DAVID EPHRAIM

THE Post-Courier this week reported that Papua New Guinea has about 10 million mobile telephone subscribers in a country of seven million people.

To me this indicates a trend in both spending and in the way of life of Papua New Guineans, who are beginning to walk blindly into consumerism: wanting more than they need.

Digicel and other telecoms companies provides whatever gadgets and technology people feel they want and often live beyond their means to get hold of them.

I am not saying it's bad to own or use these goods but, given the state of our country's infrastructure and social challenges, some form of effective regulation needs to be put in place so we don't fall into poverty.

ANONYMOUS

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

I have yet to come across a Papua New Guinean woman who has not faced violence or abuse at some stage in her life. Mine is no different.

It is sad how many if not all of the perpetrators are people who play a significant role or hold a position of trust in the victim’s life. For my mother, sisters, brother, son and me, this person was my dad.

Even writing these few sentences brings tears to my eyes. I am afraid of what my siblings and mom will think of me because, despite it all, we love dad.

PHILIP KAUPA

Tune your frequency
and catch the literary wave
don't doubt the consequence
you'll regret you never have

Fine tune your frequency
now the reception is better
experience the influence
now more than latter

Connect at home or office
On the go or at rest
check up the literary notice
and do the tests

Tune in to the Crocodile signal
hang out at PNG Attitude and mingle

FRANCIS NII

Guileless Wahgi River
Rumbling and rolling on
Who can be au fait with your liberty?

Guileless Wahgi River
Rumbling and rolling on
Who can fathom your versatility?

Guileless Wahgi River
Rumbling and rolling on
Who can perceive your dexterity?

JIMMY AWAGL

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony 

I am simple
I am down to earth

I am honest
I smell your sweat

And wipe your tears
I don’t have the ability

To use an eloquent word to impress
Born from the rugged mountains

Moulded with the Simbu philosophy
The goodness and hospitality

Are the traditional virtues
That I hold to use

You have to be a true Simbu
To know a Simbu man

AMANDA YEOU

MOST people define charity as voluntary alms giving but I see it as giving yourself as an instrument of love and service to the poor and suffering population.

Last weekend, the Lions Club in Madang growled for charity as many members and other participants enthusiastically took part in a walkathon with the theme ‘Walk for Life’.

The walkers were staff and students of Divine Word University and at seven o’clock they gathered in front of the Visitors and Cultural Bureau’s Haus Tumbuna on the Modilon Road.

We began walking from Laiwaden Oval into Town, proceeded through the streets of Kalibobo Drive and finished at Tusbab beach.

SAM KOIM

Edited extracts of a speech to the Pacific challenges and Australian engagement forum at Parliament House, Canberra, 12 October 2015

AUSTRALIA and New Zealand are the only developed countries in the Pacific region, being surrounded by a cluster of developing and, to a certain extent, impoverished, island nations.

There are many issues countries in this region are concerned about and taking collective responsibility to address: issues such as climate change, natural disasters, gender based violence and the spread of disease.

Corruption is one such issue worthy of attention at the regional level.

PNG EXPOSED

Govt frustrated at efforts to stop abuse of SABLs (The National) – THE government says it has been frustrated in its efforts to stop the abuse of special agriculture and business leases by court challenges. Chief Secretary Sir Manasupe Zurenuoc said in a statement: “It is widely known that vast amounts of pristine forest have been logged to enrich a corrupt few people, while landowners have unknowingly lost their most valuable asset – their land”

THE Papua New Guinea government’s chief secretary, Manasupe Zurenuoc, has started issuing contradictory statements as he becomes increasingly desperate in his attempts to justify the inaction over the SABL land grab.

On Monday the chief secretary said NGOs were unreasonable in their demands and the government hadn’t been able to act for 28 months because new legislation is necessary to cancel the unlawful leases.

AMANDA YEOU

As I approached the lecture room, a single piece of paper on the notice board caught my attention.

It was a note from Fr Harry Gahare our lecturer, calling for interested students to join a writers club.

Weeks passed and more students from other departments within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences joined, not to mention interested lecturers and staff. The club grew in number and Fr Harry named it the Divine Word University Writers Club.

The new club has a vision to boost student interest in reading and writing and provides lessons in composition with the help of Fr Harry.

With the help of PNG Studies and International Relations lecturer Bernard Yegiora the club was recognised by the University.

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

THE phrase “Papua New Guinea has gone to the dogs” is no longer relevant in describing the extent of corruption in our country. It does not go nearly far enough.

We all stand astonished at the magnitude and pace at which corruption has accelerated in PNG in the last decade or so.

The state of service delivery in most parts of PNG is at a pitiful state even when we are in the middle of a “boom” - the boom was supposed to usher in a new era in our nation’s history where we could look forward to a more equitable and fairer society.

Yet in the 40 years of its nationhood, PNG has gone from a progressive nation to one of the most backward developing nations on earth.

DANIEL KUMBON

IT does not matter who is Papua New Guinea’s prime minister or from which part of the country he or she may come from.

The ideal leader is one who fights crime and corruption and ensures ordinary people enjoyed life, economic prosperity and freedom.

People have high esteem for such leaders and hold their coffin high when they pass on. Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare may have had his moments of weakness as prime minister but many people have high esteem for him as ‘the Father of the Nation’.

Now the Grand Chief has resigned from his party, the National Alliance, a major coalition partner in the O’Neill – Dion government.

BAL KAMA | DevPolicy Blog

SEPTEMBER 2015 was an eventful month in Papua New Guinea. The country hosted the 46th Pacific Island Forum meeting and reportedly spent $12.5 million for the 40th PNG Independence Anniversary celebrations throughout the country.

Danish rock band ‘Michael Learns to Rock’ was hired to ‘rock’ Port Moresby as part of the city-wide celebrations that cost nearly $4.5 million.

These celebrations took place amidst reports of deaths from starvation as a result of a severe Category 4 drought in parts of the country. The ongoing drought is predicted to be worse than the last one in 1997.

Drought was not the only problem the country appeared to overlook amidst the celebrations. Concerns were raised on the welfare of its economy.

DANIEL KUMBON

On a visit to East Anglia in the United Kingdom, I met people who were not only using bicycles in preference to motor vehicles but who were dedicated to conserving and protecting all of nature.

Numerous conservation projects had been established in 280 square kilometres of uninterrupted landscape with waterways - shallow lakes known as the broads - teeming with different species of fish together with animal, bird, insect and plant life.

In parts, the broads looked something like the two big swamplands of my own district of Kandep in Enga Province.

FRANCIS NII

Dodgy Warrior …
Your days are numbered
Defeat’s storm is brewing
A sweep into oblivion awaits

Your fame has receded
Your triumph has waned
The accolades have faded
The music’s tempo diminishes

You can’t fight anymore
Your potency is enervated
Your shields are battered
Your spears depleted

AKILINO POWESIU

SOME things are interdependent such that one cannot conceive of one without the other.

Consider light and darkness. Light is only made bright by darkness. If there were no darkness, then there would be no light, for there would be no source from which light could be cast. Light is nothing more than the absence of darkness. Light then, has its source in darkness.

Consider, too, ignorance and knowledge. Even in cases where we actively avoid knowledge, we do not seek ignorance as if it were a special body of non-knowledge. Ignorance comes from avoiding, rejecting, and lacking knowledge.

Like light, ignorance is dependent upon its relationship with knowledge. Yet, knowledge exists whether or not ignorance is lacking. And perhaps here we are led to Plato’s idea that virtue is a kind of knowledge and evil a kind of ignorance.

MICHAEL DOM

IT'S no great revelation to say that Papua New Guinea is in crisis today because of the leaders we have elected over the past 40 years.

Physical facilities and the material environment can always be bought and paid for with money.

But you can't buy true respect for law and order, integrity of leadership, diligence at work and the motivation in people to be good citizens no matter what socio-economic standing.

No matter how much money we have and no matter how much we exploit our natural resources, Papua New Guinea cannot buy its way into Paradise.

MICHAEL DOM

Arise! Sons and daughters of this land
Let us sing of our joy to be free
It was only yesterday we dreamed

Now is the time that we make a stand
To govern ourselves responsibly
Arise! Sons and daughters of this land

The nation’s future is in our hands
We must restore our democracy
Do today what yesterday we dreamed

MICHAEL DOM

No words, my friend, bring back the dead
No thoughts conveyed, nor tears we shed
Recede the loss, nor ease the pain.
Silent, alone, we hear the rain
Not words, my friend.

What mute verse can I send instead?
When consoling words become vain –
Not thoughts, not tears, God sends us rain.
His words, my friend.

In life we struggle till the end
Joy, grief and peace swing hand-in-hand
Seek hope – do not avoid sweet pain
For this wisdom comes, like the rain,
That after grief we understand
God’s love, my friend.

CHRIS KAFANG

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

THE late Sir Joseph Nombri - what a great man he was. Other articles in these columns have reminded us of him, for example here and here. This is my recollection

I knew Sir Joseph from 1989–91 while I was a student in Tokyo, Japan, where was the Papua New Guinean Ambassador.

He had been many other things: kiap, rugby player, founding member of the Bully Beef Club, first President of the PANGU Pati and a distinguished public servant.

On important occasions like Independence Day, he would invite the PNG students studying in Japan, no matter where we were, to assemble at his official residence together with his family, embassy staff and families to celebrate as one big family.

GELAB PIAK

WE are yet to see the impacts of the O’Neill Government and already there are plans to remove him from the realms of power.

Peter O’Neill is a man of action and ideals but he is a big spender.  This might become his downfall.

It is evident enough that O’Neill and his government have done a lot of things in terms of improving the infrastructure.

As for the economic boom, it was the policies of the former government and its Look North policy and the PNG LNG project buildup through the construction phase that gave Papua New Guinea a big boost.

Now that the project has reached production, the big spending has stopped and economic activity has slowed.

PETER BUGDEN | The Catholic Leader

CHURCH agencies and religious orders are hurrying to the aid of Papua New Guinea, suffering hunger and disease through its worst drought in almost 20 years.

Severe frosts combined with drought have wiped out subsistence crops in highland areas and people have begun to die.

Media reports said villagers in some areas were facing months without food if they do not receive help.

JOHN GARNAUT | Fairfax Media | Extracts

THE bars and lobby lounges of the Grand Papua Hotel are swarming with bankers.

Most are in their bespoke suits, one or two are in shorts and thongs to cope with the pressure and the heat.

They all sense that a billion-dollar deal window is closing.

"He was harassing me like nobody's business," says one senior PNG source, describing how an Australian banker from UBS had been tailing him and aggressively hurling instructions.

"In the end I couldn't stand it, I told him to 'F--- off, you are not my legal advisor'."

FRANCIS NII

Dedicated to Leonard Roka and his wife Delphine
on the passing of their daughter, Dollorose

Only yesterday you bloomed
Like a rose in the morning sun
Full of life, promises and purpose

Only to fade and wither
So early and so young
Leaving us with broken hearts, grief and sorrow

Only fond memories
Of your smile and innocent voices
Shall we cherish on in our hearts

Wherever you may be, Darling
Forever we will love you
Until the end of time

Rest in peace

BIANCA HALL | The Age

TWO Australian lawyers banned from entering Papua New Guinea after preparing to represent authorities in a corruption case against that nation's prime minister have had their travel bans lifted.

The Australians, Queensland barrister Greg Egan and his junior counsel Terence Lambert, are now free to rejoin the case after the PNG National Court of Justice upheld their appeal against the bans.

It's been a tumultuous month in PNG politics, with the government moving this week to suspend Chief Magistrate Nerrie Eliakim, who last year issued an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Peter O'Neill for corruption charges, after an investigation by police and anti-corruption agency Taskforce Sweep.

LEONARD FONG ROKA

A number of concerned teachers around central and south Bougainville have claimed they have been victims of the wantok system.

It has been claimed that preference for wantoks has become a regular practice in most education offices in Bougainville and needs to be dealt with by better leadership.

“We cannot talk about corruption in PNG today,” an unemployed secondary school teacher from the Panguna District stated.

“Corruption is now here in Bougainville and it is affecting our move towards a referendum by destroying the public service and the parliament.”

LEONARD FONG ROKA | Bougainville 24

I buried my daughter on the 18 September 2015 at her mother’s Nakorei Village in Buin after she passed away on the 17 September 2015 at Buin District Hospital.

And with sorrow and tears of emptiness I am travelling and struggling to refill my heart.

My daughter Dollorose Fong Roka was born on the 18 June 2014 while I was on semester break on Karkar Island while attending Divine Word University in Madang.

I met her mother, my partner Delphine Piruke, while she was at Madang Teachers College and she was pregnant in late 2013. For me this moment was a new life to move on with. Deep in my heart I was excited; I was dreaming about a fine baby to cuddle and laugh with.

DANIEL KUMBON

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

IT was in the 1980s that I first began to worry for the future of my children, my Enga Province and my country.

There was a widespread breakdown in law and order. Tribal warfare, armed robbery, rape and other social problems reached high levels as government services deteriorated. Intense politics and deep-rooted corruption took centre stage.

The culmination in Enga Province was  the wholesome destruction of the provincial administration complex - a K3 million modern building gutted in an arson attack on 23 March 1993.

SAMANTHA KUSARI

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

What Mama told me

Mama told me not to grumble
But to be humble
Even if things don’t seem right
Mama told me not to cry
But to try

Even if things seem complicated
Mama told me not to fear
But to bear

KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

IN late September the Revival Centres of Papua New Guinea staged a national rally at Unagi Oval in Port Moresby.

It was reported that around 30,000 participants congregated at the oval.  They came from Australia, Indonesia, Fiji, Solomon Islands and most came from the 22 provinces of PNG.

The vendors selling scones, cordial and Coca-Cola formed a circle around Unagi Oval like a human barrier protecting the 30,000 converts. In return the 30,000 dined in the dust and simmering heat of Port Moresby.

KEITH JACKSON

IF you ever want a job done and a job done well, then you’d be scanning the crowd for a bloke like my old Simbu mate of 50 years – and counting – Murray Bladwell.

“We pack ‘em then stack ‘em” is the motto of Murray and his Toowong Rotarians colleague Ted Horsbrugh, who have taken on the massive task of preparing 36,000 children’s books for distribution to schools in the Papua New Guinea highlands.

So far they have carefully categorised and packed more than 6,000 books leaving another 30,000 to go.

The first 50 boxes containing an estimated 300 books each have been packed and stored at Rotary’s donations -in-kind storage facility in Brisbane.

DOREEN BAULONI

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

This poem was written after a long journey by open dinghy
in rough weather and relates to life’s everyday journey

The winds of the north blow
The waters of the ocean roar
The rays spread their wings
And they fly on the winds
Land chills to my being

The ocean stirs and seas rise
The waters race to the skies
They tumble over each other
And break forth in laughter
As this journey I traverse

ANTHONY KAYBING

BOUGAINVILLE president Dr John Momis has once again signalled unity as the key ingredient in successfully holding a referendum on independence in the autonomous province.

Dr Momis said that to progress towards self-determination and eventual independence, should it choose that road, the Autonomous Bougainville Government must unite all Bougainvilleans.

“My department is planning a region-wide patrol to visit all districts to discuss government policies and programs but more importantly to hear what our communities are saying,” he said.

DANIEL KUMBON

IT was near Dupont Circle in Washington DC that I saw the two men - one white, one black - confront each other over a parking space.

They swore at each other for three minutes.

If this was in Papua New Guinea, wantoks would have quickly taken sides and punches exchanged. Rocks and bottles would have followed and a full scale fight ensued.

Here there was no crowd of bystanders. People cast curious glances and went their way as the two men continued to insult each other. Before too long a police vehicle arrived on the scene and sent the two men on their way.

The next day – sharing a taxi with a Malaysian girl – the ageing African American driver threatened to cut up a young white man driving a red car with Virginia number plates.

PHILIP KAUPA

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

Hear the birds whistle hello
to the rising sun
excuse your comforting pillow
the day couldn't wait your run

Yawn out your dreams
just to invite a choice
say happy, happiness for real
and hear it with your voice

Push your hinges
open the happiness window
and shine out your highness
from above to below

AUGUST BERITA

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

OVER the last few years there has been an increase in the number of boys who roam in and out of Mt Hagen’s town market, some from as far as Southern Highlands and Enga.

They are not men who wander around looking for opportunities to rob people, nor are they street vendors. They do not carry knives to threaten people; just a roll of string and a needle.

They are known as ‘market taxis’ and they assist people to carry or sew their market bags. In return, people pay them between 50 toea and two kina. Some people generously give a bit extra.

PHILIP G KAUPA

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

So must I speak
Proudly of an old sailor
Who voyages the thick
And thin and knows the secrets to fail

On his vessel
He carefully said, before you cruise
Be sure your bearings and compass are assembled
They will guide and direct your course

Fear not the raging ocean
Without it you wouldn't be a man
A beautiful island will distract your mission
Just like a violent storm

EDDIE TANAGO PAINE

PAPUA New Guinea community advocacy group Act Now! has welcomed the recent suspension of Lands Secretary Romily Kila Pat but says his replacement, Luther Sipison, must act immediately to cancel the unlawful Special Agricultural and Business Leases (SABLs).

"We are pleased to see the government finally taking action by suspending the Lands Secretary but we are still waiting for the illegal SABL leases, many of which were signed off by Kila Pat, to be cancelled," said Effrey Dademo, Act Now! program manager.

It is now more than two years since the reports of the Commission of Inquiry identified the SABL leases were unlawfully issued but the government has still not cancelled any of the illegal land deals which total more than five million hectares.

JIMMY AWAGL

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

Not to take drugs
Not to drink homebrew
They cause chaos
Promote a nation
Free from illicit substance
To maintain harmony

Say no to tribal warfare
Say no to murder
They cause disunity
Speak highly of a society
Free from trouble
To foster unity

OBED IKUPU

BEFORE colonisation and the world wars, Papua New Guinea was the land of the free and the brave. People lived harmoniously with their environment and respected their traditions.

But all of this changed when the colonists arrived. They psychologically impounded the people and questioned their way of life.

The lives of the natives were lost among the new influences and ideologies and PNG dropped to its knees.

The lives of the natives were destroyed through exploitation of land and resources, desecration of traditions and abuse of human rights and property.

DANIEL KUMBON

MY dream of soaring into the blue skies of Kandep in the belly of an aeroplane began with the recruitment of young men straight from the village to work on rubber, copra and cocoa plantations on the coast.

How I wished to look down upon the two great swamplands of Kandep with their many lakes and rivers teeming with wildlife, then disappear over the mountains to distant places.

I am sure, had I been old enough, I would have allowed myself to be recruited under the indentured labour scheme that operated during the colonial period.

ANTHONY KAYBING

BOUGAINVILLE President, Grand Chief Dr John Momis, has said that, with less than five years left in the referendum window of 2015–2020, his government hopes to reach an agreement with the PNG government on a number of important issues.

These include the questions to be asked during the referendum, determination of who is eligible to vote, the conduct of the referendum and the date of the referendum.

“It is very clear that time is not on our side and we must move fast,” Dr Momis said.

“The Autonomous Bougainville Government has already moved to implement a number of important initiatives that will strengthen government and public service machinery to enable it to effectively deliver services to our people and at the same time prepare them for the referendum,” he said.

PHILIP KAUPA

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

Dedicated to the Irugl orphanage
at the foot of Mt Wilhelm, Simbu

I have been to places
but nowhere have I been like this

Where roads hardly take
Where planes cannot make

There within the rugged walls
where the breezes whisper and a mist falls

Where juicy red berries grow wild
among famous sunflower fields

My soul bathes in tears
as I see myself in their eyes

PAUL WAUGLA WII

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

Polished driveway, poignant scent of frangipani
Under a starry Touaguba night
It is a night when a star is born
Somewhere in this metropolis
Where the rich and the poor
Must breathe the same night air.

From the balcony of his wealthy hillside
He gazes across the young night
Beyond the silver horizon
Where sterling sea merges with golden sky
It’s a million dollar view,
If your heart can dream.

BESSIELAH DAVID

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

After a tiring week of never-ending emails, endless telephone calls
I needed quietness
I walked to the beach to enjoy the cool breeze

The day was luminous and beautiful
Across the turquois sea, the islands welcomed me
Blue enamel and white fluffy clouds swathed the horizon

It’s so quiet, only the drone of an airplane far away
The hum of dragonfly wings, lapping of waves against the shore
Buzzing of bee overhead in the pandanus leaves interrupts my reverie

NIKUNJ SONI | Pacific Institute of Public Policy

RETURNING to Papua New Guinea after 20 years, it is tempting to think that nothing much has changed.

Back then the narrative was that the Sandline crisis led to a change in the political landscape. From Chan to Skate, who the Australians mistakenly thought would be some sort of saviour.

Rather than ushering in a period of economic wisdom, as some overseas observers had predicted, the Skate government arguably oversaw an even more disastrous period of economic mismanagement.

SAMANTHA KUSARI

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

I pushed my way through the crowd of enthusiastic school leavers. The January midday sun was not on our side. It burned hard on our bare foreheads but we were too eager to care.

I thought briefly of the sunburn that to come. With my lighter skin complexion, it was going to be worse. So, let it be. It’ll be worth it.

Outside the Office of Higher Education, a throng of Grade 12 school leavers had gathered to check their names on the acceptance list to universities and colleges around the country.

FELICITY NELSON | Lawyers Weekly

THE Australian Bar Association has described the barring of two Australian lawyers from Papua New Guinea as “deeply disturbing”.

Lawyer Greg Egan and his junior counsel Terence Lambert were preparing to represent anti-corruption authorities in a case against PNG prime minister Peter O'Neill when they were prevented from travelling to the country.

“If reports of a travel ban issued by Chief Migration Officer Mataio Rabura are true, then this is a deeply disturbing situation,” said Bar Association vice-president Patrick O’Sullivan QC (pictured).

Mr Egan and Mr Lambert have been advising the PNG National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate and Taskforce Sweep, an anti-corruption agency, in cases relating to prominent PNG politicians.

DANIEL KUMBON

BEREFT of power and friends Danely Tindiwi died alone in his daughter Jubilee’s house in Mt Hagen. For a long time he had battled the effects of a stroke - which paralysed him from the waist down - and deteriorating eyesight.

The man from Kandep (pictured right) who once wielded so much political clout spent most of his last years living a humble, reclusive life outside Wapenamanda with his Yakuman tribe. Except for one loyal last wife, Tindiwi counted few friends.

Then, when his health deteriorated, he had gone to live in Jubilee’s house to have easy access to medical services at Mt Hagen General Hospital. Jubilee was a senior state lawyer with the Public Solicitor’s Office.

In early 2013, soon after her father’s death, Jubilee was appointed acting Solicitor-General by the government but was sacked a year later - like her late father, a victim of politics.

AUGUST BERITA

An entry in the 2015 Rivers Award
for Writing on Peace & Harmony

WITH every generation rises a new challenge. People look for answers.

There are millions of people worldwide who have graduated with degrees and doctorates. There have been thousands of books and articles written on how to combat social problems.

Government after government has come to power and public and private organisations have been established to solve our dilemmas and show us the way and trillions of dollars have been applied.

In Papua New Guinea, many people are turning to Christianity hoping that a theocratic government is the solution.

BOMAI D WITNE 

IT was 1.30 in the afternoon when my office phone rang. The caller told there was a box waiting for me at reception. I knew immediately it was the box containing the Anthologies.

The next day I wanted to provide copies to the University of Goroka library and the Centre for Melanesian Studies. The librarian arranged for a member of his staff, Joan Parapi to accept the books. The Centre director, Mr Gumbis, would also be there.

We agreed to meet in the library and, when I turned up, the Director of the Institute of Distance and Flexible Learning, Kensol Rui, was also present to witness the presentation.

I acknowledged our good friends Keith Jackson and Phil Fitzpatrick for assisting in the process of getting the anthologies published and provided a brief on the Crocodile Prize literary contest which attracted entries of different kinds from Papua New Guinean writers.