Granny Flat and Haus Kunai up in flames

At around 8pm last night the granny flat where Mama Blogan was living and the haus kunai out the back of the house went up in flames. Lucky no one was hurt nor any thing major lost through the fire.

(Mama Blogan’s granny flat that was destroyed by fire last night)

(The Maruaka boys standing in front of an almost finished haus kunai)

(Yours truly with Mama Blogan)

When I left for work this morning Mama Blogan and Eli were still in shock. Understandable – Mama managed to save most of her few worldly possessions and was lucky not to be asleep in the flat at the time. For Eli this is a major learning experience as the fire was probably started by a fallen kerosene lamp in the haus kunai where she was keeping some chickens to sell and make a few buks on the side. There were only three chickens left (out of 52) and unfortunately for them they ended up kentucky fried.

As they say downunder: “Shit happens”!! In the end the clock cannot be turned back nor past circumstances altered. Things do happen for a reason – although the reason at the time might seem obscure and life has a knack for guiding one towards a future that remains unknown. More will be revealed!!

There is an addendum to this story and if this had happened anywhere else that’s probably all there would be to recount but this is Papua New Guinea folks – a land full of surprises – mostly pleasant thank god. What ensued last night after our street neighbours realised there was a fire was very much a PNG experience worthy of relating.

• Haus kunai and kerosene lamps definitely do not mix.
• The speed at which a haus kunai is decimated by fire is very very (very) fast!!
• The first thing we did once we realised there was fire? We had to tie “Gelo” up so that neighbours could come in and help.
• Locals swarmed our place like you would not believe. Mostly to help remove possessions from the granny flat and also to try and put out the fire.
• We had to cut the power for obvious safety reasons but that then left us without water (electrical pump).
• The PNG community and neighbourhood spirit truly shone last night. The speed at which folks come to help was unbelievable! The team work that was going on as items were being removed out of Mama’s place was worthy of song!
• Unfortunately, there’s a dark side to the Papua New Guinean character during events such as this one (perhaps a dark side shared by many). Some items were looted/removed/stolen from our property in the process! Mama lost the little money she had, a bilum and some clothes. Our shiny metal garbage bin has not been seen since.
• Believe it or not but the local Fire Brigade turned up within minutes!! Something unheard of in PNG – they even had enough water in their Fire Engine and a working pump to help put out the fire and stop it from spreading to adjoining properties.
• Shortly after the local Firemen left some of the local boys went rummaging through the ashes looking for the cooked chooks and young Chris (one of our neighbours) somehow managed to find one of them in the ashes of the haus kunai. I will never forget that look of salivating glee on Chris’s face as he walked of with a half cooked chicken.