Not so little anymore

We've had our cat - Wara - for over a year now and he's really grown up these past couple of months. Likes staying around the house with us which is rare for a male. Also likes to knock things off benches onto the ground and sleep in our pot plants...he keeps us amused!

To think we were going to climb Mt Wilhelm!

We did have planned for this Easter long weekend a climb of PNG’s highest peak – Mt Wilhelm. We’d had it planned for the last 4 months or so with a fitness regime which included a lot of stair walking. Unfortunately, my reoccurring malaria kept hindering the fitness progress. Although, with my recent bouts of malaria I am not feeling horribly sick in bed, I don’t have that much energy after a day at work, hence limiting the physical activity I had planned.

We decided to postpone the hike for later on in the year. Luckily as on Wednesday I was tested positive for malaria again, for the 8^th time. Then yesterday Rich was feeling sick with nausea and headaches that we took him to get a malaria and typhoid test. As I was in the waiting room while Rich was seeing the doctor the nurse came in and asked me, “Do you want to see your husband, he has been admitted.” Admitted! I went into see him and he was lying on a bed and the doctor was putting a drip into his hand. There was little communication as to why this was all happening, so naturally I started to get quite anxious. Turns out he had a viral infection and his white blood cell count was significantly high. He was dehydrated, hence the drip and starting taking antibiotics. After 5 hours he came home and Nurse Me learnt how to change my first drip! (Although an hour later the drip stopped working so I called Raul, my boss who also happens to be a medical doctor. The malfunctioning drip wasn’t a result of the inexperienced nurse’s actions). Rich came off the drip and today he’s walking around, although still weak.

To think we were going to climb Mt Wilhelm this weekend!!

Gender and tsunamis

So it's the morning of the first day of a four day gender analysis workshop. I’m the one organizing the workshop. There’s 20 participants, and we’ve hired an experienced consultant from Port Moresby. Things are going well and we’re just getting into it after morning tea.

Then the host from the venue we’ve hired pulls me aside to another room and tells me that "just for my information there has been a warning of a tsunami". I look out the window and see school kids, teachers and adults frantically running down the street, away from the coast. I ask if it has actually hit or if it is just a warning. She tells me that some reports are saying that there is water already up to the marketplace and other reports saying it is just a warning. I call my office. No answer. I call Richard’s office. Again no answer. Hmm, not a good sign, I start thinking. I then talk with a guy there who has been in contact with the disaster office. He tells me that at the moment all that has been given is a 24 hr warning. Still, with all the people fleeing for the hills I figure it is my duty of care to tell my colleagues in the workshop who are currently oblivious to what is happening outside. At the same time, I don’t want to cause any undue panic.

I take the consultant aside and brief her on what I have learned. She asks me to share with the group – I carefully pick my words – making sure I don’t use any words starting with a ‘T’. I calmly start telling the group, “There has been a disaster in the Solomon Islands and there has been a 24 hr warning issu…”. I am stopped mid-sentence as a colleague that was in the office has rushed over to our side of town. There is panic written on his face and he starts blurting out about the tsunami and if we “all want to die then we can stay here…”. Great! So much for my 'keep things calm' approach. He then runs out. I finish telling everyone that currently it is confirmed to be just a warning. One of my colleagues who is a woman of great faith suggested we pray. We all held hands and calmly prayed together. Those praying reflected on all the numerous accounts in the Bible where God had moved water and calmed storms. We then decided to convene again tomorrow granted everything was okay so people could go find their families and make whatever phone calls they needed to.

The shops were all shut, people were running up the hills with their bags full of their valuables, one lady even had her pig in her bilum (bag)! I'd been told pigs are very valuable and visually it had been confirmed for me.

Thankfully all it ended up being for us in PNG was a warning (unfortunately not so for some families in the SIs). And a wake up call that we need to look into some disaster mitigation procedures instead of the office going into a frenzy!! The gender workshop will continue tomorrow….

Roadtrips and birthdays

Richard was celebrating the beginning of a new decade. Since he was unable to spend his birthday with his twin brother and the rest of his family who traveled from Melbourne up to Newcastle to be with his brother I figured I better organise something memorable.

A few of us piled into two cars on Friday and made the road trip north to Madang. Our little Suzuki Escudo was fully packed. A reputably safe town where one is free to walk around without having to watch ones back to closely! It also has a great reputation for diving and snorkeling.

The road from Lae to Madang goes through the Markham Valley which kind of reminded me of the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand – just with some tropical coconut and beetle nut trees thrown in.

The road is pretty smooth for most of the way. You can travel at 120 km/hr. You just have to be constantly alert and watching the road as you never know when a pothole that seems to have been made by a meteor will arise. So, mixing it up between 120 and 5 km/hr ensures that you are kept alert.

The last hour of the 5 hour trip to Madang there is a hilly, rough, dirt road. A truck had unfortunately lost control and fallen over along with it’s container it was carrying. The container was full of ‘Crush’ cordial. The truck was surrounded by villages collecting their loot. There would be no way the driver could stop them. As we passed them they were already in entrepreneurial mode, trying to get us to buy their newly acquired commodity. Word must have spread for the next 10 km there were people running towards to crash in hope of collecting their share of cordial.

Madang was a good relaxing spot. Lots of swimming, snorkeling, a slight moment of being stranded on an island to keep things interesting.

On the way home two days later the cordial industry was still alive. Luckily we made it home alive too after a close shave with a PMV coming around the dirt corner at full speed towards us. I think someone must have been looking out for us. Richard was able to get through his first day of being 30!

Water on tap

Drove three hours to the official opening of a water project. There was much celebration and dancing – as you can imagine. Now the community doesn’t have to walk for hours to fetch water. It’s rewarding to see the results of our partnerships with rural communities. I was told that the real excitement and singing is when the tap is turned on for the first time – it would be great to witness that happen!

ANNIVERSARY MASTERCARD COULDN'T HAVE PAID FOR

It's kind of hard to believe Rich and I have been married for 5 years. Yes, a whole 5 years! For us it has gone so fast. Considering that I remember us having some sort of 5 year plan before kids come along - and it is now five years - we are thinking about extending the duration of the plan (apologies to the would-be grandparents)! We are in Alotau, Milne Bay Province. So today didn't start off exactly according to plan. We got up early to catch a PMV - which was a truck with two planks running up each side that can fit a surprisingly large amount of passengers. We had been told that a PMV would be leaving around 8am. So we were there, ready at the bus stop, 7:30. At about 10am we finally got lucky and were on our way to East Cape - a small sea-side village on the most eastern tip of the mainland of PNG. 15 minutes into the journey the drivers sidekick needs to take a slash. As we are sitting there in the back of the truck waiting two police vehicles scream around the corner. They stop just behind us and two guys, one with a hand gun the other with an M-16, jump out of the tray of the ute, weapons cocked for action, run down a side road. The police vehicles then proceed down the road. Wait! There's been some confusion. One of the vehicles decides to go back down the side street and get the two cops. They screeched down the road. Ah, and then it was quiet again. Kind of surreal, like being one of those innocent bystanders in a b-grade action film. And where was the drivers right hand man? He was taking a while to finish his business. We figured he must of got stage fright as he eventually came out of the bushes with a nervous grin on his face. Back on the road again. Yes we will get to East Cape before it is late afternoon and time to turn back around. Passed a car on the way that was blocking off another side street - informed that the cops were after some guys in a stolen vehicle - no major deal. A man gets on to the PMV with a massive pineapple. It's the biggest pineapple I've seen in my life! I quietly comment this profound fact to Richard while continuing to stare at the oversized fruit. The man and his large pineapple get off the PMV as few stops later. Eventually we come to the end of the run - it's midday and we're in East Cape. We have till 4pm when the last PMV will head back to Alotau. We have come equipped with Zoom (boat fuel) as it costs a small mint out in the village. We negotiate with a boat owner a price to take us out to one of the islands. We had been here on Saturday, snorkelling in an amazing reef between a nearby island and the village and this time we were planning to go further a sea.
The guy only took about eighteen turns to get the motor going and then we were on our way. He suggested that he would drop us off at the island and come back a few hours later. As I was thinking about the probability of this actually occurring, we pulled up to the island. White sand, swaying coconuts, azure water and, "what's that out there?," we ask the boat owner. "oh just dolphins". Just dolphins! Okay, if the guy end up not coming back I think we can handle living here. We give him five kina to buy some bui and cigarettes back at East Cape to relieve his boredom and he speeds off in his boats. We frantically get our snorkelling gear on and jump into the water. It is a bit of a swim out to the dolphins but we manage to see them at close range. Richard was lucky enough to be looking when three swam underneath the water right passed him. I was happy to see them breaching 6 metres away from me.

We sat on our secluded island (almost - except for the two friendly spear fishermen further up the beach), snorkelled in the nearby reef and soaked it all in. Eventually the boat came back for us and we were taken to another outer reef where school must have just got out as there was a plethora of fish.
On our way back to Alotau the man and his pineapple got back onto the same PMV as us. As he went to get off at his stop he handed his companion to us as a gift. I continue to be amazed at the generosity of people here (and hoped that I really hadn't been staring too much!).


What a day! We couldn't have planned it better for our 5th year anniversary. And yes, did I mention that we are still amazingly in love with each other? Yes, it really added to the brilliance of it all!

PNG's Version of a Wedding Crasher

We had our works annual Christmas 'Family Day' - a picnic lunch in the botanical gardens. As I was driving there a guy walking on the road looked at me really intently - kind of like he was putting a spell on me - if I believed in such things. I looked in my review mirror and he was still staring. I dropped the car off at Richard's work which is across from the gardens. It was a short 3 min walk to where everyone was meeting. It's not too safe for a female to be walking around the botanical gardens (which are more like an over grown forest these days as there is no money for their upkeep) but I figured that if I made my quick enough it would be okay. Low and behold, the creepy guy had caught up to me as I made my way through the gate. I asked the guard at the gate, "Which way to the picnic area?" Making myself seem as incompetent as possible in understanding his directions he decided to walk me most of the way. Good thing cause creepy guy was still following. When we got there he was straight into a game of soccer. Creepy guy became jovial, fun-loving guy and I figured he must be someone’s relative there. He played soccer, volleyball, sat down and talked with everyone, including the director. Everyone figured he belonged to someone. I was sceptical though and after asking a few people who he was I realised that no one knew! I went up to him and introduced myself and asked who he was. Reuben from Cuba. Cuba! "A, de Cuba" I said, "Puede hablar espanol?". "Sorry?" he replied. Hah! He doesn't even speak Spanish. A fraud!! I explained to him that this was our work social, not just a free for all. My colleagues also tried to explain the same thing and asked him to leave. Fraudulent Reuben (pictured above in the red shirt) stayed and laughed along with peoples jokes, politely listened and applauded the speeches, took a large serve of lunch and played tug-o-war. He was one of the last to leave the day and nearly made off with someone’s bag. Lucky someone spotted him and told him to put it back. It was pretty had not to admire his skills - classic! A family day crasher! Hope he had fun, cause he definitely added some interest to our day!

My Best Friend's Wedding!

How exciting! Sarah and Dave were married today. They looked so good together and it was a beautiful day! Sarah was calm – unlike the previous couple of days leading up to it…! We wish them lots of fun and adventures together!

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.