Cold to Warm, Social to Biological and from People to Frogs.

I was engaged for three weeks with the PNG Institute of National Affairs on a coffee sustainability project to be conducted in a remote part of Eastern Highlands Province here in Papua New Guinea. It was a big project to measure the sustainability of coffee farmers and measure the effects of newly introduced (yet to be effective) Rain Forest Alliance Certificate System to coffee farmers in Papua New Guinea.

For the three weeks, I was doing social survey in Megusa village, Henganofi District of Eastern Highlands Province.  At first when I heard of the location I was reluctant to join the team, because  the Henganofi area is known for tribal fights and I would not like to be caught up in one.  Soon after a week of training on how to use Ipads to do data entry we were off to Megusa village for a trial run on the survey.  I was used to the normal paper interviews or data collection and entry into the computer later. The Ipad system was a very new technique and I was eager to see how it will work. I also could not wait to use an Ipad for the first time.

We had a big impact on the first day in the village. The villagers were very interested with the Ipads and the vehicle that we got was a classic. It was the latest Land Rover in town and the first one in the province. Out from the Bird of Paradise Pool Side car park, around town and on the highway, all eyes were on us. By standers and passer-by’s were staring at the car and of cause wanted to see who is driving or inside, and (I guess one would hope in if we stopped and allow them to…hahaha!). An elderly man whom we gave a lift from the junction to the village said he admired the vehicle when he saw it on the advertisement paper, and dreamt of seeing it one day in town. The vehicle coming into his village and having a ride on it was something he never dreamt of, and was very very happy. I’m sure this was really satisfied because he gave us words of blessing almost 20 times.

Back to work, the social work there was very intense, starting as early as 6am and ending around 12 midnight. I found out that dealing with animals and plants was something very different from dealing with people, and it is very sensitive. How you direct your questions and give feedbacks is the key to progress and success. The first few days were a struggle, but I managed to get through.  

After my three weeks was up, I was asked to extend my time with the team, which I was willing to do. However, I was called out to join another project on Manus Island. This time switching from Social Back to Biological and from People subjects to Frogs. I was summoned to assist another female colleague from PNG Institute of Biological Research, working on the effects of climate change on six endemic frog species of Manus Island.

It was sad to leave a team after 3 weeks with them. But I was out from Megusa village on Friday. Planned do my laundry and get packed for Manus on Saturday, but I had to attend to urgent important matters. So I spent my Saturday in office. Sunday morning flight I was on my way to Manus via Port Moresby with my colleague. Stepping out of the plane at Jacksons airport I could already feel the heat, a step out the terminal and I was sweating, I could feel sweat washing down the dirt on me and a little breeze from the palms at the car park blowing off the my body odour which has been accumulating for the last 5 days.  

A night in Pom, and we were in Manus the next. Though I had a good bath in Moresby, my 2 weeks grubby field laundry was still with me. Manus has its own temperature which is much higher than that in Port Moresby. For a person like me arriving from a cold part of the country, a five minute walk got me sweating like walking in the rain.   

Manus is a beautiful small island with friendly people.  Lorengau has not changed after three years, my first visit was with a team from Wildlife Conservation Society to work on a REDD project.  After a night in Lorengau, we were off to the study site. The study site was the highest mountain - Mt Ndemsel, standing in the heart of the Island and reaches its peak at 700 meters. We accessed the mountain from the Southern part of the Island, from Pelipowai village which is about 3 hours by boat. The village stretches about a kilometre along the coast with houses about 5 meters from the see.  The day ends by going to bed with the sound of the waves and starts with the waking call of the Island’s endemic Friarbird (Philemon albitorques), which they locally call “Manus Chauka”. A night at Pelipowai and off we climbed the mountain with local helpers and potters. The locals were fast and made it an hour and half before me and my colleague, which took us about 5 hours to reach the camp site which is 5 minutes away from the summit. It was a gradual climb, but the heat and load slowed us.

 ……..The search for the six endemic frogs of Manus and return trip to be continued ……