There is no place like home

---

PNG News #3 - There is no place like home

"I love Canada…..It is a great country much too cold for good sense, inhabited by compassionate, intelligent people with bad hairdos."

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi p.6

" Don’t we say, There’s no place like home."

p.17

Yesterday’s induction the Vice President, Administration included a briefing on security. Benjamin N. told Evangelia P. (an academic from Crete and my fellow VSO volunteer/temporary housemate) and me about the two settlements that surround the campus. On the north end of the campus Gabasta Settlement is made up of people from many tribes. These people were attracted to the bright lights of Madang and make up this illegal shandy town.
85%!o(MISSING)f all of PNG land is owned by clans…remember wantoks from last week? The people in settlements have left their villages and band together in a new community. They most certainly can’t find employment. The employment figure quoted is 1%!o(MISSING)f the population working for money. (1%!I(MISSING)S NOT A TYPO!) Needless to say they lead a hand to hand existence- stealing mangoes, coconuts, chewing beetlenut -all found on the old rubber plantation owned by the SVD Catholic missionaries - also known as the Divine Word University. (my new home and workplace)

The second settlement Camarumba started 30 years ago. The story begins when a man from the Sepik River region camped on the property’s west creek edge. The Sepik region is known for its infamous tribal warfare, distinguished detailed woodcarvings, and its high density of malaria producing mosquitoes. The original Sepik man offered Father Kenneth Feelan protection on the land at the creek in return for occupancy. Now there are fifty-one homes inhabited by three families each. They too need to scavenge to meet their needs.
The settlements in Madang province have been declared illegal and the government plans to evict the people on our neighbour settlements December 14th, in order to make room for expansion. With limited chance of employment outside villages, one wonders how the students commit to further study, and resolve to complete their degrees. I am sure the heat contributes to just staying on once they have arrived. The only beings that are moving with speed in the daytime are the ants. Crickets join the ants in the evening. And of course there are the fish. Just as the air is teaming with heat, moisture, and the sounds of rosters crowing and birds singing - so too below the surface of the water lies a second world of fish waiting to be explored. (I am still waiting for my mask and fins to arrive).
I am fascinated tru by the University. I eat at the staff mess with Catholic Brothers from Poland and Australia mostly. In the middle of a conversation at dinner last night I thought I was dreaming- I heard Oh Canada being sung. (It was a broadcast of the Canadians playing rugby in the Australian Open.)

Today’s visit to the library was revealing. The library has few resources and they are all bundled up, prepared to be moved to a brand new spiffy library that has been in the works for the last 6 years. I am not saying that the library has been on the books, I am saying that the actual construction has taken 6 years. The building was funded by AusAid which contributes more than AUS$300 million to PNG each year. Even so the library resources are limited. Last year two books were purchased. Some books are sent from Rotary Clubs and the UN and other donors, nonetheless they are merely used books, not requested books and not necessarily needed or wanted books. Still there are some unique resources, original works by anthropologists and missionaries. What a mysterious place! What a different life I am living.

Let me know if you want to stop these emails. No worries as the Aussies like to say.

---

Photos

Construction
Building on university grounds

Baby
Baby in bilum

Coronation fire
Coronation Street fire