CAREER

Veteran of 40 years retiring

By ALPHONSE BARIASI
BUNDI and Bogia are both places in Madang Province but getting from one to another could take more than a day of trekking and driving in days past.
To pack up and leave at short notice due to impending danger would be no small drama. God have mercy, if one’s flight is in freezing night, through steep tracks and raging mountain streams with two pregnant mums in tow!
Which is precisely what primary school teacher John Agoba and three of his colleagues and their families had endured in 1986 after only one school term at Yandera Primary School in the Bundi area.
John, a 1980 graduate of St Benedict’s Teachers College in Wewak (now a campus of the Divine Word University) so was posted to the remote Yandera Primary School in the border area of Madang and Chimbu.
For some reason, John and his Manam Island wife Agnes were to join other wantok teachers from Bogia, namely the late Charles Kameke, Albert Ruarri and young Peter Remsi.
Though far away from home they found teaching in the cool Bundi mountains rewarding, and the communities friendly and helpful. That is, until news of the death of a Bundi teacher at Warames Primary School in Bogia reached them.
The teacher at Warames, which is about 10km inland, went down to the Bogia district station on the coast to spend the weekend with wantoks. Tragically, he joined in the drinking and gambling that ended with a brawl and he was killed.
The news caused fear among the Bogia teachers at Yandera, fear that was not at all misplaced. A Bundi man teaching in Bogia had been killed, never mind by who, so one of the Bogia men teaching in Bundi must pay the price, so went the revenge logic at that time.
The dead teacher’s relatives and tribesmen were said to be contemplating an attack and the Catholic priest at the Bundi Parish knew the threat and sent word to the teachers at Yandera to flee at the first opportunity.
It was a wise move as was confirmed by an elder from Yandera himself. He had walked at night to the school and, discovering that the teachers had fled, followed and caught up with them along the way. He was glad they had left and so he bade them farewell and safe passage. The party was picked up and helped to the Bundi airstrip where they boarded a flight into Madang town.
That dramatic incident plus of course the death of his first child in a road accident only a couple of hundred meters from his home, have been indelibly etched into John’s mind.
Now, decades later, on a dull February morning, while chewing buai and relaxing under his hauswin at his old school at Mikarew, John reminisces on his 40 years of teaching.
“I remember that Yandera incident very clearly, besides the loss of my first child,” John says.
The 60-year-old from Zum village, a few minutes from the Mikarew Primary School. He completed Grade 6 and was selected for high school at Malala. After year 10 he did teach training in Wewak.
His first teaching post was to Bieng Primary School on Manam Island where he fell in love with a local lass named Agnes Kosin and married her in December 1981.
Their first child Stella was killed in the road accident a short distance from their village in 1984.
John regards himself as a teacher of the ‘old school’ which instilled discipline and commitment to those who took up the call.
“I have never missed a classes intentionally. If I did skip a day of teaching, I would always make up for it somehow,” John says.
“I really liked teaching and would remain in the classroom until dark. We had many sleepless nights preparing our lessons then. We worked with time.”
In the latter part of his career when he had administrative duties as a head teacher, John spearheaded many school building projects such as the classroom blocks at Giri Primary School in 2009 and later a double classroom and staff houses at Murukanam Primary School in the Sumkar District.
John was of a generation of teachers who prepared lessons and marked student work under kerosene lamps.
He says he has drawn much inspiration from a fellow Mikarew man, Albert Ruarri, who he says was among the best educators in the district and province in years in the 1980s.
After the death of their first daughter John and Agnes have raised four girls and two sons. One of their daughters Valsie is a secondary school teacher in Kainantu, Eastern Highlands and another Sarah is an accountant. Their youngest son has recently completed secondary school.
“I acknowledge three people who have had tremendous impact on my life and fruitful teaching career after which I retire a contented man. They are my wife Agnes who has contributed 75 per cent of my life, my role model Albert Ruarri, Catholic Education Secretary Bruno Tulemanil and Miss Genevieve of the Catholic Education Office in Madang. Miss Genevieve has given me invaluable advice and encouragement and that has helped me to be the teacher I am.”
Though he exits the teaching force a happy man, he would love to see old school buildings, especially those erected decades ago by missionaries throughout the province, replaced by new ones.
His last posting was back home to his old school Mikarew where was senior teacher until last year. He is acting as a stopgap at the moment, awaiting formal release by the Teaching Service Commission. He is excited about possible developments and some rebuilding work done on run-down classrooms. The school board is planning to erect at least three new staff houses this year.
“It would be wonderful to see new staff houses and classrooms built in the near future to replace the old buildings. That’s something that can be done, even with whatever little money we have. We need to be proactive and take the initiative to build new buildings,” John says.
The immediate plan is to develop Mikarew into a junior high school which cater for students graduating from extension campuses around it.
Though important, new buildings are only part of real move to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the education system generally.
As an “old school” educationist John reckons that teachers of the present generation need to be a lot more committed to the job.
“Some younger teachers today have an attitude problem and don’t give their whole to the job which is a sad reality.”
That’s something for some to chew on as John Agoba exits the classroom for good.

Village court officials labour on

By ALPHONSE BARIASI
MEET Dominic Atorou and Peter Sigara (pictured at right) two long-serving village court officials of Waboroni Village Court in Madang.
The pair may come across as unassuming villagers but watch them in action and you get to appreciate the iron resolve they have in settling some quite serious disputes in a tract of Bogia district that is roughly thrice the size of National Capital District. They go from village to village in a 10km-radius from their own Ward 21, serving five other wards of the Yawar LLG.
In this area and other similar parts of the country where the long arm of modern law still falls short, a lot is left to village courts using local customary law and etiquette to restore or maintain peace and harmony.
The Waboroni Village Court in Madang caters for an estimated population of 36,000 people and covers Wards 15,18, 20, 21, 22 and 23.
Officials walk for hours and overnight to hear cases. There are no court houses, no furniture and stationery or uniforms. Proceedings are mostly held in a men’s house, village square or under a spreading trees.
Dominic and Peter were elected chairman and peace officer respectively in 2006 and have served tirelessly with little appreciation from the authorities concerned and even their own communities. Although there have been suggestions to have all village court officials throughout the country included in the public service payroll, that is most likely a few years into the future. In the meantime, they are paid monthly allowances through the Department of Justice and Attorney Generally payroll section.
Allowances sometimes do not arrive when expected and officials can go for months without pay.
On a court circuit the officials travel between villages spending days away from their families and often neglecting other important work to serve their own families.
Work is quite often risky too as tempers can easily flare up into bloody confrontations, by parties who feel wronged and would not easily accept court decisions and penalties imposed.
“We face personal danger in dealing with sensitive issues,” Peter the peace officer or community constable, says.
“We have handled and resolved many serious cases and matters could have gotten out of hand without our intervention.”
Village courts apply customary law and national laws under the constitution. Often the officials seek advice and direction from village elders.
Some cases that should otherwise be handled by higher courts get settled at the grassroots level. These include land disputes, sorcery, arson, murder and adultery. For obvious reasons, these serious cases are handled at the village court level.
Chairman Dominic says there is no effective coordination between village courts and the national police (Royal PNG Constabulary) so some of these major case do not necessarily get to committal court or trial at the National Court. A number of murder cases had been dropped for want of prosecution because complainants are either too scared of repercussion or could not be bothered to travel to Bogia or Madang town when required for police interviews or to attend court hearings.
It is therefore up to village court officials like Dominic and Peter to resolve matters in their best light of the law, both modern and customary.
Monthly reports of their work are submitted to the district village court supervisor.
“Village courts are important in communities as they work hard to maintain peace and harmony. They have to be properly compensated for providing this critical service,” Dominic says.
At the time of this interview the Waboroni Village Court was presiding over an adultery case. A couple of days later the court facilitated the payment of compensation for the beheading of a child last year. A total of K6,5000 in cash and traditional money was exchanged on the day. That was a big settlement by the community’s standards.
When asked this week, an official from the Department of Justice and Attorney-General said that village court officials were currently being paid monthly allowances under the department. That came into effect in 2014.
There have been no amendments to the pertinent legislation to include the village court officials in the general public service payroll, the official said.
Working conditions might be poor but Dominic and Peter have such a critical responsibility that walking off the job is never an option.