WITNESS

Letters

The people of the mining town of Wau, Morobe, have suffered hugely from the lack of a proper health facility for many years because its run-down rural hospital has been poorly maintained and falling apart.
The hospital wards and building are being been eaten away by termites and haveĀ  been condemned.
The rural hospital was built by New Guinea Goldfields in the 1940s to serve the expatriate mining workforce.
The mine left Wau in 1990. The old hospital remains, providing basic health services.
It is still in use today even though it is not being properly maintained because of funding contraints.
The people are now crying for a better place to go when they get sick.

Words and pictures by Sampson Bonai