Links
Pacific Arts
Carolyn and Ron at Pacific Arts advise that they have just posted an article
and photos on Bundi bark cloth butterfly dancers at http://www.art-pacific.com/artifact.htm
Yacht Club
The Royal Papua Yacht Club has a website located at http://www.rpyc.com.pg
and also http://www.royalpapua-yc.com.pg
Musical Instruments
Traditional Papua New Guinean musical instruments are primitive and fall mainly
into the percussion and wind categories. Visit -- http://pnghandcrafts.8k.com/g-drums.html
for more information. See story about PNG Handcrafts below.
Sorcery
Sorcery and its Social Effects Amongst the Elema of Papua New Guinea -- http://www.alastairmcintosh.com/articles/1983_sorcery.htm
Totems
If you are looking for ancestor figures or totems then a visit to http://www.magellantraders.com/ng_totems.html
may help you or at least point you in the right direction.
Rose Gallery
Rosalie Christensen was an artist, teacher, voyager, explorer, photographer,
mother and gardener who spent much of her life battling cancer and lupus.
She lived in America, Australia and Papua New Guinea raising two children
alone over 3 continents.
A sample of some of the pages about PNG at rosegallery.com can be found at
http://www.rosesgallery.com/sinai-ramu-bunapas-masks.html
with black and white photographs located at http://www.rosesgallery.com/pngbwphotographs.html.
News Items
Teachers Pay
The Post Courier -- http://www.postcourier.com.pg
-- has reported that more than 100 teachers in schools in the Morobe Province
have not received their pay cheques and that the cheques may have been sent
to another province. It is fortunate that most of the teachers have their pay
deposited into bank accounts.
Budget
The new Somare government has passed its first budget. This budget sees no
new taxes but heavy cuts in some areas in an attempt to arrest the deficit
that, up until now, was looming for the end of the year. This budget will
be valid up until the new one is handed down in November for the year 2003.
The government is making use of new legislation to gain an extra K4 million
from the National Gaming Control Board. The politicians are giving themselves
a 15 percent pay cut but it not clear which part of their many allowances
will be cut by 15 percent. It doesn't sound like that the 15 percent will
be from their total package.
Caritas Cultural Day
The Caritas Girls School in Port Moresby has recently held another successful
cultural day at the school. Many of the local politicians were able to attend.
Central Province Show
The Central Province Agricultural Show was held at the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium
in Port Moresby two weekends ago. This is the first show, since it started
in 2000, to be held in Port Moresby, 50 stalls were set up for show goers
to inspect what can be grown and produced in Central. Each of the five districts
of Central Province weer represented. (Kairuku, Rigo, Goilala, Hiri and Abau).
Fuel Prices
The price of petrol in major centres has dropped to K1.945 per litre. Despite
being price controlled some service stations in Port Moresby were charging
slightly more than the old price of K1.963 before the decrease. People who
have diesel vehicles, however, will be slugged an extra 0.7 toea per litre.
The cost of diesel in main centres should now be K1.496 per litre.
PNG Handcraft Exports
PNG Handcraft Exports (http://pnghandcrafts.8k.com)
is a small web-based business supplying Papua New Guinea artifacts to overseas
buyers. Casmiro Maia and Frank Arua own the business, two young men both aged
22 from the Goilala District of the Central Province. After completing Grade
10 with no prospects of further education, they decided to start their own
business. A friend who works with computers suggested marketing artifacts
on the internet, and with their friend's help and using borrowed equipment
they set up a simple website in 1999.
Establishing yourself, as a reliable Internet trader, is very difficult these
days, especially when you are based in a faraway country like PNG which buyers
in the USA and Europe are reluctant to trade with. Casmiro and Frank heard
many stories from clients about having been ripped off by other people in
PNG to whom they sent money and never received anything in return.
Casmiro and Frank actually started out by auctioning a few small items on
the eBay website, under the user name "pnghandcrafts". Bidders seemed
to be willing to take a risk and bid on low-priced items even if the seller
was a never-heard-of newby from PNG. However, once a few small auctions had
been completed and the goods had been delivered safely to the customers, the
positive feedback comments left on the eBay website by buyers about PNG Handcrafts
became priceless references for other potential customers to read. This encouraged
clients to trust PNG Handcraft Exports with larger orders.
The business now has a regular clientele of artifact collectors from all
over the world, and while the turnover is still relatively small compared
to the long-established artifact suppliers, income from this web-based business
now supports Casmiro's and Frank's extended families living in Port Moresby.
The website shows a selection of PNG artifacts and handicrafts which are readily
available. Once an e-mail order is received from a customer, Frank and Casmiro
go out and buy the items from suppliers and markets in Port Moresby and ship
them to the customer. This way they don't have to tie up their money in a
warehouse full of stock - they simply procure to order. The advantage for
the customer is that a wider range of items is available through the website
than would normally be available from any one artifact shop.
Some customers also ask for other types of artifacts not shown on the website
and Casmiro and Frank sometimes go artifact hunting in other provinces. Many
customers are people who have lived in PNG before and on their return to their
home country they have realised they didn't have enough mementos of their
time in PNG. Accordingly there are a lot of orders for bilums (string bags),
Trobriand carvings, and kundu drums that are sent overseas to ex-PNG residents.
Last year Frank was interviewed on the Chit-Chat program on the local TV
station to talk about what it's like to be a young man trying to run a business
in PNG. Frank said that they had more trouble trying to establish their credibility
locally than with overseas customers. He mentioned that at first they had
trouble even getting in the door of banks, shipping companies and government
departments, who couldn't believe that these young Goilala men were the owners
of a company exporting artifacts overseas. Every time Frank tried to cash
a company cheque bank staff rigorously questioned him, and every time he tried
to fill in application forms and other paperwork he was told to go away and
come back with his boss. "But I AM the boss".
PNG Handcraft Exports invites you to visit their website at http://pnghandcrafts.8k.com.
Ramu Sugar
It looks as if the initial Public Offering of Ramu Sugar shares will be oversubscribed.
The government is selling off its 50 percent holding in the company. For further
information please visit the Kina Securities website -- http://www.kina.com.pg.
The offer closes on the 12th of September. Over 6 million shares are on offer
at K1.26 per share.
Export Boost
The Government will embark on an export-driven economic strategy focusing
on the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors as part of its five-year
recovery and development plan.
Privatisation
Privatisation is to be reviewed and downgraded to selective and partial privatisation
with emphasis on contracting management and selected other functions to the
private sector.
Lae Cancer Unit
The Minister for Health has revealed that a machine manufactured in Canada
in 1963 and used for treating cancer in Lae may have been faulty. The equipment
may be faulty because patients treated by it were not showing any signs of
improvement. A new machine will cost approximately K2 million and the minister
will be attending a World Health Organisation meeting next month where he
will seek assistance for a replacement machine. The machine is the only one
in the country. Cancer is the fifth biggest killer in PNG.
Medicine for Lae
The drug shortage at the Angau Memorial General Hospital is far from over.
The Health Department has released funds to import drugs cleared from the
Lae wharf but the drugs and other medical consumables have yet to reach the
Angau hospital and then distributed to other hospitals in the Highlands and
Mamose regions.
Some of the drugs have been earmarked for Kimbe, West New Britain, to assist
in the treatment of volcano victims. A rise has been reported in sickness
due to the destruction of water and food supplies in the volcano affected
area.
Medicine for Nonga
The shortage of drugs has also affected the Nonga Base Hospital in East New
Britain. The Hospital has had to defer operations indefinitely and patients
have been told to wait until the drug supply is rectified. Wherever possible
the hospital was purchasing drugs from private pharmacies but some of the
specialist drugs are not available from pharmacists.
Eco-Tourism Melanesia
EcoTourism Melanesia (http://eco-melanesia.8k.com)
is a website promoting ecotourism in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
Aaron Hayes, an Australian who has lived and worked in both PNG and the Solomons,
runs the site. The website provides travel and tour information for most PNG
provinces, focusing on attractions in the rural areas and accommodation that
is owned and operated by locals.
The site features a range of village guesthouses, village home stays and
nature lodges that are not listed in the glossy tourist brochures. Aaron laments
that most of the marketing of PNG tourism focuses on the large resorts and
hotels, many of which are owned by foreign companies. The smaller, village-based
tourism enterprises owned by the local people are given short shrift by the
tourism marketers and the overseas travel wholesalers because they are seen
to be sub-standard, unreliable and hard to contact. Another problem is that
small operators don't pay booking commissions, so travel agents don't make
any money out of them and they steer their clients towards the commissionable
packages with big tour companies instead. The answer to this problem, according
to Aaron, is to educate the village tourism operators about the tourism industry
and help them meet some of the requirements of the overseas travel agents.
Meantime, Ecotourism Melanesia has taken upon itself to provide a booking
service for village guesthouses and tour operators. Using all available communication
methods - including barefoot bush runners! - Ecotourism Melanesia can book
travellers in to village-based accommodation in out-of-the-way places such
as the beautiful Tufi Fjords in Oro Province, riverside villages in the Middle
Sepik, and various islands in the D'Entrecasteaux group of Milne Bay Province.
Running a website covering all of PNG and the Solomons is a big job for one
person and the website is still being worked on, but all the visitor information
for each province is on file and website visitors can e-mail Aaron for any
information not yet available on the site.
Aaron Hayes
PO Box 24
Waigani
National Capital District
Papua New Guinea
Ph/Fax (+675) 321 5343
Literacy Week
The seventh National Literacy Week will be held from the 8th to the 12th of
September and will be hosted by the Madang Provincial Education Department.
A wide range of activities has been planned for the week including a traditional
display of how the Hagahai people communicated. The small province of Madang
with an estimated population of 365,106 from the year 2000 census has approximately
126 language groups in the province and can only boast a literacy rate a little
better than 50 percent. The Hagahai's, were the last people in PNG to become
literate. About 20 percent of the languages in Madang have alphabetical translations.
Hagahai
There are several articles on the Hagahai people of PNG and the patent rights
(US patent 5,397,696) for the human DNA material of the these people --
http://www.niugini.com/wwwboard/messages/76823.html
http://www.earthisland.org/journal/w95-13c.html
http://www.nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/nl/9609/0107.html
http://www.nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/nl/9609/0103.html
http://www1.jaring.my/just/archives/letters/hagahai.htm
Papala Bank
The bank set up by U-Visitract, the failed pyramid money scheme, faces more
battles in court. The latest being for non-compliance of court orders. Two
directors of the controversial "Royal Reserve Bank of Papala" will
face contempt of court charges for not complying with court orders that required
them to provide documentation and reveal certain identities within 48 hours
recently.
Kokoda Memorial Aussie Rules Match
Four children of soldiers living at Taurama Barracks in Port Moresby have
been lucky enough to be able to perform cultural dances at the Aussie Rules
Kokoda Memorial football match. The children were sponsored by the Tourism
Promotion Authority to perform dances during the match between the Sydney
Swans and Richmond Tigers on Saturday. Originally 24 children aged between
7 and 18 were to travel but due to financial difficulties only four were able
to dance. The PNG Junior Aussie rules football team - the Binatangs played
in the warm up match. It was estimated that over 100 people from PNG performed
in an official capacity at the Kokoda Memorial match in Sydney.
Tolukuma Cyanide Spill
Representatives of Hevi Lift (PNG) Ltd and Tolukuma Gold Mine, have been asked
by Leaders of the seven clans affected by a one-tonne cyanide spill over two
years and a half years ago when they will be compensated for the spill. The
companies concerned have taken steps to avoid further spillages but have not
had the time to work out a compensation details.
Mt Ulavun - Bialla
Villagers close to Mt Ulavun in Bialla, West New Britain Province, are extremely
concerned as eruption activity on the Mt Ulavun volcano becomes more frequent.
A team of experts, from Port Moresby, are in the province to carry out a proper
investigation of Mt Pago and Mt Ulavun. The National Government has given
K1 million for disaster operations. The Post Courier had a nice front-page
photo of a brand new K300,000 vehicle just purchased by the provincial government
with an article stating another one is on back order. Does this mean that
not much of the K1 million is left to pay for disaster related items?
Air Niugini
The financially troubled airline has received a great deal of bad press recently
for a 7.5 percent increase in airfares that came hard on the heels of the
Boeing B767 lease. Bart Philemon, the Minister for Finance and Treasury, has
said that "the code-share agreement with Qantas and B767, according to
an independent assessment of Treasury and accounting firm Deloitte, will produce
a net profit of between K30 to K36 million per year for the airline."
Many armchair aviation experts are saying that this is a make or break exercise
for Air Niugini.
Wrecks and Reefs
"Wrecks and Reefs around Port Moresby" is a book that documents
the history of early shipwrecks and World War II wrecks that lie in the waters
around the capital of Papua New Guinea. This book is primarily intended to
be a guide for scuba divers and it includes tales of cannibals, retribution
for a ruthless Japanese submarine that took the lives of innocent citizens
and the mystery of a lost airliner that disappeared along with thirteen unfortunate
souls.
The books includes information on the history of diving in the Port Moresby
area from the days of the early hard-helmet pearl divers to the modern self
contained underwater breathing apparatus (scuba). For overseas scuba diving
visitors there is a chapter on accommodation available in the area. The website
for the book is located at http://www.datec.net.pg/~mecba.
Sogeri High
The Sogeri National High School has had to send many students home due to
a blocked septic system at the school.
PNG Media
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and you would like to keep receiving free copies then please visit http://pnggossip.com/news/index.html
for instructions on how to join the list.
Articles for this Newsletter
If you think you have a PNG page worth mentioning then please click here.
To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter
queue then please click here
Some of the above are courtesy of Liz and her friends at the University of
Technology in Lae. http://www.unitech.ac.pg
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