Ups and Downs
Trip Start
Feb 06, 2008
1
11
22
Trip End
Ongoing
Bogia,
Papua New Guinea
Sunday, June 8, 2008
First no power, starting with cut backs and then serious collapse of all generators because they had failed to do any maintenance and the machines stopped. Getting up in the dark, evening meals by candlelight, bed by 7.30/8.00 and so on. No power eventually meant no water, and this did not seem so bad at first because we all have bug rain tanks by the houses, but slowly the screw turns as this part of PNG decided it would not rain for a while...murphy's law in a nutshell. This has been steadily getting worse for two weeks and we all wait to see when the generator can be fixed or replaced..it will cost about 75,000 kina(divide by 5 for GBP)
We both felt that the new head had been given a raw deal as he has been around at the time the troubles came to a head, and the church authorities have been incredibly slow to offer any support in what is a very serious health problem with over 300 boarders
An inset in Bogia
.Then we had a bit of trouble at'mill.Words were said between boarders and day boys, with a blow and next thing the day boys are off down the road to the village and come back with their wontoks, bottles, rocks and bush knives wanting to sort out the individual who started it all. A case of a mini riot with menaces which was handled brilliantly by staff and since then they have had a major meeting of the board to see who should be suspended and expelled. Oh they had a case of some booze on site which had to be dealt with as well.
In the midst of this we are ploughing on with staff training interviews and attempting to get our heads round how the system works and what are the motives for the staff and the pupils. Still a long way to go in this area, if we ever get there at all. We have completed our initial report which has been sent out to all the relevant parties, and the next step is to prepare the workshop for the 16 heads and deputies who are the focus group for the leadership and management development. In a way we all felt that just to produce a reasonable and balanced report was a major achievement in itself under the circumstances, and it was certainly an intellectual exercise to throw out any preconceptions and try to see the situation as it is...We still did not get there totally and afterthoughts keep coming to mind.
Next step is to set up the first workshop and plan the other 2, and we have to tie in with the local Divine Word University which has a distance learning course on leadership and management. We are in Madang again for this, arrived on Friday and Pam has spent most of the time sleeping and showering (we have been on bucket washes so this is luxury) . We all met up on Monday and start looking at possible course options from our visits to schools, and then on Wednesday we go to the university to talk through their programme and see if we can arrange a good 'fit', as well as presenting some of their course components as well. We will then have about 5 days to set up the paperwork and practical for the workshop, and 2 days to sort out our training programme for the next 2 months as well. Isn't it fun!
This is all just to kid you that we are working hard. In fact when we go for a beach walk to catch the afternoon breeze, or sit on the verandah watching the shadows shifting as the palm leaves sway, the whole thing seems.................oh well, back to work then...................................
