A weekend of farewells...

As mentioned in the last post, this weekend we were preparing for, participating in, and cleaning up after our ‘go pinis’ parties (aka go finish, or farewell). We were lucky enough to have two – one at Jane’s work, and another at our place.

So Saturday saw us marketing, shopping and working. Also, Cam spent some three hours trying to find a pig for our own party the next day. We never imagined it to be such an involved process. 7pm rolled around and we went to Jane’s work where the first party was thrown in our honour. The kai kai (food) was delicious as always (thanks to Vero and the kitchen staff), and a good time was had by all.



The Wanigili Theatre Group (that Jane has been working with over the last 6 months) even put on a few performances – including improvisation and mime.





Then the dancing started. Cam begged out with the excuse of documenting the event, while Jane danced to every song until the music stopped. And woke up with very sore feet the next day.



Sunday morning we resisted the tempation of sleeping in as we had lots of preparation to do for our own party. We started cooking and baking, cleaning, and generally preparing everything. Aries came through with a pig for us (yay! A party just isn’t a party in PNG without a pig in some form), and James, Cam and the kids across the road had great fun in helping to stuff it, put it on the pole and roast it over the fire. We were a little bit concerned that James enjoyed the whole process a little bit too much, perhaps he has been taunted by pigs while working out in the village, look at that smile!



James also performed his standard "ruin a perfectly good go pinis photo with a silly face" routine: look carefully between us.



Serina was amazing, and we’re sure once we got distracted with the guests arriving it was her that kept the party running. Thanks Serina! Apart from the food that we cooked, most people brought a dish with them, so we had plenty of food.



But, it wouldn’t be a PNG party without an excess of food. Everyone stuffed themselves, and was happy.

The drama group performed some more pieces, and there was even a bit of audience participation, most notably from local ‘celebrity’ Habona.



We were given some beautiful gifts from our friends (as pictured) – including some traditional jewellery, and baskets. Also a presentation was made to Jane from her drama group – and a few tears may have been shed.



The tears dried up however when Maxine's son with a great sense of comic timing interrupted what was becoming a rather emotional speach with "Mummy, I need to poo poo”... Jane is still laughing about it

So thanks to everyone who made our last weekend in Alotau so memorable. Thanks to Serina and her family for sticking around to the end – including party clean up duty. We’ve had such an amazing time – it’s going to be tough on Thursday when we say our lasts goodbye and fly away, we don't think a poo joke is going to let us get away easily this time.

Into the last two weeks...

As our time remaining here becomes shorter, we are trying to fit more and more of those 'last things' and 'catch ups' in. Last weekend we went and visited Serina at her village, Porotona, for the last time (at least for a while). We took the new volunteer dutch physio Anita along with us to introduce her to a different aspect of PNG culture, and as usual we had a great time and Serina and her family looked after us very well. We had a bit of a lazy time compared to previous visits (no walking up mountains or anything like that), but we still managed to play in the river with the kids, and Cam went prawn crazy once more.


The next day we went for a spin to Taupota and took Serina and the kids (as many as could fit) with us.



We stopped on this beautiful stony beach and the kids went for a swim while we started a fire and Cam cooked a fairly 'traditional' village meal - bulli beef, noodles and whatever vegetable is around.



Mmmm Bulli...

Needless to say we made for an interesting attraction with the local kids. In the afternoon we made a sad farewell to Serina's family - now the hard goodbye bits are starting, there were too many tears to make taking photos a possibility.

Throughout the week we packed. Oh how we packed. It's amazing how much two people can accumulate over a year - and that's after we've given a significant amount of our stuff away! We tried to send it away yesterday, but as usual it didn't quite work out the way we planned, so we'll have another try again today.

We were also lucky enough to have dinner cooked for us this week as well. The two volunteer/elective student doctors from Oxford wanted to repay us for the dinners Cam had cooked for them, so they came over on their second last night in town and made a delicious meal! Thanks for that Wil & Sandy. Thanks also to Dr Greg who attended and who has looked after us very well this year also, it is difficult to even begin to describe how hardworking and dedicated the medicos are here.

Anyway. We are officially at the one week to go in Alotau mark. It's hard to believe how quickly the time has passed! This weekend will see our go finish parties, and all the last minute catch ups, pack ups and farewells. We are looking forward to going home, but it is certainly going to be hard to say Aihoni!

Another weekend in paradise...

Weekends in Alotau can vary. As we will be leaving the country soon, we are trying to fit in as much as possible into our spare time. Perhaps this last weekend wasn't the most 'average' or normal one, but we feel it's worth writing about.

On Friday night we went to the local pub for Evonne's 'go finish' party (or farewell, for those who haven't picked it up) and danced the night away. We met some new volunteers working at the hospital, and had some nice company and conversation.

On Saturday Cam and Jane went their separate ways. Cam went with Bryan to see the prime minister speak (as one does) at the 'breaking of the ground' for a new business venture. There was lots of dancing and cultural celebrations. There was also plenty of political rhetoric or what in pidgin is called "mauswara" literally words that flow from the mouth like water, in other words politicans promises or more succintly: "bullshit". As Jane had the camera there were no piccys to record the event.



Jane and Maxine went to visit Rose – one of the drama group members. She lives about 20 minutes walk out of town, and has a very cute pig that almost acts like a dog. They went to visit the pig, and learnt how to cook aigarr (sp?) – which involves heating up rocks in a fire and then putting them in banana leaves filled with coconut milk, chicken (not pig, he was too cute!) and veggies.



Jane also taught the girls how to knit – can't even escape from the knitting in a tropical country!

Everyone here seems to be having birthdays at the moment, so Saturday night saw us joining the small Filipino community in town for one of their numbers birthdays. This of course involved dancing and karaoke which kept Jane happy (even Cam had a sing!), and pig on a spit which fascinated all the boys.

Sunday morning saw us piling into a car to see Evonne off (see previous blog entry) – a sad occasion. And to cheer ourselves up we went to breakfast afterwards at one of the hotels in town. We can't believe it took us this long to discover Sunday morning breakfast there – cappuccinos and everything (look at the smile on Cam's face)!



Jane tired herself out playing with Kaure and slept for part of the day, while Cam went for a dive off the shore at the local dive shop. We'll spare you the photos this time

This weekend we have more in store – going to our friend Serina's village for the last time! Only 15 more days in Alotau, and 18 more days in PNG! It's just going so fast!

Farewell to Evonne...

... or Etox, or Pun, or the honarary desperate housewife.

Yesterday we saw off one of our housemates and fellow volunteer Evonne. Her stay was shorter than originally anticipated, but she certainly made an impact in the time she was here. And we are sure that Milne Bay will see her again in the not-too-distant future.

We just wanted to say thanks and good luck to Evonne of the many nicknames and talents…Jane will miss having a dancing friend – someone who will get up and boogy to a good song no matter the surroundings or time of day (or nomatter if there is no song even playing).


Cam will miss having a surrogate sister to fight over couch space with.


James will miss having a buddy to hang out with and eat ice cream with. (That's James looking great in the back)


We've just included a few piccies of our time with Evonne – these include her well-known 'rat face', her groovy and fun styles, her artsy side, and a farewell group shot.









Look forward to seeing you in the not-too-distant future Evonne!

The first of the lasts…

The countdown has started. We now officially have 24 days in PNG, and only 22 of those in lovely little Alotau. Cam and Jane are really starting to feel the pressure of doing everything that a) we haven’t done yet, or b) we want to do one last time.

Obviously, in a place like PNG, there is plenty that we haven’t done. We are coming to terms with the fact that we’d have to come back here on many more trips to do everything we want to. However, there are many places that we have been that we would like to revisit before we leave.

One place you would have seen on this blog before is Waga Waga. Last weekend we went to visit Treetops Lodge again for one last quiet and idyllic retreat. This time we didn’t do any adventure walks, or snorkeling on the shipwreck. We just relaxed, enjoyed the view and soaked up the peaceful surroundings.





This is the place we first visited with Lyn, Stan and Will (the English anthropologist). We told Witch stories at night (very popular in Milne Bay – often considered to be the PNG capital of witchcraft and sorcery), and welcomed Stan back from a traumatic (and smelly) boat trip from Port Moresby.



Next we visited with Alix and Jace when they came to stay. Alix made friends with a fruit bat called Ane, and Jace got busy making kulau cocktails.

Our third visit was with Etox and the Drs. We went on an interesting walk to a nearby waterfall. We quite enjoyed the walk, except for the bit where Jane nearly feel off a mountain. After some time sitting at the waterfall we went back and relaxed some more – except for (hardcore) Scott who decided to get up early the next day and go on another walk.



Last weekend was our last stay, the first of the lasts.

We want to thank Warren for always looking after us; he's always been happy to come and pick up us poor volunteers without a car using his old beast and more importantly he doesn't even mind Cam using the kitchen and occasionally breaking through the floorboards!



If there are any of you who come across this blog researching a trip to Milne Bay or Alotau, we hope that you'll take our recommendation set aside enough time for a few days in the tree tops

Jane's Rant...continued

So, sorry about the text heavy rants, but please read on. It gives you a very good insight into what it is like to work here. We'll try and find some nice piccies to add (however unrelated) so that there is something pretty to look at. Anyway, here is the second story/rant.

Part Two – Come back tomorrow…

As mentioned before we have managed to record the first episode of our radio plays. We were very happy about this. It was a rocky start with a couple of blackouts, but once we started recording we were finished in 2 days (Wednesday and Thursday). We were told that the editing would only be a one day job (the episodes are only around 45 mins), so were told to come back the next day (Friday) to see how it was going, make comments on sound effects, and so on. We returned on Friday, and not too much had been done, but we were happy to come back on the weekend and give the operator some extra time. We also were told that we had to re-record one a part, so we arranged to do that on Saturday.

Saturday: (morning) Picked up the narrator and re-recorded his part. Were told that there had been a blackout the night before, but that it should be edited soon, and perhaps we could come back that night. I had already arranged to have dinner (it was a Saturday night), but Maxine said she could drop around, so she did. She arrived, but was told there was a party on, and ‘could she come back tomorrow?’

Sunday: Went back after lunch to check on the progress. We were able to listen to a few scenes, but it was fairly obvious that not much had been done. We kept being told that ‘first the voices and scenes needed to be placed, and then sound effects added, and then the whole thing to be mixed’. That’s fine, if that’s what needs to be done, but each time, nothing was happening beyond the first step. From listening ourselves we realized that we needed to re-record a couple more voices as well. So we arranged that for the next day.

Monday: Turned up in the morning and re-recorded a couple of parts (even though one part that had been ‘lost’ actually wasn’t). The operator hadn’t done anything from the previous day ‘I’ve got this headache and backache…’ Were told that it should be fine to ‘come back tomorrow – after lunch’. Needless to say we were becoming more and more skeptical.

Tuesday: Turned up again. The operator had been sick the day before, and also I think there had been more blackouts, as well as organizing something for an important friend (cue name dropping). Hadn’t been done. ‘Come back tomorrow?’ We thought we’d leave it til Thursday, in the hope that something more would get done.

Thursday: (one week has passed since finishing recording – originally we had been quoted one day for editing). Walked in and were told ‘we’ll need to re-record 10 parts’. What!?! Wasn’t this a bit late in the piece to tell us? It can be fairly difficult to get everyone in the same place at the same time to record – some of the talent had already flown out of town! Obviously things still hadn’t been done. Or rather, little bits had been done. But then the operator had decided the quality wasn’t that good so had stopped until we came around, when she told us a big chunk would have to be redone. We weren’t terribly impressed with this. Were told ‘I guess I can work with what we’ve got, but it will take longer coz they’re all at different levels…’ Wasn’t that supposed to be done when we initially recorded into the mics? The operator wasn’t at all apologetic either saying that ‘we are all in the same position’! Not really. Right, so established that we would come back on Saturday.

Saturday: One line had been lost, so we brought one of the kids back to record it. We were actually able to listen to the whole episode (apparently the operator had stayed up all night working on it), but as it was still being worked on there were many different quality levels – something about moving the recordings from one editing program to another (this had caused delays, as had more blackouts, and the rearranging of all of the equipment to get ride of a mysterious buzzing noise). But it was good to get an idea of the episode as a whole. ‘Could we come back tomorrow?’

Sunday: Maxine went back, and the operator had gone to a meeting.

Monday: No one there. Apparently there was another media job on in town, so we went to that and found the operator. ‘I really want to get this out of the way. I’m giving it priority over my own projects. There has just been so much bad luck, and I’ve stayed up all night trying to work to get it finished. So definitely – in the next day or so. Come back tomorrow?’ Sigh. It’s like banging ones head against a brick wall.

Tuesday: Went to the recording studio, but, you guessed it, the operator wasn’t there. By this time we have started our own recordings with our equipment, as we just need to get it all done.

Wednesday: Still no sign of the operator. Maxine decides to go and visit at night on her way back from dropping people home (after recording). It’s dark, and raining, and Maxine knocks on the door only to be told by the operators son ‘oh, we are celebrating a birthday tonight.’ Maxine explains through gritted teeth that it has now been two weeks and she really needs to know what is going on as we have deadlines to meet with this project. He goes back inside to get the operator. Maxine has been shut outside in the rain, and is then made to wait for 20 minutes while the prayers are being said. The operator eventually comes down and says ‘no, I don’t have a problem, but it’s still not ready. I can write a letter to the funding people to let them know about all the blackouts.’ Maxine says that this won’t be necessary, we just want the actual episode completed – when is a realistic timeframe for this to be done? ‘Oh, probably Friday – next week’. We are very glad that we decided to record the final five episodes on our own. We may not really know what we are doing, but it’s better than this powerless frustration and continual inaction on the operators’ part.

So we are going to go back and check today if there is any progress being made. It is nearing three weeks since we first started recording…this is something worse than ‘PNG time’…

Why Is Nothing Easy?

Well, first of all I want to say that we were warned that working in a developing country isn’t easy, and that there will be cultural differences etc etc. That’s fine, that’s fair enough, all understandable. But the difficulties we have been having with the radio play project are getting beyond a joke. There are two stories to tell here, so I will write them under subtitles…

Part One – Bureaucracy Bites
So when recording sounds, one wants a soundproof space so that we only record the sounds that we want the audience to hear (less cars driving past, kids screaming, hammering from the construction site next door etc.). In town there are only a few such spaces. One is the recording studio where we have already done some of our recording (more to come in part two); another is the current radio station which is only available a couple of hours a day, has archaic equipment (think vinyl and tape decks) and hasn’t been running for the last couple of weeks as they are behind in paying their bills; and the other is the brand new media space that was built through overseas funding, has brand spanking new equipment, and hasn’t been used since it was built due to internal politics.

We have been trying to use the new space, seeing as it was just sitting there, and we thought it might not be such a problem to use it, especially since we had some money in the budget to pay for the use; not to mention the fact that this is a community project and no-one will be profiting from it. Well. We started making enquiries, oh lets see, a few months ago now. We were very aware of going through the right channels. For the purposes of not mentioning names we will use letters of the alphabet to describe the process we’ve been through – hopefully this won’t get too confusing.

We went to the people at department A and they were very supportive – “it’s a community project, very good! Maybe we can give you a discounted price. But you just need to confirm it with big boss B.” So we tried and tried to get in contact with big boss B – eventually ran into him and organized a meeting (as he often seems to be out of the office, and doesn’t tend to return calls). We waited for an hour and a half, and he didn’t turn up. Eventually we got in contact with Big Boss B and he said something along the lines of “Sounds Great! Sure you can use the space. Just go back to department A to get it in writing, figure out rates etc”. Naively we became excited.

Now, the boss in department A (the nice one) has since gone on holidays. So we went and spoke to the acting boss who seems to have a problem with us, or Big Boss B, or just with life. He said “what’s this about? No, you haven’t gone through the right channels. You actually need to go through the boss in department C – he’s in charge of all this stuff. It’s nothing to do with Big Boss B at all!” Of course he said all this in a really nice way, so we just had to keep on smiling as well. Mind you, before he said all of this, he actually made us submit a whole bunch of paperwork. Just to make it seem all official.

We then went to the boss of department C who also made us submit a whole lot of paperwork. He then said “oh, well, it seems good, but well, this studio has never been used before. So no, you can’t use it. And besides the equipment is expensive and it might get damaged.” It didn’t seem to matter that we had a technician who had offered to help us. But then he added “I’ve said all this, but if Big Boss B pulls rank and says that you can use it, then I can’t stop you.” Right. So back to Big Boss B. When he eventually gets back to us he says “Well, the boss from department C does have a point – the equipment is rather expensive. But perhaps you could just use the soundproof room if you have your own equipment.” Ok.

So, then we were waiting for the equipment. There were problems with ordering it, so we had to wait for a couple of weeks for it to come. In the meantime, we had to get Episode One recorded so we went to the other studio, with someone who does all the recording, editing etc (more in part two).

The recording equipment arrived a week around two weeks ago (although we are still waiting on the editing equipment). We tried to get in touch with Big Boss B, but as usual it takes a while. We started recording at my work place as I am leaving in a month and we still have plenty to do, and can’t afford to delay the recording any longer. The recording needs to happen around construction, school kids, rain, cars and general other annoying and distracting noises. We eventually got in touch with Big Boss B who said “yeah, if it’s just the soundproof room, then that should be fine. I’m out of town, so contact my deputy D who will organize it for you”. Or will he?

Next, we contact Deputy D. He doesn’t seem to know much about it, so we have to submit more paperwork. He leaves us hanging for a couple of days as we have sent the fax to another office that is ’20 minutes away’ (You can cross town in 10 minutes!). After many phone calls he says “Ok, should be fine. We will have to charge you though. Get in contact with department A so they can figure out prices and paperwork.” Aarrgghhh! Again, we go back to department A (the nice boss is still away) where we are told “No the boss of department C is in charge of this. Deputy D knows this! You’ll have to talk to department C again.” Maxine very politely explains the situation through gritted teeth and he says in the nicest way possible “Oh sure, I will talk to department C and see what can happen”. We don’t trust him or believe him for a second. We get back in touch with Deputy D who says “No this is definitely something I’m in charge of. I’ll write a letter right now!”

And that’s where we are at with this story line now. I think we’ve inadvertently stirred up some trouble between departments and people who don’t like each other. But we are still waiting on the outcome. Perhaps we will have finished recording by the time it is resolved. But I’ve never experienced so much bureaucratic bullshit in my life!