Apinun olgeta!

I’ve been in PNG for a little over four months now and seem not to have had a minute to offer this little piece of cyberspace. But having visited another Mt Hagen volunteer friend’s blog, I thought it was time to get off my fast-expanding Highlands backside…

So… welcome to Mt Hagen, Papua New Guinea! A land of rolling green hills, red-stained teeth (the locals chew copious amounts of betel-nut) and random acts of violence and kindness. It is, indeed, the land of the unexpected. This is a place where a person you have just met might commit to making you a bilum (EXTREMELY time-consuming, hand-woven string bag), bring you food, or rob you of your possessions – and don’t be surprised if all of this happens in the one day.

Mt Hagen is the capital of the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea – and is pretty much positioned right in the middle of the thick part of the mainland. It’s about an hour’s flight from the nation’s capital, Port Moresby, and is the central hub of trade in the Highlands provincial region. Its biggest industry is coffee production and export plays a huge part in this trade. Many families run small coffee plantations as cash crops and despite large squatter settlements in many of the cities, most villagers can and do grow their own food and often live quite comfortably on subsistence farming.

As for me, well, I live in a hotel in the centre of town and am working as a volunteer for a local media outfit. Of course, when I say – local media outfit – the whole outfit pretty much consists of me and my laptop. But we also have a video camera for filming local docos and news items as they come to hand. With a bit of luck, we’ll get some funding soon to expand our media capabilities.


Tea plantation: A typical Highlands scene