Remote and suffering

PAPUA New Guinea is experiencing fast and furious economical and infrastructural developments in terms of government services in the towns and cities.
However, in the remotest parts of PNG, people are still suffering and waiting patiently for manna from Parliament House.
The O’Neill-Abel Government has been emphasising the goals of Vision 2050, so the question is when will we see real physical development in PNG.
I wish like to address an important issue here, and to let the whole world know about what is happening in a very remotest and disadvantaged village in the Yangoru-Saussia district of East Sepik. Sangera is situated right at the end of the Haripmo-Kiniambu Plains, which is fondly known as Back Page Yangoruans.
We, the people of Sangera have been suffering in silence since the dawn of independent PNG in 1975.
There are tears in our eyes every day as we cry for government services.
Member after member has been elected by the Yangoru-Saussia district, but we have continued to struggle.
Our daily life is centred round our traditional way of making a living and we have no connection with the rest of PNG.
We know nothing about the outside world.
The only service that is in place is a primary school (Sangera) and a rundown airstrip operated by Evangelical Alliance or the Evangelical Brotherhood Church of PNG.
But there is no other government aid in this area.
Just imagine, to travel to town (Wewak/Maprik) we have to walk for about five hours along muddy tracks, crossing four large kunai (grass) plains to get to the village of Kiniambu where there is a road to town.
Once in town, we have to stay overnight then catch a PMV back at around 1am-2am.
When the PMV journey ends, we are back on the muddy track with our load on our back like donkeys. We finally get home at around 10pm-11pm.
If it rains while we are walking we get wet and get stuck in the mud.
There are no aid posts or health centres and people here get malaria everyday.
Our people have lost their lives because of diseases like malaria, headache, nutritional related diseases, dysentery and so on.
We are still crying and hoping our politicians and leaders will look in our direction and do something.

Back Page Yangoruans