Ahi festival to bring together local Lae villages

THE inaugural Ahi Festival, a major cultural and sporting event involving the six Ahi villages in and around Lae, will be held at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Lae from Dec 12-17.
It is an initiative of Riback Stevedores Ltd, the major employer of Ahi men and women from the six Ahi villages of Wagang, Yanga, Butibam, Hengali, Kamkumung and Yalu and has their full support.
Sporting events include basketball, volleyball, netball, soccer, touch rugby and a number of other fun games for the children.
The Ahi festival – with the theme “Promoting education through sports and culture – is aimed at raising funds for the establishment of an Ahi resource centre, an education facility which will have a library, computer laboratory and conference and workshop facilities.
“The Ahi Festival is an initiative of Riback Stevedores Ltd and has the full support of the Ahi community,” Riback general manager Peter Boyd said.
“The company believes that the effects of the social problems facing the Ahi community can be wide-ranging in size anywhere from local effects on a family or a village to the Lae community and even the entire society. 
“The company, therefore, wants to do its part in helping the Ahi community to help themselves to take a lead now in working towards addressing some of their social problems. 
“We hope other members and stakeholders of the Lae community can also join in and help the people of Ahi in their endeavours to create an educated and orderly community that can co exist peacefully with others in the wider Lae community.”
Boyd said the social problems of the Ahi community could be addressed only if the community could unite and work together in search of solutions with the support of strategic partners. 
“The Ahi Festival can be a powerful tool to unite the Ahi community,” he added.
“It can also create awareness of the social issues and promote a team approach with key stakeholders to address the socials problems with the view to minimise its crippling effects on the people of Ahi – the current generation and also the future generation.”
Some of the main objectives of the Ahi Festival include :
•    Promoting community unity;
•    Promoting and preserving Ahi culture;
•    Creating awareness on social Issues and assistance available; and
•    Showcase local talents in culture, sports, music and business.
The Ahi villages are all located within and around Lae – the industrial city of Papua New Guinea. 
Along with the expansion and development of Lae, these traditional villages are also being forced to accept new changes and influences brought about by the changing socio-economic conditions.
The changing socioeconomic conditions have placed a high demand for land on the Ahi communities. 
This has seen most of the traditional land being taken away.
 Land was taken earlier by missionaries, then the colonial government and recently the state and industry.