Starting work

I have started visiting farmers and local advisors with Elizabeth this week. Elizabeth works for the agency I'm associated with. Local farmers are having problems with growing seedlings, as well as growing their produce. So the local advisors have been encouraging some people in different areas, to set up nurseries, to grow plants, with the idea that these will be on-sold to the farmers via the local market.

Today we visited a small operation which has just been set up behind Kokopo. So far demand for plants exceeds supply. The farmer concerned, mainly grows cocoa, as well as running the local market in Kokopo. On the way up to the farm, there were plantations of trees, along the side of the road. On asking I found out that it was all balsa wood.
I've used plenty of balsa over the years but never seen a tree. The trees in the photo are about 2 years old and are normally harvested at about 6 years. They have bark that looks a bit like a smooth palm tree but the trunks are quite straight.

The locals get about $20-25 per cubic meter of balsa, which is significantly less than what we pay for the final product in NZ. While the balsa modellers use is a high end product, much of the timber is used in industrial products for boat building and aircraft manufacture. Obviously there is processing cost but I think the locals are missing out on some value. That's really the common story here for a range of products.

On the way up to the farm you could see WW2 debris still sitting on the side of the road. The farm we went to is riddled with caves where the Japanese hid during fighting. They also grew rice on the farm, as they couldn't resupply the force very well after it landed.

Travelling the roads here is an experience as they desperately need some maintenance. Like in NZ you soon get off the "seal" and onto farm style dirt tracks. Four wheel drives, small trucks, vans and utes are the norm here, mainly for ground clearance. After two weeks I saw my first car today, I don't think it would last very long and end up scraping its bottom out in the potholes.
Things are made worse as Kokopo is experiencing a mini drought at present, as it hasn't had significant rain for over a month, hence the roads and tracks are very dusty.

 I (christine) have made some friends amongst the ladies at the market and today brought my first 'Mary blouse'. The ladies make blouses, dresses and skirts in an amazing variety of vibrantly coloured  and patterned cotton or silk fabrics. My new friend Miriam and a young boy helped me choose from her stock.She comes to market each day from one of the islands offshore.
The fruit and vege markets are a lot of fun with 'hello's and 'goo-day' from one end to the other. They love to help me choose produce and explain what it is and how to eat/cook it. We are two of the very few outsiders here and something of a novelty. When we say we are New Zealanders people go the extra mile and keep a watchful eye on us. So many have benefited from aid or education/training from New Zealanders that we feel humbled by the numbers of workers that have gone before us.

End of second week starting to become acclimatized to the heat. Even the locals are struggling; it hasn't rained for nearly a month. People on roof tank supply are getting nervous.
We've been busy getting the house sorted and filling in details on some administration stuff (personal emergency plan, getting to know some of the other volunteers and locals, etc)

My work program for the next few weeks has been organised, basically travelling around and visiting farms with the local extension person, so I get to know how things work and what is required.  A trip to Goroka (where head office of FPDA is located). The FPDA has a training program wherby they take some young farmers under their wing and provide monthly training for a couple of years, with follow up support after than. I idea is to have some young blood coming into the industry. They want me to do some training at one of those monthly sessions.

My first impressions are that there is lots of potential; you could grow almost anything here, with some tweaks. The ground is fertile and growing conditions are great. I suspect that more attention to detail is required to get the best crops.

Just to show that there is some play, I've mangaged to get out on the water for a short boat trip.
There are huge schools (thousands) of dolphins close by. There are boat trips to islands and plenty of scuba diving on wrecks and reefs, as well as fishing.

Here's a view from a resort within a short walk from us.

This is the view across the sea to where we are staying, from another resort near Kokopo

Deck where we were sitting

View across the sea to the Volcanos around Rabaul. The sea is rarely rough, as the bay is enclosed by a whole lot of small islands. Pretty nice!

We've been in Kokopo for a week. Its hot! A busy few days after we arrived meeting (lots) of people.

 

This is the site of former Raboul airport. Now a landscape a bit like the moon; the red sand and pegs mark a hot water vent, flowing into the sea, where we cooked our lunch. The local villagers, charge to people come in and use the facilities! The sea was hot, quite a way, out into the bay.

We've visited the local produce market a few times. A great variety of vegetables and fruit, as well as fish and local pre-pepared dishes. Some prices are low, others high. I wanted a pineapple; good ones are 20 kina (about) $10, so I flagged it. Pawpaw, mangoes and bananas are great and reasonably priced.

Its been difficult to get set up with internet and phone. My phone decided it doesn't like the sim card and wouldn't let me send TXTs. I brought a new sim and it spat the dummy after an hour. I put the sim card from Christines phone in mine and it works ok, so we've swapped phone numbers. Getting any technical input is difficult; its mostly a matter of working things out yourself.

Roads here aren't the best, full of potholes, in urgent need to repair. Like NZ, the regions are cash strapped and there's not much money to maintain infrastructure.

Travelling along the road in a rural area we spotted some kids dressed up in chicken costumes, waiting for the local tourism guy to come and take photos. They were quite pleased to pose for us and then see the results on the camera screen.

 

 So far I haven't started work, although we've visited a few farms. Our job at the moment is to get settled in and acclimatized to the heat. We're a bit out of town, which we can see is going to be a problem, as the only transport is PMV's (vans with seats). There are heaps of them on the road so getting a lift is ok but of course moving large items is difficult. Our location means that Christine when on her own, is a bit isolated. We'll wait and see how things work out.

Well we're off to Kokopo early next week. So the countdown begins. Last minute stuff to get done.
We're not sure what awaits for us there, so there's a little trepidation.