart of Kaubasis, helps me to get into the village mood and start to unwind from the hussle and bustle of town living.
I have been accepted into the village like a son and the bond that has formed over the past four years is beyond the realm of words.
On Oct 23, 2008 a formal ceremony took place during which I was anointed “Chief” of eight clans.
I was presented with a spear that had not been held in public for three generations.
The old men gave me the name of “papa” in Tok Ples and I now participate in tribal and clan gatherings as a leader.
In addition to the sense of privilege and honour I feel at being adopted by the clan, I am reminded of that dream I had as young man.
The opportunity to come to PNG as a volunteer has allowed me to fulfill the vision that was born within all those years ago at Hyde Park in Sydney.
After going "steady" for over four years with Eli, on Jan 10 this year we became formally engaged in the eye of the Bolku Clan.
The weekend unfolded in true Simbu village style and culminated in a tribal ceremony during which Eli and myself openly committed to each other in front of her family, clan and other members of the Keto-Tapasi community.
Magnificence, belonging, privilege, love, family, bridge, home, exchange, surrender and joy are some of the words I would use to describe the experience of last weekend.
Although I do intend to return to the Highlands after a short break and some job searching Downunder – I hope you are able to appreciate the delicate nature of the situation in relation to the village folks.
Some of the old folks have even told me that they will cut off a finger after I depart (a traditional Highlands ritual when grieving a loved one).
So during a recent visit I called a formal gathering of the Bolku clan and shared my situation and intentions with them openly.
Many of us cried and words of love, nurturing and re-assurance were exchanged.
As hard and frustrating as I have found life to be in the Land of the Unexpected there is enough pull and attraction for me to want to come back for a round “2”?
I will never forget that moment at around the six month mark, waiting for a return PMV to Lae after my first weekend in Goroka, when it hit me that I was beginning to fall in love with a land and a people.
So what is it exactly about this place, a land that many deem to be the epitome of violence and chaos that would motivate me enough to even think about returning?
Perhaps if I share with you 10 reasons that come to mind:
1. The number one reason without a doubt is to be reunited with the love of my life: Eli. According to tribal custom we are now formally engaged with a full Simbu traditional ceremony scheduled for around Christmas 2010. This is the first time I have felt strongly enough about one person to want to “commit” at this level.
2. The “Hut”. Many couples spend their entire working lives slaving away and paying of a home somewhere in the suburbs, driven by and chasing a dream, only to find that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is a myth and a false prophet. And as the West continues to career towards slow extinction we will take haven in our clean and fresh water supply, fresh garden crops and almost unlimited supply of firewood.
3. The potential to market, sell and establish a services industry around Open Source solutions remains untapped. Considering the green field nature of IT in this country, I firmly believe in the opportunity for Open Solutions to deliver solid, reliable and cost effective solutions to a wide range of sectors in Papua New Guinea.
4. Belonging. If there is one thing and one thing only that I have found in PNG – it would have to be a sense of “belonging”. The loneliness and isolation that I had grown so accustomed to in my home town of Sydney is now all but broken. Having said that and as connected as I feel with people here – I have also developed a deep appreciation and love towards my own blood (family) back “home”.
5. Markets. There is something about PNG markets that hits the spot. To take an afternoon or weekend stroll down to the local market for some good old fashioned human interaction is one aspect of Melanesian culture guranteed to knock the wind out of the most powerful of “blues”.
6. Speaking of markets – the local fresh vegetables and fruits is something that I have grown to really appreciate and enjoy. Back in so called modern civilisation, supermarkets sell fresh produce that looks exceptional but once you cut it open and taste it – you just know that there’s something missing. Here, the fruit and veggies don’t necessarily look the best but once you give them the taste test you just know that you are eating something full of life. In the Highlands – organics are the norm by the way.
7. Buai (betenut) chewing. Although a filthy and unhygienic habit – there is a social aspect to standing around a little buai market that can only be understood if you have ever stood around a little buai market and had a chew. Besides, the little green acacia palm nut has been my most effective security and protection over the past five years. If there is one thing and one thing only that will ensure your personal safety in this place, in my books it would definitely have to be buai (more effective than a weapon!). In a strange sort of a way – buai has given me the privilege of “free passage” – to come and go in the most dangerous and violent of town settlements.
8. On the subject of buai… how can I forget the street boys, sellers, pick-pockets and half sense population of Lae and Goroka? On my return and if my “plan” (yes, I have a plan) is realised – I will fund a BBQ just for the street people of Goroka town. I empathise, interact, occasionally give away a few coins, share a story and a laugh. The street lads will always hold a special place in my heart.
9.The humanity. There is more humanity in PNG than what you will ever find in the collective of the developed world. I remember on one of my return trips to Sydney, my second day back in town at a local shopping center – a man had fallen over and hurt himself badly – I stood back as I watched people just walking past and avoiding eye contact at all cost. The westerner within also wanted to just wander off and pretend that nothing had happened. But the newly found Papua New Guinean within walked over and reached out to another human in need. Later that day as I shared the story with Mum – I shed a tear for my people and felt a deep shame that this is what my culture has become.
10. The list could go on and on… village life, the clan, highlands public speaking and oratory, Eli’s cooking, strawberry thick shake down at the Bird of Paradise, the local coffee , meeting the rare expat that shares a similar connection with PNG, our dog “Gelo”, daily crosswords and comics in the two local newspapers, flour balls and “karuka” nuts, etc…
With less than three weeks to go before I hop on that plane to return to Sydney I am inspired and encouraged by the catch phrase made famous by Arnie: “I’ll be back”.

Robert Schilt
Australian Volunteer
Trupela Tok (http://www.trupela.com/)

Turtle hunting in Papua New Guinea

Turtle hunting is prevalent in Papua New Guinea, whatever marine conservationists may say.

People need turtle meat for food, and at this time of the year, school fees for their children, so they take to the seas to hunt for this marine delicacy.

Port Moresby resident, David Nalu, took this picture of turtle hunting at Abau, Central province, by Mailu fishermen.

"So much for marine conservationist - these guys need to put food on the table," he said.

"I took this shot at Kapari/Viriolo Market at Cape Rodney on Tuesday this week.

"One of the turtles was tagged by a Hawaian marine biologis.

"Turtle hunting took place to cover school fees."