It is 1:00pm Friday afternoon and I haven’t really got much to write. I have been busy getting ready for next semester which incidentally starts next week. The campus is a hive of activity at the moment with students sitting for “repeat” exams, other students going through the registration process and staff busy preparing for the start of classes Monday next week.
Since the 15th of June my blog has had close to 300 unique visitors. Seems to be going up by about 100 per week. Unique visitors meaning that the counter will only be “bumped up” the first time you visit Trupela Tok. Subsequent visits will not be tallied. I am happy with the current layout of my blog but at times don’t feel much like posting anything to it.
Goasa (my office mate) his Mum past away a couple of days ago. His Mum and Dad live in a small village about 2 hours boat ride from a coastal town called Kerema (Gulf Province). Always sad hearing about someone else losing a loved one as it brings back memories of the death of my own father. Death is never an easy time although in the end it happens to us all. There are 7 siblings in Goasa’s family, they all left the village to get an education and are now living in places like Moresby and near Lae. One of the consequences of the population migration occurring in PNG is people losing contact with their villages and land. Progress always demands a price.
A couple of observations on the PNG people which I would like to share with you:
1) As people move away from their villages and settle in the larger towns they lose a connection to their land. Village life is structured and clean and orderly. Once the PNG person moves away to a strange place something appears to be lost, it’s like their spirits are somehow weakened. Without this connection and closeness to their land, structure turns into chaos, hygiene is out the door and order is replaced with unrest.
2) For the first time the PNG people are learning to handle money. In the past they had currencies but these were mainly the ownership by the “big men”. Managing dollars and household affairs in relation to spending is difficult for most people (that’s if they earn any money at all). Money management should perhaps be introduced into the school and university curriculum as a course for all students. Some Time Management skills wouldn’t go astray either.
3) The PNG people seem to have little confidence in fellow nationals. I think that this observation might be related to my 1st point. Interacting with people outside of their tribal or wantok group is foreign to the local.
4) Change is being “thrust” upon PNG at an alarming rate. Most of these people are 1 to 3 generations from having initial contact with western civilization. It’s a big ask to move from the “Old way” to the “New way” in this relatively short space of time.
5) Missionaries have a lot to answer for. One collection of superstitions seems to have been replaced with another. I’m sure that amongst the missionaries there are many good men and women, there might even be some very spiritual people tucked away there somewhere. Overall I do not agree with this blind drive in PNG by the missionaries to convert all to Christianity. A policy of attraction is so much more effective than a policy of promotion.
6) Wantokism and corruption go hand in hand. They exist at all levels of PNG society. The “Bigmen” get blamed for corrupt behavior but it runs rampant right throughout PNG society, at all levels. Wantokism is PNG’s best friend and also it’s worst enemy.
7) PNG is in the process of getting pillaged buy both east and west. PNG is a very rich country and it’s people are very poor. The PNG people will wake up to this fact one day and all the riches will all be gone !!
8) International Aid is not what it seems. Primary contracts and tenders are mostly won by international companies. Much of the Aid destined for the average person in PNG ends up in the pockets of large foreign companies. The locals end up doing all the hard work for K10/day or less.
9) Talking about the problems in PNG seems to be a bit of a national pass time. People whine and complain about problems of mismanagement and corruption. This is potentially a negative thing and ends up having a high impact on morale. People feel helpless. The PNG people need to take responsibility for their problems and get rid of the attitude that someone is going to come along and fix everything.
10) I have met a few people that hold a strong vision for the future of PNG. These people seem to be few and far between. They recognize the problems that PNG is facing but hold to a belief that change can be for the positive. These people are the true leaders in PNG. PNG needs more of this type of person.
Just hopping down of my soap box….
On a different note… a comment was posted to my blog the other day by an anonymous reader on the story: “To Goroka and back and one extreme bus ride“.
He or she is a UNITECH employee currently away for one year. They somehow stumbled across my blog and enjoy reading the going ons here on campus. This is an example of one of the benefits of using the internet as a channel for sharing one’s experiences. I am very aware of this and as a result of this “exposure” at times when I write stuff for the blog I tend to think twice before writing. Nevertheless, nice to find out that someone I don’t know is reading what I write.
It is now 2:30pm and I might try and do some more work in prep for next week.
I hope you are all well and enjoying life to the max.
Bring it on !!!.
When a journey's vision becomes apparent, many of the challenges show up as dificulties, or to put it another way, seas to be crossed or mountains to be climbed. During these passages of their sojourn, new skills and knowledge over-write previosly learned methods of modis operandi. Some of the exporers or entrepeneurs will have their future skills and their thought patterns constructed by meeting other travellers on “their journey”. When your path and theirs collide many new values, ideas, strengths and fears are learned by both, but natures instincts are not effected, more likely become the driving force like the wind in their sails. A VERY EXCITING PROSPECT.
I hear your vioce speak the words of your blog as I read them, [a very comforting experience] and I hear the changes in your optimism but never a change in the excitment in your voice.
As you know, I'm concerned for your safety but thats probably for my own selfish reasons, so I will remind you of the lady who was told not to stop and go straight to the airport, because PNG is a frontier, it's exciting but brutally dangerous, so please be carefull and wise. I wonder who will be your Shantaram equivelent
The bus trip to the mountains was a very excitng read. Sounds like a real hoot.
Regards Noel, Carol and Holly.
Hey Rob. How do I log on
regards Noel