DWU THMD4 Students Engaged for Disaster Risk Awareness

in Papua New Guinea, there are few universities
and Madang is privileged to have Divine Word University which allows students
to interact with the community and to discuss issues which affect the future of
this nation - John Griffith

Through a collaborative discussion with the former student and graduate of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Mr. Nathan Lati, who works as project logistics and administration officer for World Vision. The Head of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Mr. John Imbal
agreed and scheduled Friday 2^nd of September, 2011 for a Disaster Risk Management Awareness at Matugar Village on the North Coast of Madang.

The World Vision runs the Community-based Disaster Risk Management Project for 27 villages along the North Coast Road in the Sumgilbar Local Level Government. As part of the awareness the Tourism Students of Divine World University were engaged to do awareness relating to Climate Change which relates to Disaster Risk Management. One of the units in Tourism Hospitality Management requires the final year students to go out to
the field and conduct awareness and trainings. Hence, this was the opportunity for the final year students in 2011 to coordinate with Mr. Lati of World Vision to provide an interactive and informative awareness for the people of Matugar village on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management.  

The students were so interested to learn about the project and decided help with awareness on Climate change and Disaster Risk Management. Mr. Lati provided the necessary materials to the students to prepare their awareness items. Maps and other materials from the previous work done by World Vision became useful resources for the students to present the awareness to the villagers.

The university owned bus was organized to transport the students at 9am from DWU main campus to the project site at North Coast. Mr. Lati was decided to be the tour guide in the bus and got on with the students as well. Among the students were Mr. John Griffiths who was an expatriate lecturer attached to Tourism Hospitality Department and assisted the students on their presentation. The head of Department, Mr. John Imbal also took time off to accompany the group to the site with the students to do the awareness.   

The bus ride took approximately one and half hour to arrive at the project site (Matugar village) which is a coastal village located along the North Cost Road of Madang Province.

When the group arrived at Matugar village, Mr. Lati met with the village committees and called in all the villagers. The attendance turn-up was impressive with most of them being young and influential youths that are capable of making impacts in their community in terms of awareness on disaster risk management. Among the participant was the village
councilor, Saky Organization (a community-based organization) executives, village elders and the youths.  

  

The village is situated on the coastline overlooking the volcanic island of Karkar and its seafront has nice blackish sandy beach with a crystal-clear sea that joins the Madang lagoon providing ideal place for swimming, snorkeling or simply relaxing. However, the area has a potential risk of loosing the land through the effects of climate change and rising sea level.

There is a natural tropical forest and family owned coconut plantations adjacent to the village with the bush tracks leading to the gardens whilst the main North Coast Highway runs parallel with the seafront and village on the other side. Matugar village is naturally a paradise of its own with coconut palms shading the narrow beach, giant fig tree tumbling leaves and branches over the water, greenery rioting in the background with stunning reflection giving a sense of tranquility. Its amazing to know that, after a few meters from the shore is the rich marine life; provides food source to the village. 

Along the coastline and on the other side of the main road are thatched-roof and semi-permanent houses built on stilts and surrounded well-looked after native flower gardens with hibiscus plants as boundaries. It is indeed a beautiful and a peaceful coastal village on the North Coast of Madang.

Despite being one of those peaceful costal village, Matugar village has its own challenges and is vulnerable to major disasters like tsunamis and effects of rising sea level because of its location on the shoreline. The effects of climate change are evident with the alarming state of erosion be caused by the sea. The soil composition is mostly sandstone and there is no reef formation like other shorelines of Madang which are naturally protected from erosion.

The awareness presentations by the students were interactive in which they involved the Matugar villagers in some of the activities. The students asked simple questions in Tok Pisin and the villagers used the butcher papers and markers to write their answers down. The student presenters had given the opportunity to the Matugar villagers to present their finding after their group discussions.

Below are some of the questions asked and the answers received from the villagers in Tok Pisin.

1. Long bipo taim graun i bin stap olsem wanem?

Answers:

·        Solwara i bin stap orait na plenty pis tru long solwara

·        Ples i bin stap orait plenti kaikai long gaden ibin gro gut

·        Nogat sik long wara

·        Busi bin pulap long wail abus na bin gat gutpla diwai long wokim haus

·        Plenti manmeri ino bin stap long bipo taim

2. Wanem kain senis i kamap nau we bipo em ino bin kamap?

Answers:

·        Solwarai brukim graun mak long 10mita long 1960 kam inap nau

·        We blo wokim gaden em senis

·        Kalsa blo yumi em dai aut

ü  Tokples

ü  Singsing

ü  custom

·        we bilong bilip na laif stail tu em senis

3. Bihian bai graun i stap olsem wanem?

Answers:

·        Klaimate senis i kamap

·        Plenty wok developmen i kamap

·        Lona oda tu ino wok strong

·        Plenti stil pasin i kamap strong moa yet

4. Wanem kain ol rot bilong kamapim gutpela sindaun long peles?

Answers:

·        Noken katim diwai nating nating, katim wanpla planim tupla

·        Planim mangrove klostu long nambis long stopim solwara

·        Noken tromaii pipia long solwara

·        Noken katim bus nating nating

·        Noken maekim paia

·        Lukautim wara blong yumi

After the presentations, the students gave quick reflections on how they feel the villagers should and should not do.They also stressed the importance on the World Vision Project on Disaster Risk Management.

Mr. John Griffith, the visiting lecturer from Southern Cross University, who accompanied the students to Matugar was given some minutes to make closing remarks after the awareness
presentation. He said that; ‘in Papua New Guinea, there are few universities and Madang is privileged to have Divine Word University which allows students to interact with the community and to discuss issues which affect the future of this nation’’. He also said; the students’ working in collaboration with village people to address issues such as Climate Change and Disaster management is the way forward to address the real issues affecting the people.

When the presentations were over, Mr. Lati and his Disaster Management team from the World Vision provided local lunch for both the students and the participants who had attended the awareness. The villagers provided Kulau (coconut juice drink) and also offered buai (betel nut) to the students in appreciation of their awareness in Matugar. The traditional dishes prepared in Matugar way includes yam and greens in coconut milk.

After lunch Mr. Imbal thanked the students and the participants for taking part in such awareness. He also assured the World Vision team and the Matugar villagers that if they interested then the students can be engaged again for next awareness.  

Written by: Wilfred Paka THMD4/2011
Edited by: Nathan Lati 

Onsite conducting awareness at Matugar village

THM D4 Students inside the bus

Awareness Presentation 

Unsolved mystery of Amelia Earhart

Whilst the researchers and experts have done their tremendous job to determine the facts of what went wrong with the most celebrated female aviator of the world. There are locals in PNG and the Pacific Islands have interestingly formed a enigma out of the last port of call, Lae Papua New Guinea.  

From 1937 up till now, aviation experts and researchers have exhausted their capacity to establish any lead evidences in the search for the parts of the plane or herself and his navigator (Fred Noonan) but remains a futile effort.  Many people have invested in documentaries about the mysterious disappearance of Amelia but the mystery still remains a mystery.

Looking back into her brief life in the 1930s, she was nothing short of a legend; one of the most celebrated aviators of the world. She has inked herself into the world history books as the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic, she went on to become the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the continental United States and the first person in the world to successfully fly one of the most hazardous routes which is between Honolulu in Hawaii  and Oakland, California.

In 1937 Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, set out to attempt (for the second time) to fly around the world in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra. They left Miami in the United States on June 01. After schedule stops in South America, Africa, India and Southeast Asia, they arrived into Lae, Papua New Guinea on June 29. Their arrival into Lae confirmed the completion of 22 000 miles of the journey with just 7 000 miles remaining. The plane vanished on the final leg, somewhere over the Central Pacific before a refueling stop planned for Howland Island, an uninhibited coral island located 1 700 nautical  miles Southeast of Honolulu.

From the extensive research information available, it is confirmed that; the Lockheed Electra 10E was heavily loaded from Lae when it was on its way to Howland Island before its final leg. The trip was supposed to last approximately eighteen (18) hours. The USA coastguard ship ITASCA was patrolling off the coast of Howland Island at that time was to provide communication support to Earhart for landing as she neared the island.

What is interesting to note is; one of her last messages which she kept saying over the radio; she could not see the island and that fuel was running low. If this message was proven to be true then she must have been out of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and mostly the Melanesian land and sea boundaries. However, there are some interesting conspiracy theories, hypothesis and speculations being developed by anthropologists, scientists and even The International Group of Historical Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) supports the Nikumaroro Island Theory from Fiji Islands. Even, there are some more unanswered questions about the theory; the convincing fact about Nikumaroro Island theory is that; Earhart and Noonan died on the island of Nikumaroro as castaways and 12 bones found are reconfirmed to be matching Earhart and Noonan's bone. Various scientific tests have been repeated to establish the basis and the Nikumaroro Island Theory continues.

From the theory; it is assumed that other bones must have been eaten by the coconut crabs which are endemic to the island. For those who are convinced by the Nikumaroro Theory, please read this TIGHAR link to enlighten further and provide your own conclusions.   

Back to Papua New Guinea, there are two provinces which claims to have found the remains of Earhart and have drawn worldwide attention. The discovery on Buka island of a plane relating and believed to be Earhart's was published on BBC and Daily Mail in UK making headlines about the location of the mystery plane after 70 plus years. The locals have firm believe on their discovery which assumed to be a treasure worth millions of dollars. No one cares to consider the countless planes that have crash landed into the dense jungles, sea, waterways, swamps, mountains and valleys of PNG during the WWII. The manufactures of those planes could not go wrong with serial numbers and specifications which makes identification easier even after decades of wear and tear with few or single remaining piece of the plane provides base information.

Leaving the Nikumaroro Island Theory behind, Marty of TIGHAR confirmed the discovery on Bougainville island to be another hypothesis related theory by saying; "There are strong indications that the aircraft is a Lockheed Model 10 Electra which took off from Lae on July 2nd 1937 destined for Howland Island. The crash site is in direct alignment with Earhart’s flight path out of Lae, past north of Buka Island in a straight northeast direction to Howland." 

This further confuses the followers of Earhart's story, scientists and researchers who have been working  tirelessly to establish lead evidences into the technically verify crash sites for Earhart. Unless there were some technical and mechanical issues that must have combined with Pacific's weather patterns to sway away Earhart's plane off-course from the Radio Direction Indicator Bearing and crash landed at the locations away from the proposed route undertaken or if it was not already near to Howland Islands.

Many followers, researchers and scientists would make substantive  conclusions of the possible location following the last messages and distress calls (mayday) from Earhart. In this view, the last message will only provide the clues leading to possible location.As a writer/critic to his issue; the last distress calls were possible lead information to locations and places like; Nikumaroro Island, Bougainville and West New Britian. For some of these places, it needs an aviator expert of the 1930s to conclude and erase or keep these places in the research books in search for Earhart. The careful analysis of the distress call signals and location must have been overused on the researches but that appears to be the only central part of the technical and scientific research where many conclusions can be drawn for possible locations or exists as a mystery forever.   

Not only the Bougainville discovery after the Nikumaroro Island theory was supported for possible verification and scientific tests but there is another location in West New Britian is said to be the cash site for Earhart. The stories reaching some of the state agencies indicates that; the locals from Kandrian District are building local museum in remembrance of Earhart and developing track to the possible crash site. The discovered crash site and some basic technical information of the aircraft are found on this link from Loop PNG which explains the discovery and vaguely confirms but nothing technically substantiated.  The local and senior journalist Malum Nalum wrote on his blog about the discovery; ''Suddenly they came upon a wrecked aircraft - a twin engine, twin tailed plane much like that of Earhart's.' When Malum communicated with the experts to gather information, one of them could tell Malu of the unjustifiable location of West New Britian which is some 2000 miles away from Howland. Hence, this is also another speculation and conspiracy theory but most of the PNG people would preferably say; 'a cargo cult' trend being developed out of Earhart mystery.

To make it easy, lets not discuss further on the discovery of Earhart's crash sites on Solomon Islands since the route for Earhart indicated on the Radio Direction Indicator Bearing shows,  Solomon Islands lays several miles Southeast of the route Earhart took. That confirms that, Solomon Island is off the research radar or otherwise mysteriously and out of profound links.

The last call from Earhart clearly confirms that; she was near Howland island and was trying to locate the island to land at the same time plane was running low with fuel. That means she must have traveled the calculated miles and tried to scan the area to find the specific island to land and she met her mysterious fate due to low fuel or visibility issues due to the weather. If there were some people who monitored her flights then her distress calls must have been well recorded or coastguard ITASCA and those within the reachable zones must have missed it.

Certainly, there were military bases established within the Pacific Islands by the colonial powers who were claiming territories and building empires before the WWII broke out in 1942. The tensions between the Allies and Axis Forces during the prewar periods are situations that an expert needs to confirm if Earhart has fallen victim of prewar tensions in the Pacific during her journey.

Earhart's disappearance was great tragedy but her legacy lives on to this day. For she has inspired and encouraged the inclusion of women in what was then an emerging commercial industry completely dominated by men.

If Earhart's mysterious disappearance was one of those aviation industry's glitch in the  1930s then I'm wondering what happened to the MH370 - Malaysian Airline which disappeared in 2014 without a trace in the aviation history of 20th century. With exception to Earhart being the latter and her legacy is heroic because of her courage to fly on a small plane alone those times.

I will always remember her as a hero for being one of those fearless women who was out for realities on the aviation history. Her experiences would have contributed immensely in the aviation industry if she did lived to tell.

Hence her quote fitted her selfless adventurous life and I quote; 

The most difficult thing is the decisions to act, the rest is merely tenacity - Amelia Earhart 

Picture taken off  from Aerotime News website

KapaKapa Trail experiences are memories of endurance and determination

I did not know of such a difficult trail that exists in my own country until I tried it with the group of enthusiastic trekkers from USA and Australia.  I'm proud to have conquered the challenging and difficult track as a first Public Servant from PNG to complete the whole length of the 2000km. 

It was on April 20018, I was requested by my boss (Heni Dembis) to accompany Peter Gamgee of Get Away Trekking and author of Ghost Mountain, James Campbell on the trip proposed for August to September. 

I was having confidence to myself as a native PNG, thinking I have the strength and stamina to complete the track. Little did I knew later was, walking 4-9km each day for 20days of the track that was described by Peter Gamgee as; ''what was, One Green Hell on the jungles on 1942 is today merely a Tough Walk in Paradise''.   

While having the combination of youngest being the girl, Rachel Campbell at 15 and Kevin Wainwright at 67, we had a broad combination of trekking experts. It was second time for James Campbell and couple of times for Peter Gamgee. In total there were eight (8) of the trekkers who are from overseas and I was among them with our PNG guides and carriers ranging from eldest to youngest. The youngest ones have accompanied their elders or father who were our porters and guides. One of those notable ones was the singing little James from Loronu village and he was 7years of age. 

We had boys from Central side and Northern side as porters and guides. The Central sides were led by Burdy Walbino a local from Loronu and who have been working closely with James Campbell and Peter Gamegee for the past few years to scope and revamp the Kapakapa Trail. The Northern side boys were led by Peter Bonga who is a regular trekking guide with Buna Trek and Tours. He has done guiding work on Kapakapa Track couple of times with trekkers and does routinely trekking business on Kokoda Track. He has trekking experiences with Mt. Wilhelm which is also on his list of trekking experiences in PNG's difficult terrains and rough mountains.   

The first day trip was not that really difficult with aluminum dinghy rides up the Kemp Welsh River. Since it was a dry season and water levels at some areas were shallow, we had more pushing upstream and arrived late at Sirimu village and overnight camps were setup. There we had a first game of Frisbee in the afternoon with village kids. Thanks to Rachael for introducing the Frisbee to the village children which also attracted few more elders and some began to be the expert on Frisbee. Each Frisbee was donated to the respective villages along with few other stationary and gifts for the school and village from the trekkers. 

Rachel has a special kind of attention from the kids whenever we arrived into a village. There were at times, every village kid who could yell and call for Rachel to go and play with them. Our local trekking team have names for her too for local synonymous reasons and at times we have to make her a crown-like headband from ferns and made her look like a jungle queen. Some guides even called her ''stongpela meri' (strong lady) or whenever we introduced her in the village welcome gatherings as one of the youngest among the trekkers, they will refer her as 'strongpela meri'. 

Among the ladies we have were two elders and one of them was the grand-daughter of Corporal Carl Stenberg, Donna Wilson. Corporal Stenberg, fought alongside the 2nd Battalion of the US 126th Infantry Division of the 32nd 'Red Arrows' and battled their way through to what ended in Buna as the Bloody Buna. The other one is; Julie Ardoin who is married to Joe Deutsch whom we trekked together. The couple are from USA and keen trekkers who have enjoyed trekking the rough terrains of Kapakapa without any issues despite its their first time to PNG.

Not forgetting Stephen from Australia who have been enjoying the local dishes and fruits at every villages that we passed through or stayed overnight. On the track, he has been the cameraman and the photographer for all kinds of mouse-rooms found along the track. He loves nature and keeps looking for things that always awes him and takes photos of them. He surely made alot of memories on the track with the nature, people, local dishes and fresh fruits.

If I could remembered one of his remarks during the lunch stop at Ghost Mountain while he was lying down with face up watching the fog covered sky, he said; 'Oh it feels great to be closer to god'. I could imagine the atmosphere and the attitude at 2000 meters above sea level. It was a fine weather but clouds could never allow us to see through to Buna's seafront from there.

It is believed that Major General Harding or Lt Gen Eichelberger led the 126th Infantry Division purposely over to Ghost Mountain for the soldiers to see Buna seafront from there. 

In reference to Rachael, she has a lot more experiences of the grueling Kapakapa Trail which are her memories of endurance and self determination she will never forget in her lifetime. While reading through here gritty bliss before writing up this, she has a love for PNG like his dad James Campbell used to say; ''there's nowhere in the world I could ever find a place like PNG.''  

More will be posted once we will collaborate to write few more stories of Kapakapa Trail.
The nightmares are not yet over for some of us after the 20days of continuous trekking from Gabagaba in Central Province to Buna in the Oro Province in 2018. 

Follow Rachel's gritty bliss on this link; https://grittybliss.com/2019/01/23/triage-on-the-trail/ 

Group Photo at New Suwari Village after the welcome. Rachel is second in the front row from Left.
*New Suwari is the first village on the Northern side of the Kapakapa track 

A retired soldier makes Manubada Island home

I wanted to live here because every day out here is paradise to me and the nights overlooking the sea towards Port Moresby’s Toguba Hill and vicinity gives me a feeling of renewal and serenity, Mr. Heau Solien.

Mr. Heau Solien, a retired soldier in his early 50s is a local from Vabukori and he owns part of the beach front on Manubada island through his mother and father’s side.   

After spending 16years in PNG Defense force, he resigned to live in the village with his three (3) daughters, two (2) boys and his beautiful wife whom he met at Aiyura National High School days.

Living on an island within the city of Port Moresby sounds exciting but isolated from electricity and water supply systems of Port Moresby city is one of the biggest challenge Mr. Solien and his family has to face each day. His elder son has become a good fisherman and he manages to catch fish each day for the family while his two daughters works in the city and the other one is still in school. The family live an isolated life on the island but self-sustaining.

The Mr. Solien family fetch water from the mainland and bring to the island on a family owned dinghy for their needs. A 20 minute of commuting between the mainland and island is costly but the family have no regrets and manages to live there for nearly two years. Mr. Solien regrets of never saving enough money to develop the area to attract tourist interest but he is always on the island to accommodate needs for picnic or camping out on the island. The bigger picture is of potential in tourism is there on the island but Mr. Solien is starting the tourism business in a small way. It will be a hotspot tourism hub within the city after the installation of the necessary tourism amenities on the island and change the idea of isolated island to island of tranquility and fun for those who need a break out of the city.

When asked of why he made the decision to live on the island; Mr. Solien says, ‘’I wanted to protect my island’s land which some people think its there without anyone’s ownership. I’m scared of the land grabbing trend in Port Moresby so I have settled here to protect my land which I own through my mother and father’s side.’’ I might not have the money to pay for my children’s school fee but I have the land here that my children will settle and live here with their families when Im gone. I want to teach them and show them the importance of living on our own land.

Despite the hurdles in life each day on the island, the family lives a content life on the island with natural see breezes providing coolest atmosphere by the local winds known to the Motuans as Laurabada (South-East) and Lahara (North-West) . The winds sometimes appear bad for the island which is also same to the coastal Motuan villages but at times it brings firewood to the shores and fish as well.  The Solien family have been surviving the two winds on the little bay under their makeshifts and adapted to the island life despite either wind being test to their lives.

Manubada Island is a rocky island and located few miles away from Ela Beach or Vabukori with a little impressive bay which has a white sandy shoreline frequent by Port Moresby local residents on weekends for a day’s picnic.

I was invited to attend a colleague’s son’s birthday and had a chance to met with Mr. Solien who is calm and never speaks a lot but always have something funny to share. Whilst looking around, the island exists within the fringes of Port Moresby but most of the people do not know how to get there and who to inquire before going there. The Yacht Club, individuals and other business houses in Port Moresby which owns boats do go there on their boats and anchors near the shore to use the beach but that has damaged the coral and the reefs which is the biggest concern for Mr. Solien and he wanted to have a jetty installed on the island before boats can be allowed to the island.

Anyone interested to visit Manubada Island or to help Mr. Solien to install tourism amenities on the island then call Mr. Solien on Phone 76762250;

Contact Nathan for further information

nathan.lati@papuanewguinea.travel

Pictures;

1.(L-R) Mrs. Solien and Mr. Solien and Nathan Lati on Manubada Island Beachfront  

2. Children on Manunada Island Beachfront

Get into Port Moresby, Roll over to Hood Lagoon

Get into Port Moresby and get out of Port Moresby is a reality for adventurers to PNG because of the reality of tourism products in the rural areas of PNG.

The city of Port Moresby has boundaries and outside of Port Moresby still exists the rural village life setting with modern touches on the living standards. Over the years the livelihood of the most communities have been improved with agriculture, tourism and other economic turnovers in the rural areas. 

Keapara Village on the Hood Lagoon Point in Rigo District in the Central Province is only 130km from Port Moresby by 4WD vehicles during the wet seasons after the Kupiano turn-off.

The village is first to host the European missionaries in the Papuan Region dating back to 1800s and the then South Seas or LMS missionaries HQ was built there before being shifted to Hula where it is now. The pioneer missionaries in the likes of Dr. Los and James Chalmers were based there before Chalmers met his fate in the hands of Iokea people in Mouru Bay (Kerema).

Dr. Los returned to Britain and the family legacy lives on with possibilities of pilgrimage activities beforehand when tourism development advances in Keapara.

Hood Lagoon itself has its own unique features in terms of marine biodiversity and geographical importance of how the lagoon was formed. For the interest of tourism; the lagoon is best place for kayaking, bird-watching within the waterways of the aged old mangroves, dolphin watching and game fishing are some of which are feasible.

Not far from the lagoon and between Hula point is a long stretch of reef that starts with sea-grass that appears like a garlic garden on a white sand just covered by over flooded sea and colored with different types of starfish. The undersea garden connects to the seaweed of greenish and brownish origin which becomes the colonies for small and colourful school of fish. The garden connects with coral and reef which is geologically connected to Great Barrier Reef between Australia and southern coastlines of PNG.

For the comfort of the visitors who need a weekend our of Port Moresby or holiday in a village setting holiday, the Hood Lagoon Resort is being developed for convenience and ready to be opened early next year. The resort has a 30 meters long jetty built into to the Hood Lagoon and has a bar access to either sides of the deck.
Never forget that, in the afternoon, its the sunset that should cost millions of dollars to be there on the jetty to get a glimpse when it wades off Hula point and horizon.

The resort when opened will comfortably fit 8pax at one time but there is always reserved beds and spaces available for camping in the village or coastline beaches of Keapara village 

For more information and updates follow #raonraonpng 
Photos by:  Wilfred Paka and Stanley Relson (PNGTPA Tourism Product Development Team) 

Sunset view from Keapara Resort Jetty 

Dolphins playing in the Hood Lagoon  in the morning- on the foreground is the Keapara Village 

The Jetty of Hood Lagoon Resort at Keapara Village