PHIL FITZPATRICK

I think most of us at some stage have started reading a book but, having found it heavy-going, we have abandoned it.

I’m a fairly non-discriminatory reader with a wide range of literary tastes and can be pretty stubborn in resolutely pursuing a book to the bitter last page. Nevertheless, there have been a couple that I’ve eventually given up on.

In some cases it was the subject matter, although I’m picky about the types of books I will attempt to read in the first place.

I tend to stay away from the ‘latest blockbusters’ produced by the legions of ‘famed’ authors usually found in airport bookshops and big department stores.

KEITH JACKSON

THE lead singer of super group Queen (‘We are the Champions’) was born in Zanzibar of Parsee parents. They baptised him Farrokh Bulsara. Freddie Mercury and fame were still to come.

But – even though for a modest fee you can take the Freddie Mercury tour on Madagascar - the locals have no idea where he really lived.

In fact, the American lady taking breakfast at the table next to me on the deck had no idea where she really was.

“Where are we now?” she asked plaintively. “Zan-zi-bar!” came the irritated response. Clearly not the first time her husband had fielded the question.

CATHERINE WILSON | Inter Press Service
Edited extracts

AN estimated one-third of the population of Papua New Guinea is now suffering in from the country’s worst drought this century and experts predict El Nino’s influence will carry on until March next year.

Dickson Guina, chairman of the National Disaster Committee, told IPS that 2.4 million people across most of the nation’s 22 provinces are confronting a critical lack of food and water.

There are also reports of many schools and hospitals forced to close as water shortages disrupt their operations.

“Our most urgent issue is water. We don’t have a river close by which we can use, so we depend on rain for drinking. But there is only one water tank for every 10 households, which is not enough,” Mangab Selau, a local Goroka resident said.

BRIGETTE VAI WASE

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

‘PING! Ping! Ping!’ The text messages came one after the other. They all said how much he loved and missed me.

I had to find credits and text him back, otherwise he’d think I was ignoring him. I opened my purse. A 10 toea coin and 20 toea coin. All the money I had left until my next trip to Lorengau 30 minutes away.

I looked at the time, almost 5 o’clock, time to go to the room. I had spent a full day in the office on a Saturday. I made a mad dash to my room, the ‘pings’ did’t stop. I knew he would start asking, “Are you there?” if I didn’t respond sooner.

The air-conditioning hits me the moment I opened my door. I stared at frantic search for money I might have left lying around. I needed K10, the minimum credit purchase.

RAYMOND SIGIMET

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

HE had to tell her somehow. This feeling of turmoil inside of him was causing too much anxiety. He couldn’t sleep well and days at the workplace were spent daydreaming.

His inner peace had disappeared. He was in a whirlpool with two rivers pulling him in different directions.

He was in love with the girl who worked at the food joint. And when the inner butterflies came fluttering they had knocked something out of him. Well that’s how he felt.

So he decided to tell his mother about the girl at the kai bar.

FIDELIS SUKINA

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

FOR most people having a good life involves money, because money in today’s society means social status.

Bigger house, more cars and flashier clothes all define your social status.

But there’s a saying that money can’t buy love and happiness. It’s true. As human beings we have dignity and self-respect and these are more valuable than money.

Some people get paid a lot to be used like puppets to do the bidding of the powerful or to be loyal to a fault. In some societies this is the lowest of the low. Picking up the scraps and trusting that some of their skills might rub on to you.

VAGI SAMUEL JNR

I carved the edges of her contouring waist
My palms shaking to the heat from her skin
Her guise tempting about a starving teen
As I muted her lips with no time to waste

This moment was not reeling enough
She begged me from the softness of her persona
Perhaps as a Don Juan or Casanova  
For the touch she felt made her to laugh

GEORGE KUIAS

THE rain was continuous as we packed the medicines and other medical supplies into plastic bags.

Five of the village boys selected as carriers were warming themselves near the fire with a tobacco roll.

My colleague David handed me his spare raincoat as the sister-in-charge walked in. “Are you guys travelling in the rain? “she asked.

“Sure, no time to waste,” David responded.” “OK, safe trip,” she replied, showing no interest.

With the help of local carriers, we departed Kaliai sub-health center in north-west New Britain aiming to reach Angal before the sun had set.

VAGI SAMUEL JNR

I stand amidst a period of economic growth and a sense of hypocrisy
I feast from Australian aid and yet still thrust to steal
I labour the resources from the land and drink from the sea
I devour the owners’ dues and still whine I do not heal

What is your name? Papua New Guinea
Do you have a surname? Yes, Christian country
How old are you now? Old enough, I’m forty
Where do you come from? The Pacific ring of fire

MADELEINE RUGA

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

SPENDING time with grandparents is invaluable because you get to hear their stories and learn from them as they reminisce about their life experiences. 

Different life stories have been told over generations that have witnessed the dramatic changes including those now affecting our once peaceful lifestyle. Even the rural population has been affected immensely by these changes. For some, the changes have been for the better and for some they have been for worse.

I have been fortunate to have heard these recollections from people who have lived and experienced this life and I treasure these stories. Someday I will retell them to the next generation and so the cycle will continue.

FIDELIS SUKINA

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

Take a turn, a roundabout,
In circles, into a void,
An endless chase of cat and mouse
Chasing dreams, ending in misfortune
A melee of disgust.

BOMAI D WITNE

UNIVERSITIES in Papua New Guinea are established by an act of parliament and other statutes, policies and guidelines that govern their administration.

The governing council and the vice chancellor and pro vice chancellors, who refer to themselves as the top management team, and other senior management have a duty to govern universities within the legislation.

They are required to set high standards in the academic and physical development of a university. They are custodians and fair implementers of the laws that govern the university.

So the council and management of universities occupy a privileged position. The ultimate demand of taxpayers is that university leaders offer transparency and accountability in all that they do.

DAVID EPHRAIM

THIS week’s uprising by Morobean villagers and settlers in Lae took many people by surprise. And it divided public opinion; some people for it and some against it.

So, as a nation of many tribes and ethnic groups, how does this uprising warn us?

Have we not learned anything from 10 years of civil war in Bougainville?

We seemed to have turned a blind eye to the cries from the Hela people and their threats of civil war over the benefits – or lack of them – from the liquefied natural gas project.

KEITH JACKSON

BOUGAINVILLE vice-president Patrick Nisira has announced further consultation plans for the autonomous region’s forthcoming referendum on independence.

Mr Nisira (pictured), speaking in his capacity as referendum minister, said consultations are continuing with civil war veterans in South, Central and North Bougainville as a precursor to a workshop for parliamentarians next Monday.

“The purpose of this workshop will be to formulate a common position on the date of the referendum, the choices available - including the option of independence, a code of conduct for the referendum and the steps Bougainville will needs to take after the referendum,” Mr Nisira said.

He stated these were important issues that needed to involve all Bougainville leaders.

RAYMOND SIGIMET

On 5 November, the famous English footballer, David Beckham, made Mount Hagen the first stop of his UNICEF Goodwill Match for Children - 7 Games in 7 Continents - tour. It was an honour for this prominent athlete, Kange David, to choose Papua New Guinea as the starting point in his goodwill mission covering Antarctica, Argentina, Djibouti, Nepal, the United States and finally Manchester, England.

A superstar in our midst
On a journey with a twist

The world did not expect
In the land of the unexpected

To see the legendary David Beckham
Play soccer with some Niugini chums

DANIEL KUMBON

FATHER Taison Kuringi, local priest of Mang Catholic Mission at Kandep in Enga Province, volunteered to chair the District Frost Relief Committee when the crop-killing frosts hit in August.

Fr Kuringi (pictured) saw at first hand the extent of destruction caused by the prolonged El Nino induced drought, frosts and hailstorms.

He also saw the bushfires everywhere in Kandep bringing even more devastation to an already deteriorated situation - including seven houses at Lopte village burnt to ashes, the blame heaped on one reckless man who started the fire.

Thirty-four pigs were paid immediately as compensation to avert an imminent tribal fight.

Kandep has suffered the worst disaster in recorded time and Fr Kuringi’s heart ached to see the people suffer. He wanted to help as best he could.

Even today, you can see the heaps of stones marking the sites on the trade routes where people perished from hunger during past disasters.

KEITH JACKSON

EVERY nation has a unique contribution to offer the world, and in the Seychelles it happens to be coco de mer – which for the purposes of this letter I shall call asfrut (pictured).

When you walk along Independence Avenue, the main street of the Seychelles’ capital, Victoria, you won’t see asfrut.

Asfrut grows wild but nothing in Independence Avenue is wild except the traffic. The town centre may be only two blocks – but presents an endless stream of vehicles.

Victoria’s tourist markets are somewhat removed from visitor traffic and therefore almost totally lacking in customers – a missed opportunity indeed as there were two ocean liners in port.

BUSA WENOGO | Pacific Institute of Public Policy

LAST 19 October, the Constitutional Law Reform Commission launched the draft report on the Review of the Informal Sector Development & Control Act 2004 at the University of Papua New Guinea.

The report contains a set of recommendations and the proposed bill that would be presented to the government for its consideration and endorsement sometime around November. If passed the bill may well be the game changer to transform PNG’s socio-economic landscape.

Particularly if the informal economy is seen as a wealth distributive mechanism, it could allow money generated in big impact projects such as the PNG LNG, to be transferred to the majority of the population who are its beneficiaries.

Furthermore, if provided with the right environment, it could unleash entrepreneurialism and innovation that is abundant among many Papua New Guineans but lethargic due to lack of support.

LEONARD FONG ROKA

IT was mid-2013, my third year at Divine Word University and I had three Bougainvillean girlfriends

Two of them were in Kieta eagerly awaiting my holiday homecomings whilst one was in Madang where I was.

Then I met Delphine Piruke, a shy final year student at Madang Teachers College. Delphine was from Nakorei village in Buin in South Bougainville.

I added her to my list of the concubines I revolved around, exploiting their finances.

My promiscuous nature had mushroomed since 2004 after I walked out of the University of Papua New Guinea.

I was known around Panguna and Kupe in the hinterland of Arawa for the women and alcohol in my life.

RASHMII BELL

FOR most of October I was feeling queasy.

An influx of research studies about violence in Papua New Guinea paired with child number two’s introduction to the education system’s plethora of assessment tools.

As my four-year old fumbled her way through distinguishing her elbows from her wrists, I visualised the many ways I would later self-inflict Ox&Palm tin-shaped bruises on my shins for neglecting  to indoctrinate my soon-to-be Preppie with the evidently essential nursery tune, ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’.

Thoughts of incorporating basic anatomy into the already congested letters-numbers-colours-shapes-sight words repertoire was as overwhelming as digesting the findings that illuminated a concrete reality.

Little progress has been made to curb violence in PNG.

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

PLANNING is underway for reconciliation between the Papua New Guinea Defence Force and members of the former Bougainville Revolutionary Army.

The armies opposed each other during the 10-year long Bougainville civil war which ended nearly 20 years ago.

Now, with the Autonomous Region preparing for a vote on possible independence from PNG, the Bougainville parliamentary referendum committee wants the former warring groups to reconcile.

Committee chair, Joseph Watawi, sais the plan is backed by PNGDF commander Brigadier General Gilbert Toropo and former BRA leader Sam Kauona.

RAYMOND SIGIMET

ON a dreary afternoon, three friends sat making small talk about matters that took their fancy.

Their conversation was based on issues they’d seen in traditional media, what they’d heard from others and what they’d read in the now popular social media.

Tau, a public servant, was reading a newspaper with great interest. Christopher, in his Sunday best, awaited the start of an afternoon prayer meeting. Pele, a villager, chewed betel nut with a newspaper-rolled brus (cigarette) hanging loosely from red-stained lips.

“You know, something’s not right with O’Neill, our prime minister,” Christopher said dryly. “First he took power illegally by disposing of Somare. Then he was linked to the Parakagate corruption scandal and is still to face the law and…”

FIDELIS SUKINA

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

Shift the blame
that’s his game.

Parents sit back and cheer 
that’s their son.

Was he told to be this way?
maybe, perhaps,
an excuse for noble pride.

PHILIP KAUPA

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

Submerge your fingers in the water
Feel it, it’s life's graceful author
Fish and coral find home there
Birds and trees are able with her
Plant a tree, but what about water?
Spills and effluents, where do they gather?
Submerged in the water.
Fly River still mourns unfair

JOHNNY BLADES
| Radio New Zealand International

THE lid is lifting on what has been for so long Asia-Pacific's hidden region.

Since incorporation into Indonesia in 1969, outside access to West Papua - the western half of New Guinea, has been tightly restricted amid a simmering separatist conflict.

However, in May, Indonesia's new president Joko Widodo signalled restrictions on foreign media access to West Papua were being lifted. I'd been declined a visa to visit West Papua in the past, but decided to give it another crack.

RAYMOND SIGIMET

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

A noisy cricket, hiding somewhere in the mango tree he had just passed, was screeching as if angry with him and the night.

On his way from the end of the street, he had passed a number of people. The settlement came alive at night when people walked around or stood idle in the now cool puddle-riddled street. Absorbed in their conversations.

During the day you hardly saw much activity. Everyone had left for town in pursuit of money. Activities both legitimate and not so.

The settlement was made up of the employed, the unemployed and those between – students, children, women, the old.

RAYMOND SIGIMET

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

Dedicated to my two daughters

Protect your person
Like I protected your innocence
It cannot be bought with flattery
Nor sold cheaply in a moment

If you like a man
As I did your mother
Bring him to the house
Don’t go someplace else

PHILIP KAUPA

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

Inhale some fresh air, it’s free
Coming from our friendly neighbour, the tree
Too many trees carelessly felled today
Oxygen depleted, carbon dioxide at play

I wish the trees could demand a fee
Or grow legs to kick, or flee
We all have a house in which to stay
Trees are the reason we live this way

Inhale some fresh air
Take a small tree
Get on your knee
Plant a tree today

Tell a friend, ‘You must see
We cannot live without the tree’

Inhale some fresh air

VAGI SAMUEL JNR

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

Shake off the dust from gloomy yesterday
Glorious waters of grace await my bath
Mercy shall put on me a fresh garment then
Knitted in love like the blue sky I see today

Have me the food in which my heart delights
Fruits from the Gospel that feeds my spirit
Defend the sagging walls within my mind
So my soul shall be guarded from evil’s trick

CHRIS OVERLAND

IN his recent article about his visit to Flag Fen in the United Kingdom, Daniel Kumbon raised one of the more puzzling questions in history: why did Europe, not Asia, Africa or the Americas, become the crucible of modern civilisation?

As some commenters have already noted, the capacity to generate large food surpluses was a necessary prerequisite.

In turn, this allowed the emergence of a so-called "leisured class" of rulers and priests who had time to think about things like mathematics, science and philosophy.

It also allowed for division of labour, whereby certain individuals could develop high level skills in specific trades like metallurgy, pottery, stone masonry, carpentry and so on.

FIDELIS SUKINA

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

Rage, a blaze,
lit by hate.

Destruction and turmoil
lie in its wake.
A trail blazed from destruction.

Destructive and impossible to
defend. Your sins and horrors.

Like pins and needles,
sewed into mindset,
you bask in the ambience of my misery.

VAGI SAMUEL JNR

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

I stand with trembling body
A harsh angry thought crippled by fear
Afraid in a sense where desperation of a life
I so deserve as a child being deprived hidden

My right to freedom is shattered and forgone
Mother scold’s me like a stray dog nomadic
Foul language being her slang of choice
The feeling is like I am not welcomed at all

DANIEL KUMBON

OPPOSITION leader Don Polye has described the K14.76 billion 2016 Papua New Guinea budget as “another hoax” aimed at enriching contractors at the expense of the people and has said the wealth of the country has been “segregated to one side”.

“It does not increase the per capita income of the people,” Polye said. “Look at the current trend for infrastructure. The only people enjoying this luxury, with so much wealth concentrated in Port Moresby, are only four or five companies. Multi million kina contracts are already decided at the top level.”

Polye said decisions went to these contractors without competitive bidding. This was evident before the recent Pacific Games in Port Moresby and would also be seen for APEC 2018.

Polye’s accusation seems to bear out what long-time businessman, Sir Ramon Thurecht, said publicly in 2008 – that the going rate for awarding these lucrative contracts is a 30% cut in the deal.

DENNIS URAMANI

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

This poem is dedicated to the young generation of Papua New Guineans who are now in contact with bad influences like alcohol and drug abuse. They must know that such influences are a major obstacle for a bright future

You is you and no one is you
You are the champion of your of destiny
You say yes or you say no

Make right choices now
Think for tomorrow
Prepare for the rainy day

JIMMY AWAGL

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

Always utilise your wisdom
By protecting the widows

Taking care of the orphans
Keeping the weak and old aged

Giving to the poor in need
Cherishing the lame and blind

Harbouring the rejects
Serving their common interest

KEITH JACKSON

WELL bugger me! These strong man crackdowns always happen at the worst possible times.

Just hours out of the Maldives and looking forward to a three decade delayed reunion with my Maldivian friends, the skipper of Nautica executes a change of course from south-east to south-west and we’re headed for Mahe not Malé.

It seems that yesterday the usurper president Abdulla Yameen (pictured), who tossed out a democratically elected leader a couple of years back, declared a 30-day state of emergency ahead of a planned anti-government rally by the country's opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

The declaration gave Yameen’s security forces sweeping powers to arrest anyone they don’t like, er, who they think may be a suspect.

AGNES RITA MAINEKE

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

THIS story of “Pohikah” (one who was struck in the head) was told by my mother who was told by her grandmother.

In the old days when tribal fights were still being fought, one of my male ancestors from Miiko clan married a woman from the Korungo clan in the Mariga area where the people speak the Banoni language. Our people speak the Siwai language.

One day this ancestor, Nousi, returned to his homeland for a visit. It happened that a female cousin of his had become deranged and couldn’t take of her only daughter, Kaharo, who was about 12 years old.

Out of pity for his young niece, Nousi asked permission from the female clan elders to take Kaharo with him when he returned to Mariga. He was granted permission happily, for although our society is matrilineal, Kaharo had become a burden to her family. They were relieved of another mouth to feed.

RAYMOND SIGIMET

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

Five truths I have learnt. We must be responsible, we must be able to forgive, respect is earned not deserved, contentment leads to a satisfied life and we must believe in something. It’s only human to do that

Be responsible
Nothing comes easy in life
You work hard, you earn

Forgiveness, the key
Let go, forget and keep none
Peace will be your friend

Respect is the word
When you give and show respect
It will be returned

Be content with life
You cannot have everything
Peace will be your life

Believe in something
God, Jesus, Buddha, world peace
It’s our essence

JIMMY AWAGL

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

THE sun rises in the east and sets in the west and, whatever the weather, it will still penetrate and enlighten the human heart.

The sun also indicates time. And within those times are situations men encounter, bad or good.

Humankind is bound to make mistakes and, hopefully, learn from its failures. A pure heart glitters like the sun.

Creating a conducive environment in every society depends on the heart. In a diverse culture a simple and humble heart promotes harmony.

DOMINICA ARE

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

I am filled with anger, to go on a rampage
A burning desire for revenge
But then I remember
You told me to forgive, to love my enemies
For it’s the greatest of all virtues

I wanted too much, desire for worldly treasures
I indulged myself with earthly pleasures
But then I remember,
You told me about the riches in heaven
For its everlasting, and I will be given

AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION

THE Kokoda Initiative, assisted by funding from the Australian government, has delivered more health and education buildings and ablution facilities for communities in the Kokoda Track region.

On Kokoda Day - 3 November - Oro Governor Gary Juffa, Kokoda Track Authority CEO James Enage, and Managing Director of the PNG Conservation and Environment Protection Agency Gunther Joku, joined Rod Hilton from the Australian High Commission in opening a double classroom, two staff houses, a community health post, ablution facilities, an incinerator and three water tanks at Kanga.

“The opening of this aid post is an exciting development for the Kanga population which has had limited access to health services for over 10 years,” said Oro Provincial Health Advisor Copeland Ihove. “The people of Kanga catchment have had to walk up to three hours to see medical staff.”

ANDREW PHILLIPS | Extracts

IN May 1977 I received a call to come to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation office in New York for an assignment with Australia’s top television documentary program, Four Corners.

Ray Martin landed an interview with James Jesus Angleton (pictured) who had been head of counter intelligence at the CIA for 25 years. Angleton was ready to spill the beans on the CIA’s influence in sacking Australia’s Labor Party prime minister, Gough Whitlam.

I’d heard speculation about CIA involvement in Australian politics but here it was from the horse’s mouth, from the man who knew the back-story.

RAYMOND SIGIMET

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

I am principal of a mission boarding school for wayward boys. Those who cannot continue in the formal system find themselves in my school.

Applicants sit a mandatory entry test on basic literacy and numeracy. Then the academic committee and I do the selection based on scores.

In school, my students are taught normal academic subjects. But unlike their peers in the formal education system, they get to learn a vocational trade. Currently my school offers courses in carpentry, metal fabrication and motor mechanics.

DANIEL KUMBON

DR Francis Pryor, the curator of the excavation site at Flag Fen in East Anglia, UK, wasted no time to take us on an extraordinary journey – one that catapulted me back into antiquity.

Three thousand years ago, on this very site, was a Bronze Age village. All around the water of a shallow lake. People living on a man-made island built using thousands upon thousands of pieces of wood.

Living in smoke-filled thatched houses, these people were the descendants of Stone Age hunters and gatherers who had gradually settled on the land – planting crops and domesticating animals.

As they crafted axes and other tools from bronze, so the transition to the Bronze Age was made. This was a time of tribal societies where individual warriors ruled supreme. It began shortly after 2,000BC, and ended around 600BC with the widespread adoption of iron tools and technology. Flag Fen belongs to the Bronze Age.

DENNIS URAMANI

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

PNG is the land of unexpected
PNG is the land of thousands tribes
PNG is the land of double tongues
PNG is the land of different colours

We once lived as wonderers and gatherers
We once were colonised by European powers
We once were caught by the quest of modernization
We once tasted globalisation at every level of the society

KEITH JACKSON

RICHARD Jones,  urger without parallel on the long concourse of my personal history, reminds me bluntly that the last report I made from MV Nautica, now 10 days into a five-week cruise, had me confined to my cabin with an ear complaint.

I travel mainly by sea because of an arthritic body that demands comfort and the sleep apnoea that requires a power supply to keep me breathing through the night. So a degree of technological reliability is prescribed these days as I move somewhat gingerly through time and space.

Loyal readers are used to me diarising travel experiences  - banal though they be. I contemplate a memoir. Working title - The most tedious traveller in the world, ever.

CHRIS OVERLAND

WHEN I first became chief executive of a large regional hospital in Australia, I was told that a major task was to change the culture of the organisation.

Twelve long and difficult years later I left for a new role, leaving behind a superficially different organisational culture.

Less than two years and two unsuccessful CEO appointments later, the "old" culture had reasserted itself to such an extent that I was asked to go back to "fix things up". I declined: one protracted experience of implementing "culture change" was quite enough.

This experience was an important lesson for me, as I came to understand the profound impact of culture on how organisations and, in a broader sense, societies, really work.

DAWZEENA TOBA

You held a moment in your hand,
Brilliant as a star, fragile as a flower,
Write on your heart that every moment is the best.

If you let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final.

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave,
Find your eternity in each moment.
To survive eternity is to appreciate each moment.

FIDELIS SUKINA

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

Shift the blame
that’s his game.

Parents sit back and cheer
that’s their son.

Was he told to be this way?
maybe perhaps,
an excuse for noble pride.

Defender of himself
Bringer of distress.

VAGI SAMUEL JNR

Sir Paulias Matane once said for a person to be a Papuan New Guinea, they have to be spiritually, physically, mentally, financially and politically independent

I am forty
I am a Christian
I am beautiful
I am the land of the unexpected

From the crawling of the dawn,
Alotau gives birth to the sun
as it rises discreetly humming “eh, that one how”
Humble winds from Oro
send morning greetings on the wings of a Queen Alexandria butterfly
The sound almost wakes the Fly River
to begin the day by strumming its subtle streams