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A priest and his people
Warring tribes in Tsak Valley in Enga province decide to work together to rebuild their community. They recently witnessed the priesthood ordination of one of their sons Fr Lukas Kambao. FRANK RAI reports

Warring tribes in Tsak Valley in Enga province decide to work together to rebuild their community. They recently witnessed the priesthood ordination of one of their sons Fr Lukas Kambao. FRANK RAI reports
The use of high powered firearms in tribal fights in the Enga province was first introduced in the Tsak valley of Wapenamanda district.
Two warring tribes, the Yambaran and the Yakamadain used high powered firearms in 1988 in one of the fiercest and gruesome battles ever recorded to date.
Today these two tribes are the well populated tribes in the Tsak valley, consisting of ten council wards and five sub clans, with a population of over 5,000 people in each tribe.
In 1991 tribal fighting flared up again when the two sub clans of the Yambaran tribe, Pausa and Watenge locked in a fierce battle that lasted for almost two years from 1991 to 1993.
The tribal fight inflicted great misery for the Yambaran Pausa tribe, not only because of the loss of their tribesmen but also the loss of the Pumakos Catholic station located on their tribal land.
The station was built in the early 1960s embracing a historical mark for the Catholic Church in Enga which was burnt to ashes in the fight.
The historical church building of Roman architecture, the parish house, the level five St Thomas community school, the Pumakos sub health center, staff houses for teachers and nurses, the Highlands Region Catechist Training Center and the Mercy sisters' convent were also lost in the fight.
The Enga Catholic Church lost million of kina worth of property in the destruction.
The Yambaran Pausa lost the Tsak Self Help Provincial High School and more than 60 tribesmen with destruction of food garden, crops and land.
During that time in 1992 Fr Lawrence Kambao was to have been ordained a priest but because the area was a battle field and the mission station was ruined this did not happen.
Sadly Fr Lawrence passed away on Jan 18, 1995 from a heart stroke while on pastoral duties at the Mariant parish of Kandep district in Enga.
Late Fr Kambao was a man of wisdom, strong character and a born leader in the two Kandep Catholic parishes - Mang and Mariant.
He was also highly respected by his own tribesman, the Yambaran Pausa tribe for his strong leadership.
Following the family legacy, on January 18 this year, his brother Fr Lukas Kambao was ordained priest at his Pumakos parish in the Tsak valley.
Fr Lukas was doing his first year in Law at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) when Fr Lawrence passed away.
He left UPNG and entered priesthood at the Good Shepherd Seminary in Banz in the Western Highlands province and later attended the Catholic Theological Institute in Port Moresby to complete his Bachelor Degree in Theology, a prerequisite for priesthood.
Fr Lukas was ordained at his home parish in Pumakos.
Some of the mission station is now revived, a new church building, the primary school and a health center.
These projects were a dream come true for the people of Tsak valley after 10 years without services.
Continuous tribal fighting had caused the Government and the Catholic Church in Enga to restrict financial and logistic assistance in the area, in a bid to make the people realize their mistakes and try to help themselves.
This they did by funding the church, primary school and health centre projects from their own pockets and constructing the buildings with their own hands.
The community surrounding the parish station, the Yambaran Pausa tribe erected a new church building, a plain reproduction of the old church but extended by five meters.
The church building was erected on a self reliance basis. Parishioners and tribal groups, women and children of Tsak valley gave a helping hand to erect the building.
They transported timber on their shoulder from treacherous terrains in the upper Tale River to the Pumakos parish.
They also transported lime stone from Apu village and crushed it with hammers and stones to get a good eight and ten millimeter for the cement mixing with river sand for the concrete floor.
They sold their pigs and contributed money to buy the wall at Steamships hardware in Mt Hagen.
A man who was oversaw the church construction, Mr Patrick Goe, also from the Yambaran Pausa clan, said they started the building with an amount of K80 000 allocated for the Pumakos sub health center from the district support grant.
Since the health center was non existence, the fund was diverted to purchase a Lukas sawmill from Farmset in Mt Hagen.
Mr Goe said the sawmill came amid request from the local people to seek funds to build the church.
A fundraising committee was formed to raise funds to build the church, and the sawmill helped them to cut timber for the building.
The new church buildings was described by both Enga Catholic Bishops Arnold Orowae and Hermann Raich svd as one of the biggest Catholic church building in the province.
The Church building carried the pride of the Yambaran tribe and they were excited, happy and at the same time moved to host the ordination celebration.
More than 10,000 people attended the priesthood ordination of Fr Kambao.
It was a milestone achievement for the Yambaran Pausa tribe to have a priest ordained ordained at the site of the new Church building which they had built.
There was also a special occasion during the mass and that was the presenting of his late brothers priest cassock. At the rear of the cassock was a drawing of a tree trunk and a new plant sprouting from the trunk. The cassock belongs to his late brother and it was presented to him by one of his guardian and benefactor Mr Andrew Rai.
The Yambaran tribe slaughtered more than 100 pigs, brought garden foods and sugar cane, a tradition for the host to welcoming visitors.
An undisclosed amount of money was presented to Fr Kambao to assist him for his pastoral duties in the diocese.
The pigs and foods were distributed amongst people who came to witness the ordination as far as Kandep, Laiagam/Porgera, Kompiam/Ambum, Wabag and Wapenamanda districts of the province.
Some of the prominent leaders in the Wapenamanda district like Masket Iangalio, Michael Yai Pupu, Wara Kale and Ben Wia were there at the ceremony. The occasion ended at a high note.