Page updated:
Monday, 13 August 2007

Journey to the highlands...

DAY 10 - 11: Ambers Inn

Ambers Inn is patronised by Australian aid workers on stopover in Port Moresby. A two-level square with its own restaurant and swimming pool, Ambers is conveniently close to the airport and operates a van for arrivals and departures. With Australian aid and NGO activity in PNG worth millions, the proprieter is onto a good trade.

Despite the drought and impending water shortages in Port Moresby, the swimming pool is full. This is perplexing until a guest says to me: "This, after all, is PNG". I take a dip.

The Australian drought relief team is in town and staying at Amber's. We study topographic maps in our discussions about the situation and I learn about the difficulties the Australian Navy is having delivering water to island communities in the Huon Gulf. I also learn more arcane stuff about the intricacies of using the lid of a Nescafe can as a part for a water pump. This, from a farmer from Bilpin, west of Sydney. He is in PNG to sink wells. Mindful of raskols, we walk to the local restaurant in a group.

Back at Moresby airport, where all the lights and ceiling fans are now working, I pass Australian and New Zealand Air Force Hercules transports, here to make emergency supply drops as part of the drought relief effort. I board the QANTAS flight and we race down the airstrip to climb above the dusty city. A sharp turn to the south and we climb out over the waters of Torres Strait, bound for Brisbane.

Wasted effort?

When I left Sydney to spend a month with the Solomon Islands project I knew that I might have to go to Mt Hagen if the Sydney office managed to make arrangements with the Wabag people and if they made contact with Tom Jumeraii. They did both these things, but only the visit to Tom panned out. At least it gave me an insight into his project and kept AusAID happy when they finally received their report.

But what did I learn, I wonder, and was the journey worth it? One thing I learned is that aid work in PNG requires great patience and that projects do not unfold with the tentative certainty that they might elsewhere. I saw a little of the difficulties project managers face every day and learned the value of having someone like Tom Jumeraii running things.

I also saw the value of turning a waste product - non-ferrous metals - into a commodity and how giving monetary value to waste encourages people to treat it differently. I had seen how a small business can be built around waste recovery and how jobs can be created through recycling.

Waste is fast becoming a big issue in the Pacific Islands. At present it is only litter, but too much litter becomes pollution and too much pollution becomes a public health issue. I know now that in a country with the population of PNG and buyers in Australia it is possible to use the market to solve waste issues, but how do you translate that to the smaller populations of the other Pacific Islands?

It is only a few hours flying time to Brisbane airport. We pass over the familiar city and start our descent, coming in over the waters of Moreton Bay. It is early afternoon, as it is in Port Moresby. From here it is little more than an hour to Sydney and, as we pass over Northern NSW, I once again, for the first time in over five weeks, look out on country I know.