Independance weekend

We celebrated PNGs 31^st Independence Day in Buakap, a small coastal village 40 minutes boat ride south of Lae. Kisung, a friend from work has kindly invited Rich and I to stay for the long weekend. How nice is it to be able to sleep in a haus win (a house without walls usually used as a place for the family to socialise) looking out over the ocean, cook over a fire, scrape coconuts and bathe in a river?! It is a different world from Lae (which despite the many friendly people that are around, you still wouldn’t want to be sleeping outside at night….). We could just make out the fireworks in Lae Saturday night and we were glad to be further down the coast in Buakap listening to the waves and smelling the fresh air.

Rich's first coconut scrape Cooking bananas

Preparing Sak Sak (sago) with Mooks


Mmm, now eating it - Rich looks so pleased!

A haus win - our perfect accommodation

Kisung and I

We met this man who used to work for the Department of Labour and be the PNG rep for the International Labour Organisation. He has travelled all over the world - Switzerland, Dubai, USA... but he decided to give all that up and retire early and live the easy life back in his home village. This guy seems to have the right idea about a good life!

Rich getting some advice on life

Eastern Highlands

I’m in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province. What a climate change. I’m freezing! I didn’t bring enough warm clothes to PNG as I had packed for the climate in Lae. Luckily there are a quite a few second-hand stores around, you can find quite a few gems in a store like that, you’d be surprised what people in Australia and NZ throw away…

I’m here in Goroka for our organisations Adult Literacy CSO Forum. Only 65% of the adult population in PNG are literate and of female adults, only 58% are literate. Our organisation has partnered with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Lae, Goroka, Port Moresby and Buka (Bougainville) where we have provincial offices. In the past we directly trained and supervised volunteer teachers to conduct Adult Literacy classes but found that the program wasn’t as sustainable as hoped. Learning from the past we decide

d to take a new approach in partnering with CSOs to strengthen their capacity to provide support for Adult Literacy (as well as other things like Conflict Resolution, Leadership, HIV, Human Rights & Gender) in communities and to facilitate links between CSOs and governments. This meeting in Goroka is for all the relevant representatives from partnering CSOs and our organisation to get together to share experiences and discuss how things can be improved.

On Tuesday we took a visit to one of the communities that a CSO partner - Nasahiri Women’s Association works with. The community of Lopsta is so motivated that the adults take literacy classes at night as they are too busy working in their gardens in the day. Someone from the community has donated their land and the community has built their own school. We attend the school opening and there is some good quality singing, dancing, drama and local food – yum. It is inspiring to talk to such motivated people!

Richard braved the four hour PMV ride on his own to come up to Goroka for the weekend. It was good to be togther and explore the place a bit.

Volunteer meet

I’m relaxing at a volunteer workshop on an island just outside of Port Moresby. It is great opportunity to meet and share with other AusAID funded volunteers (AVIs, ABVs, AYADs and VIDAs) who are in PNG while sitting through meetings learning more about our sponsor!

Community Development Expo

Last day of the three-day Community Development Scheme (CDS) Expo. Great time for community-based organisations, NGOs, government departments etc. to get together and share what they have been doing in the area of community development. Kisung and I help with our organisations display stand that proved to be quite popular with visitors who ask many questions about our programs. We're able to go to some presentations that are occurring on the hour. I hear some encouraging stories of people that are working in rural communities with coffee farmers trying to get them a fair price for their produce, gain some helpful information from research done by World Vision on Papua New Guineans’ perspective of what constitutes a ‘good life’ as well as hear information about women rights and its relevance in PNG from the government Department of Community Development.

Squashed

I am getting into squash. Well, should I say, I am utterly hopeless at squash and don’t really enjoy it that much but things may change. There are courts here in Lae and it is some good exercise after work when it is dark. We bought some rackets yesterday for some ridiculously low price. Is it dishonest if there is no price on a racket so we ask the person working in the store and they say that it is the same price of the badminton rackets (which are a third the price of a squash racket usually) and we say, "but they are different rackets", and they don’t look into it further, so then we think what the heck and buy two?!

A new addition

Even though it was a public holiday today we happened to be at work. For a good reward it turns out. When we first arrived I thought I could hear something meowing in a shed where all the supplies for the Water and Sanitation Program are kept. A couple of hours later when I could still hear the meowing I decided to find someone that knew how to open the combination lock to the door. As we were opening the door this little black and white creature the size of a rat goes to run out - I grab it quickly and as I closer look at the little guy I: 1. Wonder how something so small could make such a loud noise 2. Observe the disproportionate face and wonder if I should put him back in the shed (as an animal lover I must admit that I too was horrified that such a thought came across my mind). I put him in my pocket and took him home. He is so tiny that we are feeding him with a syringe. I am afraid to name him just in case I get too attached and he doesn't survive (past experience reminds me that this is probable). I figured I'm already attached and we name him 'Wara' - Tok Pisin for Water - since we had found him in the shed with all the water supplies. Plus our neighbour already has a chicken names 'Paia', which means Fire (they had found it as an egg and had put it by a fire till it had hatched). So we will see how they get along as they grow up...

Our own place

Today we moved into our permenant place. I love it! It’s one of eight great little units in a property. The other seven units are occupied by my PNG work collegues and families. It’s nice just to hang out, chat and make friendships.

We've finally arrived!

We've both finally here in PNG. After many months of waiting for visas - we have landed! We're in Lae, a coastal city in Morobe Province. It's the second biggestcity in the country but from my assessment is comparable to the size of Torquay, VIC (without the surf). The scenery reminds me of northern Peru. Grass houses on stilts, swaying green fields with surrounding mountains, coconut trees and warm weather. Despite all second-hand stories of warning told to me about PNG before I left Australia, the people I meet seem really friendly.