Bougainville assignment in review

This is the final post on this series – our assignment has come to an end and so must this blog. I have chosen to review our assignment and what we achieved and learned during our two year stay, and have even dared to venture  to suggest a way forward for Bougainville!  Oh well – writing this blog has been fun – more than 80 postings,400+  A4 pages, and 800+ photographs.  Thank you to our loyal regular readers and and those who chanced on the site – it is  gratifying that we have achieved 10,000 hits to date. As usual click on the highlighted text and follow the link through to the written report Bougainville in Review May 2012

Arawa sunset

The final Buka channel crossing in a Banana boat with all our boxes

Farewell!

PS  Your comments would still be appreciated

Farewells and the journey out

Sorry folks – you’ll have to put up with us for one extra blog post – enough has occurred to justify this  before the final recap and review! As usual, click on the highlighted words and follow through to the written report Farewells April 2012

As an aside the following picture is of a diaphragm from between the carburettor and fuel tank of the VSA Briggs and Stratton powered lawnmower in Arawa that had been sputtering and running very rich for a while. In desperation I had pulled it apart and was lucky to spot the minute tear that had eluded others – new piece delivered from NZ  and end of problem!

80 and still going strong..??

Greetings again from Arawa where we are on the “home straight! Our assignment finishes in less than two weeks!

As before click on the highlighted text and follow through to the latest report.  Eighty

Again a couple of pictures for you enjoyment – another pretty flower ( unfortunately not quite as deep red as the original but pixels have their limitations) and an unexpected location for a Springbok Rugby shirt- Arawa Market!

Take care!

The Sound of Mr Pip,etc

Greetings again. This time we have Mr Pip crew back in town to polish off their sound recordings for the movie, some local drama, and developments with Arawa Urban Council and Oxfam, as well as some local market scenes. As usual click on the highlighted text to go to this week’s report.The sound of Mr Pip …etc

Also another two beautiful orchid for your pleasure. Unfortunately I only had my phone camera for the amazing leopard spot blooms.

Take care!

Bit of a gas problem…..

No this isn’t a post about a dose of the local variation on “Dehli Belly” – it’s a success story about finally dealing with a particular hazard I discovered soon after arriving in Arawa – about finding the right organisation and persuading it to do something, all through the medium of a somewhat erratic internet . As usual, click on the following highlighted text and follow through to the article that I drafted up and submitted to a local PNG paper, the Post Courier . We’ll see if it gets published!     Gas disposal

A couple of photos for a diversion:-

What I foound interesting about this was the resemblance to some modern military helicopters. I expect the copter designers copied a good design! This dragonfly’s abilitiy to hover motionless (apart from beating wings that are almost too fast to see) in one place is quite amazing.

Arawa bay taken not far from Tunuru Mission station. The interesting thing about this picture taken from the present shoreline is that, according to a local resident, they used to grow coconuts right out to the far side of the sand bank in the middle of the picture, a few years back!

And to finish off a delicate little orchid I spotted in someones garden here in Arawa. It is about 20mm long.

Take care and happy reading!

Puppy, Poma and Partings

Greetings again. This post has something to say on a ragtag puppy that appeared on our doorstep, Poma(one of the villages in the Oxfam’s WASH programme including a living bridge , coleus plants, and the grave of an important man; Rosemary’s work to try and establish an x-ray department at the local health centre, and finishes with a short tribute to a departing VSA volunteer. As usual, click on the highlighted text to connect to the attached document.Puppy Poma & Partings January 2012 and to finish off this introduction a photo I took at a reef near Kieta of a clam.

It looks like we will be starting our journey home over Easter. Also a small team from the Mr Pip film will be returning to tidy up a few loose ends in the next few weeks and Rosie has been asked to give a hand with some of admin/logistics.

Take care!

2012 – new beginning or beginning of the end?

Greetings oh loyal followers and casual viewers. This week’s blog post covers the arrival of 24 hr ( well almost) power to Arawa, Rosie’s cooking classes, Arawa’s Christmas lights, Oxfam developments, the RAT and a spectacular orchid from one of our neigbbour’s garden. As usual click on the higlighted text and follow through to the written report …. 2012 – THE BEGINNING

A scene from the Kieta fish market – not sure that I would be brave enough to eat some of those!

It is now three months to our going home – around Easter 2012. Where did that last month go?!!