Memafu gets emotional welcome

By MARJORIE FINKEO
HE LEFT his sweet home Uritai Village, Gulf as a young man in the mid-1960 to work in the copper mine in Bougainville and returned home when his parents and half of his siblings had died.
Memafu Evorea was born in 1943, during World War 2 and was just a baby when his father helped the Australian soldiers as a carrier.
Evorea worked in the copper mine for some time and in 1973 left for Rabaul, East New Britain to work as a carpenter under an expatriate who paid for his travel there.
In 1974 he moved to Manus under the same contract and built 28 houses for the Australian army at the Lombrum naval base.
“I was a young boy cutting the savannah grass to clear the road and walked to Kerema town from Uritai Village and now I am returning home as a very old man,” Evorea said.
Evorea is 76 years old and was assisted by Manus leaders in Port Moresby who wanted him to at least see his families and say his last words and farewell them before making his final journey back to Manus.
Those who contributed towards his air fares and travel to Uritai include National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop (K1,900 return ticket and K2,000 cash), Dominic Kaumu (K2,019 for a return ticket for Evorea’s son Steven), Mark Paivu (K500), Leslie Pomat (K500), PNG Sports Foundation director Peter Chalapang (K400), Liz Loh (K200) and Sonny Sisky (K40).
Parkop said the Manus community has shown goodwill and have thanked Evorea for his contributions to the development of Manus through building as a carpenter.
“He went to Manus as a young man and is returning to his family was arranged by us, we wanted him to see his family for the last time,” Parkop said.
To Evora he said: “You have married in Manus and spent your whole life in Manus. Manus is your home and not Uritai. You’re a Manus karu (man in the Kerema language) and not a Kerema karu.
Evorea’s younger sister Motoro, who is in her late 60s, said this was her first time to see her brother. She never knew what he looked like because she was a small girl when he left left for Bougainville.
Motoro stood at the Jacksons Airport arrival area with a heavy heart while tears ran down her face and with a confused looked at his brother when he walked slowly with his walking stick out of the terminal. The old lady cried with pain when finally holding her brother and hugging him hard for at least two minutes on the busy footpath.
The whole family gathered with with tears and joy as they welcomed their brother, uncle and grandfather home.
Evorea told The National: “When I saw my sister, I felt that my heart has awakened again, I felt like I am alive.”
He is the first born of three sisters and four brothers.
One sister and a brother have died and he will be visiting their graves in Uritai.
In 2012 he lost his wife from Powat Highway on Manus. They have four daughters and one son, and 18 grandchildren.
“Taim mi toromei hammer, mama harim na i kam,” (The noise of the hammer drew my wife to me and we got married).
In 2009 one of his daughters died and in March this year another daughter died from an illness.
Michael Ka’avorea (Evorea’s brother’s son) said they had no communication with their family member. After he left, the whole family lost contact with him.
“There was no news, nothing, but we only knew that he was still living in Manus with his family until today when we finally see him here in Port Moresby.”
Evorea and his son Steven will spend few weeks in Gulf and return to Manus.