Villagers take delivery of roofing iron

 THE displaced Manam Islanders in Baliau village, Madang, received their most needed service 10 years after the volcanic eruption.

Bogia MP John Hickey funded roofing iron for each family on the island to build semi-permanent houses and presented a small ship to the islanders last Thursday.

Hickey’s executive officer Robert Naguri said a ship would help the islanders to transport their cocoa and copra to Madang town to sell.

Naguri announced that Hickey had subsidised copra buyers in town with K500,000 for all copra producers from Bogia.

“Before, pristine offers K1 for every kilo of copra, now your member subsidised additional 30t so all Bogia copra farmers will get K1.30 per kilo,” Naguri said.

He encouraged Baliau villagers and other Manam Islanders in care centres to process copra and use the boat to transport it to market.

The ship mv Manam was launched on the Baliau village sea front after female Kukurai (village chief) performed a ceremony called Brukim pot (pot breaking).

Naguri took the ship to the village and presented it to the village Kukurai (chief) and the people.

The ship was loaded with roofing iron that would benefit more than 3000 people.

Baliau housing project coordinator James Sukua said the roofing iron was for each family to build a semi-permanent house before they concentrated on other things to  improve their living standards.

Joe Ararua, a community leader for Manam and a member of Hickey’s JDPBPC, said Hickey’s office funded more than K200,000 for the housing project and the ship had cost K680,000.

“For us, Manam Islanders, the housing project and ship are like rain in the desert,” Ward councillor Michael Rupunai said.

He said the volcanic disaster was a turning point for Manam Islanders because it led them to commit themselves to doing things to improve their living standard, something they never did until the volcanic eruption.

Naguri said the housing project would extend from Baliau to other villages in the island because resettling them on their own land was trouble free and easy.

He said they would still have problems with landowners if they were to be settled on Bogia mainland.