The Lae City Pride Campaign

By MAINE WINNY

In the colonial days Lae was a vibrant green and beautiful garden city in PNG and the Pacific.
Lae was the golden gateway to Wau and Bulolo gold fields in the 1930s; it is on record that Lae and Nadzab were the busiest airstrips in the world used by the Junker planes that transported parts of the gold dredges into the Wau and Bulolo area.
The garden city still maintains some of its treasures like the Lae Botanical Gardens, a tropical rainforest in the hub of the city, the Lae war cemetery, and later the Rain Forest Habitat at University of Technology.
The country’s longest running Morobe Agriculture Show is an annual spectacle of farm produce, technology and cultural entertainment.
Lae was also the last stop for famous female aviator, Amelia Earhart who is one of the six famous American missing persons in history to this day. Her memorial plaque is erected at the Lae old airport and her last place to sleep was the Hotel Cecil near Voco Point. The hotel location is now the Asiawe Village housing estate.
Over the years since Independence, Lae earned a more negative name tag mostly with the visible eye sore views, illegal settlements and from urban and regional migration.
Crime and poor infrastructures added to the negativity. Lae was also labelled “the blackout city of pot holes”.
Yet amidst these issues development of industries did not stop. Life continued and the city began to grow into the industrial hub of PNG today.
Lae is a very important strategic location for business with major industries and transport infrastructure being established by the current government. Trying to establish sustainable rural tour operations and having Lae as the base to link rural communities in tourism amidst the negative image was the greatest challenge and impediment in the development of rural tourism.
Our experience in conducting a grassroots tourism show indicated that our international guests wanted to go straight to the rural areas. However, from the Nadzab airport we cannot avoid the Miles area and Kamkumung to go to the Rainforest Habitat at the University of Technology, for example.
They are all part of the Lae city. As a local tour operator these issue bothered us a lot over the years.
I started to think of a way to address the negative image of Lae in a small way which may one day grow to achieve the long term vision of a safe, attractive city for tourism and business.

The Lae City Pride Campaign
At home at Busanim Hills block one night in 2014, I started to sketch out an idea on paper, an image that could be used as a campaign logo for Lae city.
An image that promoted peace, unity, love, positive vibe and represented the people – an image that people could associate with, an image that could evoke consciousness, an image of pride.
This is how the Lae City Pride Campaign logo was born. It consists of the heart shape with the Morobe colours, yellow, blue, green.
A good graphic designer’s role is to find a visual solution to problems for their clients. I always try to visualise problems and issues to find solutions.
Later using the Adobe Illustrator graphics software I finalised the logo. I was satisfied and after a couple of days I went to Eriku overhead bridge and took a photo of the street scene and on my computer Photoshoped the logo onto proposed billboards and signage of the Eriku main street.
I created a Face Book page, and posted a trial image, with the words, “Imagine if people of Lae City where proud of the city, they would take care of it.”
I received 300 likes in two weeks. This was when I realised that the idea would work.
So we put together our first volunteer campaign team made up of youths, family and friends. Robert Tom from Lababia village, Salamaua, who was a trained theatre artist became the lead campaigner, and ET Kalsa band became our lead music group for the campaign.
We presented our ideas to few of our friends in government and the private sector and they were impressed. The former MP for Lae like the idea and sponsored the first awareness campaign at Eriku oval during a women’s gathering. We used the opportunity to showcase the first campaign.
The response was good, the music was hypnotic and the message we believed was received.
In any advertising the trick is repetition. The music and visual message must be repetitious for maximum impact, influence and action. We believe the campaign must be on-going using all mediums of communication.

ET Kalsa Band
An important component of the campaign is the band artists.
The eight members of the ET Kalsa (Earth Culture Band), would have resorted to crime and the negative side of life in their early teens but I introduced them to the arts.
I started a grassroots artist motivational programme with youths in the settlements in Lae. As a result the ET Kalsa band was formed very early in their lives, having mentored the group over a period of 10 years.
The band started from banging cans to building old drums, and shack bags form the Second Seven dump into a complete matching brass band. Keyboard player Philemon Paro used to play the mouth organ with the LBM (Last Block Mangi) brass band from Second Seven then.
The band then ventured from traditional instrumens to modern guitars and drums.
Music became the vehicle of their lives. They successfully performed locally in Lae, winning the best local contemporary music awards and maintaining their reputation over the years.
One band member travelled to Japan, with the Bui performing troupe, three members spent three months in Taiwan under our international culture exchange programme.
ET Kalsa have been in the forefront of the Lae City Pride Campaign arts to motivate, inspire and influence others in the community in a positive way forward in their lives.
ET Kalsa performed along with some of PNG’s international artists at the International Sing Sing Festival in 2007, including Ben Hakalits, drummer of the legendary Sanguma and Yothu Yindi who actually gave Samuel Eric the ET Kalsa drummer his drum sticks after the concert.
Pius Wasi of Tambaran Culture and late Wiggi Paul Yabo also became musical mentors of the band. ET Kalsa performed at the opening shows for David Bridie and Not Drowning but Waving Band, Telek, and others – when it performed at the Sing Sing Festival in Lae in 2007.
At the Lae Got Talent music and dance quest in 2015, the band came second overall and the best contemporary band category. The Lae Pride Campaign believes if we produce quality reputable music and artistic acts they can wow the public with messages and this can gain respect in return.
Recently in Lae, we managed to mobilise other artists and performing groups interested to be part of the campaign.
They include Chris Urio, a music teacher and actor from the erstwhile Duaks Band and Markham Galut, an international performing artist and choreographer with Makoda Productions. Others are in the process of registering an association to oversee the arts movement in Lae and Morobe.
Other Lae-based artists who have agreed to perform for the Lae City Pride Campaign at the Club Cabana include, Daniel Bilip, Amon Serum, Kumul Kirap Band and Vok Kiatik of Shydeeze Band.
Lae City Pride Campaign believes residents must be conscious of the city development around them which will cater for their needs in the future.
Citizens must take ownership of the city by being part of the drive to promote a better image of the city.
Existing rules and regulations in caring for the city are promoted through policing and city ranger programmes, however, we still experience basic careless attitude in human behaviour and that remains a major challenge to authorities.
The campaign focuses on promoting positive aspects of the city development, social activities, events and spreading positive stories in all forms of media and engaging more stakeholder participation in a good cause.
The campaign team believes if people are proud of their city then they will take responsible actions such as not littering and having greater respect for one another.
There is also the law and order sector but these institutions cannot do it on their own. The city belongs to all.
The Lae City Pride Campaign motto is Stop, Think, Act Right.

Vision
The vision of the campaign is for residents to enjoy a safe and clean environment, have greater respect for each other and be proud of the city as an attractive destination for tourism, business and investment now and into the future.
A social media page was created and received positive comments. We used the social media feedbacks as an evaluation of the campaign.
So far we have carried out the awareness at the family arena at the Morobe Show with support from Karen Quin of the Morobe Show Society who has supported the campaign by allocating the stage for the campaign in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Partners who have supported the campaign so far are: Lae District Administration, Morobe Provincial Division of Commerce, Trade and Tourism, Miles Lodge Ltd, Office of the Mayor, Asa Investment Ltd, Et Kalsa Band, Mode Ltd, MoArts, Flintstone Builders, Goodlink Real Estate and Morobe Agriculture Show Society.
Recently the Tourism Promotion Authority has been interested in supporting the campaign. Also the new Lae chamber of commerce president, John Burne is very supportive of the campaign.
Today Lae is changing for the better with MP John Rosso’s vision of a better city and to restore its former glory.
We believe a positive behaviour campaign and public education programme will support that vision.

•  Maine Winny, the Lace City Pride Campaign project director can be contacted on 72167313 or [email protected]