Dirima remembers pioneers’ sacrifice

Weekender

By BENJAMIN KOITAKA
DIRIMA Catholic church in Gumine district of Chimbu has come to an age; it is 70 years since the first missionary Fr John Labor arrived there in 1947.
In 1948 Dirima was declared a parish after being an outstation of Koge parish. Later, on July 26, 1963 it was named St Anne Parish Dirima, South Chimbu Deanery in the Diocese of Kundiawa. The dedication was done by Bishop Shilling of Goroka Diocese.
On this very special occasion of the platinum jubilee the Catholic people of Dirima wish to thank the Lord for the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) who brought to them the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Dirima is celebrating its 70th anniversary next Sunday, Nov 25.
Besides the spiritual services, the church also provides education, health care and community services which developed Gumine over these years. The mission station has a primary school, a vocational centre which was later upgraded to technical high school status two years ago, and the St Martin de Pores health centre.
Churches are doing far better in the remote areas in PNG than the government in social services and many would agree that church services really touch people’s lives and are inexpensive.
Dirima parish priest Fr Peter Kim said they were happy to mark the very special and meaningful day on which the first missionaries brought the Word of God to the highlands and South Chimbu.
“On this very special occasion of the platinum jubilee the Catholic people of Dirima wish to thank Lord for the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) who brought to them the Good News of Jesus Christ,” Kim said.
“This is the moment we will recognise and acknowledge the good work done by missionaries and remember those who have lost their lives and also our Christians and church members who have died,” he said.
Kim, who is the 20th parish priest in Dirima, said the event would reflect on what the members of the parish have achieved and look back on where they went wrong and to build their faith in love, peace and the ways God has helped and taught into the future.
A former student of Dirima Primary School and former ambassador, Aiwa Olmi said it was a joy for the Dirima parish to celebrate its 70th anniversary with peace, love and spiritual restoration.
“This is also celebration of civilisation, modernity, peace and harmony of not only Dirima and Gumine but South Chimbu. By the arrival and teaching of the first Catholic priests in 1948, people of all tribes and clans in our Bomai area progressed in education, health, agriculture and spiritual well-being,” he said.
“The first Divine Word Missionaries went to remote Dirima in 1948 to spread the Gospel and to restore peace in the land of tribal warfare among the Dirima, Uri and Kole tribes.
“These teachings spread to the people of Samian via Nondri, Yuwi Keri via Bamwera and Yuri Don Era via Waramon,” he said.
“Whatever we do these days in religion, business, employment, politics, etc, the seeds of success and prosperity were planted in Dirima in 1948 by the arrival of the first Catholic priest,” Olmi said.
“I was informed by Education Minister Nick Kuman and our Governor Michael Dua that they will be there at the celebrations,” the former ambassador said.
“Minister Kuman was also a pioneer student and also a hardworking man who supports church activities so we all will be there to witness and celebrate the platinum jubilee anniversary,” he said.
Olmi told The National on Sunday at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in 6-Mile in Port Moresby that they have raised K2,700 and gave it to support the event.
The fundraising chairman said the South Chimbu (Gumine and Karimui-Nomane) people living in Port Moresby have contributed in appreciation of what the church has done in terms of services and spiritual well-being in Gumine in past 70 years.
According to church elder Bernard Malle who shared a brief history of the parish, adding that the missionaries were truly a gift to them from above and the elders still remembered the early missionaries as their own.
“They slept with us in our men house, ate our food, drank our water and learned our tok ples so that they could speak to us.
“Fr. John Labor came to Dirima from Mingende (near Kundiawa town). He was accompanied by a young man called Maima Dai from our neighbouring Boromil area.
After settling in Dirima the missionary sent for catechists. A catechist came. His name was William and his wife was Maria. Both were from the Raicost area in Madang,” Malle said.
He said at first Maria and William served as cooks but later William taught local boys to read and write in basic Tok Pisin. He could not teach catechism because of the language difficulty so Fr John sent for Kuman speaking catechists in and around Mingende area.
“With the arrived of the catechists from Mingende, some common prayers were translated into Kuman. When our own pioneer Golin catechists, Nime Michael, Kaupa Yakobus and Kaupa Markus returned from training, all prayers and songs were translated into Golin. A big numbers of catechumens were prepared for baptism.
“The missionaries built their houses in simple style: Wooden post standing high above the ground with walls made from woven pitpit and thatched roof made from kunai grass. A kitchen was built on the ground. A pit toilet for the priest and one for the cook boys, water was collected from the valley stream and carried to the station in bamboos poles and buckets. Roofing iron was later brought to Dirima from Koge on horseback and at times carried by people on foot,” he said.
With the arrival of the second parish priest Fr Paul McVinny from United State in 1952, among other pastoral matters, he introduced the first English school in 1952. It was a boarding school and students, mostly boys were attending classes.
A pioneer student of this school Pious Moina recalls: “Those times were difficult. We remained in school from Mondays to Fridays. We were told to go home on Saturdays and visit our parents. We returned on Sunday with enough kaukau to last us for another week. We didn’t wear clothes because we haven’t got any. We only wore our traditional grass skirt in the front and the victory leaf (tanget) to cover the buttocks. The missionary was kind to give us lap laps.”
Diseases such as TB, malaria and pneumonia have killed many children then. There was a need for medical assistance and later Fr John Steirer who was a male nurse himself started to provide help for the sick.
With financial assistance from Germany a big permanent house was build with outpatient, impatient and maternity ward. The Divine Word Missionaries lived up to their name. They do not only ‘proclaim’ the word of God but also ‘work’ the word of God. All the SVD missionaries that lived and worked here have set their minds and hearts totally to the integral development of our South Cimbu people.
Old Mathias Benabe said; “I was enrolled in the Tok Pisin school. I could read and write and some few words, then along came Br Magnus. I joined his boys to work on the buildings. Oh, Brother Magnus was very skilful. Today I can still build a house or furniture. I learned the skills from him, Br Magnus.”
“Anna, the wife of Catechist Nime Michael remembers taking up tailoring classes with Fr Ennio,” Benabe said.
“We are grateful to all missionaries involved who contributed in every way possible for our church. Our heartfelt thanks also go to the dear mother of Fr Ennio Montovanni who organised for our two church bells to be shipped all the way from Italy. Today the bells are still “calling” us together for prayers and Eucharistic celebrations.”
Church elder Malle said: “The church is now 70 years old and because of highlands cold climate and constant rainfall, some of the timber began to rot and fall apart. Not to worry, the missionaries are ready to do maintenance. First our heartfelt thanks to Fr Joseph Scott who himself is a skilful carpenter replaced the aluminium sheet metal roofing iron with corrugated iron, the timber wall cladding with sheet metal.
“He also built and the three doors with iron and timber and did painting in the interior of the church. He also built a cement pathway linking the church to the parish house. In his capacity as the parish priest he built permanent church buildings in Kawaldian and Mirima outstations which are still standing today,” he said.
“Indonesian Fr Francis Hungan, the 19th priest in Dirima made it his job to replace all benches in the church with new ones. All timbers for the benches were prepared in Kukuna and had to be carried down to Dirima by our people,” Malle said.
“The altar cement section of the Church now for the first time has been covered with vinyl flexible tiles. Thanks to Fr Peter Kim who built cement floors around the church to strengthen its foundation and maintain the cement stairways. With all this hard work done on maintain the Cchurch we believe that the church will last for another 100 years,” he said.
Fr Kim and the community and people of Dirima have invited everyone to celebrate, to remember those who have brought the Word of God and those who were tortured, dehydrated, killed and lost their lives in the process of bringing the word of the God to that part of the country.
The anniversary mass is expected to be led by Bishop of Kundiawa Diocese, Anthon Bal with a combined programme for three parishes, Yobai, Nodri and Wara-Mon.
The 6-Mile Holy Rosary congregation in Port Moresby has called on South Chimbu (Gumine and Karimui-Nomane) elites and congregation members to support the anniversary.
To God be the glory for the SVD missionaries who ventured into Dirima!