| Sports |
Thoughts of
P-Compound
Meeting old friends
sets JACK METTA down memory lane to a place he calls home
WENT down memory lane last weekend,
back to the hey days of Skeeter Davies, Elvis Presley, Chuck
Berry, Chubby Checker, Slim Dusty and Pepe and the Rarotongans
and it left the sweetest of taste in my essence --- a taste that
was just good to keep to one’s self.
It was also the time of Waratahs Rugby League Club, Tony Ila and
Boyamo Sali, Mai Wara, sawdust, Markham Point, karu-tora-sorova
and the place we still call home – the brazen corner of Lae city
called Papuan Compound, or in short P-Compound.
Like most journeys down this route, it only took a few people,
who had origins in this part of the world to get together. The
rest is history, literally.
It began innocently enough at the Boroko market place last
Saturday.
You run into Hiovea Siviri, who’s out shopping for buai and he
excitedly tells you that there’s a bunch of guys huddled under
the mango tree at Gaudi’s place waiting for you.
That popped the question of ‘me’ - being totally in the dark
about any meetings that weekend.
“You’ll find out at Gaudi’s place,” he quipped
So you pop over and sure enough, the gang’s eyes lit up and you
are greeted with eager and appreciative smiles and hugs all
around. For most of the guys, it had been many years since the
last time you’ve met and most of them were fathers and
grandfathers by now. Some in fact, you hadn’t seen since they
were preteen boys causing a lot of headaches in the
neighbourhood while you were still around.
There were the Siviri brothers – Sarufa you’ve already met at
the market, and Posa; the Simon brothers Avoa, Suru and Kau; the
Fareho brothers, Jopake and Sipate --- the latter better known
as Sari the ref in rugby league circle; and, Pareke Tova,
towering over the little group like Idi Amin, the nick name that
league fans attached to him in his playing days as a Kone Tiger.
You were told there were a few others who’d been and gone
including your brother Leke, who’d stopped by and forked out
what appeared to be a K2 note but turned out to be a K100 note
and the guys were able to satisfy their hunger while waiting
with the amply servings of lamb flaps at the ‘World Trade
Centre’ the name now coined for the Boroko Market. And that’s a
contentious point because as one regular at Jack’s place puts
it, it where money can buy almost anything on the market
including a roll in the hay.
Pareke informs you that it was not the first time they were
meeting and that a big one, a feast included, is planned for
tomorrow at Jack Manau’s place opposite the Boroko Market.
“There was quite a turn out here last week,” he began and reeled
off the names of individuals and families who attended and by
the time, he finished, there was a film of tears in your eyes
and your mind was far away in another era and place you all
called home at one time or another in all your lives.
As the story unfolded about the meeting, so did the
interjections about life as it was but most centred on the funny
anecdotes during the years that where; of adventures at Mai Wara
where nudity was never a problem among the kids and shell fish
was there just for the taking; of Markham Point fishing for
karu-tora-sorova and seagull hunting with slingshots; of the
dinghy fad that gripped the compound during the holidays when
the metallic dins of hammer on iron roofs flooded the compound
in the mass production of dinghies from one end of the compound
to the other; of rugby league grandfinals in which Waratahs was
undefeated for five straight years and avid supporter Lakora
Kaveapo’s house overflowing with the trophies; of music from
Skeeter, Elvis, Chuck, Chubby, Slim and Pepe and company doing
the rounds on the air and on the pick-up --- a record player of
sorts --- when the locals were in a happy mood.
It was also a time when a many of our bigger siblings fell in
love and stories abound of the headaches that some went through
just to resist Eros’ affliction. It was as if this was the
themes that many of our favourite singers and musicians were
belting out in their lyrics at the time.
One of the major issues that emerged amidst all these was the
change of names as each progressed in life for better or for
worse.
Papuan Compound was a place settled in the early 1950s by people
of Gulf origin, who had converged on Lae to help rebuild the
town after the devastation of the Second World War. These people
were gifted tradesmen in the field of carpentry and they were
much in demand for their services throughout the country in
those early post war days.
Many never returned to their home province and instead settled
in the towns of their last employment and began what had grown
to be settlements and compounds of their own ethnicity. There
were the Mettas, Kokos, Kaves, Farehos, Lavakis, Tausis, Liris,
Malalas, Kerekeres, Soros, Levaos, Posus, Larivitas, Laharis,
Moralaves, Avosas, Moupuas, Lakoras, Suves, Tovas, Siviris,
Apukopes, Orilos, Opes, Kivovias, Maivas and the Laris, among
others.
There were also the sprinkling of other ethnic groups, the
notables being the Manaus (East Sepik), the Nateras, Kamilos and
Oas (Kairukus) and the Oreres, Walas and Veles (Central
province).
The only connections between these people and their origins were
in names and most of their offspring --- the second generation
--- carried traditional names. But as the second generation grew
up and threaded unknown grounds, so did their names go through
the changes for purposes of convenience but regrettably, the
only thing that tied them to their origin, is fast becoming a
fading legacy of their fathers’ hard walk through life’s
pathway.
Many of the first generation of the settlers has gone to their
Creator and Papuan Compound, once a model settlement upon which
the Lae administration showered praises for its civility and
organisation, had become another seedy hamlet caught in the
vices of development.
Troubles caused by residents of new settlements like Sawdust and
Tais and Markham Point on its fringes has fingers pointing at
the compound, undoing the good work that the first generation of
the settlers had established.
Many of the offspring of the original tenants have gone on to
green pastures in Port Moresby and elsewhere and Papuan Compound
has slipped back into another squalid settlement in the city.
In its heydays, it has produced good sportsmen particularly in
rugby league, perhaps the legacy of the prowess of its products
in the local Waratahs RFLC, now Morobe Tigers.
Terry Soi, Farapo Malala, Foe Lari, Weka Moupu aka Tom Paul,
John and Louis Kave, Lawrence Koko, Robert Tatu Soro, Peter
Fareho, Jack Kone, Jack Metta, Simon Elap and Mathew Elara among
others were regular names on the representative football scene.
Malala, Elap, Elara and Metta had gone on to represent their
country as Kumuls.
Then there is Howard Lahari of snooker fame and last but not the
least the Veles --- Wari and Anderson --- perhaps the most
prominent of the Papuan Compound products, who have emerged as
prominent national politicians since moving to the Southern
region.
Wari has not forgotten his roots and association with Papuan
Compound and had suggested the gathering of the ‘originals’ and
their offspring tomorrow at Jack Gaudi Manau’s place, to among
others things, touch base and generally catch up on old times.
See you all there and don’t forget the Wise Counsellor’s
reminder: “Liberty is controlled by love for your brothers and
sisters …”
 
|
