| Sports |
P-C emerges in Port
Moresby
JACK METTA reflects
on the reunion of Lae-based Papuan Compound descendents in Port
Moresby last Saturday
PAPUAN Compound – that pioneering
settlement tucked away in the brazen corner of Lae City, literally
came to Port Moresby last Saturday.
It surfaced at Jack and Helen Manau’s residence at Boroko and was
reminiscent of the movie Blast from the Past with all the actors
at this ‘reality show’ being the second, third and fourth
generation “Papuans” from the Lae based-compound, with a
sprinkling of Sepiks, Highlanders and local Ahis.
The two stars on the day were the Vele brothers — NCD Governor
Wari Vele and his elder sibling and Rigo MP Anderson Vele.
The governor in fact, was forced to cancel a trip to Lae to
campaign for a colleague at the very compound that he and all
those there on the night, had their origins in.
Many there on the day agreed the compound actually ‘came’ to him
without his having to actually go there.
There were nearly 500 ex-Papua Compound people in attendencd at
what was standing room only at Jack Manau’s place last Saturday.
It was an emotional reunion of a generation of Lae-bred people,
who had come to Port Moresby seeking their fortunes years ago with
most ending up in the poverty and squalor quarters of the city,
emerging only from the woodworks following last weekend’s Thoughts
of P-Compound article on this page.
Jack or Gaudi Manau as the compound remembers him sent his well
wishes from the rehabilitation work being carried out on the
Wau-Bulolo Highway in Morobe province where he, as a senior civil
engineer, is the supervisor.
“My thoughts and spirit are with you. Feel free to use my place
for the purpose of reuniting and sharing our childhood
experiences,” he said in a message relayed to the meeting via
mobile phone.
Indeed, several well wishing messages were relayed back from the
original compound, with former Kumul Simon Elap perhaps
summarising the emotion at the time: “Though PC is not what it
used to be, we must hold our heads high for we built this city, we
made rugby league entertaining, we made great friends for life; we
built PNG. Good memories need not die…”
“It was very touching,” vice-president of the newly formed
Ex-Papuan Compound Community in NCD John Manau said after the
event.
“Tears flowed from the sheer joy of the reunion and thoughts
stirred from obscurity by the meeting of old-time friends and
families.
“Thoughts were also spared of the dearly departed, who were not
able to partake of the event.”
In fact, a one-minute silence was observed for the founding
fathers and mothers of the compound and their descendents whom God
had since called away.
At Saturday’s reunion, where a pig was slaughtered for the
occasion, only three founding fathers were among the attendees.
“It, the gathering, lived up to and beyond its expectations,”
Pareke ‘Idi Amin’ Tova, proudly announced.
“Many who have not met since their childhood days were there with
their children and their children’s children just to see and meet
others with whom they all shared the same origin – Papua Compound.
“It was a very orderly affair too,” the committee member chimed
in, adding that all those who attended the event represented
practically every household in the original Papuan Compound in
Lae.
John Andrew, formerly known as Lavaki Moutea, as the newly elected
president of the Ex-Papuan Compound community, drew a map of the
original Papuan Compound and called on the descendents of each
household separately to meet and greet the Vele brothers on the
night.
“Not one house or name was missed, thanks to John’s photogenic
memory,” Pareke and John Manau confirmed.
“At the end of the introductions, a question was asked if anybody
was missed out and not a single hand went up,” Pareke proudly
said.
In fact, names not mentioned in last weekend’s column were ‘subtly
picked up for my information’ and prominent names emerged to lend
credence to the general consensus that ‘yes, Papuan Compound was
unique’.
There was the legendary Moi Farapo, from whom Charlie Moi, a
former NCD commissioner and Danny Moi, a former Kumul emerged, the
Karus from which Kumul Tuksy emerged, the Kopes from which
champion boxer John is a prominent son, the Kamburas, the Tores,
the Kahoreras, the Lorous, the Lares, the Kororotis, the Avoas,
the Ivararoas, the Ames, the Wagis, the Renagis, the Poreharis,
the Kaveapos, the Omahaes, the Soikavas, the Miaeas from which
Henry Marai of horserace fame is prominent, the Imongs, the
Maraiapos, the Marus, and last but not the least, the Vakis whose
most famous son is the Deputy Police Commissioner Geoffrey, the
Maladina clan among whom Samaria Murua MP Moses and lawyer Harvey
originated; and, the Kamits from whom Wilson, the Bank of PNG
governor, is a prominent son.
Stories abounded of the good old days of fun, fun and more fun and
revelations.
Henry Marai the horse race tipster said of Governor Vele when they
met during the gather: “This is the only governor I know of who
had eaten grasshoppers!”
In a good natured response that could only come from a happy
gathering of friends and relatives, the Governor announced:
“Teachers in our class at Milfordhaven often complained of lack of
chalks in the morning because Henry used to nick them all after
school and eat them. Henry is a chalk eater...”
Indeed, their generation was blessed from the beginning because it
was a time where the boys and girls were occupied practically
full-time through their early life.
The mania to watch movies in theatres meant the boys had to earn
the money to go and see the films and the golf course was the only
source of money they knew at the time.
After school, the gates at the golf course was where competition
was so intense that potential ‘employers’ found it difficult to
select caddies from the din of masta mi, masta mi.
Then there was the grasshopper season where soon after the field
at compound was mowed, just about every able bodied boy would
converge on it and ply their grasshopper hunting trade, which
consisted mainly of sneaking up on the poor unsuspecting
grasshopper and hitting it with a hibiscus stick.
This took a lot of skill and energy and the catch of the day was
measured by the ability to sneak up on the grasshopper and
whacking it with the hibiscus stick. Missing it from the outset
meant chasing it around the field until you eventually bagged it.
Much later, smoke from dried grass fires would signal the catch
being cooked with a feast of roasted grasshoppers in the offing.
Even today, the boys remember the taste as being something between
crabs and prawns.
Then there were the fruit gathering season when the boys would
take off at daybreak and scavenge for okari nuts, mangoes and
pikinini diwai, the latter to be eaten with salt; the kumu season
when any trip to Mai Wara would see the boys returning with young,
luscious green fern leaves to fry and eat; the kina season where
the boys would go diving for the bivalves at Mai Wara; the dingy
season where the boys would make their own dinghies and follow the
Mai Wara to the Markham River delta and return; the Kingfisher
season when the boys would go hunting the birds with their
slingshots; the tilapia fishing season when the boys would
converge on the two raun waras near the Lae showground and hook
long ropes of tilapia for whole families; the fowl season when the
boys again converged on the two great ponds to hunt cormorants,
wild ducks and wild fowls; the seagull season and the
karu-tora-sorova season, you already know about from last week’s
article, and last but not the least, the TAA and Ansett season
where trips to top town or the Lae rugby field would be diverted
towards the airport incinerator for the exquisite taste of
left-over flight meals.
In all, amidst the fun and the sounds of Skeeter Davies, Chubby
Checker, Chuck Berry, Slim Dusty and Pepe and the Rarotongans,
there was always something to eat for the Papuan Compound boys …
and girls.
It was a generation much blessed by what they got out of being
there and now, they feel it is time to repay they took out of .
They feel, there must be some acknowledgement for all the fun and
for the place they call home.
Hence the formation of the Ex-Papuan Compound Community in Port
Moresby last Saturday.
How they would do that is the subject of discussion at the moment
and all will be revealed when the time is right.
For now, the expectations of Henry Marai and Jack and Evonne Kone
— to gather the flock — had materialised and there is much
rejoicing in the knowledge that a big extended family had reunited
at long last.
The future then is as bright as the promises of God. And we are
thankful for that opportunity for in the the Wise Counsellor’s
words: “The greatest danger to the church (family) in any
generation is not heresy or poverty, but apathy …”
 
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