P.N.G. Gossip Newsletter - 12 Oct 2002

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PNG Gossip Newsletter Meri Milne Bay
Welcome to the Papua New Guinea Gossip - 12 Oct 2002

A very special welcome is extended to any new readers. If you have comments or suggestions to make then please use the contact form.

C O N T E N T S

Links GFS (Girls Friendly Society)
Members of Parliament Population by Province
Population by Region ConXions
Pacom Communications Mobile Telephones
Mobile Phone Rentals Private Hospital
Danish PNG Association PNG Australia Association
Other Associations Divine Word
PNG Books Andersons Foodland
PNG Languages Southern Highlands
Tari Police Malaria Facts
Solomon Islands Historical Papua
Talasea TLW ANZ Bank
Fight Against Corruption Senior Doctors
PNG Media The End

 

Articles for this newsletter

To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter -- please use the contact form

Remember that this mailing list is mainly meant for people who have an interest and already know a little bit about the people and geography of Papua New Guinea. The PNG Kina, which is mentioned from time to time in this newsletter, is currently worth around 23 - 24 United States cents but varies on a daily basis.

If you are really keen on finding out what the Kina is worth a currency converter for most world currencies can be located at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/moni.html

 

 

Neo Melanesian

"Pidgin English"
Tok Pisin English
kala colour
blak / blakpela black
dak / tudak dark
blu blue
klia clear
lait light
wait / watpela white
grin green
gre grey
ret red
ret pink
yelo yellow
golmoni gold
makmak multi-coloured
hap half
hap ret purple

Want to find out more about Papua New Guinea? Try searching at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo and http://www.michie.net/png_faqs. The PNG Business Directory at http://www.pngbd.com is also an excellent place to look for PNG information.

For those who are not so familiar with the geography of Papua New Guinea I suggest taking a look -- http://maps.google.com -- and then click on the find a map option. Go to this link for a quick start to a link to a map of Port Moresby. http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/pom-map.html

Also remember that the accuracy of the information in this newsletter should not be relied upon - it is, after all, a gossip newsletter.



Links

 

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby - Papua New Guinea

Here is a very interesting link supplied by Sharon in USA -- Scientists crack malaria's genetic code -- http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/conditions/10/02/malaria.genetics.reut/index.html

Here is another one supplied by Rick in Port Moresby and Sharon in USA -- http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/04/world.cities/index.html. The page deals with various cities in the world and whether they are good or bad for an expatriate to live in. Moresby Northeast MP Casper Wollom has defended Port Moresby. He said that the magazine should visit Port Moresby to find out that the city is quite different to the image the magazine has portrayed in their rating.

AC Fox and Associates -- http://www.acfox.com.au
Courts Superstores -- http://png.courtsretail.com
Kenmore group of companies -- http://www.kenmore.com.pg
Markham Group -- http://www.markham.com.pg
Milne Bay Estates -- http://www.mbe.com.pg
National Research Institute -- http://www.nri.org.pg
PNG Poetry -- http://members.cruzio.com/~png/prev.html
Seeto Kui -- http://www.seetokui.com.pg

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~triplehb/KokodaTrail.htm -- A report on the Sutherland Bush walking Club's trek across the Kokoda Trail in 1999

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ccb/png.html -- Information about the Anglican Church in Papua New Guinea especially the Dogura Cathedral, Milne Bay Province. Don't forget http://www.portmoresby.anglican.org

http://www.pacificwrecks.com -- The Pacific Wrecks database has a list of known wrecks in PNG. For example information on the wreck of B-17E serial number 41-2446 can be found at http://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/png_agaiambo.html

http://www.billzilla.org/aviationpage2.htm -- this is a website with short paragraphs about flying in PNG with various pictures of planes.

The combined Ela/Murray International School has a new website located at -- http://www.elamurray.ac.pg - email addresses are elabeach@ebis.iea.ac.pg and murrayis@murray.iea.ac.pg. For those unfamiliar with the Ela / Murray schools -- The Ela Site offers Early Learning, Preschool programs and Prep to Grade Two. The Murray Site has primary and middle school grades from Grade Three through to Grade Eight. They are a member school of the International Education Agency. The Agency is responsible for twenty private schools operating throughout Papua New Guinea.

 


 

News Items


GFS (Girls Friendly Society)



Three Popondetta women have returned to Papua New Guinea recently following their attendance at a major World Conference of Anglican men and women at Cairns and Townsville. The Conference, which attracted 220 attendees from around the world, was the World Conference of GFS - an Anglican family ministry that is growing rapidly in the Popondota Anglican Diocese.

Mrs. Lucille Haembo is the Coordinator of GFS at Popondetta and was the senior delegate for GFS in Papua New Guinea. Mrs. Alison Boworo and Mrs. Mary Bagu who are both members and leaders of the organisation accompanied her.

GFS is still called the Girls Friendly Society in some parts of the world, having been started in England in 1875 to work with disadvantaged girls. A number of African countries, Australia and Papua New Guinea now have male members and so use the shortened name.

GFS works in many different areas around the world, in AIDS Education, working with the homeless and disadvantaged, empowering women to assist in leadership roles and in organising children's Christian activity groups (the main focus of the organisation in Australia). In Popondota Diocese the organisation mainly works with young men and women encouraging them in leadership roles and in service to others, following the motto of the organisation to "bear one another's burdens".

During the Conference Mrs. Haembo was able to report to the World Council on the World Project that for the last three years has been the support of GFS in Papua New Guinea. The project has met the required funds from donations from around the world and which have provided training visits from GFS leaders from Australia in the past three years and for the building of a training centre in Popondetta (expected to be completed next year).

Although the World Project has been completed, GFS in Australia has elected to continue to support GFS in Papua New Guinea to continue annual training visits and assistance in preparing resources suitable for PNG culture.




Members of Parliament



Did you know that currently PNG has a total of 109 representatives in parliament? The constitution allows for a total of 120 members, which was when the country only had a population of 3 million. The constitution allows for an electorate for every 35,000 people and some of the electorates have double this population since the constitution was written.




Population by Province



Province -- Year 2000 Population
Central -- 183,153
Chimbu -- 258,776
East New Britain -- 220,035
East Sepik -- 341,583
Eastern Highlands -- 429,480
Enga -- 289,299
Gulf -- 105,050
Madang -- 362,805
Manus -- 43,589
Milne Bay -- 209,054
Morobe -- 536,917
National Capital -- 252,469
New Ireland -- 118,148
North Solomons -- 141,161
Oro -- 132,714
Southern Highlands -- 544,352
West New Britain -- 184,838
West Sepik -- 185,790
Western -- 152,067
Western Highlands -- 439,085

Total Population -- 5,130,365




Population by Region



Region -- Population
Southern -- 1,034,507
Highlands -- 1,960,992
Mamose -- 1,427,095
Islands -- 707,771




ConXions



ConXions PNG have come up with a novel idea to help students of the Business Training Institute gain work experience. The students are visiting major customers of ConXions - Ericssons and cleaning telephones. This is part of a course that the students have done at the ConXions Training centre. The ConXions website is currently under development at http://www.conxions.com.pg and is being done by Nelson Lee & Associates - PO Box 743 Port Moresby Papua New Guinea. http://www.nla.com.pg.




Pacom Communications



Pacom Communications have a web site located at http://www.prosec.com.pg/pacom. They are the sole Motorola distributor in PNG who deal with VHF, UHF handheld and vehicle radios, HF SSB long-range communications equipment and Cellular and Satellite phone equipment.




Mobile Telephones



What has happened to the "new" GSM Mobile Telephone system? It has been talked about for years and now I would assume that the equipment will be obsolete before it is used a bit like the present analogue system.




Mobile Phone Rentals



If anyone is thinking about visiting PNG and is used to being able to use their digital mobile then be warned - PNG is still using an analogue system and your digital phone will be as useful as a Philips head screwdriver trying to undo a flat head screw.

A.C Fox and Associates can rent you a Nokia or Motorola phone. Contact karinah@dg.com.pg - If you are going to be around for a while then I suggest contacting the Motorola agents in PNG for the best deal in PNG -- salespom@pacom.prosec.com.pg - they may even be able to rent you a phone for a short period. Their website is located at www.prosec.com.pg/pacom




Private Hospital



What has happened to the 79 bed, partially equipped hospital that has sat on a hill close to the Port Moresby Hospital unoccupied for over two years? It was up for sale as part of the privatisation process but I haven't heard anything about it for a while.




Danish PNG Association



http://home.worldonline.dk/~csv/ -- This is a site set up by the Danish - Papua New Guinean Friendship Association to promote intercultural understanding through public meetings and cultural exchanges between the two countries. They are committed to maintaining an atmosphere in which both cultures are equally important and able to learn from each other.




PNG Australia Association



Don't forget the Papua New Guinea Australia Association of Victoria which holds regular functions such as barbeques, casserole nights and sports days.

Any readers living in Melbourne, Australia or close to Melbourne can contact Jack Devlan for further information on - Phone +61 (0)3 9763 3730. - Mob. +61 (0)403 468 915. If ringing from overseas do not dial the (0) -- e-mail jackd@bigpond.net.au. Jack produces a regular newsletter.




Other Associations



If any other PNG Associations would like a mention here then please send email to PNGNews@pnggossip.com.

 




Divine Word



The Divine Word University has had security increased following an upsurge in criminal activities in and around the Madang campus. Reports coming from the university have said that students have been held up and robbed on the campus.




PNG Books



Looking for books about PNG then try -- http://www.pacificbookhouse.com.au once there select the catalogue option for books about PNG / New Guinea.




Andersons Foodland



The manager of Andersons Foodland in Lae has been brutally murdered by criminals when he arrived at his home. Residents of Lae are concerned that the attack may have been carried out by some of the recent escapees from the Lae police cells.

The St Mary's Catholic Church in Lae was packed to capacity as friends and colleagues including his three children gathered to pay their last respects to slain Australian, Dennis Patrick McLean.




Languages of PNG



The National or official languages of PNG are Hiri Motu, Tok Pisin and English.

The number of languages listed for Papua New Guinea is 832. Of those, 823 are living languages and 9 are considered to be extinct.

For information on the languages a visit to http://www.sultry.arts.usyd.edu.au/ling/research/papuan2.html will start you off in the right direction. Another interesting article is located at http://www.krysstal.com/langfams.html. It deals with language families and mentions the Rotokas language - Rotokas is spoken in Papua New Guinea on the Island of Bougainville by approximately 4,300 people and it has the fewest sounds of any language, 11 (compared to the 44 or so of standard English). The 11 sounds are made up of five vowels and six consonants: A, E, I, O, U, B, G, K, P, R, T. - can you imagine that - a language with only 11 sounds.

It has been reported that PNG has one language for every 900 square kilometres of the country or roughly one language for every 350 square miles for those readers who don't use the metric system.




Southern Highlands



Peter Barter, the Minister for Inter Government Relations, has said that the Southern Highlands have more guns than Bougainville ever had. He went on to say that the police are outgunned and out manned in the province.




Tari Police



The police numbers in the Tari area of the Southern Highlands Province have been strengthened by the deployment of mobile squads from Port Moresby and Mount Hagen. The extra police will be used to help provide security for workmen attempting to fix sabotaged power lines pylons. Hooligans felled three power pylons, disrupting the flow of power to the Porgera gold mine from the Hides gas project. Police have now been able to apprehend two suspects who they believe were responsible for felling the power pylons.




Malaria Facts



More than 300 million cases occur each year. Up to 2.5 million die annually from malaria. About 1,200 cases are diagnosed in the United States. Other mosquito-borne diseases: encephalitis, the West Nile virus, and Dengue fever. -- Sources: WHO, CDC, Nature




Solomon Islands



I know this is a newsletter about PNG but skipping away from the PNG scene for a quick look at our near neighbour -- the Solomon Islands -- shouldn't hurt too much. Try http://www.commerce.gov.sb/Tourism/index.htm as a starting point with links to many places located in the Solomons.




Historical Papua



Whilst away from PNG here is a bit of information about the region that also shares the island of New Guinea with PNG. When the Netherlands East Indies won freedom in 1949, the Dutch kept only Papua of their once vast Pacific Empire. Prior to the hand-over of Papua to Indonesia in 1965, the Dutch endeavoured to help the Melanesians of Papua progress to a point where they were able to determine their own future. http://www.janesoceania.com/papua_historical/index.htm

Just to keep the PNG flavour in there somewhere here is a link to a PNG segment of Jane's Oceania pages -- http://www.janeresture.com/png_home/index.htm




Talasea TLW



Air Niugini did plan to have been able to make their first flight to Talasea at the same time this newsletter came out but Civil Aviation has not yet certified the runway. Once the runway is certified the airfare is expected to be K389 one way. The Talasea airport is 39 kilometres west of Kimbe. Air Niugini are now planning on the 17th of October for the first flight if all goes well. My suggestion is to ring your local Air Niugini office for an update.

Air Niugini has had to cancel flight to Hoskins due to the eruption of Mt Pago.




ANZ Bank



A reader writes -- I note with interest that the ANZ Bank has been voted the "Worst Bank" in New Zealand based on level of service in a survey taken from bank customers.

At the same time Port Moresby has been voted "The most dangerous city" maybe we should have a vote in Port Moresby to see which bank gets the best or worst vote in the worst city!!

Further to the ANZ saga, I have been informed, only of course after phoning several more times that the Access card embossing machine is fixed, but of course we still have to wait until next week for our cards.

Another staff member here has been having problems with the big "A" he wanted to sort out some problems with his ANZ credit card and when he rang "Customer Service" he was asked to confirm his birthday, which of course he did, the reply was that he has given the incorrect date.

When he questioned this the girl said that the birthday they had in the system (which he later found to have two different dates, neither correct) was not what he had given so she could not help.

This was despite the fact that he had recently sent to ANZ a copy of his passport with his birthday clearly shown in it.

He has now been told that he will have to wait for 11 days before the ANZ can sort out their internal problems, my friend has just faxed copies of his last four passports to try and prove that he has not changed his birthday in the last few years.

The "E" bank appears to be trying for "The most difficult bank to deal with" prize.

Cheers




Fight Against Corruption



PNG Media Council president, Peter John Aitsi, has assured the country that the media will continue to fight corruption and expose its perpetrators without fear or favour.




Senior Doctors



Three doctors have been made life members of the PNG Medical Society. Dr Adolph Saweri, Dr Puka Temu and Professor Michael Alpers received the award at the recent Medical Symposium held in Alotau.

 

 





PNG Media


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-- THE END --

Some of the above are courtesy of Liz and her friends at the University of Technology in Lae. http://www.unitech.ac.pg

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Created 12 Oct 2002
Updated 12 Oct 2002

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