19.09.09 - 26.09.09 It's the hols. Again….. We left on the Dash 8 aeroplane from Kundiawa to Port Moresby, on to Kavieng, then by banana boat across to Nusa Island Resort in the dark. We were shown our room and we wondered how many other guests would be sharing it. But no, it was all for us - two double beds, two single beds (we tried them all out for a bit of variety), a balcony with a bed and a hammock as well as lounger chairs. Heaven. The bush materia...

Week Beginning 12.09.09 Our weekly 'You couldn't make it up' slot: Policemen sent to round up the banana sex cultist at Yamine are one day from the village. Latest reports suggest the six mobile-squad policemen are still trudging through the thick jungle with creeks, gullies and steep mountains to cross. The cultists are led by a man who has forced illiterate villagers to engage in public sex, believing that their banana crop would multiply tenfold if th...

Week Beginning 01.09.09 For all you teachers and school staff - good luck with the new term. We hope everything goes smoothly (particularly at Pitsea). Alison attended the monthly Head teachers' Meeting. There were 17 men and she was the only female- there were times when the Chair referred to 'gentlemen' though equally there were times he said 'lady and gentlemen'. The meeting lasted four and a half hours and started only an hour late. One of the first ite...

Week Beginning 24.08.09 We both visited a primary school each this week - mainly to support Alfred -our Indian volunteer. It makes a change seeing the primaries as they have been implementing the education reforms for that much longer than the secondaries. Mike went on Tuesday whilst Alison showed the Catholic church women's micro-finance group how to make lemon curd. Lemons and eggs are plentiful so it could be a good money earner. Alison went on Thursday, a...

Week Beginning 17.08.09 Arrived to a warm welcome again at Doliba School to be given a different teacher's house. The 3 of us soon realised that there were only two single beds so Ben had one and we had to share the other - which took us back to college days. We sorted ourselves out and Alison visited the outside loo which was absolutely revolting (without going into details) and unusable. Mike - our hero - and in the absence of Jim s*** (Barry) got buckets of...