Up The Creek....

The last week of February took Kelvin up to 'The Gulf' - just follow the coast on your map north west from Port Moresby to the Gulf region, the major town being Kerema. We departed by twin-cab four wheel drive ute - all five of us - with six large plastic containers of petrol in the back! After four hours we transferred from the ute to a motorised dinghy for the final two hours, because the dirt road into Kerema was too risky by vehicle. We were heading north for the official opening of the Japanese Industry Corporation (JICA) Water project, a partnership with the Salvation Army Japan and PNG, involving ten village communities 'way up river' from Kerema. The first photo shows our dinghy just after we left the river for a magnificent trip on the open sea, along coastline with some of the most gloriously preserved villages that seem not to have changed for hundreds of years. We stayed overnight in a local Christian Hostel, which had a cold shower, bed bugs and chicken on the menu every single night! We spent a day touring the villages up the river system, at times pushing the boat with sticks because it was too shallow for the motor. At times we had to wade through the river because it was not navigatable by boat. We were always beautifully received. The children are in epidemic proportions, and love to have their photo taken! The JICA project built 28 water tanks in 10 villages whose only other sourve of water ever, was the river with all its contaminants. The project also included 250 toilets, and teaching of the community in health, hygiene and community development. I couldn't believe my eyes when I caught sight of a bike - no roads up here - all basically river transport or foot, and here is a guy with a bike! The villagers always turn on a very warm reception, with music and dancing. Children also hide in mud puddles completely concealed, and then jump up in order to scare you as you walk past. The air is then filled with laughter, especially if you pretend to be scared. We didn't see the kids in the mud. They must breath under water! It is so wonderful to be welcomed in the traditional ways - we notice that even though the women folk who had moved on in years, it didn't stop their enthusiasm and energy when it came to dancing us into the villages. The Gulf region is very flat, with a massive system of rivers that feed down from the mountains and carve their way through the many miles of thick jungle. The villages are numerous and built usually on the edge of the rivers to allow access for water, but also to enable to villagers to fish and to use the rivers system for transport. It was a magnificent day out on the water. We came home to Kerema and were hosted to a magnificent spread of local food at the home of the local Salvation Army Regional Officers. This was local food purchased for us at the local market, including the local delicacy which is crab. The evening was spent wrestling with bed bugs before we donned our 'Sunday best' for a return trip up river again, this time to the Village of Laparis where the main Opening celebrations were being held. We had two dinghys this time, and we can't explain it but we had the company of four uniformed police, one armed with a semi-automatic machine gun which he cuddled into his chest as he sat opposite me in the dinghy. This fellow said nothing all day, except he did sort of smile when I finally plucked up courage to ask if I could take his photo! There was a village just packed with excitement at Laparis when we finally arrived. The trick for us was to get out of the boat up muddy banks and walk through jungle paths without getting our neat uniforms in a mess. No wading rivers today, but the children caught us totally by surprise some hundreds of metres from the village - they were completely submerged in the mud, springing up and spraying Captain Christine Gee's lovely white uniform with mud. They laughed and danced in front of us all the way into the village. The village has some 3000 people who have never had access to clean water, especially running water. Today we would open a gravity fed system that filled a large tank on the edge of the village, and then pipe water to at least seven outlets in the village where people just had to turn on a tap for their water needs. The village now has village toilets, instead of 3,ooo people 'going bush' every day, they now have several 'public' toilets. When I entered the village, the beautiful reception committee gave me a bilam which was adorned with at least four river crabs and parts of crabs! It was an offence not to wear it, so for the next several hours I paraded my bilam around my neck with its adorment of now odorous crabs. The odour of dead and drying crabs is one thing, but they attracted all the flies in the village too. I gave my speech in the official proceedings with my bilam, my crabs and 'a thousand' flies to the hardly concealed amusement of all concerned. It was a great day in Papua New Guinea. Our boats struggled in the shallow river system to get home that afternoon, my plane was on time and flew over while we were still stuck up the river. I stayed overnight to fly home next day, sharing my very small plane with a boy nursing two chickens on his lap (and I am sure I heard his mother say her snake was in a box in the back of the (small) 15 seater plane! Those who did the return trip by dinghy on the open sea were hit by a storm, nearly capsizing the boat. No life kackets - its PNG - so I know they were counting the now empty petrol containers in the boat! We all made it home all the richer for our experiences!