COMMUNITY

Tufi and Wanigela light up

By PAUL MINGA
TO most Papua New Guineans Tufi and Wanigela are mistakenly considered as two ethnic groups while others know that they are actual places in Northern or Oro Province.
For me personally, to be honest, when I first heard the word Wanigela from a TV advertisement by third level airline Milne Bay Air decades back when that company was in operation, l had thought Wanigela was a remote place in Central.
That is after learning of an ethnic Central group of people called Wanigela. But my assumption was wrong, Wanigela is a remote district in Northern that lies in isolation from Popondetta town and its mainland links due to no road access there. What makes it as tough and a ‘mission impossible’ to construct a road through to connect a place succh as Wanigela is as a result of geographical features. There are many swamps, mountains, rivers and other difficulties surrounding the locality and landscape of the place.
When l became aware of where Wanigela is actually situated in Northern and its plight, l could reflect back to the same scenario for Kambia in Jiwaka and Simbai in Madang. The same can be said of Marawaka in Eastern Highlands, Karamui in Chimbu including other places around PNG that are not connected to the outside world by road as a result of difficult landscapes.
Wanigela and the nearby district of Tufi they are only accessed by air and sea transport to certain points.
But when it comes to service delivery of government funded infrastructures or the rollout of government programmes by the elected MP for places such as Wanigela and Tufi, the needs of the constituent population is different to those who live near towns, road or a main highway.

As for these two particular localities of Ijivitari electorate, they  are not overlooked and their plight is taken into consideration by the elected MP and Vice Minister for Foreign lnvestment Richard Masere  who is ensuring that his people get a share of what they need most in their community. At least something rather than nothing.
To deliver desired government infrastructural developments, goods and services to every part of ljivitari is a mission impossible and as such the incumbent MP Richard Masere cannot achieve all at once. But as the saying goes, something is better than nothing.
Masere, a first term MP for ljivitari is making sure every community and district in his electorate could at least touch, see, feel, use or benefit from a government-funded infrastructure, goods and services in one way or another.
Being on the ground myself andspending almost a year in Oro Kaiva land, I witnessed what was initiated and delivered to the electorate by the ljivitari MP. It would be seen as political propaganda if l write something from hearsay or from another person’s story.
But with my own eyes I have witnessed the solar panel installation along the main Oro Bay Highway for some communities. There is also the distribution and rollout of roofing iron  to certain communities in the electorate under  “Operation Rausim Sisiro.” The district development authority has also handed out trucks and boats to different coastal and inland communities as well as other institutions and groups in the electorate.
To support small businesses, the DDA has helped groups with day-old chicks and stock feed bags including delivery of other goods and services to communities and institutions in the electorate.
Whether these and other services provided under the leadership of the current MP is satisfactory is a question. The likely answer will come from the results of the upcoming general election in June this year.
As another saying goes, “you will reap what you sow”.

Writer’s 8-year struggle ends

REGULAR Weekender correspondent Paul Minga walked into The National office one day with pages of typed articles and asked if they could be published.
He was told to go back and return with electronic copies of the stories. That took a while but eventually, he did find someone to help him.
And so began his regular contribution of articles in this space.
The intention was to have the stories published eventually in book form sometime into the future. The wait was a lot longer than imagined because getting money to publish the book was not going to be easy.
“It has taken me eight years to pursue funding just to get my short stories published. I had gone through tough times with many struggles and hunger and endured them all.
“Putting together stories was done but to get the stories edited and published seemed another major task that needed quite a substantial amount of funds,” Minga said.
The 10 short stories are about the author’s own childhood, student days, his first plane ride, first overseas abroad, among others.
The author’s search for willing sponsors for the publication of the book had been quite unsuccessful.
“I was not asking them to give me money but to make payment in either cheque or cash into a printing company so l can get my book printed,” Minga said.
When all hope seemed to have vanished, he met Ijivitari MP Richard Masere in Popondetta who gave him the badly needed help.
Minga also acknowledges Jack Ninkama and Moresby North East MP John Kaupa for their understanding and valuable assistance towards the book project.
“With the money given, Minga approached the Government Printing Office (GPO) which printed the first 100 copies of the book, My First Plane Trip and Other Stories. It is being sold for K50 per copy. The book is targeted at secondary school students and young adults. Each chapter ends with a comprehension quiz and at the end of the book is a glossary of English words that might be new to readers, mainly secondary school students.
Another 100 copies of the book were paid for by PNG Ports Corporation Ltd and will be delivered to selected schools in National Capital District during the National Book Week later this year.
PNG Ports Stakeholder Relations Officer Benny Mitio who picked up the books from the GPO last Friday, said his Chief Executive Office Fego Kiniafa had given his approval for the corporation to pay for the printing of the books because he believed it was great initiative to encourage students to read.
Theresa Harrison from the GPO said printing the book was a great way to expose the printing house to the public as many did not know that it could do such jobs besides serving State agencies.
The author can be contacted via mobile phone on 70554981 or email ([email protected])