Inland Rigo villagers want aid post, airstrip

VILLAGERS in inland Rigo, Central province, are asking the government to build a community aid post and an airstrip to serve the 10,000 plus people who live in scattered hamlets along mountain fringes.
Former public servant and Dirigoro village leader Robin Waiabu made the call, saying they had been neglected and had poor infrastructure in the area.
Waiabu said the only aid post in the area was built in the colonial era and was rundown.
He said as a parent he had been forced to send his children to live with his sister down the coast so they could have access to education.
He said it was very difficult to get basic government services in inland Rigo.
He said teachers at the local community school often left half way through the year because of the remoteness of the area.
Waiabu said it took almost six hours for locals to walk to his village and a day for other villagers at the foot of Mt Brown.
He said although an aid post was part of the district’s five-year plan, no aid post had been established.
He asked the government to establish an airstrip so that medical supply and pay for teachers and aid post workers could be flown in.
He said local MP Ano Pala had bought banana boats and motors but they could not be used during low tide.
He said an airstrip with flights coming into the area at least once a fortnight would ease the trouble of having patients die from curable sicknesses.
Waiabu said a woman died recently after she was bitten by a snake.
He said the woman was left to die in agony, although there was anti-venom in
Port Moresby, which was not far from the inland Rigo area.