Lewis Family in PNG

Final Post for this Blog

2010-01-15T22:51:00.000-08:00

I am writing this in my kitchen in Kathmandu, Nepal. I am sorry that it has been so long since the last posting at this blog.
We have moved to Nepal where I will be working as the ADRA Country Director for ADRA Nepal.
You can see our new blog at

www.lewisfamilyinnepal.blogspot.com

I just wanted to put in some photos of our one month holiday in Australia.
The reason why Mazz and the girls left PNG early was to finalise preparations for Tiffany and Hosea (Marilyn's Niece) wedding.

Tiarna and Jenaya were flower girls.

We then went to Main beach Caravan Park at Surfers Paradise for a couple of weeks over Christmas and New Years. It rained most days but it was fun.

Tiarna got a hole in one.

We had Christmas morning with the Chilcott family and the afternoon with the Lewis side...
Here are the Lewis Siblings and our families on Christmas Day.
(L-R) Andrew and Kirsten, Peta and Jaco, Simon and Marilyn, Sonya and Adam.

Kalon, Jaxon, Ethan, Jenaya, Cooper, Tiarna.

On January 2 we flew over to Perth to see my Dad and a bit of Western Australia.

Dad and my Aunty Peg.

Dad lives in Mandurah

Bunbury

This is Busselton jetty - Dad was born in Busselton.

At Cape Naturaliste there were more flies than I have ever seen... we tried to escape by going for a swim but they waited for us to come up from under the water and then landed all over our heads and tried to race up our noses.

We then travelled to Yellingup to see if the flies were there too... they were not as bad.
The girls went for a snorkel and saw heaps of fish. (Yellingup has the 'southern most extent of tropical fish in WA')

Back to Brisbane on Friday, 8 January then out to Nepal on Monday, 11 January.

Hope you can follow our travels again on our new blog.

Samoa Tsunami Response

2009-10-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

On October 9th I travelled to Samoa to assist in the ADRA New Zealand and ADRA Australia response to the Tsunami that occurred on September 29 (local date-Samoa is over the International Date Line).

I travelled with Air Nugini via Solomons, Fiji and with Air Pacific on to Samoa. Very expensive! It was a little ‘different’ as I was on standby and most of the plane (Fokker 100) was taken up by a large golf group (16 teams of four – plus others) which included the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea and the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands as well as many of the richest people in Papua New Guinea. If the plane had gone down I would have been in good company! Hahaha

Most flights to Samoa arrive or leave at very inconvenient times. I arrived around 1 am and the next morning made my way to the SDA Mission where I hoped the ADRA team were staying. Here are a couple of photos of the ADRA office (ex transit flat), the Mission HQ, Samoa Adventist College and the Church.

I met Robert Patton and Sara McBride Steele both from NZ. I went to the IASC (Inter Agency Standing Committee is the organising body) meeting.

The weekend was ‘White Sunday’ celebration of Children and as such Monday was also a public holiday.

Robert headed over to American Samoa for the weekend to do an assessment and meet some of the community leaders there. Sara and I thought we would do some ‘normal touristy’ activities instead of the tsunami tourism, so we headed over to Manono Island (in between the main islands of Samoa) to see the “Tomb of 99 Stones” and the “Ancient Star Mound” that we could see on the map. In the end we didn’t get to the ‘star mound’ but saw the Tomb which was being repaired by a careful elder replacing the smaller stones washed away by the tsunami which flowed over it. We met a Matai whose house was damaged, father’s house, jetty and dive boats were destroyed and a NZDF health team who landed in a ‘Huey’ on the foundations of one of the destroyed houses. We all shared a packet of chocolate biscuits given to us by a family who had lost nearly everything… very humbling. He was thankful that no one had died from Manono. Much of the damage was initially caused by the earthquake, the first wave was slightly smaller and allowed people to escape up the hills before the larger more destructive waves came from the side and smashed everything.

On returning to the jetty where ‘Sam’, one of the local boat operators was waiting for us, there was a DMO (Disaster Management Office) team delivering supplies for the tsunami affected families. We helped unload and travelled back to Upolu Island and back to the office.

Sara left the next morning and Robert arrived back from American Samoa where he was fed an enormous amount of food at the local McDonalds! He also arranged for a Management Committee to be set up and receive help from ACS (Adventist Community Services) as it is a US Territory.

On Tuesday, 13^th October, I travelled out to Salaeumua, one of the three affected communities ADRA is working with, to help distribute food and clothing to 81 families living in the plantations behind their destroyed village. We were also joined by Craig and Ange from NZ who were out here on a prebooked holiday and wanted to help out.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all filled with meetings and collecting information as well as networking with organisations already working here in Samoa while Eddie, Moleni and others went to start the 'Network Response' which involved distribution of kitchen equipment and garden tools... in the pouring rain.

Saturday, Eddie and I went to visit Salaepaga SDA church which is meeting ina temporary structure. They had invited all the community members and provided a great lunch for all (donated by some local SDA church members).

This was the site of the original Salaepaga SDA church. All that is left is the floor of the toilet block. The rest of the foundation was probably washed out to sea when the 1m deep gully was made here.

We then travelled over to Salaeumua where we had an informative discussion with some locals there too. There were many evidences of the impact on the marine environment - from large reef rocks, mud from the land and housing structures still in the water that need to be cleaned up.

This picture also proves that usually the safest spot in a house is a small room. It does give evidence to many who want to extend their time in the loo. You never know when a cyclone or tsunami may hit. It also shows how it is incredible how anyone survived going through the enormous power of this tsunami.

On returning we travelled down the coast through Poutasi (where a number of tourists died... and you can understand it when you see the impact evidence of the wave) and over the Cross Island Road. Notice the backboard of the basketball ring has been smashed off...

There were also many calls and messages from family and friends as it is my birthday on the other side of the IDL.

Sunday, 18^th October was my birthday. Last year I was in Rabaul-next year I will have to be with my family! I shared a meal with Eddie Erika (Melbourne) on the left, and Andrew Feaveai (Brisbane) who are pastors of Samoan churches out here checking out opportunities for further support their churches can make for the Tsunami response.

Monday, 19^th October, was a day of writing proposals (the main reason I was invited out here) and more meetings. Theresa and Kolao took me out to dinner. It was a lovely meal beside the waterfront. They had spent four years in Port Moresby and so knew of the security issues that are facing Papua New Guinea. They could understand my appreciation of the local environment of Apia and Samoa in general.

Tuesday 20^th October: myself, Moleni Iene (ADRA Samoa Country Director) and Vinay (Red Cross Representative) had discussions with people from Women in Business, Development & Industry – WIBDI, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing – MAFF (Crops Division), Small Business Enterprise Centre – SBEC and South Pacific Business Development – SPBD. These discussions were centred on livelihoods, microfinance and agriculture. Both ADRA Samoa and the Red Cross are looking at providing assistance in the rebuilding of livelihoods in affected communities.

Moleni took me to a meal and Traditional Samoan dancing. The place was nearly empty - like the restaurant last night - "Please come back to Samoa," is what I hear from many tourism operators.

For the last couple of days in Samoa I worked on project activities; interviewing prospective staff members for the NZ Aid funded early response project, meeting various stakeholders with Vinay Raj (Red Cross representative looking at a livelihood project too) and writing the proposals.

I did go shopping for presents for my family in the handicraft market. Only about 20% of the stalls were open and everyone was looking desperate for sales. I bought some shell ear rings, a freshwater pearl necklace and woven bag for Marilyn and some pearl bracelets, shell necklaces for Tiarna and Jenaya.

Travelled to the airport with Moleni and his son at 3:30 am. I flew out to Fiji at 5:20.

I arrived at Nadi airport and booked a place at a backpackers called "Smugglers Cove" for the one night I was in Fiji until the Air Nugini flight left for PNG.

I wanted to do something for the day so I booked a day cruise on a 'sailing ship' to Mystery Island... aka Tuima Island.

After a day of seeing dead and dying coral (nothing compared to what we can see at Salaumua near Lae!) and sleeping under a tree after walking around the little island in 10 minutes, eating a small salad at the very large BBQ (burnt sausages and chops) I laid down for a rest at 5:30pm and the next thing I know it was midnight and missed out on the free show at 7pm! Woke up again at 5:30 am feeling refreshed, had breakfast and went to the airport.

Air Nugini had the only manual check-in process at Nadi. I was only 12 people from the front and it took 1hr 20 min!. In the immigration line there were two older ladies beside me that had joined the queue at the back of the Air Pacific Jumbo flight to Sydney. Probably a hundred people processed in the same time it took Air Nugini. No wonder we left 40 minutes late. After paying over K6,600 for just the Nadi-POM return leg, you would think that they could afford a couple of computers and a boarding pass printer!

Again, a Fokker 100 3 hr flight to Honiara, stop over, then 1.5 hr flight to POM. Of course the plane was delayed from POM to Lae 4 o'clock flight laft at 6:30. (we do not even consider that to be late!)

Home finally at 8 o'clock. Great to be home.

Cholera in Lae

2009-09-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

Update as of Sept 10:
This is just a short update on the numbers of patients involved.
There have been 244 cholera patients with 19 deaths (7.7% mortality which is relatively high - probably due to the initial lack of knowledge)
There are 6 of the 9 districts in Morobe Province involved with cases spreading to Madang and Eastern Highlands. (Gulf border unknown)
Menyama cases in previous post.

Update as of September 8:
Three of the Health Centres surrounding the city of Lae have been reopened. (Initially there were only 2 of the 6 clinics that were open as the others were closed for either renovations or due to security reasons (many are often held up by raskols to rob staff of phones etc)
A total ban on the sale of cooked foods in the market and road side markets has been imposed by the Provincial Government. Many schools are also closing as the schools have banned the sale of the cooked food the children eat that has been prepared by mothers and sold in the school grounds at lunch time. This will be the hardest impact on the communities.
A survey on Sanitation has been done in the Bumbu settlement (one of the most affected) Most people use rain water for consumption. Most people go to the toilet in the river or the bush around the settlement. The settlement areas will be visited by health staff and chlorination of water stores will be done for free.
PMV (Public Motor Vehicle) owners are reluctant and afraid to take sick people (showing cholera symptoms) to ANGAU Hospital. This caused the late arrival of a patient to the CTU (Cholera Treatment Unit run by MSF) this morning. He died this afternoon. It is vital that the Health Centres in the settlement areas of Lae are 100% functional to receive cholera patients and avoid them the trip into town for medical assistance.

Updated Numbers:
ANGAU Hospital (Lae) reports 14 new cases of confirmed cholera admitted over the last 24 hours. This makes a total of 48 admitted cases with 4 deaths. There are currently 13 people admitted in the Field Hospital.
The village of Mou and Bua have reported 5 cases of suspected cholera.
Tewai-Siassi: 14 new cases of cholera over the last 24 hours. Eight new cases were brought in from Tobac, a community about 50 Km. away from the original 4 villages affected. Accumulative number of cholera cases: 132, total deaths 9.
Menyama: No reports come in today. Although the radio systems are operating properly there is little in terms of reports coming in from the field. The newspapers reported alarming number of cases of what they call “swine dysentery” but there is no confirmation of these cases (and no one knows what swine dysentery is).

The areas labelled in red are most affected at this time with the Bumbu river being the common link.

September 4:

Medicine Sans Frontiers, MSF (Doctors Without Borders) have set up with the help of the Defence Forces a Cholera Treatment Unit in 4 tents at ANGAU hospital and have flown in more specialist personnel. World Health Organisation have also sent specialists.
This is the first incident of Cholera in PNG and because of this there are not many people that know what cholera is and what to do about it.
Awareness notices and 'toksaves' are spreading the news about prevention around the city.
The FIVE 'F's will be hopefully known by everyone soon.
Fluids (care of safe water with boiling and treatment)
Food (dont eat uncooked food)
Fingers (washing of hands)
Feaces (sanitation methods)
Flies (spread of disease through flies)

Diseases in Menyama District, Morobe

2009-08-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Update as of Sept 10:
There have been 3995 cases of Flu reported with 59 deaths.
698 cases of Dysentery (20 in Huon district) with 38 deaths. This is from only the 25 villages that have been contacted by radio or health patrol visits. There are many more villages in Menyama District (approximate population of 69,000).
There are a number of health teams visiting now but still communication is hard due to terrain and cloud cover. The road is cut at Aseki with supplies being stockpiled there in anticipation of the road opening.
They say that the dysentery is the Shigella variety which is supposed to be the worst kind (I don't know if there are 'good dysentery' varieties!)

Update Sept 1:
Latest figures put the death toll at over 70 now.
More medicine cannot be flown in due to poor weather conditions and road deterioration.

Article in the National (Aug 24, 2009).
A mystery disease that 'spreads like wildfire' has killed 29 people in five villages in Morobe's Menyama district since last month. (as you can see in my 'general location map' that Menyama is a very remote part of PNG -actually Menyama is slightly to the West of my highlighted region)
Twelve have died in Akwange, fifteen in Ikunda and one in Lagai, all located in Kome LLG (local Level Government area).
They suffered sever headache, high fever, dysentery, sore throat, running nose and sneezing but the Menyama health centre only had medicines for normal flu.
Bina David (health centre manager) said it needed immediate government action.
Last Monday the Morobe health division officer was sent from Lae. He returned on Wednesday and on Friday a batch of drugs was sent to Menyama and then dispatched to the affected villages.
Mrs David said the roads and communication links in the area were poor and appealed for a specialist team to be stationed at Menyama. She feared more people would be affected.
(I have seen a picture of the main menyama road where the height of the 4WD is lower than the heights of the ruts on either side. The car was like it was driving down a small mud canyon.)

Girls Birthdays

2009-08-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

Tiarna had her 10th birthday on June 22. Jenaya's 8th birthday was on July 30.

Mazz bought a cake for each. She just got the biggest cake on the list to take in to Tiarna's class (not expecting it to be too big) and it took three classes to get rid of most of it.

Jenaya's cake was smaller with experience and only needed one class to finish it off.

In between the two birthdays was Emily Schneider's 4th birthday.

Thailand Trip Part 5: Australia

2009-08-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

After the Trip to Thailand I was not feeling the best with some episodes of Tachycardia. After spending nearly a day and a half at the Royal Brisbane, Women's Hospital I was sent home with a monitor on to record these small bursts of fast beats. By 7 o'clock on Monday night it was all over. (And no more since). Doctors can't explain it. Saw a cardiologist and he said to me that I always come and see him when nothing is wrong... had previous visit there in November 2007... different issue! hahaha

Before flying out to Thailand we had met some of our friends at Coolangatta for dinner. It is a very quick way to catch up but not especially easy on the weight reduction plan! We also met Sonya, Peta and the 'cousins' at Maccas.

Sonya, Simon, Peta

Jaxon, Ethan, Jenaya, Cooper, Kalon, Tiarna

On Wednesday on the way to the Cardiologist we had Hungry Jacks/Burger King for Breakfast as we got up very early to miss the traffic from Northern Brisbane to Tweed Heads by 8:45am. Met the Chilcotts (Marilyn's Mum and Dad, brother Geof and his wife Trudy) at Sizzler, Mermaid Waters. Then the Lewis kids with their families at Montezumas, Chermside for tea. Andrew and Kirsten are heading back to Germany for 6 weeks.
Man that was a day for the belly!

On Thursday night I went out with Jaco and some of his mates to bowling to help cheer up on of their friends... who didn't actually make it there!
If you got a strike you could wear a "I'm too Sexy" tie and if you missed all pins or got a gutter ball you had to hold a wooden spoon and wear a shower cap!
This explains the following!

On Friday, I went into the city and got a computer for ADRA PNG so we can edit our own movies/DVD productions.

Flew out Saturday morning to PNG. You would not believe it but all the connections were either on time or left a little early... first time ever for us!
Arrived home in Lae at 5:30 Saturday night.

Thailand Trip Part 4: Singapore

2009-08-09T23:18:00.000-07:00

Singapore was great.

We went shopping… well window shopping… along Orchard Road, visited Sentosa Island via the cable car, visited Little India for dinner, caught up with an old friend (Dean Banks) and then had an ‘interesting’ experience at Changi Airport.

We stayed at the SDA Union Mission Transit apartments on Thompson Rd and that was really nice and handy to transport.

Thursday was Sentosa Island day. After catching the train we decided to get a package deal (wouldn’t do that again!) but the first thing was the cable car that left from the 15^th story. I was very proud of Mazz as she faced her fear of heights to help her family enjoy the trip. She did have to face the back of the lift as the other side was glass and she didn’t want to go on the glass bottom cable car!

We went to Underwater world-which the girls thought looked "like Salamaua reef".

Outside Underwater World there were some wild monkeys that had it all worked out... There was a tourist who saw a 'cute little baby monkey' and decided that the signs saying "DONT FEED the ANIMALS" didn't apply to this little guy... as soon as the food was handed over this troop of well organised monkeys charged out of the bush across the road, ripped the food from the young monkey and attacked the tourist who fled! Here is the 'Boss Monkey' eating his rewards.

We went down to the beach on the chairlift. (Mazz faced more fears!)

The girls and I swam over to the little island that was supposed to be the “Most Southerly Point of the Asian Mainland”. In reality it was a small island off the coast of a slightly larger one (Sentosa) off the coast of an even larger island (Singapore). I think the real ‘southerly point’ would be mixed up in the mangrove forests and mud flats between Malaysia and Singapore.

We watched the pink dolphin show but it doesn’t compare to the dolphin show at Sea World on the Gold Coast where Jenaya got to pat a Dolphin. Plus it was very hot and our legs were aching and we were at the back of the crowd… hahaha

We (well Mazz) waited for 45 minutes for the 3-D log ride spectacular-which was slightly amusing as the sign kept doing a countdown of “Ride starting in 15 minutes…every 15 minutes! I think it was worth it though.

Back via the Cable car where I saw the fastest printed “Photo memories” in all our travels. At nearly all the tourist spots that we visited there are photographers that take a photo in front of a green screen, add the various attractions (tigers, elephants, monkeys, river cruise, underwater creatures, dolphins, etc) then ask you to pay up… This lady took our photo where we all were showing how ‘stuffed’ we were after walking around Sentosa all day and as there were no people waiting for the Cable car we walked straight on the next one there-before the doors closed she was pushing this photo frame on us. We politely said “No thanks” but I wonder what would have happened if I had said yes and then fumbled with my change… stopped the whole system?

Little India (via a bus trip through town) for Dinner was a feast of northern Indian/ Nepalese food. Then finally back to Transit flats to sleep.

Friday we went into Orchard road and were amazed at all the Gucci, Tiffany, Rolex, Chloe, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Chanel, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, etc, etc.

It was just fun to walk along and check out the beautiful items for sale… at least I think they were for sale as I didn’t see a price tag… but like they say “If you have to ask the price you really shouldn’t be there!”

we decided to get this picture because of Tiffany (Marilyn's niece and Jenaya's 'favourite person in the world')

After all that walking we decided to all get a foot massage.

In the late afternoon we met Dean Banks and talked and had dinner at his place. Dean and I went to get it at a food court at the local shopping centre that I could have eaten for a month and not tried everything!

We headed off to the Airport at around 9 for a 11:30 pm flight.

Etihad had some ‘issues’. We sat on the tarmac in the plane for three hours! They then said we had to get off and we had to go through customs again… (place of arrival on the entry card was interesting) went to a Hotel and waited in lines again. Into our suite at the Traders Hotel at 4:30 am!

I was having some issues with my heart (some episodes of Tachycardia) I slept all morning while Mazz packed up and got the girls fed at the buffet downstairs. She rang to wake me up but I didn’t even hear the phone!

Back on the bus to the airport and after a wait at the fern garden we actually took off at 5:15 pm. Everyone cheered!

Arrived Brisbane at 2:30am, through customs etc. camped out at arrivals till around 5 am as we told Peta (sister) and Jaco not to pick us up till 5 (didn’t want to disturb their sleep too!)

Had a little sleep at their place then headed into Royal Brisbane Hospital to get my heart checked out.

Thailand Trip Part 3 Koh Samui

2009-07-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

After flying out from Chiang Mai in the morning we arrived at the very 'flash tropical' Airport in Koh Samui, ready for a very restful three days. It was pouring rain! About the same as the average wet season downpour in Lae! We also found out that we should have booked transport through the Resort as there is only one company that has a monopoly on the taxis from the Airport and it cost at least B500 to go 4.8 km (I saw the sign!). There was a mix up in our itinerary prepared by the travel agent and we ended up going to the first resort we considered, the taxi then wanted another B500 to go the three km down the road to the correct resort... it was still absolutely pouring down but I still said "*&%# No way". The taxi drove off and we were stuck at a resort which had no real need to transport us to a competitor! But they kindly offered (after the family of wet Aussies looked like they were about to campout in their lobby) at a reduced price of ... you guessed it... B500 to take us down the road. I hate that!
After arriving at Bandara Resort we realised that I had left our computer at the other resort. Bandara collected it later (at no extra cost!). Not the best start to this section of our holiday!

It rained basically for another day and a half then cleared up for one day (I am sorry I didn't get pictures of the 'lobster red' Pommy tourists sitting on the beach on that one sunny day!)

We had a lovely time relaxing, catching up on sleep, eating out, swim in the many pools, walk on Bophut Beach, trying to windsurf, kayak and shopping ... before heading out to Singapore.

Here are some photos...

Bandara Beach Resort Lobby Lounge

Topside pools

The path down to the beachside pools was through a large garden with many chances to stop and rest!

Many of the 'Island Beaches' are very commercialised at here are two examples!

Jenaya found a jellyfish and of course we had to rescue it. These are the views along Bophut Beach

Singing in the rain!

Cubbies on the veranda! Don't really need expensive toys do they?

Marilyn took around 20 pictures of me trying to windsurf and I was happy to entertain all the tourists watching on the beach.

Shopping along the main road in Koh Samui

Koh Samui Departures and then the walk through the 'Airport Plaza' to the International Lounge

The girls had fun in the toilets at the departure lounge!

Spending our last Baht at Swensons, family sized Icecream chocolate fondue!

Thailand Trip Part 2: Chiang Mai

2009-07-14T00:34:00.000-07:00

Here is the Chiang Mai instalment of our trip.
Day 1: Shopping and a visit to the ADRA Thailand national office with Peter Mushenko showing us around.

Day 2: A bus trip to Wiang Pao Po, with ADRA Thailand staff and some visiting Aussies from Avondale College. We visited a HIV project school and then had a 'hiccup' on the way home to CM... Mazz and Tiarna had to go on one bus and Jenaya and I had to go on one an hour later.
Day 3: MaeSa Elephant Camp and Monkey Centre.

My nervous look is not unwarranted! I was trying not to think about what he was doing to my neck!

Day 4: Chaeng Doh Caves with some ADRA locals and other friends.

Thailand Trip Part 1: Bangkok

2009-07-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

For our mid year break we decided to go to Thailand and Singapore.

Three days in Bangkok.

Four days in Chaing Mai.

Three days in Koh Samui.

Two days in Singapore.

Here are some pictures of Bangkok.

Shopping at the Weekend Markets.

Night cruise down the river.

Grand Palace.

Some more 'shopping experiences'

Bride Price

2009-06-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

I have just been talking Joshua Keno, operations supervisor at ADRA, who is returning to Anumba - his local community near Henganofi, Eastern Highlands Province (EHP) this weekend to participate in a wedding.
This wedding has the largest bride price that I have heard of in my personal acquaintances.
Joshua's brother, Herod, who works in Port Moresby is marrying a girl who also works in Port Moresby... the connections however have lead to the large bride price.
The connection is that Priscilla's father is the Deputy Administrator of Chimbu Province.

Joshua's wife, Jutty, bride price was K5,000. Which I think is a bargain! They seem very happy with their kids and she is often outside ADRA at lunchtime selling donuts and other food to the lunchtime crowd walking up the street to add to the family income. She comes from 'out past Okapa' which is a remote part of EHP ... Joshua told me a funny story regarding the negotiations of Jutty's bride price that involved Jutty's mother throwing a hot frying pan with oil from the fire between Joshua and his brother who were lucky to avoid serious burns!

Anyway, back to the story.
The bride price is as follows:
10 cows
20 pigs
20 goats
2 cassowarys and
K60,000 in cash.
All up with the feast over the weekend it will cost around K100,000 in cash and the animals as extra! There is also a chartered plane from POM to Goroka for the 60 guests from POM to attend. The guests will be transported to Anumba from Goroka in 6 hired toyota landcruisers (K1,200+ each!)
The cost for the guests from Chimbu is an unknown cost at this stage.

Joshua will try and get photos over the weekend which I will add at a later date.

Economic Development Open Day

2009-06-22T21:46:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, 18 June ADRA held the Economic Development Open Day at the local Eriku Basketball courts.
ADRA PNG's Economic Development Sector includes the Micro Finance project (SED) and the Rural Economic Development (RED) project.
There was a collection of stalls operated by the women from the SED program and also our partners from the RED program.

This is the Cocoa Copra Institute showing types of cocoa and the budding of hybrid clones to existing root stock.

The range of fresh produce in Lae is amazing, temperate vegetables and fruit from the highlands and tropical species from the coast... year round.

The Marching Girls (women) opened proceedings, very enjoyable. As they did their turns they slide their right shoe and looked to the right...and the women in the crowd loved it, with whistles and laughing... I suppose it was the PNG equivalent of 'showing a bit of leg'.

Marilyn with one of the dance/theatre groups that performed... the 'snake man' and his family.

If you want to see the music and dance of this group, check out Raul Schneider's blog listed on the right to see Mathias dancing.

Janice, one of the SED volunteers, who does flower arranging as her business. Her range of gingers is amazing-you cant quite see the hairy ginger hanging down on the left.

Part of the ED team at the end of some very hard days, Lorraine (sitting), Grace (at the centre) and Bonifas, Gabriel probably took the picture.

TISOL Grade 4 Visit to Situm Community School

2009-06-17T17:42:00.000-07:00

Last week Tiarna and the two Grade 4 classes at TISOL visited Situm Community School for an excursion. (ADRA PNG has had a long association with the Situm Community) Situm is located about 15 minutes drive East along the coast from Lae.

The classes have been studying changes in housing in class and had a chance to compare traditional housing to modern PNG housing as well as make connections with Grade 4 at another school.

Tiarna and Hannah

Some of the river crossings

Arriving at Situm Community School, with Tiarna's Teacher Mrs Gregory (in hat), Situm teacher (middle), Andrew Read (TISOL Principal) and Andrew Vanderheide (School Board chair and father)

Inside the classroom.

Sharing ideas and information between students of the two schools.Some TISOL students donated books to the Situm school library.

Many schools have non-permanent buildings to cover the large increases in enrolments which the governments cannot keep up with. This is one of these classrooms at Situm.
Saying goodbye to everyone. The fences surround all buildings here in PNG to slow down vandalism and theft. The students and teachers are on the inside of the school fence.
The class then visited another community where they learned about some farming and more about housing.

Security in Lae

2009-06-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

This was an article in June 16 National Newspaper. It has it all: attacking the national government, giving reasons for the security problems, blaming the criminals and even attacking the churches. I love the hiring of Menyamya archers (Menyamya is a remote region of Morobe Province located near Southern Highlands).

Wenge, Khay vow to rid city of Hooligans

Morobe Governor Luther Wenge and Lord Mayor James Khay have taken a step to clean the streets of pick-pockets, street peddlers and hawkers and win back some peace and order into the city.

They have authorised a security force of Menyamya archers to rid the city's hot spots of Eriku, Top Town and main market bus stops, of the notorious street peddlers.

"Lae city belongs to Papua New Guineans and the international community; there is no place for these petty arrogant rat-like perpetrators in public places and disturb and frighten people, harass women, children and the old people," Mr Wenge said.

Mr Wenge and Mr Khay were speaking at the Abunaka market at Nine-Mile, where more than 1,000 people had gathered to formally launch the Menyamya-Morobe Security Service Company last Friday.

A similar force of mainly Menyamyas, called the Maus Morobe, was set up in the mid-90s to police law and order when crime had risen beyond "the capacity of law enforcement agencies.

In recent months, the street hawkers and peddlers have been accused of stealing, stabbing and rape.

Their capacity for wanton destruction was seen at its worst during last month’s riots against Chinese traders at the main market and Eriku.

"Morobe is preaching too much of Christianity and Good News for the Grace of God…Grace…and this Grace paved the way for the wild dogs to start inflicting pain and suffering upon Christian flocks," Mr Wenge said

"Nau mi rausim karamap bilong bainat na putim em ples klia. (I am now removing this bayonet from its sheath.) God shall bless this bayonet" Mr Wcnge said metaphorically.

"Why should human beings suffer, fall prey and die from the hands of those reckless lazy people scavenging city streets … while the National Government fails its constitutional obligation to fund law enforcing agencies to implement duties effectively for a peaceful society?” Mr Wenge asked

Trip to Rabaul and Kokopo

2009-05-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

In October 2008, Raul Schneider (Country Director ADRA PNG), Darin Roberts (ADRA Aust Program Manager) and I travelled to East New Britain for a Monitoring and Evaluation trip... with a little tourist activities thrown in.
Here is a sample of the 'Tourist Activities' ...

Flying out from POM to Kokopo and watching a great sunrise over the Owen Stanley Ranges was amazing.

Kokopo main beach and wharf with Mt Tavurvur in the background.

One of my 'dream jobs' would be a vulcanologist and a visit to the RVO (Rabaul Volcanic Observatory) has ticked off a place to visit.

A sample of what Rabaul now looks like after years of ash fall.

Darin and I visited the Submarine Base. The Japanese dug thousands of tunnels into the soft rock and you can understand why the Allies never attacked Rabaul as it was nearly impossible to attack without massive loss of life. Check out the view below from one of the 'windows' in the rock. The subs just came up against the reef close to the coast where the water is said to be 180m deep (about 10 m from the shore)... imagine the fishing here!The next day Raul arrived and as it was my birthday I wanted to take a trip out to the volcano and jump off the Beehive rocks in the middle of Simpson Harbour.

View from the beach at Rapopo Plantation Resort

View from the beach at Kokopo Village Resort

Here is a brief clip showing the eruptions that occur at 5-10 minute intervals, taken from a boat 100m from the shore, under the ash cloud... what a birthday present!

These are one of the Beehive Rocks. About 10m high jump from the left hand side of the rock shown above with rocks jutting 2m out... made it a little bit exciting!

At the end of a memorable day we had a swim at Rapopo Plantation Resort; Raul didn't see Darin taking photos but I did not want to come out until the camera was put away...

Australian Adventist Institution Visit

2009-05-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of days we have had the pleasure of a visit from 14 managers in various institutions in Australia and New Zealand.
They come from Sydney Adventist Hospital, Sanitarium Health Foods (Aust and NZ), Adventist Media Centre and the administration of the SDA church in the South Pacific.
They are on a fact finding and awareness tour of Morobe (Lae), Highlands and Port Moresby (POM).
They will have visited schools, churches, hospitals, aid posts, prisons, Pacific Adventist University (PAU in POM) and met with teachers, nurses, pastors and the Governor General of PNG.

We have had Sid Nicolas and Trish Campbell staying with us. They are managers from the Sydney Adventist Hospital. Marilyn did her nursing training there used to work there as well - many years ago.

Tuesday and Wednesday the group had travelled up to Goroka and then flew out on Adventist Aviation planes to schools and aid posts in the Eastern Highlands.

On Wednesday night we had a 'bung kai kai' (basically a large potluck dinner) at the PNGUM office. Before the meal I took some of the group up the street to the War Cemetery. They also recieved bilums as a thank you.

It was great to meet some old friends from Avondale College days: Paul Ginn (Sanitarium new products division), Joshua Wambillie (undertreasurer at PNGUM here in Lae), David Abel (Sanitarium NZ) and myself.

Thursday they visited ADRA PNG offices after doing some shopping for arts and crafts,

then flew out to POM to meet with the Governor General, staying at PAU while visiting some more communities before flying back to Australia on Sunday morning.

TISOL Family Fun Day

2009-05-19T15:27:00.001-07:00

The International School Of Lae (TISOL) is where the girls go to school and on Sunday May 17, the Parents & Friends ran a Family Fun Day. It was full of traditional games for the kids such as sack races, three legged race (Tiarna and I crashed rather heavily), paper aeroplane competition, tug of war, donut eating competition, balloon relays, and egg and spoon races (one girl didn't quite understand how it was supposed to run and carried the egg in one hand and the spoon in the other and just sprinted!)

Marilyn was the 'first aid lady' so we decided to enter in the 'best dressed family competition'.

(Jenaya had just eaten a Chocolate eclair lollie and was trying to smile as well!)

Kambubu Teachers In-Service

2009-05-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

After flying from Buka to Kokopo airport, we hired a car and travelled 3 hours down to Kambubu High School. It is situated close to Rugen Harbour and has a boarding school, large coconut/cocoa plantation and school farm.

View from the Administration steps, looking east.

We completed the same type of training as we did in Bougainville but there was another focus for teachers at Kambubu and that was dealing with the senior students issues.

This time we had a manikin

Marilyn says that she was explaining 'internal anatomy'...

When it comes to the HIV crisis here, I not only was able to give them education on HIV (and scare them with statistics), but also gave them strategies to address sexual issues in their senior schools. Gender inequality is probably a lot of the cause, but especially in the boarding schools, the kids are practicing risky behavior and unfortunately in this country they have not got that freedom because a lot of youth are infected with the virus. Country-wide, I believe it is growing by 60% each year.

I also had the opportunity to have time with the boarding students, it was valuable time spent and they were learning and absorbing everything. I give about 2 hours of awareness and education and it is always followed by 2-4 hours of questions and this is the most rewarding. You just couldn't believe what those kids are going through

Kitchen of the Boarding School, which produced amazing food for us

Bougainville Teachers Health In-service

2009-05-17T19:18:00.001-07:00

Marilyn has come back from a trip from Bougainville and Kambubu High School near Rabaul (East New Britain). This is her blog.
I started out by catching the early bird flight to POM (Port Moresby) then a flight out to Buka (nearly 2 hours). It wasn’t the best flight as I was vomiting from travel sickness much of the way!
In Buka, the team went to one of the little SDA churches.

L-R: Jim Yawane (SDA Associate Education Director), Joe Ponduk (SDA Education Director), me, Darren Yorio (CPP Coordinator), James Gahare (Health Manager), Jimmy Frumpui (PNG SDA Church Health Director)

After staying one night at Buka we travelled across the small strait of water between Buka island and Bougainville then 4-5 hours along the coast road down to Arawa. James, Me, Ruth Galen(PAU Health/Nursing Lecturer from POM), Jimmy and Jim

Along the road we had four flat tyres. Here is one of those times.

The training was held at Rumba, SDA Church headquarters in Bougainville.

My experience was nothing but amazing.
As I am the SDA Church HIV Mainstreaming Clinical Advisor (long title for 'Jill-of-all-trades') I was helping to conduct a Health in-service workshop for all our SDA teachers in the New Guinea Islands and if you look at the map on the right side of PNG you will see all those Islands. All together for the 2 workshops, 187 teachers attended. I trained them in first aid (including CPR), HIV and AIDS awareness, women and men’s health issues and communicable diseases - all at a basic level. Other people covered nutrition, lifestyle diseases and more detailed men's health issues.
Most of these teachers or should I say ALL of these teachers have never had any health training of any sort in their whole career. Amazing! We had so much fun together.

Using James as a manikin (mankin) as there wasn't any avaliable.

(Do I need to explain this? hahaha)

Training them in CPR was fun, they had never seen it done and they never knew anything like this existed – that you could possibly save someone’s life like this was overwhelming for them.

Where they live, when someone is sick or a child is sick, most of them are nowhere near any medical facility and they handle it by themselves and in most of the serious cases the person just dies. A teacher told a story about a child that had a broken leg. They just kept them resting in bed for a few weeks until the child felt better and now that child walks with a bent leg the best he can. In most cases of malaria, the child may die of high fever with no way of getting medicine to them.

One of the small groups working on basic senarios they may face at school.

ADRA PNG, through the Church Partnership Program (CPP) funded by AusAID, has provided each SDA school in the Nugini Islands with a first aid kit to fix small things. Now, with the first aid training they will be able to help their children a little more.

Receiving my gift

Remember the Bougainville Crisis that we all heard about in the late 80's and early 90's where the people were at war with each other and the army; brothers were fighting against brother for independence. Just seeing the destruction on the island was devastating, the copper mine closed and is still closed and nearly everything was burnt to the ground and nothing much has been restored till this day near Arawa. But the people are beautiful and they are trying to get back on their feet. They have got so many natural resources that could make them a wealthy region.

After three days of the training we travelled back up the road to Buka and flew out to Kokopo airport to complete another health in-service at Kambubu High School in East New Britain. (see next post)

How to Hook a Fingernail

2009-05-13T15:32:00.000-07:00

This is not really a fishing story that involves a fish…that is not the best way to begin a ‘fishing story’ heh?

Sunday, 26 April 2009 is a memorable one for both me and our dog, Sam.

I usually take the lures off my rods when I store them (always a good practice I have learned) but on the last trip one of my guards placed the rods back under the house without taking them off. As I was carrying two of them out to the boat my dog jumped around me and managed to get a lure hook through the side of his nose!

I don’t recommend trying to stop a dog trying to get away with a hook in his nose. But that wasn’t the worst.

After about ten minutes of trying to cut through the extra strong hooks I had put on the lure he struggled again and managed to get the other hooks in his paw. Now that was some ‘doggy screaming’. We had five guys trying to hold him down and as no one wanted to get near his mouth - as he was biting anything he could - that end of him fell to me.

In the immediate struggle after those other hooks went in, he was pushing his foot away from his nose and then getting pain in both areas, I suddenly saw heaps of blood and a ‘little sting’ in my right index fingernail. I thought Sam had bit me again.

Sam eventually just collapsed and let us deal with the hooks. A neighbour had come over with some sharper cutting pliers and cut the hooks off one by one and pulled them through the skin. My hands were just shaking with adrenaline and fatigue.

After this, I had blood all down my arm and over my hands and I went upstairs to wash my hands. I was washing my finger, looking for the bite mark and finally realised that the whole fingernail was missing!

I sat down rather suddenly (no, I didn’t faint!) and called out to Jenaya to get Mummy. She came in saw me sitting down and went down to Marilyn (who was getting water for Sam!) and said “Daddy wants you”.

Two minutes later! No one had arrived to deal with the ‘ongoing emergency’! When Marilyn arrived from me shouting she calmly told me that she saw the nail fly off and thought I had seen it too and she was a ‘little surprised’ at my calmness in continuing to deal with Sam… if only I had known!

Anyway, needless to say we didn’t go fishing.

The day after, at the office with Steven de Klerk laughing at me.

Both Sam and I were on antibiotics for a week or so. Any little scratch up here can get infected very quickly and as Sam had an open wound on his paw we had to stop it getting infected until it healed over.

We are both OK now, although Sam is terrified of fishing rods now. He hides under the table when he sees me carrying them.

The funny thing is… when I was a kid I had read heaps of WWII stories and always wondered what it would feel like to have your fingernail ripped off or bamboo pushed under the nail. I now know the pain of the aftermath but not a build up of expectation… maybe next time! Just another thing to cross off the list of things to experience.

By the way, I have just recovered from losing 5 toenails on my ‘Black Cat Adventure’ last October and now it is a fingernail. (see Brett’s Blog listed under friends)

The next fishing story will include pictures of fish! Hopefully.

ANZAC Day 2009

2009-05-13T14:58:00.000-07:00

I have always tried to take my girls to the dawn service for ANZAC Day as I have tried to attend for the last twenty years or so. I feel that a little understanding of the sacrifice that others have made for our current freedom and way of life is necessary for a proper perspective on life.

The girls started attending in prams at Kingscliff and Murwillumbah in Northern NSW where we lived in Australia before coming to Papua New Guinea but this was the first ANZAC day for us in a former battlefield site where there are war dead buried.

On ANZAC day last year I was in transit at Singapore and was planning on going to the dawn service there but the Air Nugini flight was 19 hours late and I was lucky to actually catch my connecting flight to Bangkok. (I always try to leave a large gap between connecting flights with Air Nugini.)

Lae has a large war cemetery that is managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is one of the calmest, relaxing and beautiful places in Lae. (There are also three K9 guard teams to keep ‘undesirable’ people out.) We often just visit on a weekend afternoon and just stroll around and look at the ages and wonder how they may have died. As there are so many troops that are not frontline troops I imagine diseases like malaria, typhoid, dysentery and others took their toll as well as the fighting or it could be bombing. One confronting aspect is the fact that there are only a handful of the hundreds of Indian soldiers buried here are actually named.

The dawn service was scheduled to begin at 5:30 am after arriving at 5 am. It was hard to wake the girls but they were also excited by the candles handed out to everyone when they arrived.

The plastic cups started burning after about half an hour as the candles reached the edges of the cups.

The service was attended by around 150 people and wreaths were presented from the Papua New Guinea, Australian and New Zealand government representatives, RSL (Returned Services League) as well as numerous private individuals and companies.

It was a moving ceremony with the usual poems and also reflections made of battlefields in Papua New Guinea from 1942 onwards.

Unfortunately as we were about to sing the national anthems of the three respective countries there was a power blackout and the PA failed.

The service finished with the sun rising from over the houses and lighting the forest and cross from the darkness as the last of the candles ran down.

Making Lime for Buai (Betelnut)

2009-05-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

Chewing Buai or Betelnut (Areca catechu) is a national pastime in Papua New Guinea.

It gives a mild narcotic effect that briefly gives a small 'up' while also allowing small issues like hunger to be 'hidden' for a while.

The fruit from the Betelnut palm is chewed over nearly all of South Asia, the Pacific and even in East Africa.
Although there are many different ways and additions in chewing, there is one essential addition and that is Lime. It is needed for the alkalinity to enable the chemical release of the active ingredients and thus the distinctive red saliva juices!

While at Aluki village the local production of lime was seen.
Collection of mussel shells down at the beach gives a nice soup or stew but the shells are more important!

They are washed and dried, then stacked together with firewood.

The fire is lit from the top and gradually burns down turning the calcium carbonate of the shells into calcium oxide (lime). The shell pieces are collected and stored with this herb (had a smell like marjoram/basil) for a couple of weeks to make it 'sweet'.
It is then crushed and put into bottles. This stack would last them 'a couple of months'.
There is a 'mustard' fruit that is grown. It is this that is dipped into the lime continually and added to the betelnut that is being chewed.
I would just like to add a couple of pictures that Marilyn has found that show the terrible cost that chewing is taking on some of those that chew. It is causing massive extra costs to the health systems of many countries, especially PNG which cannot afford to treat the conditions that are not caused by lifestyle choices and are thus totally preventable. (to be added later)

Visit to Aluki with ADRA NZ

2009-05-07T18:05:00.000-07:00

May 3-6 saw Dayan Eager, International Program Director for ADRA New Zealand, visit PNG for a 'scoping' visit. We decided to take the opportunity to visit some of the communities involved in the ADRA PNG Rural Economic Development (RED) Project.
This project works with cooperatives in communities in 5 areas surrounding Lae. Each cooperative has concentrated on a commodity; coffee, cocoa, rice, vegetables and vanilla.

We started the morning off with a visit to Gobadik and their vegetables. We found them constructing a bush material elementary school. This little school will have 140 students in four classrooms. Two of the classrooms can be seen here.

Here is (from left) Raul Schneider (Country Director), Dayan, and Gabriel Ani (RED Project Officer) talking with Stanley (RED Field Volunteer). We moved down from the hills to the coast to Tikaling where they are currently potting up poly bags ready to plant Cocoa beans. The kids looked like they were having fun...more fun than school anyway (which is 30 min walk for them down the road-about 4 km away)
We were offered some refreshments before we left and here is Dayan and Stephen de Klerk - ADRA Intern (on left) finishing off some green coconuts.
After another 20 minutes we arrived at Aluki community to see their cocoa nursery.
It was great to see a lady with her sewing machine walking along, after this came her husband carrying the empty case!As the Cocoa trees take at least three years before any amount of harvest can be collected they are using inland fish farming as another source of income until their trees mature. This was the first fish farm that has been started by the Govt Fisheries Dept in the Labuta LLG (Local Level Government) and so it was 'opened' with great fanfare the week before we visited. The fingerlings are very hard to see but they will give an income within a few months. The feed used currently is termite nests cut from the surrounding bush. Food scraps will be used later. I hope they build a better fence to keep the starving dogs out though!Lunch was provided and then we headed further on to the larger Buso River "just down the road".

Steve, me and Dayan. Looking north to the Rawlinson Range. There hasn't been that much rainfall here recently as the river is 'normally' covering where we are standing - so the locals said.

Looking south while Dayan takes a photo.

Raul being 'King of the Castle'.

Notice the women and kids doing their washing in the background.
Water supply for communities is still a huge need in PNG.
For those who are interested: In the latest UNDP Human Development Index (HDI), PNG ranks second worst in the world (after Afganistan) for percentage of the population that has access to an improved water supply. You can imagine the danger that some of these very fast rivers have for the small children that accompany the women while they do the washing and collect water. There are regularly stories of drownings, especially in the Highland rivers.
After leaving the river it was a quick 40 min drive back to the office.

Tubing at Salamaua

2009-04-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

One of the places we love to visit is Salamaua. It is about an hours travel in our little boat south of Lae and a great getaway.
We took our new friends Andrew and Claire Read and their kids Izzie and Caleb for their first visit. Andrew is the new Principal at the girls school. We went snorkelling and tube riding and a little sightseeing. Andrew trying out the other way to get home! Jenaya, Izzie and Tiarna may be a little heavy for an extended trip on the dugout.

Here we are getting ready to try out our tube for the first time.The girls were very excited and not a little scared of possible sharks being towed behind the boat. Andrew found it a little hard being towed underwater for ten seconds or so until he resurfaced!

View as we Travel to Work

2009-04-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest disscussion points for anyone living in Lae is the state of the roads. It doesn't matter who or where you are talking if you mention the roads it will bring a wry smile or a frustrated groan along with a 'what I would do' comment.
Take the views on the way to the girls school below.

This is the view of our front garden as seen from the top of the stairs.

Moving down the driveway and looking back to our boat along with Sam the Dog. The large trees in the background are across the road behind the fence in the Lae Botanical Gardens.

Our front gate with the razor wire.

Our road in front of the house has been deteriorating rapidly and yesterday there was a large grader that was 'fixing' the large potholes... it simply scrapped the dirt and mud from beside the road and filled all the holes with mud! We almost had to engage 4WD to get through this morning! Believe it or not there is a half sealed road under this mud.
This pothole is notorious for us as it was here (last year) that we came upon a serious accident where a 15 seater van and a PMV truck collided at speed trying to dodge this hole. Marilyn was in the middle of a crowd of people trying to help one of the men who was trapped. We found out later that his femur had been smashed through his pelvis into his liver while his head had been cut severly as well. Men were trying to separate the vehicles by attaching chains to both and wrenching them apart using other trucks. That man was probably one of the bravest people I have seen as he was still conscious and in extreme agony while the vehicles were rocking. (He subsequently passed away after a week in ICU at ANGAU hospital... by the way...he was taken to hospital on the back of a utility as the ambulance had come and taken one person and not returned for the others)

This is a close street nearby where other ADRA staff live. It is a minefield for pedestrians after a wet day (nearly every day) as there are many potholes and cars find it very difficult to not splash water/mud.

This is the Ericu bus station. The potholes here are 5 m across and sometimes a metre deep filled with water. Marilyn actually had to back out of one a while ago as it came above the bullbar on our Pajero 4WD!

There are some positive signs with some companies fixing their assigned sections of road. The local government assigned 5 companies different roads in town to stop accusations of favouritism. So it seems that the first thing each company did with their allocated money was to buy a grader, excavator and trucks! With many now lying idle as the funding has dried up. Many roads are half fixed with large drains being constructed.

I couldn't resist this photo. As they were fixing the other end of my suburban street the grader broke down and they just left it in the middle of the road for a couple of days.

ADRA PNG Office

2009-04-08T20:41:00.000-07:00

The ADRA PNG office is located on Abel Tasman St, Lae.
It was purchased and renovated in 2004 giving a large office area, storage room for Water Project materials such as pipes, concrete and fittings, water testing lab, library for Literacy Project materials, 5 living spaces ranging from 3 bedrooms to 1 bedroom, vehicle storage and parking and workshop. There is also a retail space that is leased out to an auto parts dealer currently.
ADRA PNG currently has four vehicles which include a landcruiser troopy, dualcab 4x4 hilux, toyota surf hilux, Canter truck as well as a forklift.

My office is close to the front but unfortunately does not have a window to the outside. As the weather can change dramatically during the day I can get quite a shock when I step outside.

Visit to Kwalebo

2009-04-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

The ADRA Administration staff visited Kwalebo to participate in the 'official' opening. It is up the Erap valley. The pictures show the raod with the new landcruiser, the view down the valley and some of the ADRA staff around a break pressure tank. This is used to slow the water down as most of the water sources used by ADRA are up very steep hills and often kilometers away from the community.
water team included

Holidays in Australia

2009-04-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

It seems ironic to post holidays in Australia on a Blog about life in PNG but they are an important part of making sure that we don't lose our connection to friends and family.

Marilyn, Tiarna and Jenaya spent most of November and December 2008 living at my mum's house in Pottsville, NSW while I returned to PNG for work.

After Christmas which was spent at Miami on the Gold Coast we travelled to Coffs Harbour for the wedding of Nicole & Michael. Nicole is Marilyn's niece and we were the MC's at the reception. We stayed at Ocean Cove and it was very cold-even for North NSW Australia.

The day after the wedding we travelled to Brisbane and departed the next morning with a lot of baggage for another year in Lae, PNG.