Saturday, chores day. Power cut day.
Haha! Beat it by getting some washing done
early and cooking the loaf, already just beginning to bake in the bread
machine, in the oven instead. The latter worked really well actually, I managed
to get it crustier than it usually is from the machine. By using the oven I
should also have saved the batteries in our backup system so I may have some
lights this evening if the cut runs on too long.
*************
I enjoyed a couple of days flying this
week. The weather has been very dry, which isn’t unusual in the Hagen area and
to the north at this time of year, which makes flying easier and the airstrips
less tricky to land on. One of the days I flew some building materials from
Madang to Simbai, that’s roughly 90 miles west of Madang and about 50 miles
north east of Hagen. I didn’t know what they were for so asked one of the local
people helping to unload the aircraft.
They were for a village health centre, he
called it a haus marasin, which
really translates to a pharmacy, in a village the name of which I couldn’t
quite catch. Everything, the entire 1.5 tonnes had to be carried from Simbai,
over the mountain ridge to the village, which he told me was a day’s walk.
Rather them than me; I have the easy part of the transport!
*************
Vote counting in the general election
continues with results gradually being announced. I thought that everything was
going to be declared on July 24th, but that is apparently not the
case. Maybe that’s when the new government will be declared.
One comment which was passed on to me was
that the overall level of vote rigging and intimidation that’s been reported in
the media is not very different from previous general elections. The biggest
difference is the awareness that people have of it due to social media. I feel
almost relieved that the voting discrepancies aren’t too different from
previous elections we’ve been through. If social awareness gradually moves the
polling process in future elections to be more honest and representative, then
that will be a good outcome.
*************
This year is going to set a new personal
best for long haul flights in quick succession:
June 26th:
Heathrow-Singapore-Port Moresby-Mount Hagen
July 22nd:
Mount Hagen-Port Moresby-Singapore-Mount Hagen
July 28th:
Heathrow-Hong Kong-Port Moresby-Mount Hagen
Sep 7th:
Mount Hagen-Port Moresby-Singapore-Mount Hagen
Sep 20th:
Heathrow-Singapore-Port Moresby-Mount Hagen
Next weekend I return for a fleeting UK
visit to bring Nicki back to PNG. She is restricted in lifting for 4-6 weeks
post-op, so if I come and do the lifting of bags for her, she gets back to PNG
quicker. I make no pretence that my motives are altruistic and selfless.
*************
A dilemma that we’ve experienced before during
our years in PNG has cropped up again.
We have a friendship with a family in a
village just outside Mount Hagen. Their background is subsistence farming with
a very low level of education; the father is, I think, virtually illiterate.
They’ve had great hopes of their oldest son doing well, but he has been in Port
Moresby for a long time now, hoping to get a job and also to go on a training
course. While in Moresby he’s had some health problems and he’s staying with an
extended family member who has not kept some promises about helping to fund his
education. An expat couple, no longer in PNG, have contributed significantly
towards the education of this son.
The second son is getting towards the end
of his schooling. Because of flaws in the education system he didn’t get into
the normal state system and has been attending a top-up school, that requires
fees, some distance out of town. His education has also been assisted by same
couple, as has the cost of bus fares.
Two evenings this week I worked a bit later
than usual and arrived home around 6-ish. One evening the father, who’d been
let into the compound by the guard since he is known, surprised me as I got out
of the car. I wasn’t prepared to sit down and chat with him, having only just
arrived back, nor drive him back to the village as was hinted at, probably
about a 40-minute round trip with the roads the way they are. His reason for
wanting to see me was really to ask me to intervene to get his family member to
help with the son’s education in Port Moresby.
I’m an expat. I’m educated. I have a
computer. I have a phone (actually they’ve had multiple phones in the time
we’ve known them, but they either get lost, broken by the younger family
members, or acquired by extended family members and friends and they always
struggle to find money to pay for its use). Since I have all this, then there
seems to be a perception that if I ring up the relative in Moresby, then he’ll
fall into line.
I don’t share the same perception of my
authority or powers of persuasion!
A couple of evenings later the second son
came to see me. Again, I was late home, just in the house, hadn’t even taken my
work boots off and there’s a knock on the door. I’d been invited out for a
meal, was already running late, needed a shower and to change and ideally get a
couple of messages to Nicki before going. He obviously expected to be invited
inside for a chat, which didn’t happen. For a PNGian, where relationships are
of much greater importance than time keeping, my lack of willingness to chat
was probably rather rude.
The essence of his request was that his
school fees needed paying, with the implication that I should assist, and also
assist with his transport costs.
Being almost jumped on when I get home from
work is not something I handle well. Neither do I build relationships in the
way PNGians do based on what’s called a dinau,
or debt. It’s usual within PNG cultures to give money to others, rather than
keep it for yourself in the way western cultures do. As a consequence, the
person who is indebted to you, has obligations to support you, but repayment of
the debt is very nebulous or non-existent.
At the same time, the family do have real
and genuine needs, and relative to them, I am very wealthy. However, neither
Nicki nor I think that throwing money at developing nations, or the individuals
within them, is a good long-term strategy. It only builds dependence and an
expectation that somebody else will solve their problems.
Do you see the dilemma? We need the wisdom
of Solomon to know how to respond graciously (which I probably didn’t do very
well on those two evenings) and generously, but also seeing ways to assist that
build independence and encourage initiative and personal responsibility.
I’ll see them again at church tomorrow and
find out more details of what’s going on, and then see where we go from there.
*************
I have a busy week ahead conducting a total
of seven flight assessments for three pilots. But this time next week (mid
Saturday afternoon) I’ll be on my way back to the UK.
*************
Sunday p.m.
The power cut eventually ended at 9:45
p.m., 45 minutes short of 12 hours. Apart from a 30 minute cut this afternoon
it has stayed on since. J
The family I was
talking about didn’t come to church this morning, so I drove out to their
village. The youngest child is sick and the father isn’t too well either. We
had a good discussion about how I can help them, so relationships are restored.
That’s also worth a J
My next task is
to see if I can find out why our water pressure is so low. Is it the pump,
somebody turned the valve off, or …?
I hope you have a
good week.
