Changing Alotau

Letters

AFTER having been away from Alotau for years, I noticed both positive and negative changes in this township on my visit in April.
Although the town has expanded both in size (physical and population) and infrastructural development, which are positive signs of economic boom, there also have been major negative downsides to this economic growth.
I would like to pin out and allude to these negative attributes of change that caught my immediate attention while sitting at the town bus stop waiting to go back to my hotel.
The noise began to pick up on this very day as the town came to life. It was exciting.
Many 15-seater buses with different names and colours crowded the bus stop with crews shouting in tok pisin (pidgin) “Last seat! Last seat! Hariap ol i kam oli kam – Goilanai, Top Town, Middle Town, Hagita, KB.”(Last seat! Last Seat! Hurry, come – Goilanai, Top Town, Middle Town, Hagita, KB)
I was truly amazed at how this town had changed so rapidly and adapted the urban norms of behaviour and attitude practised in other towns of Papua New Guinea.
I gasped my breathe thinking that I was in Port Moresby, Lae, Goroka or Mt Hagen.
The medium of communication was tok-pisin and it was rife and used publicly unlike Alotau in the past where English dominated all conversations.
The dress code and behaviour also did not portray a Milne Bayan style but one adopted from outside or perhaps from a low-self-esteemed, downgrading nature within. This was sad.
As I watched, I noticed a couple of young men selling canned drinks and eggs, shouting “Kiau” and “Kola kola” to attract customers.
This I had never seen before in Alotau.
Amazing. In the rubbish bin nearby, betel nut spittle was on the side of the drum and inside a plastic Coke bottle filled with red spittle laid waste in emptiness.
This was disgusting.
I could not imagine this happening in Alotau.
As I sat there, my mind flowed back to the years I spent there in high school, where the town was small, clean, green, fresh, and slow-moving, with not many people and vehicles, without much litter and betel nut spittle in public places.
Although, there was no bus service then, walking was the norm and everyone spoke English – the Milne Bay or dimdim way – whichever – whatever – still OK. It was cool.
By now the midday heat was at its peak, the humidity reached its maximum and I felt quite dizzy.
The open space between the sea and bus stop was bare.
The absence of scrubs or trees here was the result of the humiliating heat and dust evident in this place.
I had a long morning and by now I was tired and hot and craving for a bottle of cold water and a good afternoon’s sleep.
I returned to my hotel hot, sweating, heated and burning with fire in my soul and mind and heart with these words:
Alotauans, let us maintain and uphold many of our ways that make Alotau unique and beautiful in our attitude, behaviour, dress, environment and language.
We do not always have to follow the crowd and the development pathways others have taken.
Let us always be who we are– special ALOTAUANS!

Alotau – which way?
AFK – UPNG