| Sports |
Voices from the valley
Villagers in the
Murray Valley of Western province have cleared the way for an
airstrip, they now call on authorities to deliver services.
CHARLES KERUA writes.
The Murray Valley is one of the many
parts in Western province that has seen little development and
Government presence in terms of basis services.
The area is virtually barred from the outside world due its very
harsh geographical settings.
It is situated towards the far east of the Tabubil Mine Township
and along the border of Southern Highlands and West Sepik
provinces.
The social indicators reveal the area's predominant primitive
state of living with illiteracy rates among the highest in the
region, i.e. over 95% of a total population of over 4000 people,
and deterioration in health has resulted in a very high
mortality rate, children among the worst.
After few years of operation, all schools were forced to close
due to teachers' unwillingness to take up postings in the area
because of its remoteness, virtually no form of civilization and
a breakdown of infrastructure systems.
As a result, a very tiny portion of the students advanced into
high schools, and a handful of lucky ones made it into tertiary
institutions.
Infrastructure development in the area is very minimal. There is
no road network linking the area with the main centers and thus
no form of transport to link the Murray Valley people to have
access to the goods and services and to market their produce.
The only link they had was the Selbeng airstrip, but for safety
reasons it has now been closed as per the direction of the MAF
that the airstrip was too short for even a small aircraft to
land and takeoff.
The only government institution in operation is the aid post,
serving over fifteen patients daily. Medical supplies are never
delivered on time due to transportation problems and the local
government council of Olsobib occasionally hires helicopters to
deliver the drugs and medical supplies.
The people of Murray valley do not have a cash crop that can
form the basis of an income generating opportunity even though
there is a potential to grow cash crops, especially cocoa,
rubber and coffee.
Whatever produced is only for self-consumption and the surplus
is sometimes shared among neighboring households.
The main setback to venture into cash cropping is the
non-existent transportation system to enable the flow of
commercial crops to central market locations.
This means, there is no currency circulation and consequently no
form of buying and selling in the villages.
To live up to the reasonable standards of a civilized world is a
real challenge to the inhabitants.
Buying of basic goods and services such as, clothes, modern
housing materials, meeting costs of education and medical
treatment fees as means to improving living standards is often
beyond their reach.
Modernization is a foreign term, unheard of in their society and
with the current trend of underdevelopment the people fear they
may never go forward.
But the people are beginning to realise that their development
and destiny is in their hands.
Recently the nine villages in the Murray Valley got together to
see how they could achieve this through a collective community
work.
All villagers including the very old men, women and even
children participated to develop a new airstrip in the middle of
a thick jungle using semi tools and their committed labor.
Old men were heard commenting, "If we don't do it now, who will
do it then."
The elderly men have taken the lead in clearing an area that is
almost 1 1/2 kilometers to relocate the current abandoned
airstrip.
They do not have the knowledge to undertake designs, surveys,
civil works, costings or calculate the level & amount of
materials to withstand pressure of the new airstrip, their
initiative and commitment to clear that area is a call to
responsible authorities to also do their part.
They are now appealing to different levels of government and key
organizations to support them in setting up the new airstrip,
revive the schools & improve medical services.
They have done all they possibly could and now wait eagerly for
the submissions they sent through the provincial government for
a favorable response to see the building of this new airstrip
become a reality.
And they hope their voices will be heard by the political
leaders of the region.
 
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