Miscellaneous news items on Manus and PNG

Wantoks and friends,
Just in case you missed them, here is a mix of some current news and articles on Manus and PNG  that are available on the internet.

Manus Temporary Regional Processing Center

Birds eyeview of Lobrum Naval Base which hosts the Center (Photo: The Australian)

 Instead of being in the news for the fiesty performance of the famous Manus dancers or being the smallest and most northerly province of PNG, Manus is receiving a lot of attention these days for hosting one of the Temporary Regional Processing Centers (TRPC) for asylum seekers attempting to enter Australia by boat. The first batch of asylum seekers were transported to Manus last week.  There are several sources for news on the first transfer last week of asylum seekers to the reopened Manus TRPC. In addition to news items in PNG's dailies the Post Courier and the National, you can also read about the transfer in Autralian news sites such as the ABC http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-21/first-asylum-seekers-arrive-on-manus-island/4383876 .  Photos of the first transfer to  the Manus TRPC last week can be viewed at http://www.newsroom.immi.gov.au/photos/temporary-regional-processing-centre-in-manus-island-3 .

The Last Laughing Death

Dr. Alpers at his Freemantle home (Photo and story: The Global Mail)

This is a story of the last death of the dreaded desease the kuru which was first detected and studied in PNG among the Fore people and the work of pioneer scientists like Dr. Michael Alpers (pictured above) and his group. This interesting  and informative story can be read at: http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/the-last-laughing-death/470/

The Return to Manus of the Climate Challenger

The Climate Challenger blog

There was so much hope that the Manus canoe, the Climate Challenger and its crew will successfully complete its journey through the islands of PNG, Solomon Islands and the Micronesians States of the Pacific spreading the message of human resilience and adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change, in particular sea-level rise.  Sadly, the dreams of the Captain Manuai Matawai and his crew have been put on hold.  They did not want to risk navigating the vast ocean space between Solomon Islands and Nauru during the cyclone season.  Resources to sustain the voyage was also badly needed but was not forthcoming.  The Climate Challenger is now on its way back to Manus.  Hopefully the voyage will be taken up next year. The voyage of the Climate Challenger can be followed at: http://climatechallengervoyage.net/

Fasfowod Stringband

Fasfowod Stringband (Photo: Fasfowod - http://www.fasfowod.de/)

Now for something really exciting.  In my search to find stringband music of the Pacific in Europe, I stumbled upon Fasfowod Stringband of Germany.  This is a group of musicians who simply love the earthy but uplifting stringband music of Vanuatu and have taken up playing this kind of music.  Interestingly, I found out that Fasfowod has done a cover of one of PNG's own Oshen's songs "Meri Lewa".   I would not mind seing Fasfowod in action. If our German wantoks are reading this, you might want to pass on the message to Fasfowod that it is welcome to come join us liven up the PNG Independence bung in Rome in 2013.  There will definitely be a lot of PNG tokpisin (pidgin) spoken and sung during the event. I suspect the Fasfowod members speak Bislama (Vanuatu Pidgin) and will have no trouble mixing it with PNG pidgin. After all, they have done Meri Lewa, a popular song in PNG tokpisin.

Peace. Your 1tok in Rome

ATOLL RICE - a short story about the hopes and pain of rice growing on an island

[Hi Wantoks. This is a short story which might appear elsewhere in print soon. You are reading it first here. Enjoy it while we await developments on the 2013 PNG Independence bung]

 

 

THE RICE GROWERS OF BIPI ISLAND

“Atoll rice? You must be kidding me?” That was my first reaction when I was told that rice was being grown on Bipi Island, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG).  I had to check out this incredulous tale and there is no better substitute to being there in person to do it.



It was August 2011 and I had just joined my family on Bipi Island, for a 2 week break from hectic work in Rome where I was first informed about rice growing on the island.  So eager was I to get to the bottom of this fantasy that I was led at once to a small test plot located in the Bipi Primary School grounds, just a stone's throw away from our island village house.  In one part of the plot that had been seeded earlier, I saw young shoots of almost yellowish green grass, the kind of colour that could be considered to be that of an unhealthy plant, an indication that the grass shoot was struggling, that it would die soon.  The other part of the plot appeared to be just a vacant portion of the 5 meter by 5 meter square of toiled soil.  “Why aren't the shoots growing there?”, I asked pointing to the bit of the plot that was void of plant life.  “That bit was seeded later, the seed have yet to germinate'  was the response, “...or otherwise...”' 'Otherwise what?' I interjected? “Otherwise, the free roaming and hungry village chickens have got to the rice seeds first”, responded my informant.

Transplanted young rice plants

 'That's the end of the rice, story ' I mused, even after I was offered the extra information that there were other test plots seeded elsewhere on Bipi, that the rice was doing well and that I could be shown the healthy growing rice plots if I wanted to.  My doubtful self demanded hard evidence rather than just being shown growing rice plants. I thought that rice growing and producing on Bipi was destined for absolute failure because I founded such a believe on the following facts: 

• Bipi was a coral island measuring just over 3 km in length from West to East and just over 1 km in width;

• Bipi had atoll-like soil which appears to me to be 95% sand and only an average of 10 centimeters of black topsoil being decayed organic material;
• Even if it poured buckets of monsoonal rain on Bipi, the puddles that were formed on the ground would seep through the sandy soil and dry up in no time;
• Real soil in the region was found only on the main island of Manus.  Indeed, on the west coast of Manus, it was reported that farmers from the mainland village of Kali had grown rice and they had enjoyed their first harvest. But, that is Kali and of course the main island of Manus. Bipi was something completely different.

So rice growing on Bipi was not to be, I thought.  Fast forward to August 2012 and my family and I were on Bipi again for a longer vacation.  The question put to us this time was, 'Have you tasted Bipi grown rice?' 'For real?' was the incredulous reaction from us.  Smugly narrated stories of modest but successful rice harvests begin to unravel for our listening pleasure. We were even told that the rice was 'sweet' compared to store-bought Asian or Australia packaged and imported rice.  'Sweet' in this case meant that the cooked Bipi rice was delicious - that it could be eaten without the normal accompaniment of fish that is bountiful in Bipi seas.  Thus began our conversion, from non believers to believers of the fact that rice can be grown and that the same rice can be harvested, cooked and eaten on this remote island of Bipi.

Sick rice plants - early stage

Wow - rice, a food item that was long considered a foreigner's, even a rich men's food - something that you could buy only in stores -  was to become a locally grown food item. A commodity that was steadily rising in cost and threatening to move out of reach of the meager buying power of an ordinary villager was finally being grown on Bipi among cassava and kaukau (sweet potato). It did not have to be purchased.  The Asian staple would become just as accessible as picking ripe bananas or plucking breadfruit off the trees that grew in abundance on the island.

Sadly however, the rice story of Bipi is not all rosy.  Just before the end of our vacation on Bipi, an investigation team comprising civil servants from the Manus Provincial Government, disaster relief officials and other technicians representing NARI (the PNG National Agriculture Research Institute) and other government entities, visited Bipi.  We had been told about the rice plants on Bipi that had withered, turned brown and died. For some Bipi rice farmers, it was their whole plot that was devastated, plagued by a mysterious disease. The government investigation team was on Bipi to investigate the cause of this disease.

 

PNG Government Investigating Team members

 We were informed immediately after the team’s visit that the rice plants were suspected of being attacked by larvae of two tiny moths found on Bipi. One of these liked the pith of the rice stalk and the other the roots.  Bipi rice could not withstand such a double, sleek and covert attack.  This preliminary finding of the investigation is yet to be confirmed. For now, rice planting beyond the first successful harvest (or second harvest for those who managed) will have to be suspended until NARI gets to the bottom of the disease affecting Bipi rice.

Sick rice plot Uprooted sick rice

At the end of our vacation, during a gathering where sharing a meal with family members is an institution on Bipi, we got to see the preparation of and sampled our first Bipi rice, harvested from the first planting cycle by Henry, a favourite relative.  True to its earlier acclaimed features, Henry's Bipi rice was indeed 'sweet'.

Unhappy Bipi rice farmer

For the people of far flung islands like Bipi, there is much to be gained if atoll rice can survive the harshness of tropical island conditions to become a sustainable part of the food supply of islanders such that their food security could be given a boost.   While local tropical island fruits and vegetables and saksak (sago) will continue to comprise the main diet of the Bipi people, we hope, for nutritional variety and choice reasons, that such a tasty food item, one that may soon become the staple of many Papua New Guineans, would survive on Bipi. Our hopes are that NARI could confirm their findings of the disease affecting Bipi rice soon and that the disease can be treated or eradicated so that rice can be grown with confidence that a bountiful harvest will be the profit of an investment of labour and love of the rice growers of Bipi.

 

Another unhappy farmer

 

Update: 2013 PNG Independence Anniversary - Rome, Italy

We all know that September 2013 is far into the future but it is always better to be early with the preprerations for the 2013 PNG Independence Annivasary Celebrations in Rome.  That is what the co-organizers have advised, thus this blog and and the subject matter of the majority of the posts on this blog for some time to come.  So wantoks out there, if you are interested, here is some information that is restated in this post for your convenience:

Event:            2013 Papua New Guinea Independence Celebration
Date:              13-15 September 2013 (main event/programme scheduled for 14 September 2013)
Venue:           Rome, Italy
Participants:   All PNG nationals, wantoks and friends in Continental Europe

 

Recommended (not obligatory) accommodation for participants:

 

Camping Village Fabulous

( http://www.ecvacanze.it/en/camping/camping-village/camping-village-fabulous/ )

(Address:  Via di Malafede 205, 00125 Casal Palocco, Rome, Italy)

If you wish to contact the organizers or ask for help, please post on this blog your question or comment or use the following means of communication:
Email:                 2013pngwantokbung@gmail.com
Mobile phone:    +39 3493116380

Latest information on organizational issues

In addition to the new email contact provided above for wantoks' convenience, I am pleased to report, thanks to another core member of the Rome organizing team, that we have made some progress in discussing possible premises in Rome to be used for the main event which will occur on 14 September 2013. We will reveal this information as soon as it is confirmed but it should be somewhere convinient nearer the center of Rome and adjacent to several means of public transport (train, tram, metro, bus).

The main event will at least include inspirational address by a PNG personality, cultural items including song and dances and feasting on the traditional PNG dish the mumu.  Ideas for enriching the main event are welcome but whether or not the ideas will feature as part of the main event will largely depend on: minimal or no cost involved, ease of organization, participatory in nature and fun for all.

More information on organization will be shared periodically.

Interesting news and events

Those of you who are keen followers of major events in PNG will know about the visit of Prince Charles and Princess Camilla to PNG.  It seems from the news media sources that PNG has really turned on the charm for these two members of the Royal Family who are visiting PNG, Australia and New Zealand to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee.  Charles and Camilla have really been made to feel welcome and it seems they are enjoying themselves.  Our hats off to our fellow PNGneans, leaders and organizers of the visit and volunteers for making a good impression for our important visitors.  Some photos from Post Courier are reproduced below for your viewing pleasure.  (Credits to the owners of the photo.  No gain in kind or otherwise is made from re-posting these photos. No breach of intellectual property rights or in commiting any violation is intended).

 
Peace.

Your 1tok in Rome.