Crazy 'Bout Ma Mobile Phone

It's been fascinating and somewhat childish (when you actually 'step back and let every one go past, actually flying fast passst' in my tiny view) and or roguely maddening how the modern gadget of having a personalised moblie phone has gripped Papua New Guinea. A very short few years back mobile phones was thought to be only for the excutives, working class (those big time ones) and those especially with money (gained either honestly or dishonestly).

Now everyone from a working person to an illiterate subsistent villager can own a mobile phone!!! No qualms there...............it is all well and good that we have made the big leap into the communication world and now can have access to those most isolated spots (although we have many blind spots to cover plus many other issues to sort out i.e costs, etc etc) but at least it's a step forward.

The cynicism starts when people start falling head-over-heels about the latest models and struggles to buy & own one; typically every month (even fortnightly!!).

Think of it, the mobile phone companies too come up with the latest model every month (even fortnightly) so poor idiots 'go with the flow'.

I remember reading a study somewhere a long time back by some professor of something (or rather), that the speed & constant shift in personal 'wants' (I want this, that and that and that....)

is a normal process of every growing child (to adolscent to teenager) especially those in the modern society (in PNG this would appropriately be urbanised children or 'town' children). Those who have children knows well the demands of a growing child. As they grow they become more aware of their grooming, of their friends (peer group) and the world around them which is greatly enhanced (and exaggerates) by the advertisements they watch and read. The term he used to tag this behaviour I believe is called a 'Fad' (at one stage I used to relate it as a 'fag').

Suffice to say, we in Papua New Guinea have put ourselves in that category (of growing children) in our rush to have that 'latest mobile phone on the market'.

I remember a best friend of mine (we went to school together and still live as permenant residents on the same island paradise) who once told me the rational he used to decide whether to buy a mobile phone with a camera ( after the seduction by flip-on phones, the camera/ mp3 etc phones did their 'catwalk').

He already had a mobile phone (very basic) and had already a digital camera; why would he want a phone with a camera and mp3 all in one (again)???

he worked it out that as long as he can make a call on the run (mobile) from point A to B that's all is needed!!

That rational goes well with me especially this last few years when mobile phones hit the market of PNG where I have been one of those 'standing outside and looking inside' and to be honest I quite like the view......................

Having said that, I still carry around my 9 year old Nokia (dont know what #) with its Japanese characters hardly worned out, that I fell in love with while transiting through Nagasaki. Mobile phones were a 'high class' thing at the time I had mine. Here's a sneak pic:

The Dead, The Living, The Prison, The Wild

I was looking through pictures I took whilst on my recent R&R back home at Samarai and came across pictures I took of a funeral I attended at Kwato Island. The funeral was for a very nice lady (in my view not supposed to be gone this early anyway) who was also quite popular in the area; undoubtedly her proffession as a registered nurse opting to work in rural health centres her entire life up to her retirement was a big influence in her popularity.
















As her coffin was taken out of her house on the way to the Kwato church for her last service and amidst the wailing of her immediate families and close relatives, I had this familiar thought creep back into my mind (a thought that ALWAYS comes back to me EVERYTIME I witness this funerals).

I know the crying is for someone you will not see, talk to, expect for, love (and every other thing you relate to with every other living human being in every day living) etc, etc etc, in a person. Of course you shed a tear or two even at a funeral for someone you don't know..............but have you thought about yourself?

Think for a moment.................whilst that person (now dead) does not need to worry about the daily burdens of everyday living, toiling and surviving (because of being in the state of being dead), we the living ones have to carry on facing the moments into the future!!!

Things in vain like, "right when I finish with this burial, I wonder if I have enough fuel to go back to Samarai," or "tomorrow will need to complete that project at work as I've taken the day off today," (like my wife did).

Many a times I suppose we should be crying more for ourselves (those living) then for those that are dead!!

Now on a a more serious note, can you swallow this!!!!

PRISIONERS ARE ACTUALLY LOVING IT BEING IN PRISON. SOME SERVE THEIR TIME, GET OUT AND COMMIT ANOTHER SIMPLY TO GET BACK IN!!!! You think they've gone loco??...........they get three meals a day, a toothbrush, soap etc. Never mind the beating they get before they get there!!!

I should also point to you the link of what a consultant had to say about the recent commotions about '50% of AUSAID money paying consultants'..........catch 'Missives from Port Moresby and beyond.'

And just so there is plenty to read and whilst I am at it I should tell you what's doing in my kingdom.
(Ryan! if you seeing this - the maid's left the lead Pilot, Matt's tent and now spends her time with Cathy competing for my attention!!!

In our camp office we have in our employment this admin assistant (just like the one you have that pops up on the screen??) whose last job description includes 'sleep all day' (note the 'time' status, if your sights good).


"O'oohK, (yaawwwwn & strrreetching) no more printing, photocopying, scanning aaand lets see yes no more faxing......I'll just the pull the cover here aaand..................







GONE.........







stiiiilllll gone.......................


For want of a name our Chef calls her 'Tiger'

(I never asked why & am not goig to)

And then we have our security personnel..........quite a smarty fellow always on the lookout whom I call 'Kokofa'. He is always hanging around the long drop toilet.

Hoi, who goes there...........??








BOOOOOSSSSSS!!!!! (Moses Salama)

Weather Extremes

The weather here at Balimo, Western Province of Papua New Guinea is quite extra ordinary; went from one extreme to the other all in a 12 hour day!!!!

In the morning it was all greyish, windy and it looked as if we were in for a long miserable day.

By midday noon it was all white clouds, patches of blue skies and sunny.

At mid-afternoon the sunset was something else.

Selenapa wa!! (beautiful place)............. Seselena Luma (beautiful people)

Kaikai The Buai

I had an opportunity to watch some of my expatriate workmates try out the PNG way of chewing betel nut. The pictures taken showed the various form of buzz they went through and make them look like they were auditioning for the next Dracula movie.

The best Dracular impersonator who will also have the luxury of spending 3 weeks in the mossie infested lagoons iiiiiiiiiiiissssssssss:

Da-da-da-da-

Love At First Sight

I believe I am one of the most luckiest person, besides my best friend ('TJ') to be actually living and working out of the island of Samarai, Papua New Guinea. The first time I saw Samarai Island was when I visited with my father in 1980 who just got transferred from Port Moresby. I was on school holidays then...............and regretted it. Not that I hated it but because I was not to live there the next two years, as both my parents connived to have me complete my 6th grade in Port Moresby.

You see my father was with the Department Of Transports, Marine Division as a Marine Surveyor and was transferred to Milne Bay Province, based on Samarai Island. I suppose he was based there instead of the main centre Alotau, because three of Milne Bay Province's slipways at the time were located within it's vicinity and along the main domestic shipping route of China Strait.

The six weeks christmas holidays was a blur (come to think of it) but I remember well that I tried to do everything all at once in one day - especially the swimming. In fact I got very sick when I came back to Port Moresby and my mother being a woman of very strong personal opinion decided Samarai was not the place to be for the whole family and insisted my father seek to transfer back to Port Moresby!!! One reason I had to recover quickly to suppress her fears.

We moved and took up resident on Samarai in end of December 1981, my mother, two sisters and two smaller brothers and I went on to attend Cameron High School in Alotau the next year 1982.

We eventually moved to Samarai and took up residency on the 20th January 1982, and I got registered to attend the Cameron High School (at the time a premier high school) in Alotau.

The island's laidback lifestyle and the beauty of it's people is worth mentioning many times over, those in the past, those who passed through on a visit, those who have come to live on it and those who still live there, literally and in their memories.

See some old photo's here from ex-residents with fond memories.

- Photo's of Samarai '83 -84 and some recent ones.

- Old Samarai. Tales of time gone by

Some interesting links here you must follow to gain more insight of the island. I suggest you follow their links too - some are truly fascinating:

- Milne Bay Province. A facebook group formed for those who have connections with the province

- Samarai Isle. Facebook for people who have connections with Samarai Island

- Jack Medley. Who lived on the island a teenager and was married there. Read some fascinating stories of yester-Samarai