Church and Mask festival

Today we attended the local Anglican church for their morning service. The priest died last year and hasn't been replaced, so the locals are running things themselves.  Many of the congregation come from Rabaul, where their church was damaged in the eruption in 1994. The acidic ash from the eruption has made sure what remained of the church, has rusted away.
The service was a bit difficult to follow and seemed a bit ad hoc. Mainly conducted in English with some Tok Pisin; this would probably put a lot of locals off as most conduct their daily lives in Tok. English is not the main daily language, although many young people speak it.

 The fella preaching is a church warden from Lae, who is working in ENB.

Craig a retired judge who lives in Kokopo, took the photo of the congregation. As you can see lots of young people! The guy in white shirt was kind of a worship/ service leader.

The people were very encouraged that we had turned up; "expats" in the church! I had to stand up and tell them why we were in Kokopo and what we were doing. We had biscuits and cordial after the service, while there was an informal discussion about the state of the church building and repairs needed.

The day before we spent most of the day at the Mask festival, which has been on since Wednesday. Saturday was the grand finale, when all the groups attending for the week, performed for the last time; there were nearly thirty groups on the last day. I took many photos but can't put them all up on the blog.
The final act was a group of students from the local Vudal university, performing what they called a Pacific islands dance; an amalgamation from of many tribes and islands. It was a hit for the crowd.

One item everybody came to watch was the mud men dance. It depicts a tribe in the Highlands who were attacked by another tribe, their only escape was to hide in the swamp near a river, until the attackers started to leave. When they emerge from the swamp with mud all over them, the attackers, think they are spirits and run away.

The attackers arrive!

Chase the villagers away.

 Declare victory.

 The Mud men emerge.

Chase the attackers away.

There were lots of booths around the festival grounds, Fresh Produce were going to have a booth until it was decided  Neti and I were going to Lae.

Suzanne, Spence and helpers manned the diabetes screening booth for several days. 

Melanesians, along with many other Pacific people, have a genetic predisposition to Diabetes. as a consequence life expectancy in PNG is low. John the Vice Chancellor of the local university (Vudal), said they had one of their lecturers died last week, aged 52. Dying around early to mid 50's is fairly common; people seem reluctant to change their lifestyles, to get on top of Diabetes. Not many people live past 65 here.
 One problem Susanne faces is the lack of disposables (sterile pricking devices, test strips, etc) used for testing. If anybody reading this wanted to help financially in someway, then I can put them in touch with Susanne! Debbie, Susanne's friend brought some stuff with her when she came from NZ last week but the shear volume of people needing testing, causes supplies to be used up fairly quickly.

I (Christine) enjoyed the church service enormously. The people were very welcoming and ensured we had a rough idea of the format of the service. Some of the service was in Tok Pisin and then translated into English for us. Before leaving NZ I had decided I wanted to find a church that worshiped out of their own PNG culture and was intrigued to see what that would be like. While there was an Anglican format to this service, culture will out!! The songs were hymns and songs of praise but with their own simple (more relevant) words inserted. During communion the bread and wine are taken from the back of the church to the front accompanied with dancing and singing thus turning what can be a somewhat sombre time into one of sheer joy! Lovely! church PNG style!
David (standing in for the priest) has promised to get some of the young people practicing so we can hear more of their own songs of praise.

The guard (Felix) next door went as part of a second vehicle (essential for security) to a logging camp about an hour away. When he returned later that day I took my Tablet (and Iceblocks) outside so he could show me and the House Mary where he had been. It was fascinating to be able to see the trip on a map and on google Maps. The logs are guided closer to the ships by men standing on the logs, then a grab crane lifts the logs onto the ships. Because of the incredible depth of the sea so close to the land the ships pull in just a few meters from land. Maybe one-day we will be able to visit the place for ourselves.
Three new VSA's arrived this week (2 NZers, 1 Brazilian) bringing our numbers to around 18. All very exciting.

Busy two weeks and boat ride

The last two weeks have been busy.

Two weeks ago I travelled around with Alex from Goroka who had come over to check on a number of pineapple plantings that had been established as source material, for farmers to take suckers from,  to plant production blocks.
There are two main varieties of pineapple in PNG. One has very spiky thorns along the leaves which means you have to be careful around the plant, particularly when harvesting, or weeding. The other variety is spineless and has a different, more upright leaf shape.

This is the spiny variety. Area of about 2ha of pineapples. Typical growing area in ENB; three layers of foliage. High trees are coconuts. Next level are bananas, or coco, or possibly young timber trees, last level is the crop itself. The multi layers provide shade and protection for the crop. In this case the farmer is intending to cut down some of the second tier trees for more light now that the crop is established.

Pineapples developing; about 3-4 months from harvest at this stage. Approx 6months for the crop to develop.

Alex, looking every inch the scientist, inspecting the crop and the weeding that needs attending to. Alex is from Goroka (average temp about 21-25 degrees) and found the heat in Kokopo "difficult".
You wouldn't get me into the patch do do anything. There was one guy doing some weeding when we were there; dressed up with protective gear and long socks on his arms to protect himself from the spines- in 32 degrees! 

This what happens when you don't keep up with the weeding and try drastic measures. We had a discussion about the yellowing in the leaves and after some questioning, discovered that the farmers had used Roundup to try and clean up the block, with over-spray damaging the pineapples. Most looked as if they would survive and were growing out of it.

Right at the we end of the week (Friday night, 6:30pm confirmation), I was informed I was going to Lae for 4 days for a workshop, the following week, leaving early Sunday morning. This is how things are done over here! No pre- planning!
The next day; Saturday we had planned to join a "banana" boat trip to some islands about 30 minutes away, with Spence and Susanne who had friends over from NZ for a week.

Unlikely looking crew who wanted to get in the photo while we were waiting for the banana boat to be organized.  Shot taken on the banana boat beach.

The characters going on the trip -waiting while the boatman filled some jerrycans with petrol.
"Sean"(007 fame) is taking the picture, on the left is Spence (aka "Buff"), next is Susanne (aka Goldie), (there is a story about this, I wont detail on-line) Spoiler; Spence likes movies, those with Goldie Hawn, especially. In the back is Debbie and Gary from Tauranga, Mollie in black, on the side of the boat and you-know-who wearing the life jacket. Volcanos at Rabaul, in the background.

The islands are idyllic, although no running water, or electricity. There is a large school on this island which caters for primary school.

Kids jumping off the tree. Gary also tried but from lower branches.

Early sunday morning I'm off to Lae with Neli, for a Fresh Produce Development Agency workshop.
We had to fly Rabaul to Moresby, then Moresby to to Lae. Flight was diverted half way through to Lae. We found out later that some debris on the runway at Moresby had caused the airport to be closed down.
With a bit of effort we managed to get our bags off the plane and we went on our way; into Lae a bit earlier than we should have been. Grant and Debbie on the same flight, supposed to connect to a flight to Brisbane and then to NZ, ended up staying the night in Lae. The catch phrase over here is "expect the unexpected".

Fresh Produce are introducing an on-line reporting system for projects and work is recorded and captured soon after it is done. They've had problems with staff laptops getting stolen, "lost" or "dying" with out the information on them being transferred elsewhere, (Ive been helping Neli with her laptop, as its in its death throes and only 6 years old, dust takes a toll here), all the work recorded on them is thus lost.
FPDA also have a cell phone system, which is being updated, with a menu that has access to their data base, weather forecasts, pest control market information, seed inventory data, etc, etc. Its designed so that simple "old" Nokia type cell phone can use them. Its the only communication system in remote areas. There are no land lines!

I was quite impressed with the system, and it seems to work very well in a country that has difficult communications and where somebody might travel 6 hours to the nearest agricultural "shop" only to discover what they want is out of stock. Vege growers in PNG have been having trouble with seed supply, as the three main stockists don't keep their stocks up to date. The local Fresh Produce Market Authority has bypassed the retailers and become the seed re- seller of choice for many local growers in Kokopo area.

The workshop was one of three FPDA are conducting to inform staff and get feedback on the system. For me it was an opportunity to "network" and meet people from Lae, Goroka and Moresby. Visits to the local market and driving around Lae enabled me to understand the dynamics in a town that has a "cowboy" reputation among locals.
While roads around Lae were very good mostly. The trip to the airport takes nearly an hour because a good portion of it is basically not sealed, and is rutted and full of holes. Trucks or buses travelling the road, have to slowly maneuver the holes and ruts so they hold up the following traffic. So often there is a stream of 4 wheel drives and utes overtaking them on the inside, as well as the outside; it becomes a bit of race track. This road is not only the main route to the airport but also to the highlands. The road has gradually deteriorated over the last 15 years; it used to take about 2-2.5 hours to get to Goroka now it takes about 5-6 hours.
Driving along the road to the airport and seeing the villages and conditions some people live in, causes my heart to go out the locals and the difficult conditions they face in their everyday lives. Most in NZ don't really understand what hardship is.

The photos don't really do justice to the state of the road. I'll never complain about the roads around Kokopo again! 

Finally the view from my hotel room in Lae. About 10 minutes out of the city. Road from here into Lae is a good  4 lane highway. The bit of road on the other side of the silver fence is part of a section of road about a kilometer long with huge ruts and holes, at night you could hear the trucks and buses clattering along the road.                                                                                                                        

I (Christine) enjoyed most of the boat trip and the bruises have almost all gone today (6 days later). The first part of the trip was pretty rough and strong bracing was needed to prevent sliding around the banana boat. Scenery was amazing and it was so good being out on the water. While waiting to set out there were lots of happy families around us spending time at the beach. When we got back about 5 hours later there were a different group of people and a very different atmosphere. I felt uncomfortable for the first time since arriving in Kokopo.

Anton's trip to Lae was so last minute. We didn't have copies of flight times which led to confusion over departure times. Last minute changes were made to Anton's accommodation due to security issues. At least I knew what hotel he was at (posh!) and I insisted he ring me every night. 

Lae has a high population of rascals and a recent outbreak of Polio. Lae to Port Moresby portion of the return home was cancelled on Thursday morning which meant a 5 hour wait at Lae airport and a later flight back to Kokopo. Still, Anton arrived back safely with lots to tell.

I am getting better after a touch of flu? or sinus issues from all that dust! I am skilled at getting rid of ants, mozzies, crabs, worms (long, skinny, black/brown ones that move like greased lightening) and better at thinking of the geckos as little friends. 

I am making so many friends among the locals and the PNV drivers all know where to drop me off. I must stand out like a sore thumb. My frumpy sandals and white legs still raise a laugh among the local children and a smile among their elders. I laugh with them. It is good to see them laugh, they have a very difficult life.

I spent a day out at the Mask festival Wednesday - very colourful with lots of dancing. I took the PNV into the market then walked 15 minutes to the festival. Johannes spotted me walking out on the way back home and gave me a lift - very greatful. 

Three new volunteers arrived this week so it's everyone out to dinner tonight. Always a special time.  

Thinking about potting mix

I spent some time this week making some suggestions for the nursery which the Fresh Market authority are trying to develop, in order to sell plants to the local farmers. One area that needs some development is finding the ingredients to make a consistent potting mix. At present two of the local establishments growing seedlings are using a mix which includes soil, animal manure and sand, which is then sterilized before use. Any locals who want to grow their own seedlings are taught this system but usually stop doing so because of the time consuming nature of the making the mix. Of course sterilizing the mix stuffs the soil micro- organisms. My observations are that inconsistency of mixing is also a problem.
At present there are no ingredients to make soiless growing media in Kokopo. I think that for seedling growing to progress, ingredients need to be found. I suspect that ingredients may exist in Port Moresby, so I'm in the process of finding out if this is the case and at what cost they can be shipped to Kokopo and thus whether a soiless potting mix is feasible here.
On this quest I visited a local farmers training facility run by the Japanese, as they grow their own seedlings and grow all the produce they need to keep the trainees fed. The system they use is basically organic, with no chemical fertilizers, or pesticides used. The potting mix is great and the plants quite healthy but they use chicken manure, which not many farmers have access to. Although the natural pesticide "worked", there were some insect problems but the produce was very good- good enough to feed the trainees but some of it wouldn't be acceptable if it was up for sale.

Students pricking out seedlings.

Beds of veges. The beds are sunken and surrounded by a built up bank so the area can be flooded if necessary. A flood irrigation channel runs from left to right, behind the two guys in the picture. In the background, to the right of the tall grass are beds of rice growing.

Things grow fast in here; 4 weeks in the nursery, then about 6 weeks in the field would be the growing cycle for a cabbage. One thing I noticed was some lettuces growing a bit funny, they reported they hadn't seen this before, although they had stopped growing rice as an irrigated crop because of fertility problems. I suspect the lettuce was experiencing either boron or molybdenum  deficiency, which could be reasonably easily sorted out.

After seeing the lettuce I asked whether they had done any soil tests, or found out what the PH was, the answer was no, and no. I got the impression that this hadn't been considered. Which made me realize that some of the things we take for granted in NZ aren't available easily to farmers in PNG.
There is an Agricultural university, and a National Research Institute (NARI) reasonably close by which would both, potentially have the facilities to do some basic work and help sort out the fertility problems I noticed. But I don't think seeking help had been considered.

 The following is my perspective; Somebody asked us if we were close to the area where there was some trouble; a PNG Air plane was torched last week at Minde airport. That happened in the highlands about 1600 Km away from where we are. I'm not sure how the incident was reported in NZ but the plane was torched as a political statement. The locals in some parts of PNG are feed up with corruption. In this case they had sought a judicial revue of the appointment of the local governor by the current Prime Minister, as there was some questionable stuff going on with the elections that were held last year. A house and a hanger with some light planes in it, owned by the Prime Minster, were torched just after the elections as a warning.
The judicial revue confirmed the appointment of the governor, so the burning of the Dash 8 at Minde airport was a signal to the government. Whether the burning of the airplane is ok depends on your point of view; its lawlessness but how do you stop corruption?
Not long after we arrived here the government suggested they were going to close facebook down for a month. Mainly because some local people had been asking some pointed questions, of the government, using facebook. The decision regarding facebook was soon reversed but indicates government sensitivity to criticism. particularly since PNG is hosting APEC later this year.

I (Christine) attended a sugar diabetes awareness day run by another VSA volunteer. Suzanne does an amazing job here. She works at the hospital in Rabaul and has a weekly radio program which the announcer re-plays again in the evening. Its amazing how people are drawn to her, sometimes recognizing her voice in the street and stop to talk with her about mum, or dad or aunty... They recognise someone who talks sense, cares and has practical help to offer.
The compound we live in has become very busy with new arrivals - Scott the chef this week and next week Christina (?) who will be working on tourism. Sleep is often quite disturbed with people talking, comings and goings, dogs barking and last night lots of rain. Weekends are a time for afternoon naps to catch up on sleep.
I sweep the floor several times a day to keep the ants under control. Any little bit of food dropped and out of the cracks they come! I no longer have any compunction walking on them and they have no compunction biting us if there's no food lying around. Still, I infinitely prefer a battle with ants as opposed to the bed bugs VSA's in other countries are struggling with!
We've had quite a few windy days this week which have been really nice as the wind cools down the temperature from 30/32 to 24/27.

Spreading my wings

Over the last week I've been involved with helping the person in charge of a small nursery, which the Fresh Produce market has started up, to supply seedlings to the local farmers. They are having problems with insects eating their plants (most probably Diamond Back Moth) as well as a few problems with their potting mix. Diamond back moth is resistant to most pyrethoid insecticides, in most places in the world, and its been so in PNG for nearly 10 years.  Unfortunately the locals don't understand that, and keep spraying (mainly Karate) even though it doesn't have any effect; there are lots of holey Cabbages, Wong Boks and Pak Choi's in the local market. There are three companies selling ag-chemicals here in Kokopo but none have stocks of the most effective chemicals. So it looks as if stocks of Success and Steward will need to be ordered in.
The same problem with the potting mix the locals are using; we need to source some better ingredients. Not sure if appropriate stuff can be sourced in PNG. One of the local companies is looking into it. But the exercise has re-enforced the isolation here; 1500km from Port Moresby. Transport is relatively expensive around PNG. In many cases its cheaper to get stuff shipped from Asia. I'm still trying to assess what is needed and what is available here and what can be done in a practical sense and that the locals can work with after I'm gone.
 One of the problems we have been trying to address is barking dogs; we live in a compound with about 10 other houses. Two of our neighbours have a total of about 5 dogs between them. Over the roads also has about 5 dogs. Every compound in the area seem to have some; they are "security" although they hardly ever bark at strangers. I reckon there are about 100 dogs in the immediate vicinity. Often they set each other off during the night. On friday night they were barking on and off for a couple of hours (12:30- 2:30 am).
One dog in our compound is the main cause; I've talked the rental manager and the noisy dog is now put inside the house yard at night, which has helped. Talking to a few locals; they just accept the barking, yet there are virtually no dogs in the local villages. But in the urban area of Kokopo there are thousands, mostly friendly but half looking half starved. I've got an ultrasonic bark preventer coming from NZ, so I'll see if its effective. One thing I don't want to happen is to become sleep deprived; as I don't handle waking at night very well. We were warned that dogs were problem in the pacific but not so much in PNG. We didn't anticipate being woken in the night by barking dogs!
It looks as if the weather is going to be stormy for the next week, with thunderstorms predicted every day for the next 10 days. We had a thunderstorm last night; the thunder and lightening was pretty loud and strong, continuing into the night for hours. The rain was also very heavy, west coast heavy; the rain on the roof was so load you could hardly hear anything else. The best thing is that the next day is usually overcast and the heat tolerable; more like it is in NZ in January.

Christine:
(this part not for the squeamish) very early one morning the dogs were kicking up a frightful din just outside our window. The guard told me later that a very very large cat had strayed into the compound and the dogs had attacked and dispatched it. The locals from the nearby village who had been fattening up the cat, came and took it back for the pot!! When next I feel dissatisfied  with whats for tea I will think of said cat and be grateful for whatever else there is in our pantry!
On one of my bi-daily walks to the bus to Kokopo a lady called out from the next door property. She and her friend (Dorcas) earn money working at sewing machines set-up in an old freight wagon. I was invited to come back for a longer chat. Unfortunately when I did go back the lady had gone home to her village for the funeral of her brother. The house-mary from another home was away at a funeral for her father. Life expectancy is very low here (less than 50yrs) even supposing one gets past infancy. Funerals are large affairs and very costly for whole of family members. Dorcas and I spoke about another lady we both knew named Dorcas who was much loved and appreciated by all the women of her town for the clothes she made for people.

Getting involved

Last monday was Queens Birthday here, so a short working week, i'm not sure why they celebrate it! We also had the first decent rain for nearly two months. It rained hard for a day and then on and off for another couple. Things have cooled down a lot, as a consequence. The other day I was sitting at the beach and it felt like an Autumn day in NZ.
Today is overcast and the temperature is very nice. We walked (UP early) to the local sports field, as some other volunteers play basketball with the local kids. Some days they have a large number playing. The ball is "donated" to one of the kids at the end of the game as most don't have any sports equipment.
More kids usually turn up on Saturday. Spence and Susanne spent last weekend at a big camp with 600 kids, so decided that this week Sunday for basketball was ok.

The rain meant that some of the potholes in the local road became larger and its easy to see how the roads can become "chopped up" very quickly. I've haven't seen a road repair crew yet, mostly the local just fill the potholes with dirt from the side of the road, which of course empty out at the next rain. The rain brought down a power pole with a transformer on it and so our side of Kokopo; where we live was without power for quite a bit of the day. Our compound has a generator, so it kicked in and kept us going while the power was out. Most businesses seem to have an emergency generator, as the power can go out suddenly without warning and for an unknown length of time. As happened at the supermarket yesterday.
I've started to feel comfortable with Kokopo and I now know a few people around about. With no farm visits this week I've been chewing the fat with Elizabeth and Neli, at FPDA and helping them sort out a few things, as well as visiting the market and talking to the team that runs it.
There are at least three tiers of government in PNG, national, provincial and local. Most people would have regular contact with the local government (more like a regional council in NZ) but hardly any with the provincial, or national government, except at election time. In my work I'm in contact with all three, as the local farm extension officers are employed by the local government. I'm starting to get a handle on how things "work" here; going through the right "channel" is important.

After our visit to Goroka last week I've started to appreciate the important function the market  provides in each town, or village; economic as well as social. The market in Kokopo is very well set up, organized and kept tidy and is seen as a "secure" place, with no "trouble". The locals make sure it is kept "secure." The Goroka market wasn't very tidy in comparison, even though there was a greater variety of produce and generally of better quality. In Goroka they can grow temperate crops like broccolli, carrots, onions and cabbage, plus they have access to tropical crops and fruits. Onions are a sort after vegetable here in PNG as they are hard to grow well in the tropics and don't keep. Transport around PNG is expensive so, what would be considered a commodity in NZ, is often in short supply.
I can see that the marketing situation for produce is in a state of change here in Kokopo, which is different from other parts of PNG. Middle men are starting to emerge, collecting, buying and transporting produce. There is no central buying, or provisioning body as yet. As a result, I think some of the local farmers are missing out as the local supermarkets buy in a lot of their produce from Moresby, or elsewhere. I'm not sure how the local hotels and resorts get their produce. 
Christine:
The rain was welcome and refreshing however we found our hot water is heated by solar power and has no backup. So, cool/cold showers for a couple of days and a wee chat with the landlord about getting a booster button installed on the power board.
It took Anton and I about 45 minutes to walk to the basketball court this morning as the PNV's aren't operating that early (6:45) on a sunday. It would take about another 45mins to walk into Kokopo market from the court. I wondered how long it would take if I had to walk to market. The highest accolade from the PNGers is "you walk around town like we do. You black fella. You one of us". The more people we get to know and who get to see and know us the safer it is and the more accepted we feel.
I would very much like to visit the nearest village to us which is about 5 minutes walk away. We have been told it would not be at all acceptable for anyone to just walk in there and must wait for someone who is known to them.  Food is always gratefully accepted but still only when with someone they know.
One of the young student univols has 2 weeks holiday at the school where she is a teacher aid. I am looking forward to spending some time with her at the op shops and market. I miss family and friends but facebook videos of Sofia Rose getting up to mischief are a joy!

Travel to Goroka

We travelled to Goroka in the Highlands (on main island) for a few days this week. The purpose was to visit the HQ of the FPDA (my partner organization), meet a few people and see some of the farming along with Johannas and Elizabeth.
To get to Goroka we fly back to Port Morseby from Rabual, then onto Goroka. In this case we flew to Moresby, via Lae. So we saw a significant chunk of the country from the air, which to me emphasis-ed the differences in this very diverse country. The farming around Kokopo is mainly plantations, interspersed with other crops. The country side is very hilly, with mostly uncleared jungle on the hillsides and tops. There are a series of mountain ranges as far as you can see see. Some of the valley floors are wide and there is significant farming occurring in the valleys. Most valleys have a river or stream so there is access to water but it is hard to get it up the hills where growing might occur, as the electricity supply doesn't go far beyond main roads. Access is a difficulty.

 Flying out of Rabaul airport near Kokopo.

Flying out of Lae.

 Around Goroka it is quite different. The country looks much like NZ from the air, with large flat valleys, cleared hillsides and significant farming and settlement. The people are also quite different in their outlook. The climate in Goroka is similar to November/ December in CHCH. Coolish  mornings with around mid 20's during the day; very pleasant. Shirt sleeves only; no need for jersey's  or jackets.
Flying into Goroka.

 

 View from the hotel dining room.

Goroka is the coffee capital of PNG, so there are significant storage/ handling/ processing facilities in the area. We have sorted out a coffee brand we like and it isn't as bitter as coffee in NZ.
Coffee borer which is a significant pest around the world has just appeared in PNG. Probably brought in, via coffee imported into the country for blending. This has the potential to significantly affect coffee production in PNG, as it has elsewhere in the world.  The government response has been underwhelming.

 Coffee trees planted outside one of the coffee warehouses.

For those that like coffee you might be interested in seeing how the green coffee beans are sorted in PNG; by hand. Elsewhere they would use a colour sorting machine. We've noticed PNG is a bit like Turkey; labour is easy to come by and some of the work is what would be considered, make work in NZ. The"girls" are able to sort about a couple of the bags you see in the foreground, per day, good ones three bags.

PNG has a established a pathogen free potato (both normal and sweet) seed production scheme. We visited a couple of the sweet potato multiplication tunnelhouses and field production increase areas'. One grower has about 4 Ha of his own land and was also leasing other land. I estimated he had about 40 ha in sweet potato production, as well as selling disease free stock plants from the tunnelhouse, to other growers. The researcher (green shirt in the photo)  overseeing the program is hoping that freeing the seed stocks from disease will decrease production time of the crop, and increase yields. As everywhere in PNG, infrastructure (roads, shipping and handling, cool stores, etc) is the main constraint to getting the product to market and making money.

 

Newly planted sweet potato.

 

A well developed crop.

 

 A view across the production area.

 I had a bit of a laugh with this souvenir seller who was outside our hotel in Goroka. Everytime we  arrived, he came over trying to sell stuff. He knows the value of publicity though. When we were leaving he wanted somebody to take a photo of me standing near his stall. After the photo was taken, I said to him that he needed to pay me 50 kina for helping to advertise his stall. He thought I was serious, and so did the people standing around nearby; their faces fell. I couldn't hold a straight face and burst out laughing; he got the joke.

 

So far I'm not missing the cold but am missing my daily apple, at lunch.

 The situation of people including outside the town was difficult to see. Many sit on the side of the roads in the shade selling their fruit and veges to make a living as they do in Kokopo.There seems to be a huge number of children around when schools out and then they disappear into the bush to their villages. Village houses are scattered in the bush, made out of woven material or ply and a sheet or two of iron with an outhouse. Despite the size of the town Goroka does not have clean drinking water so Typhoid and Cholera are rife at certain times of the year. Unlike most of Kokopo market, the market stalls at Goroka are at ground level, produce is set out on plastic sheeting or whatever is to hand, the pathsways are very narrow and slippery, the roads dusty with the usual potholes. Recently the pigs have been fenced off in an attempt to stop them wondering through the market. A lady wanted to touch me to see if I was real and not a ghost!
While in Goroka Johannas got a phone call at 1am from a distraught mother at the Kokopo hospital. Her son was dying of Pneumonia and the hospital did not have the drug that would save his life. Johannas was able to ring the Kokopo chemist and arrange for her to go to her shop and get the drug for the mother. Hospitals are not only desperately short of supplies there are often no supplies of basic drugs at all!
We are slowly getting to know more people by using the local PNV `busses`. The children are such fun to talk with especially when they get asked to shake hands and say hello first! Their huge eyes and gorgeous smiles are a real treat to see. A little girl (3-4) stood transfixed as she stared at my blue/black sandals for several minutes before laughing in high amusement. I wonder if she took a minute to figure out they were sandals on feet and not part of my feet. Mothers tend to go bare foot or in jandals,
Power is prepaid here. Returning from Goroka early saturday evening we found our power cut off and all the food in the freezer and fridge had to be thrown out. Fortunately it was easy to get the power paid up and we heated a tin of creamed corn for dinner. Given what we ate for lunch at the Airways hotel in Port Moresby on the return journey we really didn't need dinner at all. Lunch was a smorgasbord of Indian dishes and Turkish desserts.

Reflections on first week.

We spent 3 mornings visiting farms, small nursery operations and extension officers.
The most striking thing for me is how hilly the landscape is. Access and getting around is difficult even a short distance from Kokopo ; the roads have great holes in them, where the rainfall has gouged them out. One wide river we crossed had a concrete ford but one end of the ford had been carried away, you could see it downstream, in the river. So the locals had made a way through the river and up the bank, the Toyota ute we were in, barely had clearance over the boulders. 

One thing Ive realised is the number of kiwi sayings ("horses for courses", "6 of one and half a dozen of the other", etc) in my everyday language. The locals look at me and say huh? I've had to slow down and rephrase what I'm about to say, in a way they can understand.

It seems that agriculture and farming has not been a big priority over the last 20 years and so experience and expertise hasn't been passed on from one generation of farmers to another.
There is a young farmers training scheme underway to develop some young people to lead an increase in production. PNG has a fast growing population and so more food needs to be grown just to keep up with it.
One of the properties (about an hour out of Kokopo) we visited have started a jungle clearing program to develop "gardens", for the locals to start growing stuff. This is under the guidance of a trainee called Jerry.

The first area cleared (about 2 ha), has been planted in peanuts.Which is a very common first crop. The small plants in the fore ground that look like weeds are the peanuts) The locals are aiming to grow watermelons, beans and maybe lettuce.
The total area to be cleared is approx 60ha. over the next 6 months.

 This is what the countryside looks like before clearance and then after clearance and burning.

The camp where the villagers stay overnight is basic. They seem to get stuck in, clear a patch and then have a few days break, before moving onto the next patch. Chainsaws, machetes and burning are the tools, used to clear ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add caption

   

This is one of a number of nursery operations starting up, to sell plants to the farmers. The uptake by farmers has been enthusiastic; demand outstrips supply. In terms of vegetables one of the issues that needs work is ensuring a continuous supply of produce and also training farmers to let the produce develop more before harvesting. I can also foresee hygiene problems developing in the nurseries. One of them had disease problems with some crops last season.

In the coming week, another farm visit and then travel to Goroka to meet the head office staff of FPDA. 

I (Christine) notice the too early harvest in the market veges and also some fruit. Green bananas are delicious but green pawpaws need to show some yellowing and then may not keep too long even when refrigerated. Green mandarins are good as are the very long green beans. Quality of produce varies considerably and we soon learn if it looks old it probably is so keep looking. The women love to help and asking them to choose from their produce for me to buy has proved helpful in making relationships and getting good produce.

I am getting used to using the buses to and fro from Kokopo. A smiling hello, and thank-you gets a warm response and the locals who are getting to know us look-out for us. We feel increasingly safe even with some violence going on in villages away from here and do not go out at night unless we are picked up and dropped off.