French connection – The National

COVER STORY

Fuyuge speakers extend the late Fr Jules Dubey’s work to connect with people from across the seas.

**The early 20th century French designed sisters’ quarters and church bell at Ononge. The station will be preserved as a heritage site to promote tourism.**

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
THE remote Ononge Catholic Parish in the icy rugged mountains of Goilala in Central has a spiritual connection with the French people and history.
It has French’s 20th century buildings erected between 1913 and 1952 by Catholic priest and engineer the late Fr Jules Dubey. The parish was bustling with herds of sheep, horses and mules. It had workshops, store rooms, barns ….well basically a typical farm in a French countryside setting but on a mission station, at Ononge. Dairy products like butter, cheese and milk were also produced from sheep for the parish residents like the priests, sisters, brothers and also local staff.
Fr Jules also built the famous Dubey Horse track that connected the entire parish in Goilala to the coast to link Yule Island to the border of Morobe and Northern. And horses and mules were used to transport materials and workers along that track to evangelise throughout Goilala.
He also built a railway line along that track. Now the Goilala District Development Authority through its French connection vows to develop this track to connect Papua and New Guinea through Central and Bulolo in Morobe.
Fr Jules was an adventurous man and while a student in the order of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) seminary in Switzerland, he heard of PNG from another adventurous Frenchman, Bishop Alain de Boismenu. The late Bishop Alain was then the first MSC priest who came to Yule Island in Bereina in 1884 to start evangelisation and became the first Bishop of Bereina Diocese that also looks after Goilala. And so Fr Jules in 1911 at the age of 24 came here after a months-long voyage on a ship from the other side of the world.
Early this month another equally adventurous Frenchman and Ambassador to PNG Philippe Janvier-Kamiyama spent two nights at the parish (Aug 5 and 6) during the reconciliation ceremony for the Fuyuge language speakers to say sorry for killing 65-year-old Fr Jules in 1952. Just like Fr Jules, Ambassador Kamiyama also learnt about PNG when he was a psychology student at the University of Tours in France between 1972 and 1976.
“Since then I had longed to come here as I was already fascinated by the tropical rain forests, history, culture and the people.
“In 1976 at the age of 22, I went to the Amazon jungles in South America and trekked mountains, visited Indian tribes, crossed rivers, ate local food, slept in traditional houses amongst the tribes …. well basically, I had an adventurous three months trip. But still I longed to come here.
“And so after graduating I became a diplomat with the French foreign service and my first posting was to the freezing Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), now Russia in 1978. My next postings were to Finland and Turkey in Europe, Senegal (Africa) and India (Asia).
“I was posted twice to Japan and I have a Japanese wife and her name Kamiyama means the spirits of the mountain. I also include her name to mine which is very important to me.
“For my last posting, I requested my government to come here and I was happy when it was granted. I came here in 2017 and have already visited 18 provinces. Before my term winds up this year, I will make sure to visit the remaining three provinces.”
Kamiyama said that the Ononge parish had a special link to France and hoped his country would enter into a partnership in developing this area and Goilala District as a whole.
“I hope to set up a Fr Dubey Foundation in France with Fr Dubey’s relatives to foster and strengthen relationships between French people and Goilala District. And I hope that French people will partner in this district’s development.
“In France with late Fr Jules’s family, we will start a sister Fr Dubey Foundation. We hope to raise some funds and find solutions because after more than one century (since 1884) following the arrival of the first French Catholic priest in Bereina Diocese, your roads are not good. You face challenges in accessing health, education and other government services including economic activities. But you are very courageous, committed and strong people,” he told the locals.

**Ambassador Philippe Janvier-Kamiyama receiving a pig leg, a yam and betel nuts from the Fuyuge chiefs during the reconciliation ceremony at Ononge Catholic Parish in Goilala District on Aug 6.**

“You walked for three days here and will also walk back to your respective villages. So it is a great challenge for all of us, including your government. So we will partner with you.
“France has a connection with you. They (French priests) came by boat after months of travelling from France. They came here to preach God’s Word and to provide services. And through the foundation we can continue the late Fr Jules’ work to develop Goilala and PNG as a whole.”
During the reconciliation ceremony on Aug 6, Community Youth and Religion Minister Wake Goi donated K10,000 to start the Fr Dubey Foundation to convert the Ononge Catholic Parish into a museum for Catholic faithful and French tourists to visit.
“On behalf of this country, the National Government and the Goilala people say sorry for what our grandfathers have done to the late Fr Jules and they didn’t reveal the truth. And so the relationship between PNG and France didn’t work out well since then till now. And so we say sorry to the France people and Fr Jules’ relatives,” Goi said.
He added that this was the first time in the country for such a reconciliation ceremony to take place.
“And this is the way forward for PNG. You are making a bridge with heaven and Goilala District and PNG as a whole. If we want to prosper and seek God’s blessing, this is how we have to reconcile and I represent the Government and all the churches in PNG.
“When we say sorry, we will see God’s blessings. So now we want the relationship in terms of government and churches to get stronger, and French tourists can come here (Ononge) for pilgrimages. And every one of us must say sorry. If we want this country to prosper, we must say sorry. And now Goilala has started it, all PNG must do it. All 111 MPs and government heads must do it,” Goi said.
Culture Arts and Tourism Minister Emil Tammur also gave his undertaking to establish a cultural heritage site in honour of the late French Catholic priest at Ononge. This site with its historical buildings include Fr Jules’ houses, a museum where he kept his equipment, tools, books and the nuns’ quarters, will be renovated for French tourists and the Catholic faithful to visit.
“I will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Goilala District Development Authority to establish a museum for the work of the French Catholic missionaries in Goilala to develop the tourism industry in Goilala.”
Local MP and Transport Minister William Samb said that the Ononge parish land would be handed over to commemorate the late missionary’s work in PNG.
“We have formed the Fr Dubey Reconciliation Association and that association started last year and has wound up after organising this ceremony. Now that association will be known as Fr Dubey Foundation. With this foundation, we will ask Minister Tammur to declare this site a cultural heritage site.
“This land was given by our grandfathers to the French Catholic priests to establish the church. Now we can renovate and maintain the existing buildings like the priest’s houses and the nuns’ quarters so that tourists will come visit here.”