Two nights in Goroka last week will be repeated this week as well.
You may have read or heard in the news that PNG is hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Community summit. Lots of money has been spent prettying up Port Moresby, while the rest of the country has experienced shortage or absence of medicines, cuts to school budgets and more. I may have mentioned this in a previous news and I’m not repeating anything that hasn’t appeared in the media here or overseas.
Another knock-on effect is that the immigration department staff have all been allocated to APEC duties. I mentioned last week that Greg Falland, who should be here flying, hadn’t been able to get his visa issued, well, that is true for this week as well. The most optimistic date of issue will be on or after Wednesday 21st.
In the meantime, I keep on flying. Dare I say that I’m not altogether sorry that his visa has been delayed! I’ve been enjoying flying around the Goroka area. Three days were spent in Goroka, and then two days in the Hagen area, which included a flight to the earthquake affected area.
The earthquake communities are hungry as their crops haven’t really recovered yet, and we learnt that provision of seeds and gardening equipment has not been done effectively. I flew a load of food to Dodomona which is just in Western Province.
Huya, very nearby and the same language and people group, has the misfortune to be in Hela Province. Because Hela Province is chaotic, anarchic and violent in places, such as around Tari, it has been categorised as a no-go area by US and UK governments, and by agencies such as the World Food Programme. The same category as places like Syria. This does seem somewhat extreme, especially when flying to Huya presents no more risk (which is negligible) than going to Dodomona a few minutes away.
In the meantime, because of politics and far away decisions, people don’t get the help they need.
Left: Unloading; Middle: Sally Lloyd, who has done a huge amount of work to help the people in Western & Hela Provinces affected by the earthquake, with Glenys Watson (my FO) and some local people; Right: Sheltering from the rain under banana leaves.
A chunk of yesterday morning was spent preparing my sermon for today. It was hard work and I felt singularly uninspired. This morning I spent some more time preparing and all seemed to go OK in the end.
The Highlands Highway is under major reconstruction at the moment, and likely to remain that way until the end of next year at the latest. We discuss whether it will be more dangerous as a four-lane highway as far as the airport, than it was when it was full of potholes. The potholes are uncomfortable but do keep vehicle speeds down.
It is wholly within the realms of possibility that when there are four good lanes that a vehicle overtaking another, could be overtaken in the third lane, and that vehicle by another in the fourth, all the while with two vehicles coming in the other direction in sight.
For now, the road is rough and messy, but usable. It does make it necessary to wash the car regularly, which was one of yesterday’s chores, in order to avoid young people on the church compound drawing in the dirt during the Sunday service.
We’ve made our first sales of things we don’t want to ship home: our BBQ, which we rarely used, has a new home in Goroka. Some power tools have gone to Brandon Coker who lives next door. Hopefully all our other surplus items will be disposed of as easily.
Because of the delays with Greg’s visa, Nicki’s and my trip to Kompiam on Wednesday has been delayed by a week. Dr Dave Mills and Karina invited us out a while ago, and the people at Lapalama want Dave and me to trek in there again.
Back in 2010 we walked in and reopened the airstrip after 16 years of closure due to tribal fighting and serious dysfunction within the community. The encouraging thing is that the community seem to have learnt from the closure and are working together much better than they ever did before. Glenys Watson (in the photo above) and her family went to Lapalama on village orientation, which would have been unthinkable before 2010, and had a great time there. Dave has an effective health programme in the community, which again, couldn’t have happened until the people turned around.
Other news:
My ankle is much better now and I’ve been for one short run, and a couple of walks with Nicki. Trekking from Kompiam to Lapalama is looking much more likely than it did a week ago.
Nicki’s computer died. As I write she is trying to reinstall the operating system, which will hopefully get it working again.
Have a great week …
You may have read or heard in the news that PNG is hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Community summit. Lots of money has been spent prettying up Port Moresby, while the rest of the country has experienced shortage or absence of medicines, cuts to school budgets and more. I may have mentioned this in a previous news and I’m not repeating anything that hasn’t appeared in the media here or overseas.
Another knock-on effect is that the immigration department staff have all been allocated to APEC duties. I mentioned last week that Greg Falland, who should be here flying, hadn’t been able to get his visa issued, well, that is true for this week as well. The most optimistic date of issue will be on or after Wednesday 21st.
In the meantime, I keep on flying. Dare I say that I’m not altogether sorry that his visa has been delayed! I’ve been enjoying flying around the Goroka area. Three days were spent in Goroka, and then two days in the Hagen area, which included a flight to the earthquake affected area.
The earthquake communities are hungry as their crops haven’t really recovered yet, and we learnt that provision of seeds and gardening equipment has not been done effectively. I flew a load of food to Dodomona which is just in Western Province.
Huya, very nearby and the same language and people group, has the misfortune to be in Hela Province. Because Hela Province is chaotic, anarchic and violent in places, such as around Tari, it has been categorised as a no-go area by US and UK governments, and by agencies such as the World Food Programme. The same category as places like Syria. This does seem somewhat extreme, especially when flying to Huya presents no more risk (which is negligible) than going to Dodomona a few minutes away.
In the meantime, because of politics and far away decisions, people don’t get the help they need.
Left: Unloading; Middle: Sally Lloyd, who has done a huge amount of work to help the people in Western & Hela Provinces affected by the earthquake, with Glenys Watson (my FO) and some local people; Right: Sheltering from the rain under banana leaves.
*************
A chunk of yesterday morning was spent preparing my sermon for today. It was hard work and I felt singularly uninspired. This morning I spent some more time preparing and all seemed to go OK in the end.
The Highlands Highway is under major reconstruction at the moment, and likely to remain that way until the end of next year at the latest. We discuss whether it will be more dangerous as a four-lane highway as far as the airport, than it was when it was full of potholes. The potholes are uncomfortable but do keep vehicle speeds down.
It is wholly within the realms of possibility that when there are four good lanes that a vehicle overtaking another, could be overtaken in the third lane, and that vehicle by another in the fourth, all the while with two vehicles coming in the other direction in sight.
For now, the road is rough and messy, but usable. It does make it necessary to wash the car regularly, which was one of yesterday’s chores, in order to avoid young people on the church compound drawing in the dirt during the Sunday service.
*************
We’ve made our first sales of things we don’t want to ship home: our BBQ, which we rarely used, has a new home in Goroka. Some power tools have gone to Brandon Coker who lives next door. Hopefully all our other surplus items will be disposed of as easily.
*************
Because of the delays with Greg’s visa, Nicki’s and my trip to Kompiam on Wednesday has been delayed by a week. Dr Dave Mills and Karina invited us out a while ago, and the people at Lapalama want Dave and me to trek in there again.
Back in 2010 we walked in and reopened the airstrip after 16 years of closure due to tribal fighting and serious dysfunction within the community. The encouraging thing is that the community seem to have learnt from the closure and are working together much better than they ever did before. Glenys Watson (in the photo above) and her family went to Lapalama on village orientation, which would have been unthinkable before 2010, and had a great time there. Dave has an effective health programme in the community, which again, couldn’t have happened until the people turned around.
*************
Other news:
My ankle is much better now and I’ve been for one short run, and a couple of walks with Nicki. Trekking from Kompiam to Lapalama is looking much more likely than it did a week ago.
Nicki’s computer died. As I write she is trying to reinstall the operating system, which will hopefully get it working again.
Have a great week …
