A gift from afar: Dogura gets tractor from NZ

 AN old tractor sent from Central Taranaki in New Zealand has almost started its new life in PNG as an isolated community’s ambulance and main mode of transport.

Malcolm Pease, of Eltham, organised the renovation of a Massy Ferguson 24 tractor with the support of others in the Central Taranaki community and the Anglican Missions of New Zealand.

Bishop Clyde Igara, from Dogura in Milne Bay, was in Eltham with Pease recently visiting some of the people who have been helping the isolated community after coming to New Zealand for the Anglican Missions conference in Waikanae.

He left New Zealand for home last Monday and was hoping the community’s new tractor would arrive when he did.

It has taken longer than expected because of delays going through customs in PNG but the tractor has been cleared and is now awaiting a barge to transport it to Dogura.

“When we got the news the tractor had arrived in Alotau town, everyone was so excited,” Igara said.

Because there are no roads between Dogura and Alotau, everything and everyone coming and going has to go by boat.

The tractor will help transport cargo and people to and from the wharf and carry the sick to and from home to the hospital or to the wharf to be taken to Alotau.

“That tractor that has been given to us will serve the church and all its agencies.

“The diocese of Dogura is one of the poorest in the area, with no cash crops and no mineral resources,” Igara said.

The church was able to open a trading store two years ago with the help of the NZ Anglican Missions board, and this serves the community well, as well as being a source of income. 

In Dogura, the church runs the hospital and schools.  

There is a government hospital in Alotau, but it is 800km away.

Pease made a trip to Dogura last year to see what the community needed.

He repaired the old tractor, with the help of others in Central Taranaki community, and it was freighted to Dogura laden with goods, including rolls of water pipe and bags of second-hand clothes.

“I am here to say thank you to the church and the people of New Zealand for their support,” Igara said when he was in New Zealand.

“Some things arrived that we did not ask for – we were helped with water pipes and fittings that will really help us.

“Many homes do not have water provided and we are now able to bring water services into every home.

“We were also given a lot of second-hand clothing.

“I go to remote villages and see people wearing the same clothes for months, sometimes even years, and it’s nice for me as Bishop to be able to clothe the naked, but it’s really the church in New Zealand that I owe thanks to for all these things that they have provided.” – Stratford Press