She arrived back on Tuesday and told us how things were over the "hill". Its only 20 minutes by air and while there are regular sailings of a ship around the coast its another world away from Kokopo. There is no road access. Between Kokopo and Pomio, across the island there are a number of mountain ranges and rivers. Some of the rivers are wide and in deep gullies. The mountains are high and rugged.
There is a small settlement at Pomio and a government office, as well as an accommodation place and a small general store. The scenery and beaches are spectacular.
But the power is only on for 3 hours every day, no running water and limited phone connection. The nearest village now has a road up to it but before that was formed, it was a track, which took at least 12 hours walking to get to the village. Now it takes about 2 hours by 4wd. The villagers live life as if the 21st century doesn't exist, the village is too high (and cold) for bananas and coconuts to grow, so they live mainly on Taro.They have no source of protein, nor are they growing any "greens" to supplement their diet. Most of the Villagers have very little education because those with any education leave. Elizabeth was shocked at what she saw. As she was speaking, I thought she's been through the similar sort of culture shock we had when we arrived in Kokopo. It was interesting for me to see Elizabeth not being able to put words to what she had seen and experienced.
We also followed up on an number of trainees last week. It was an interesting experience to see the how far many of them travel and the effort involved to get to Kokopo. For me its also interesting to see how far the village "settlements" are from Kokopo. Driving down the road, you think there is "bush" on both sides, but in the "bush" are many houses and villages. In many respects its a bit like CHCH with urban development and then rural settlements radiating out from around the outskirts of the city. Population growth around Kokopo is going to be an issue in the coming years; Ive meet a lot of PNG'ians who moved here from other regions because its safer. Readily available land is quite a long way out of Kokopo.
Its amazing what you take for granted. Last week I was having a discussion with a trainee about weeding. He didn't know what a hoe was - they tend to do all their weeding by hand here. A discussion with Elizabeth revealed she was aware of chop hoes but not torpedo hoes, which are quicker. Nor do she know about wheel hoes. There is very little in the way of mechanical aids to ease workloads, here. Work that would be done with a rotary hoe or mechanical grubber in NZ is all done by hand here. Only large operations have tractors, and most of them are pretty beaten up.
New bridge being built over a river on the way to Kerevat (a small town about 1 hour away). The only way of crossing it at the moment is via a ford, which is reasonably deep (nearly up to the sill on a 4wd).
This morning (sunday) we went dolphin watching with some other Volunteers. A pod of about 100 about 10 minutes from Seaview.
Dolphins were leaping and spinning around in the air. The construction you can see in the right of the picture is part of the new sewage treatment plant.
Part of the pod, many young dolphins among it.
It was nice to be on the water, in a boat. The water often looks inviting from the shore. For me it highlights one of the things missing from our life here; ready access to things that help you enjoy life.
If Kokopo was in NZ, there'd be heaps of boats on the water. Nobody waterskis/ wakeboards here, nobody sailing. Not many fizz boats. I saw my first jetski today; this is an ideal place to use one. Not many people can't afford "toys" here, let alone the car to launch it. Quite different from NZ.
Christine:
Fruit and veges from the Kokopo market:
Prices in approx NZ dollars: Spring Onions (about 30/40 to a bunch) $1, Beans (red, green 8-10ea bunch) .50, Paw Paw $2.50, Avocado $1, short Cucumber .50, Carrot (1only) $1!!!, Gallop nuts (wrapped in banana leaves) $1, Tomatoes (not pictured) 3 for .75, Peppers (5 very small) .50, Rabaul Mango $1 (large, early season can be up to $5) peanuts (roasted in shells) .50, eggplant (bunch of 4) $1. Onions are $1 each!!! We can buy apples from the supermarket for $5-$9 kg depending on the supermarket. I brought a Red Emperor (fish) from people selling them on the side of the road in Kokopo for $12.50 - superbly fresh, just divine!!! and will visit them more often. Good sized Pineapple $5 (expensive but end of season).
This week I visited a friend at the women's safe house at Vunapope in Kokopo. She is the sweetest, gentlest lady and the nuns are wonderful with her. They tell me that when she arrived about 5 months ago she was full of fear and now she is much stronger and has a measure of peace. The courts are taking an inordinate amount of time to hear her case. Alcohol fueled violence has a lot to answer for here as in NZ.
We had a luncheon at Gazelle International Resort on Saturday with other countries volunteers in East New Britain. Trying to understand each other made for hilarious misunderstandings. We started with icebreakers and I thought the Japanese volunteer was asking "how many people had a bath today"? The icebreaker was about birth dates!! We had a delicious light lunch with a can of drink for $11. A very enjoyable time.
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