BY BARBARA SHORT

SOME TIME AGO, through PNG Attitude, I sought help in locating a certain landform feature in the Woginara area of the East Sepik Province.

The hill had been mentioned in an article about World War II and was the site where my cousin won a Distinguished Service Order.

Some readers may have noted that I received a reply to my earlier request from a former student of Brandi High School, where I taught in the 1970s; a man by the name of Peter Aimos, himself from Woginara.

Through the blog, I asked Peter to contact me by email and he did. He turned out to be a Brandi High School student from the years 1970-71.  I had started teaching there in 1971.

Peter is now a Lieutenant Colonel Peter Aimos of the PNG Defence Force.  He is at present studying in China.

I was thrilled to hear that he is now a well qualified pilot with a Masters Degree in Military Arts from Canberra University.

I’ve enjoyed scanning old photographs of Peter and his Form 1 and Form 2 classmates and sending them to him way up there in Beijing.

Peter has been rather overwhelmed by it all and – “the tears keep flowing,” he says - as he recalls his old classmates. For my part, I am thrilled to hear about what has happened to some of these students who I taught and knew so well, my old friends from 40 years back.

One of the girls, who used to help me a lot in my role as Teacher-in-Charge-of–Girls, is now the senior nursing sister at Maprik hospital, and another is personnel officer with Ok Tedi Mining at Tabubil.  One is married to a prominent private lawyer in Moresby and helps her husband run his law firm.

One of the boys, Peter’s cousin, another pilot, is currently CEO of the Air Crash Investigation Commission in Moresby and has led the inquiry into the recent tragic air crash near Madang.  Another is currently the chief electoral commissioner in Moresby and is preparing the country for the next elections.

PNG Attitude has done much of benefit for many people over the past year and now it has been the means for a wonderful reunion of an old Brandi student, away from his homeland, and an old Brandi teacher, down in Sydney, missing her old students, and brought joy and tears to both of us.

Thank you Keith!

Photo: Josephine, Barbara, Natingis and Akapina setting off for Woginara