Mijts Blog

Last night we went to a dinner party – held at the house of a member of the local Chinese community. As usual we were offered a wonderful banquet of food and enjoyed a great variety of delicious dishes such as lobster salad, coconut battered prawns, fish, pork and beef didshes, spring rolls etc. The desserts were amazing and I loved the creme caramel that I had…….. BUT I WIMPED on the soup. I just could not bring myself to try the SNAKE AND TURTLE soup even though I was assured that it was good for my sex drive! Thank Goodness Nick didn’t have any either!

Garbage collection is a bit ‘hit and miss’ here! It is also very different to the automated garbage trucks they use at home. The company pays the local government authority to have our garbage collected once a week but it is rare for the truck to come weekly. It had been over two weeks since a collection and, as our bin was full, we had rubbish sitting everywhere. Usually someone in the neighbourhood goes down to the yard where the truck is kept and complains and we are always given a reason ‘truck gone bugger up’ (needs repairs), or no fuel this week (means can’t afford fuel!). However, they usually turn up in the next couple of days.

Finally the truck came this morning so I took a couple of photos. This is how it works – the truck stops and sounds its horn. The housemary runs out and takes the garbage out and puts it on the truck. The driver doesn’t get out. The passenger who is probably the supervisor will get out but will usually sit and watch or have a drink or chew buai (that’s him in the blue hat – sitting outside our fence)! Sometimes (as today) there is a third man who travels in the back of the truck and organises the rubbish! If nobody happens to hear the horn then they drive off without collecting – so the neighbours all watch out for each other and call when it arrives.

One time, soon after we arrived, there was no collection for several weeks and the very small plastic bin we had inherited was riddled with maggots – Stephanie called them ‘little snakes’ and was quite unconcerned that the children were playing with them. We soon morteined that problem and quickly invested in a bigger wheelie bin – the only one in our street! Actually, I have only seen a few of these in use.

Many of the locals don’t have bins at all but hang their rubbish in plastic bags on the fence. Some even have a purpose built ‘ledge’ to place it on (up high so the dogs won’t get it!) until it gets collected.

and others just hang it in a tree!!!

Last Saturday was Kayline’s second birthday and Toshi will turn 4 in a few weeks time. We will be in Australia when Toshi has his birthday so told Stephanie (our housemary – and their mother) that we’d fund a combined birthday party for them. We view Stephanie and the children as part of our PNG family and we are very fond of them all!

The party was held last Saturday on Kayline’s birthday. Stephanie did all the planning (she is a great organiser!)and we took her shopping at the market and a couple of tradestores. Nick paid and I crossed items off the list. Masses of food ingredients were purchased and we only bought lollies, balloons, party hats etc at my suggestion. I had previously asked Stephanie how many were attending – response ‘Not too many”, next question from me – ‘Maybe 15 or 20?’ – response ‘Yes!’ (with a smile). It was obvious by the food we purchased that we were feeding many more than this -but no worries! It quickly became apparent that this was not a children’s birthday party as we know it! It was a feast for the neighbours and villagers, children and adults alike! And boy do they know how to put on a feast!

Several girls from the village arrived early to help prepare the food

Some of ‘the boys’ came early too – but they typically just lazed around for about five hours until the food was on then they came in!

The birthday kids had new outfits (from the Chinese tradestore!)

Stephanie had a written program and there was a process to follow – obviously following local customs! Another village truck arrived, Nick’s Office staff turned up and the neighbours came until there was close to 100 people under our house – many more adults than children!

The food was put onto the tables (where it sat for an hour or so – they don’t mind eating it cold!)

Then Stephanie officially welcomed everyone (and asked me to do the same!)

Next everyone gathered around the cake and sang Happy Birthday – and May God Bless You (imagine that at an Aussie kids’ party!!!)

I’ll digress slightly here with a story about the cake – a local store has a bakery section and does cakes. I ordered one and requested just Happy Birthday and the kids’ names to be on it. When I went to collect it this is what it looked like (they obviously needed to fill the cake with writing!) – don’t you just love the ‘cheers’ at the end! I might add that the cake inside was three layers of VERY dark red, green and brown! One lady I know ordered a cake and on the order form where you had to write the message she wrote ‘No message’ – and that’s what was written on her cake – so I didn’t fare too badly!

After they sang Happy Birthday, there was the ‘presentation of gifts’ – everyone lined up (and it was a long line!) and little Kayline and Toshi shook hands with each person and said thank you – without being allowed to open any gifts yet – had to wait until the end of the day! – can’t see many children at home managing that!

Next, one of the elders from the village said a prayer before Kai Kai (food!) then the feasting began. The kids lined up

and plates were piled high with food! Even this little two and a half year old neighbour helped herself – and she ate that whole plate full! Many of the Nationals only eat breakfast and one main meal a day – often rice based.

After some time, there was the cutting of the cake

and my cupcakes were allowed to come downstairs – they were popular – and for many of them – never seen before!

The lollies and whistles were handed out and in line with tradition, Stephanie, as the hostess, had icing from the cake rubbed through her hair!

Nick and I had to leave late afternoon as we were going out to a curry night. We took plenty of photos so here are some more favourites!

I’m a sucker for those big brown eyes!!!

one of several favourite photos of the day! love that hair!

The funniest moment of the afternoon – I was taking a photo of Kayline and Toshi and went to straighten Kayline’s dress – she pushed my hand away and said ‘Heh!’. I then realised she had commandeered the bag of balloons and was hiding them in her pants. She then went over by the fence to finish the job!!! I love this little girl – so full of personality!

Kayline with her great uncle – one of the elder men of the village – typically wearing his laplap as most of the older folk do!

All in all – a very different kids’ party – but a great local experience for us!

As I have mentioned before, we regularly have gurias (earthquakes) here – but they are relatively minor and you get used to a gentle rocking of your chair or bed. We had one about 20 minutes ago that seemed to last longer than usual and when the whole house started to shake sideways so much that it creaked, I must admit I ran downstairs and clear of the house and I felt just a little bit scared. This has only happened once before and over a year ago.

It was probably over before I even got clear of the house but I just can’t ignore those creaking noises and a rocking house! Needless to say none of the neighbours were running out and most of the nationals continued to just sit around and have a good laugh at me. I felt a bit better when I phoned Nick and he told me that all staff vacated their office!

When I looked up the earthquake website and found some data, I realised it was a reasonably strong tremor!

Earthquake Details
Magnitude
6.4 (Preliminary magnitude — update expected within 15 minutes)

Date-Time
• Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 05:32:30 UTC
• Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 03:32:30 PM at epicenter
Location
5.810°S, 151.390°E
Depth
56 km (34.8 miles) set by location program
Region
NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Distances
• 198 km (123 miles) SSW (206°) from Rabaul, New Britain, PNG
• 211 km (131 miles) ENE (77°) from Kandrian, New Britain, PNG
• 366 km (228 miles) S (170°) from Kavieng, New Ireland, PNG
• 496 km (308 miles) ENE (78°) from Lae, New Guinea, PNG
• 615 km (382 miles) NE (49°) from PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea

data from http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/

Nick and I are both prolific readers! With no books available to purchase here in Kokopo, we have both purchased a Kindle (electronic bookreader) and we constantly use them – they are probably our most valued possessions over here!
At first we bought just one but soon realised that sharing just wasn’t possible! We soon had one each.
The kindle looks like this

well that’s what Nick’s looks like. mine looks like this:

yep! I dropped mine and to put it the PNG way –‘he has gone bugger up!’
So we are sharing again – for the next 5 weeks until we go back to Brisbane and I can get another one. Now, in my life, that IS a disaster!

After 3 weeks in Brisbane, I returned to PNG just two weeks ago. A couple of days later we joined some friends with a boat to go to Little Pigeon Island for a Barbeque. Little Pigeon is a small Island about a one hour boat trip from Rabaul. There are no residents on this Island as there is no fresh water and it is small enough to slowly walk right around in about half an hour.

We drove to Rabaul to get on the boat. Whilst Rabaul is only about 30-40 Km away from Kokopo, the roads are very rough (from volcanic ash) and the trip can sometimes take an hour or more – I once got bogged on this road!

Here is just a little bit about Rabaul – the former capital of East new Britain (now shifted to Kokopo where we live).

Rabaul township is built on the edge of a flooded caldera of a large volcano.
The caldera is the home of a number of dormant and active volcanoes. There is Mt Tavurvur (known as the “baby” – still active), Mt Kombiu (the dormant “mother”) and Vulcan, a minor vent which blew spectacularly in 1994 but is now quiet.
The Tolai people who live near these have a saying ” Tikana pakana takaum kilala na nilaun – una gire ra kaia na vuvuai” – “ Once in your lifetime you will experience a volcanic eruption.” This was proved once again in the early hours of the morning of Sunday, 18 September 1994, as subterranean volcanic activity began violently shaking the Gazelle Peninsula, heralding the coming events.

At 6:00am on Monday, 19 September, Tavurvur volcano commenced destroying Rabaul town and the surrounding villages of Talwat, Nordup, Matalau, Rabuana, Korere, Rapolo and Matupit. This was followed about one hour later on the other side of Simpson Harbour when another volcano, Vulcan (Kalamanagunan), vented itself upon the villages Raluan, Valaur, Tavana, Latlat, Rapolo, Karavia and Malaguna, burying them with Tephra and destroying the property and livelihood of thousands of people. (We drive past Vulcan on our way to rabaul!)
Tavurvur has continued grumbling and spewing smoke, ash and the occasional shower of hot rocks for the past 15 years creating an ash-covered “moonscape” that surrounds the still-active “baby” volcano Mt Tavurvur, which stands less than 100m above sea level.

However, since early this year – for the first time in 15 years, Tavurvur has gone quiet – no ash, just blowing steam. It is great to see a little bit of green coming back on the surrounding hills – although Rabaul town is still a greyscape, houses covered in ash and roads ruined by deep ash deposits! We still regularly get earth tremors and on a windy day ash swirls over Rabaul. Many of the locals believe that this quieter Tavurvur is just a ‘calm before the storm’ and that there will be a big blow in the near future!

We set off from rabaul – I always enjoy a boat trip!

Check out the golf glove tan on the left hand!!!

First we headed out towards the outcrops known as The Beehives.

Next we went across by the vocanos – Mother and Tavurvur – rejoicing in the bit of green coming back on the hills! this may sound a bit over the top – but it is such a change to the usual grey moonscape! Tavurvur is quiet at the moment with just steam coming out the vents so we could clearly see the sulphur deposit on the side up near the crater. We could smell it too!

We then motored on to Little Pigeon and waded ashore with all our needs for the day!

Nick had his dive boots on which give best protection from coral cuts – so he got the job of helping to push the boat out further as the tide was on it’s way out!

This was my first trip to Little Pigeon but Nick has been several times – in between dives on many of his diving days. He suggested we walk around the island – which we did – while the others just relaxed on the beach.

It was well worth the walk as much of the coral comes right up to the shore! I also love the red hermit crabs and the vibrant blue starfish!

The walk just whetted my appetite for some snorkelling. Several of us went out for about an hour.

– now me in snorkel gear, boardies etc is not a good look – but the beautiful coral and fish means I just don’t care!

-and the water is so clear!

The further out you go – the more spectacular it gets! I must admit that Nick goes out much further than I do – and he had the camera for these shots!

After our swim/snorkel we just relaxed on the beach, enjoying the company, the barbequed food (and, of course, the beer and the wine!)

After lunch a couple of us decided to try some kayaking – everyone had a good laugh at me and said that I just went around in circles – I didn’t think I was that bad BUT I had imbibed in a bottle of wine! Needless to say I soon handed the Kayak over to the one young teenage member of the group!

Soon it was time to pack up and head home – Bye! Bye! Little Pigeon – we will be back!

This picture was taken by Nick when we were out snorkelling – what a perfect welcome back to PNG for me – just what I needed! Slept well that night!

I now have quite a collection of baskets and a few bilums too! Most of these crafted items come from the highland areas of PNG. They are hand crafted and real works of Art. My BASKETS serve a variety of purposes –

as well as just being for decoration.

This recent addition to my collection stands about 70cm tall and has a diameter of 60cm – it will make a great laundry basket for the unit when we return home!

From time to time the ‘basket man’ arrives in Kokopo (from the highlands) and sells from outside the supermarket. Whenever he is there I go to check out his wares and do a bit of haggling about price – not too much as I feel guilty if I knock them down too much – but inevitably come away with a basket or two! He is never there for long as they sell very quickly.

If I had to choose a favourite – it would be this basket. It is so beatifully made and the pattern and colouring really appeals to me. Nick bought this for me from the basket man whilst I was on holidays in Africa last year.

The basket man was in town again last week and I went down to buy a couple of baskets to take home to Australia as gifts – I came home with a couple of trays for this purpose but also with two more items to add to my collection!

Taking these home as gifts for family/friend when I return to Aus next week.

Just couldn’t resist buying these two for myself! I know we’ll never be able to accommodate them all when we leave here but they look great in our house here with the beautiful polished timber floors. I am sure I’ll be easily able to offload the excess to family and friends!

I also have a few baskets that have been given to me as gifts – including these Buka baskets (from Bouganville) – thanks Anne – I love them!. While the baskets are known as ‘Buka Baskets’, the artists are in fact from Buin, South Bougainville. These baskets have very fine work to finish/strengthen them – like the cross-stitch effect around the top.

This is my market basket (also a gift – think it might be locally made??)

The local Tolai people make baskets for everyday usage – mostly carried by men – e.g. to work with their food etc inside. Some of the day students at the school where I volunteer also use them to carry lunches etc. I bought a large and a small one at the market to display on the wall and in some shelving. They were only about K6 ($2.50AUD).

My Tolai baskets.

BILUMS
Long before supermarkets were forced to give or sell non-plastic bags for customers to carry groceries, the women of Papua New Guinea (PNG) were using the ultimate shopping bag – a bilum.

The bilum is a traditional PNG string bag and they have been made in PNG for centuries. Bilums come in a variety of shapes and styles and are made for different purposes. Bilums are made to carry food, to carry babies in and to use for leisure. People can identify a person just by the creative design or style woven on the bilum. Despite the many different aspects and purposes of bilums they all are made from the same basic weaving method.

Originally made from traditional materials they are now usually made from commercially manufactured material such as nylon and wool. The original fibre was manufactured from the inner bark of the wild tulip tree and other readily available natural materials. First the bark is soaked in a stream or the sea for up to 8 months until the material that binds the bark twine together rots. Then the bark is dried and the strands of bark are separated before the woman will rub the bark with her hand on her thigh to produce the strands of twine.

A bilum is almost a universal trademark of Papua New Guinea. See a bilum anywhere in the world and you know that person has some connection with PNG.
Bilums are used to carry a wide range of items, from shopping goods in large bilums to personal items in purse-sized varieties. Mothers often carry their babies in bilums and swinging a baby in a bilum usually guarantees a sleeping baby in a very short time. My housegirl’s little children even have their own small wool bilums – very cute!

Traditionally a bilum is carried around the forehead and hanging down the back. I have seen elderly PNG women laden down with heavy loads carried this way – bent over and heading to the market to sell their goods. Men and children also carry bilums – also usually on the forehead or sometimes hanging around the neck (on the chest or back).

I have received several bilums as gifts from national people – two like this one which are woven in a basket style. I use these for decoration only.

I also have two string bilums which I use regularly. They too were gifts from local people. They are great and stretch to hold a lot more than you would expect.

When we were going to America last year for Ben and Sarah’s wedding several of Nick’s office workers gave him wool bilums to take over to them. I recently bought the blue and green wool bilum at the market as I really liked the colours. I love the bilums – almost as much as the baskets. Bilums are often ‘decorated’ with tassels – and I have even seen bilums with feathers on them for adornment. I have no doubt that I will buy more bilums over the next couple of years!

In PNG, children generally don’t start school until they go to Elementary school (Yrs 1 to 3) in the year they turn eight. Primary school is Years 4 to 8 so most children are at least 16 years old when they finish Primary. Many children do not go on to Secondary school. There is still a percentage (close to 40%, I think) who NEVER attend school at all – although this percentage is likely much lower in Urban areas.

Schooling is not free and many schools – especially in remote areas – are very under resourced.

There are two schools at Open Bay – a preschool/playschool for 3 to 7 yr olds which is totally funded and staffed by the timber company. They have three classes – 3 and 4 yr olds, 5 and 6 yr olds and the 7 yr olds which runs like a Prep class.

The Playschool/Preschool building.

and there is also a government school – Elementary/Primary school in the Open Bay village.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Open Bay was to visit this school and to deliver some books that were donated by the children of Mount Crosby School in Brisbane (where I used to be Principal before I retired). We planned our trip so as to not be there during school holidays. However, it was the last week of Term One and what we didn’t realise was that in remote areas, they sometimes finish a day early!

On the Friday, there were no students at the Elementary/Primary school – many of them were at a working bee planting flowers and gardens etc at the new cemetery!

Over 200 students attend the school and there are 7 teachers (including the headmaster.)

A message was sent out early morning and we arrived at the school at 10am to be met by most of the teachers – many of whom had been working at the cemetery for several hours but had rushed home, changed into their best clothes and turned up to show us around.

They were absolutely thrilled by the books that were donated and by a few counting board games I had made for them.

We met in this building which served many purposes – indoor activities room for students, staffroom etc (but no furniture!! – just one table and a notice board)

All my Aussie friends will appreciate the Sports House names (on the notice board)!

We spent about an hour looking at the books and talking about how they could use them.

The donation included a large selection of small books called the ‘cocky’s circle’ books which were ideal for Upper Elementary students. In fact I spotted this little girl (one of the Teacher’s daughters) already engrossed in one of these books when we returned from a tour of other classrooms!

We visited the Library and it was apparent that any donations to this school would be much appreciated. The shelves held a few books – most of them very old and included a set of encyclopaedia that was VERY out of date!

The teachers told me that they only owned one atlas and one dictionary between them and they shared them. In the Library they had one World wall map so classes were brought to the Library when they needed to refer to this map. When asked what they would most like, they asked for one atlas, one world wall map and one dictionary per classroom and one calculator per teacher. (They share one calculator between all staff to do assessments etc. ) They have no access to copying, have no computers and very limited resources for Art etc.

I talked at length to the teachers and was most impressed by their knowledge, their dedication and how they managed with such limited resources. I plan to donate those dictionaries, atlases and world maps as soon as I can acquire them!!

We were also taken to see the Year 8 classroom. I then realised that there weren’t even enough desks in the school for each student to have one. They had built these desks themselves a few years earlier and 4 or 5 students shared each desk. I was told that in some of the younger classes they had no desks and often did their work by writing with chalk on the concrete floor.

Year 8 classroom.
Some of the year 8 student project work was interesting

and there was some great traditional art and craft work

These mobiles typified their resourcefulness – made out of softdrink cans and food packaging such as from maggi two-minute noodles (there are always plenty of these around!) They do teach the 3 Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle!

This was the teacher’s desk (and most likely the only desk the headmaster has!!!)

I came away from this school visit with my passion for education intact! – and a determination to try to organise as many donations as possible – of books, desks, computers etc. I know that we will be able to organise some of them through Rotary!! I also know that there are many more schools with the same needs – some of them even worse off – with dirt floors, open air rooms (no side walls, and no furniture).

And I took one last photo to remind me never to give up in this endeavour!

At Open bay, the company has an area in which special guests plant a tree in memory of their visit. Nick planted his tree on his first visit a year ago. I was quite ‘tickled’ when told that I would be also planting a tree. We went out on the Friday afternoon in pouring rain!

First we checked out Nick’s tree and he was amazed how much it had grown in just one year (must be all that rain!).
Then it was time for me to plant my tree. Very muddy and sloppy – but enough rain to wash the hands!!

The family who lives at the site and looks after the memorial garden all came out in the rain to greet us. They were very friendly and loved having photos taken

Check out the tupela (twins) in their matching laplaps!

On the Friday that we were at Open Bay we drove to various sites at the main camp and then in the afternoon one of the managers took us for a tour of the plantation.
A visit to the clinic was interesting – the only medical service in the area. Open Bay timber company assists in the running of the clinic. On this morning one of the managers drove an HIV Aids awareness team up into the remote villages. The clinic was clean and well organised but lacked some basic resources. I asked the man in charge what they needed most (hoping I might be able to get some resources through Rotary) and discovered they had no stretcher, no crutches and only a few bandages and dressings. They also wished for a refrigerator in which to store medicines and needed some scales to weigh adults. He gave us a tour of the clinic, including the ‘labour ward’.

Baby weighing scales and labour ward.

We also visited the area where some of the school teachers are housed and met one of the teachers (whose husband works with Nick back in Kokopo) and her two children.

The children were very cute – as was their pet cuscus!!

We also called around by the log pond – an area where the logs are floated out to the ships for transport. We were lucky that a ship came in that day to collect a load of timber.

These pictures show the Atago with logs beside it for loading and back on the banks are the workers placing the logs in the water to be floated out to the waiting ship. Note the muddy conditions that they work in. The tally clerk (in white shirt) stands there counting the logs!

In the afternoon we were driven for several hours over the mountain range and around the plantation. The roads were rough and slippery as it rained all the time but it was very interesting. We even crossed a couple of fast flowing rivers with water well up the doors of the vehicle! We saw several areas which had been recently logged/cleared and had been planted with small trees as part of the reforestation program (Open Bay timber only logs planted trees). They mostly grow a native eucalypt called kamerere.
We also visited a couple of nurseries where the seedlings are raised.

These pictures show a new nursery – a couple of hours drive from the main area. Already a small village is starting to form – to accommodate the workers. The church is often the first to be built.

This lady’s job was to sift/mix the soil and fill the plastic tubes for the seeds. In most villages you will see several pigs roaming freely – highly valued animals – even used for a bride price!

Will also show some photos from our school visit in a separate post!