A LET DOWN

2nd April 2009

Wanted to forward the rest of the photos from Karamui, which Off Exploring wouldn't allow last time, so this will be brief.

We felt rather let down by the Department of Education (?!!) visitor.It was supposed to be 7 high powered officers, then it went down to 2 but only 1 young researcher actually arrived, who knew diddly squat about education.The trouble is, coastal people (these were from Port Moresby) are afraid of highland people, so the most junior officer drew the short straw I reckon. She was a delightful young woman, but totally unable to answer the burning questions of the teachers, which was quite a let down for them and us.However, we stuck to the planned schedule and all worked well from that point of view.The first day we took her to a school on lousy roads for 2 hours, to show the difficulties we have with communication.She was supposed to arrive in Kundiawa with a vehicle, but, guess what, nogat!So John and I had to beg, borrow and steal to find a vehicle, which was an open backed truck and no driver, so John gird his loins and took to the wheel.He managed very well I must say, on very difficult roads, pot holes filled with water to form small lakes, crossing dodgy bridges and fords to say nothing of the knee deep mud ruts which took us precariously close to sheer drops on one side of the mountain.We let the visitor sit in the cabin, which resigned me to travelling in the open back.Now, bear in mind that upon arrival at the school, I was to deliver a stunningly impressive workshop to the staff.Arriving splattered in mud from head to toe, with windblown hair standing on end, a red face from the sun and sweating profusely, doesn't quite give the impression one would want!!

We shipped her around to several schools, where she asked the staff for their opinions on the work of VSO.I have to say that to a man/woman, the reports were glowing (we offered to leave the room so people could say what they wanted, but on most occasions they asked us to stay).Rev W said he was annoyed that we couldn't stay at his school all the time, rather than travel to all secondary schools in the province and admitted to having thoughts, on several occasions, of chopping our legs off so we couldn't travel around - believe me, in this country, one is never sure about the sense of humour!!The provincial officers complained that we didn't stay long enough and wanted our contract extended to 3 or 4 years as did several headteachers and were worried that the provision of volunteers from Europe might dry up. So, although the visit didn't achieve all we had hoped, the researcher seemed suitably impressed by the work of VSO and we believe there could be some funding involved, which we will pursue.

Most schools close for the Easter break next Thursday.We have one conference for new graduate teachers on Wednesday and then we are hopping over to Brisbane for a spot of civilisation.We intend to check out some beaches and hopefully see some action on the surf.We may even indulge in a hot shower and even a bath!

A nasty episode to-day really shook me up.I went onto our balcony early morning to hang up some washing, when I witnessed a tussle going on in the neighbour's garden.Mr Incompetent was wrestling with two women, one of which was his wife.Then to my horror, he picked up what looked like a broom handle and started beating his wife mercilessly.She retreated to the side of the house where she fell down and I couldn't see any more, except Mr I stormed off into the house.The most bizarre thing of all though, was that the whole episode was conducted in total silence!No shouting, no screaming, the children watched in silence and not even the dog barked - very eerie.After a few minutes (I was gawping from behind the washing) Mr I came out of the house, put the children in the school truck and drove off.I could only see the feet and legs of the wife and knew she had another woman with her.It's so difficult not to get involved, but the repercussions of doing that could be quite serious.Had she been alone, I don't know what we would have done - the police are un-contactable, as they've had their phones cut off because they haven't paid their bill!Had she been on her own, we would have had to intervene - we hope she is OK, as we haven't seen her around today.

On a lighter note, I was returning from town on my own when I came across 3 men fighting at the corner of the road that I wanted to go down.So I stopped and waited to see if they might move off, when a man came up behind me and said he would take me past the fight and proceeded to put himself between me and the men.He saw me safely past and then went back, he wasn't even going in my direction - what a gentleman!

From the e-mails we have had it appears Spring is well on it's way in UK.We are so thrilled to keep up with your news by e-mail, it means such a lot to hear from you and keep abreast of your events.

Have a wonderful Easter.We will keep the torrential rain but endeavour to send you some sunshine.

Lots of love to everyone

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