Displaced settlers in a dilemma

COVER STORY

By GYNNIE KERO
SHE waded across bay of water for safety.
Murik Lakes settler, Vanessa Baki watched helplessly, few items tucked to her side.
Other women, girls and young children had followed her, crossing the sea to the other side.
Once across, they watched the horror unfold. Red and yellow flames consumed what were once their homes.
A fight between Murik Lake settlers from Angoram and locals from Mengar village, Wewak, started days ago.
Ongoing retaliations between the two factions claimed seven lives, 124 houses torched and 1,000-plus people displaced.
For Vanessa, the Basis had been her home for 35 years.
She completed her early education at the Mongniol Primary School.
The Basis, a stone’s throw away to Wewak town on the right, accommodated the Darapap, Karao and Mendam people from the Murik Lakes over the years.
Vanessa didn’t expect to lose everything in an instant.
Vanessa was sent to her home in Karao village in the Murik Lakes yesterday (June 30) as part of the relocation exercise.
“As usual, I was busy with house work when policemen told us to take our belongings and leave Basis.

“They said the fight has gone out of hand. Most of us (mothers and girls) packed what we could and ran for our lives.
“We crossed the sea, stood on the other side, cried as our home was burning in the distance. Many of us were born at Basis.
“We lost all of our valuables like generators and solar panels because the attack was so fast and we could not get everything, Vanessa recalls the ordeal.
The East Sepik authorities helped relocate most or those displaced to Angoram recently.
The idea of going back to Mendam village did not settle well for Beverly Kupa.
The 41-year-old mother is more concerned about her children’s welfare and education than anything else.
All their children have missed classes for more than a month now.
“What will happen to my children’s education once we return to the village? The nearest education facility and other services are at the Angoram station. It will take two days of paddling from Mendam to reach the station,” Beverly says.
Balthazar Aupai who lost his nephew in the fight says he does not own anything in his Murik Lakes village.
He and his family had lived their whole lives in Wewak. His father was a pioneer teacher which resulted in them living at the Basis for four generations.

For 51-year-old Aupai, he does not want the settlers relocated to Murik to be the ‘next Dandan.’
Dandan in Turubu, east coast of Wewak town was where islanders affected by the Kadovar volcano in 2018 were resettled. The displaced islanders are still waiting on relevant authorities to be permanently relocated.
The 557 affected people from the villages of Manot, Taragauo, Dong Sarakbano, Niukatnam and Rumgio were moved across to the Dandan Care Center as at March 20, 2018.
It is the same sad scenario for Madang’s Manam islanders, living at care centers, awaiting intervention by relevant authorities.
Delays often lead to frustration and ethnic clashes coupled with other social problems.
General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference (CBC) Fr Giorgio Licini, when commenting on internally displaced people (IDP) this week said: “What is truly sad, I don’t know if it’s true or not, is to hear of funds allotted with certain people and misused. That is really awful to hear because this money could have gone to helping people.”
East Sepik Deputy Governor David Kausik says close to 500 displaced men, women and children from Murik Lakes are now being temporarily sheltered at the Marienberg Catholic Mission station in Angoram.
Kausik says the next step from Marienberg would be to identify which villages they come from and relocate them all respectively.