Latest Adventures - February 2009

This is the update for the end of 2008. Before we get into our latest news, we would like to give big thank-you to all our sponsors this year especially Zoos Victoria, Australian Volunteers International (AVI), Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program (RWSSP – European Union), Sustainable Development Program (PNG), New Zealand Aid, the Whitely Foundation (UK), World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) and Perth Zoo. Without your funding we would not be able to function and therefore protect the biodiversity and rainforest of the Torricelli Mountain Range. On the behalf of all of the stakeholders “thank-you very much for your support”.

This update is from September 2008 until February 2009 – Enjoy!
Sorry for the delay in getting this update on the website, but we have been very busy. Our next update, February to June 2009, won’t be too far away.

Jean’s bit
After running a couple of conservation area management training courses we headed off to Port Moresby to attend the Australian Volunteers International conference. I was looking forward to it because I had not left Lumi for 2 months and was ready to “get out”. We arrived in Moresby and got settled into the Gateway Hotel. It was quite a contrast from bare feet and mozzie nets to being back in the big smoke.

It was great to catch up with other fellow volunteers and hear their stories. Widowers, single women and mothers all do it tough for the warm fuzzy feeling of trying to make a difference. Whenever you get together there is automatically a sense of camaraderie and friendship which doesn’t happen in Australia. It is really quite special.

Jim’s bit
Back in Lumi we held another TCA rep meeting to update all the communities on TCA’s work and introduce them to Thomas Schmid who was to commence the GPS mapping of the conservation area. He was well accepted by the TCA reps and they were eager to have him start mapping the conservation area boundaries.

Jean’s bit
After the meeting I started the conservation area management training workshops again. With Thomas Schmid in the neighbourhood there were many questions about the “GPS machine”. Even though the people in the Lumi area have been “westernised” for more than 50 years, there are still many myths around white mans magic. The GPS is one example of those.

In PNG there are classic stories about what people thought when they saw white man for the first time. Many people thought the white man was an ancestor returning to them. Some people thought they were spirits and not real men and it wasn’t until people saw them going to the toilet or eating food that they realised they were actually real. Planes were thought to be big birds that eat people and poo out cargo.

During the workshops some people made comments like – “The GPS is really good because once Thomas uses the GPS machine we will know who the real landowner is and it will really help us solve these land disputes we have”. This was not the first time we had come across this kind of interpretation so I had been making a point of explaining the GPS and how it works during the workshops (even though I don’t fully understand it myself!). So to try and simplify it into something meaningful for local people I explained that “the GPS is like a ruler that measures marks or points on the globe and they match up with the lines on a map”. I said that “the GPS works like a radio or telephone that talks to satellite in the sky to find out what the point number is. The GPS only tells us numbers not who the landowner is”.

I also used globes, maps and diagrams to get the point across and although some people don’t truly understand all the in’s and out’s, people do eventually realise that the GPS is not some “white mans magic” that can read the past. Unfortunately though people did tell me that the white man has used other “machines” to find out who the landowners are, particularly in the mining industry. Hmm…..I hope that isn’t true.

Jim's bit
It was great having Thomas working with us, courtesy of WWF by the way, as he fitted in well and enjoyed hiking in the mountains. Thomas started mapping the Maiwetem and Wuguble Conservation Areas as well as training Patrick, Mathew and James on how to create waypoints on the GPS.
Thomas just had the one GPS and so after the first mapping patrol we realised we needed at least two more machines. I promptly asked Zoos Victoria if they could help us. Two weeks later we had two brand new GPS’s.

Jeans bit
After only a couple of weeks we had a couple of days back in Wewak to do the newsletter and a few other things. Tadji did well in the car in the drive on the way to Wewak. I always wonder how he is going to go – minimum of 6 hours in a bumpy winding road with a 2 year old is not many peoples’ idea of fun but like always he was absolutely fine, probably a little bit too relaxed actually.

Back in Lumi we distributed all the newsletters and minutes of the meeting and headed off to Mupun for the conservation area training workshop for Mupun and Sikel. It was great to be back in the village. The walk to the village was fantastic about 3 hours. We had Stella and Ruth with us to carry Tadji but as it turned out Tadji wanted to walk which he did for at least half the way. The road was dry and reasonably safe. He just had to be carried over steep areas and across the bamboo bridges.

There was a bit of a miss-communication so no-one in Mupun was ready for our arrival. There was supposed to be a welcoming ceremony for Tadji but it didn’t happen. So we just settled ourselves in for the evening and were casually presented with a freshly killed chicken which was cooked up for dinner. I didn’t eat it because it was as tough as an old boot but Jim and all our staff loved it.

Jim’s bit
Tough ol’ boot nothing wrong with it, puts fuel in the engine. Jean was here to do the Conservation Area management course for Mupun and Sikel and I was going to establish the first Weimang research site with Weigint, Nunsi and Auang. Finally getting to go into the mountains-first and only time this year.

Jean’s bit
After Jim headed off to Weigint I got myself organised for the training. We started the workshop on Monday and finished on the Friday. All went well no problems. We had about 32 participants and about another 20 on lookers or “observers” which was a little disruptive but they did contribute at certain times which was good.

On the last day we had a little graduation with everyone receiving a certificate of participation and in return the participants presented me with a billum, bow and arrow and live chook as a thank-you. This was the first time any village had done that for the training which was just great. I was very happy because so often these kinds of tokens of appreciation don’t happen very often but when they do they come just at the right time when you are about to give up or have had enough so they mean so much and give you the incentive to keep going.

Jim’s bit
We established the 20 transect lines and 150 points without a hitch. The guys really worked well together and were a fun crew to be with. We told lots of stories as this my first time in Weimang habitat. Despite being in the same mountain range there a few differences in flora. There are more vines and less mosses here. We didn’t see any Weimang but we did have some Vulterine parrots come nice and close to the camp.

Jean’s bit
When we got back in Lumi I had 2 more workshops to do and then I was finished. It had been a hard last week but we got through it. Hard because I had been saying the same thing over and over again (this was the 17th workshop I had done) and hard because the attitudes and feedback from the village reps were somewhat negative which was draining after a while. Nothing new, it was just that I had heard it all before. So by the end of November I was able to finish up all of my work and get organised to go back to Australia for Christmas and the new year.

During the workshops I had been doing a quick quiz to help us evaluate the program. The participants answered a series of true or false questions to test their level of knowledge before the workshop and after. The results were compared and this is a look at what we found:

Basically about 60% of people improved their knowledge during the training.
Nearly all the participants now know that TCA is a Non government Organisation – results went from 86% - 98%.
Participants knowledge improved on knowing PNG has 3 kinds of Protected Areas – results went from 37% to 54%
An increase from 45% to 77% of participants now understanding the meaning of climate change and global warming.
Before the training 79% of people were not happy with logging but this increased to 91% after the training.
Before the training 85% of people were happy with TCA and looking after the environment but this increased to 98% after the training.

So overall the results were really good. But we still need to do more especially in terms of attitudes, climate change and putting things into practice. Every week we were able to identify that any new “development” or project that has occurred in the village has often failed because of poor attitudes and “les pasin” people being lazy. The poor attitudes are partly cultural which makes it difficult to change, but with some ‘positive thinking’ training perhaps we can make a difference on this next year. So I am looking forward to working on that while in Australia.

Jim’s bit
Jean and Tadji left for Australia a few weeks before me so that I could organise a few things, have the last meetings with the Tenkile reps and hand over everything for Patrick to take care of.
The last meeting went well but my voice was really sore because I had to do most of the talking. Patrick, Mathew and Samuel (our three Project Officers) are doing very well and in time will be able to take on more responsibilities in the near future.
I left PNG to Australia on the 21st December and was happy to be back home, but I came down with the worst case of malaria. I spent Christmas in St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Anyway all’s well now. We had a good break with family and friends in Melbourne and returned to PNG in early February.