By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
Inland Rigo villagers in the Central Province go out of their way to keep their villages neat and tidy despite lacking government services like health, roads, schools and tangible economic projects.
The way they keep their villages meticulously clean will make you think that they are benefiting from the government.
Their houses are built from modern and traditional materials and set in neat rows by clan.
The walls are made out of traditional weaved cane and covered with modern roofing iron.
Nature provides them with everything they need including garden produce, wild pigs, and the rivers teem with prawns and eels.
This area of about 2000 villagers is renowned for its pineapples and cucumbers, which flood the markets of Port Moresby when in season.
They also sell bananas and yams to raise money for school fees and other daily needs.
Infrastructure, particularly the condition of roads, is wanting and this was raised to The National by the Rigo Inland Ward 13 councilor Bina Kada.
“We spend a total of K20 for PMVs and additional K20 for 50kg baggage for a 98km trip from Boregaina village to Port Moresby along the Magi Highway and vice versa,” Mr Kada said.
“And that is for one person.
“We sometimes sleep with relatives at Boregaina if it is dark.
“From Boregaina, we spend about a day to walk over 19km more to reach villages in my ward and they are Karaifaiara, Seba, Geveragoro, Kokorogo and Debadogoro.
“There are more than eight villages after Debadogoro all the way to the foot of Mt Brown and Mt Obree along the border of Oro and Central Provinces.
“We are luckier than people living further up the road to the foothills of Mt Brown and Mt Obree, who are worse off.
“They spend one week walking to Boregaina to get to Port Moresby.
“The store food like rice, tinned food, noodles, etc that they have brought from Port Moresby after selling garden produce is always eaten along the way and when they arrive at their villages, they have nothing.”
Mr Kada said road maintenance is only carried out once every five years.
“When we have a sealed road, then there will be changes in our daily livelihood,” he said.
“We also want bridges to be built.
“When that is done, people will own trade stores, PMVs and start up poultry and livestock projects.
“People will also be enthusiastic to bring extra garden food to sell at the markets and generate more money than what they are earning now from their produce.
“There would be plantations of pineapples and cucumbers to extend on to what is now available.”
Mr Kada has been in the chicken industry for 28 years, working at Ilimo Farm outside Port Moresby and Zenag Poultry outside Lae.
“With my background, I want to serve my people to bring economic benefits to improve their daily livelihood,” he said.
“I have submitted to the (Central) provincial government for suitable economic projects like sheep herding and pineapple since 1999, but it was all in vain.
“We have elementary schools in Seba and Debadogoro, and a top-up primary school in Kokorogo village.
“Sometimes, these schools lack literacy materials because of our isolated location, but the hard working staff always ensures that our children have quality education.
“I also would like to have a high school built for all inland Rigo areas, because Kwikila secondary high school is about 30km away and our bright students have to compete with other students throughout the Rigo District.”
The people also lack in health services and it is making their lives difficult as they have to go all the way to Kwikila health center to get services.
In these hard times, when there is little to no government assistance, the church and Australian government has come in to help.
The people were celebrating last month because they now have modern health facilities courtesy of the Salvation Army and Ausaid.
The facilities, built at a cost of K120, 000, include a daycare clinic and a house for an additional medical staff.
The clinic has a four-bedroom ward and a maternity ward.
There will now be two health workers after a new house was built for an additional worker.
Salvation Army assistant secretary for programmes (social) Captain Christine Gee said the clinic would cater for patients from nearby villagers who would be too sick to go back to their villages after receiving treatment.
“Also, mothers after delivery can rest with their newborn babies,” she said.
“I’m appealing to the Kokorogogo villagers to look after the other villagers with food and water when they rest in the clinic.
“You must be a role model for a caring community.”
Captain Gee said that although the Salvation Army built the facilities, members of other churches could also use them.
Health Department will supply medicine, medical items and equipment, and training of health workers while the Salivation Army church will provide staff.
Churches Medical Council executive Joseph Sika also urged the people to look after the facilities and the staff.
The health facilities built at Kokorogoro is indeed testimony that nothing is preventing much-needed services from reaching the rural areas.
It only needs the government, churches and people to come up with positive dreams to improve the daily lives of the rural people.
 

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