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PACIFIC LIVING

PACIFIC LIVING

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WRITE IN ANOTHER SITE. MY OTHER SITE IS PACIFIC LEARNING - ALSO IN BLOG-CITY!
I HAVE FELT THE NEED TO WRITE ON THE VALUES AND KNOWLEDGE OF US PACIFIC ISLANDERS AND OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD. IT IS SUCH KNOWLEDGE AND VALUES THAT MAY BE THE LAST HOPE OF US REMAINING UNIQUE AND VALUABLE.
IT HAS BEEN A CATCH-WORD IN MODERN VOCABULARY THAT WE ARE IN THE GLOBAL WORLD AND THEREFORE WE MUST CONFORM TO THE CHANGES THAT ARE HAPPENING IN THE WESTERN WORLD.
BEFORE WE JUMP ON THAT WAGON OF MODERNISM AND GLOBAL CHANGES LET US BE CAREFUL THAT WE DO NOT GIVE UP EVERYTHING THAT WE HAVE AS UNIQUE, VALUABLE PEOPLE TO EMBRACE MODERN IDEAS BLINDLY.
IT IS WITH SUCH A BELIEF THAT I AM WRITING THIS BLOG. I WILL WRITE ABOUT INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS IN LIFE. I WILL ALSO WRITE ABOUT A THEME THAT HAS CAPTIVATED ME FOR THE LAST TWO DECADES - TRADITIONAL ASTRONOMY OF THE PACIFIC AS WELL AS THAT OF THE WORLD!

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ON WHAT I WRITE AND MAKE SUGGESTIONS TO MAKE THIS BLOG MORE INFORMATIVE AND HELPFUL TO YOU AND OTHERS!

CHEERS,

THOMAS
#The same spot looking up Douglas Street in downtown Port Moresby in 2011 ... 43 years on.


#A view of downtown Port Moresby in 1968.
SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
PORT MORESBY THEN ... IN 1968

Last month, I met some Queenslanders, who were here in Port Moresby in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
One of them, Terry Edwinsmith, sent me some pictures of places in Port Moresby in 1968.
Here is one, of downtown Port Moresby in 1968.
The photo was taken looking up Douglas Street to ANZ House (from Paga Hill).
Then, as Terry said, ANZ House was the only high rise building.
Can you see the steeple of St John Anglican Church on the right? Then it was also a dominant structure in the Port Moresby skyline.
SEPTEMBER 06, 2011
MY THOUGHTS FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY

THE NEED TO READ THE TIMES AND CHANGES
PNG has come a long way indeed. It has changed its face over the decades … and will continue to change
For those of us who were preschoolers in 1975, we have vague memories of that eventful day, September 16. However, the anthems of the day still arouse emotions that no other modern tune can.
Even after more than four decades, some of us are still learning to appreciate the initiative that Sir Cecil Abel, Sir Albert Maori Kiki, Sir Joseph Nombri, Sir Barry Holloway, Sir Michael Somare and other members of the Bully Beef Club sought for nothing but independence from the Australian administration.

When they formed Pangu Pati in June 13, 1974, some of them were offered positions under the Australian administration but turned the offers down because they were focused on one goal – independence.
They were men who had “hearts”: they knew the past, read the present and looked into the future and decided accordingly. In short, they had a vision. And it was the most important for that time, for their people.
In the vision they also saw the big picture of the changes that their brothers in the Pacific were going through.
Samoa had become independent in 1962; Cook Is in 1965; Nauru, 1968; Tonga, 1970; and Fiji, 1970. PNG would join the island nations in 1975.

The worth of the Club’s decision at that time is often valued and captured better by outsiders who are aware of changes elsewhere.
Last year, I met a visitor who has lived in South America and in Asia. She said:
“PNG is very fortunate. The government is run by its own indigenous people.”
That struck me - and reminded me. The Aborigines in Australia do not run Australia. The Lakota Indians (made popular in the multiple Academy Award-winning movie Dances With Wolves) who have roamed the prairies for thousands of years - as the buffalo herds that sustain them - do not rule their prairies. Those who came later do.

From here onward, PNG’s leaders (not necessarily politicians) must get the big picture clear, in part of having a clear vision(s) for this time to lead us on into the changing uncertain tomorrow.
Traditionally, indigenous people value the ability to capture a vision. It is unforgivable for leaders to lead without having a vision.

It is possible that in PNG some of those visions are taught and captured in a haus boi.
The American Indians, like the Lakota or Sioux nation, expect future young leaders and chiefs to go out into the open spaces, away from the crowd, for days or months until they capture a vision.
We need people like that today. Just being highly-educated and being flush with money will not do.
The Western world is full of those but they also have problems that we can unconsciously adopt if we accept everything they give.
(Remember that the strongest nations in the world came crumbling to their knees in the economic downturn in 2008.)

Leaders must realise that PNG is now the Big Brother in the Pacific. There is no other country (apart from Australia and New Zealand) in the region that is as big as PNG, population-wise, and resource-wise.
According to Wikipedia, Fiji’s population is 849,000 people; Solomon Is 522,000, Samoa 179,000; and Tonga 104,000. New Zealand has only 4,393,500 people.

In PNG, the mining industry boom is slowly taking off and the potential of more mines being opened is incomparable to any nation in the Pacific.
Renewable energy sources, agriculture, fisheries (as in tuna), potential pharmaceutical product raw materials and the people themselves still remain virtually untapped.
To take PNG on so that it remains on top of the changes it needs leaders who have “hearts” to see all these.

Even the Hebrew Moses, the Egyptian Prince, saw a vision while he was tending sheep in the backside of the Midian dessert and came out to lead a pack of three million complaining, ease-loving Hebrews (who had gotten used to a life of labouring for Egyptians) to travel to a place unseen and unknown - a land of milk and honey.
How he managed to do that is documented and is good reading material for leaders.
Where are PNG leaders going to get the vision from then? From the western world or the university? From our elders in the haus boi? From the Bible?

The Bully Beef Club and others got us our political independence but the deeds of many governments (not just one) have gotten us into some very tight spots.
The leaders who will bail us out and guide us into another era must see the changes outside in politics, technology and environmental issues and visualise where PNG will be most useful – not only to itself but to the other smaller nations in the region. These leaders must have, above all, “hearts” that read the times and see into the future.
Anything short of that won’t do. Head knowledge alone won’t do.

The Bully Beef Club have taken us far. They have shown us what the young can do, as they have done.
Will the present and future leaders now read the times and plan properly for years ahead? Are they aware of what is happening in the Pacific and the region as the Club was back in the 1960s?
I believe without that knowledge it will be very hard to plan properly.
May you all have a nice trouble-free 36th independence celebration with your family and friends. God bless PNG!

HAPPY 36 YEARS ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION TO PAPUA NEW GUINEA!
AUGUST 17, 2011
SOME GOOD PICS ... BUT ...
Lately I have taken some good photos that I would like to show you ... but for some reason I cannot upload the pictures and the stories that go with them.
It is quite frustrating. But I will keep working at it until I find what may be the exact problem.
Hi people.
I have been blogging in another site, but for convenience, I am just jotting these few lines.
On Thursday June 09, I went to Sir John Guise Stadium, Port Moresby, PNG, to watch the netball game between Cook Is and Samoa in the Pacific Netball Series.
Here is a photo of the first game on that day.

That match was between Cook Is and Samoa.
Cook Islands was leading Samoa at half time – 18/15 - when I left.
Cook Is in the end beat Samoa 44-35.
The experienced goal-shooter Curly Taripo was in devastating form, calling on her girls to give their best after every sunk goal.
I was kind-of supporting Cook Is.

Sometime in the future I will let you know where you can get a short clip of the action.
PNG was demolished by the favorites Fiji 72-34 in the second game of the final day in the series.
I will give you other details later.

Go Cooks, Go Rarotonga.

#The picture shows part of the Cook Islands team getting ready for the attack.

I tried to upload the picture for this frame but had problems.
The related photo and frame is further down this page. It shows the Samoa team getting ready to play Cook Islands. Unfortunately they lost to the Cook Islands team.
ASTRONOMY OR ASTROLOGY?
In a Physics class several years ago a girl presented her group’s research work on the use of thermocouples as temperature measuring devices in outer space. She said such devices were very important in Astrology.

I asked her a question, after her presentation, if astrology was the correct word. She said it was – but I had to correct her there and then for the benefit of everybody in that room. The word she should have used was astronomy not astrology. Do you know the difference between the two?

Many people confuse what is written in Astrology with real Astronomy. Astrology, a word that rhymes with the physical science of Astronomy, but is completely different – it is not science. Astrology is the same as Horoscope and the Star-Guides that people check each time they buy a newspaper or magazine. Astrology uses the names of constellations e.g. Aries, Taurus, Leo, etc but it is completely different from Astronomy.

The stars in the heavens told many people groups in the world the end of one season or the onset of another. It also was used by people to find their directions, whether they were at sea in the Pacific Ocean or in the dry deserts of Arabia. They did that in the days without compasses and global positioning systems (GPS) and are still doing that with no problems whatsoever.

However sometime in centuries past some people, who are called astrologers, were sought out to supposedly tell people their future. The general population everywhere mistakes this group of people with astronomers.

Astronomers are people like Johannes Keppler, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton who look through telescopes to study the movements of the sun, the planets and their moons; astronomers know exactly where and when each heavenly object would be in the night sky because their motions can be easily described by mathematics and scientific equations.
Astrologers however do not look into telescopes; they look into glass balls and claim to see the future of their clients in those balls. Yes, they have clients, people who pay them money to get some information from them. The astrologers are the ones who draw up the star-guides and horoscopes that are seen in the newspapers. In those columns they foretell your day for you, or at least they think they can do that – and many people believe them.

Astrology is more like a belief or religion. You have to exercise some faith in it for it to work. Astronomy however describes the motion of heavenly bodies accurately. If Astronomy tells you that Mars will be 30° above the western horizon at 7.00 pm in the evening tomorrow, that planet would be there tomorrow evening whether you choose to believe that or not.

Many young people think that to be an Aquarius or Gemini and checking your star-guide daily is really scientific and modern. Some of them even think that they are more like astronomers. But they do not understand that the reading of the descriptions about their stars from horoscopes, as they would say it, is not astronomy.

Astronomers in the last millennium as well as today dub astrology as a false science. A good textbook on astronomy would clearly state that astrology is a false science.

Astronomy can tell you exactly where the moon would be tomorrow at 11 pm. Astrology claims to tell you that you should do this or that tomorrow for the best result in your life.

Which of the two events predicted in the last pararaph will certainly occur every time? The answer: the event as predicted by Astronomy, the science. That guarantee Astrology cannot give those who believe in it.
IF YOU ARE DISRESPECTFUL TOWARDS OTHERS
I have said on a number of occasions to some people that if someone is being disrespectful towards others (e.g. elders) then it is a sure sign that they are going down.
And I mean their lives do not look like they would enjoy it. It is a normal practice in Melanesian cultures (and for many Pacific Island societies I would think) that crossing someone else for no good reason can prevent you from enjoying a good life. In other words being disrespectful and rude to others will block out blessings from your life.
It does not matter whether you have the sharpest mind or the biggest biceps (muscles), if you have wronged the elders or speak evil of somebody the mind and muscles will not help you.
Many live as if they are the only individuals living on earth or that the others live because they have to take care of them.


THE STRONGEST HUMAN BEINGS
We have been really fooled in believing that big muscles and sharp minds are the necessities to thwart bad times and usher in good times. But that is not true when you really think about it.
It is good to build your muscles and train your mind to be sharp – but these alone will not assist your society in all times.
It is in times of adversity that the ones who possess virtues that really shine. There are muscular men who cannot stand adversities. There are also individuals with the best brains who cannot handle the tough demands of life and they cower into their own comfort zones.
It is those individuals that possess virtues that will really be the stars that light up the environment in dark times. And it is because they have bigger hearts.
For Christians they know that in tough times it is prayers from those who possess virtues that can prevent hard times becoming any harsher. It is the prayers and efforts of such people that can stop a storm or impending financial crisis. The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is an example. The sharpest brain and toughest muscle is useless in such situations; even good looks will not help at all.
Another good illustration is the case of a 5 year old child in a boat in a storm. She cannot paddle and may not have the knowledge to get herself and others to safety but of course she can pray and the One she prays to is mightier than all and who has the power to calm the seas and dissipate the storms.
It is for this reason I tell people that the strongest individuals are those who can bring down the hand of Heaven to Earth by their prayers. It is that ability that makes them mightier than all!

Note: I have my own problems in my own life but my belief in what I am saying is sure because I have seen such things happening.


THE PANDANUS TREE - A VERY USEFUL PLANT! 12/10/09

IT CAN BE USED FOR EATING, THE FRUIT THAT IS!

MATS CAN BE MADE OUT OF IT!

IN THE BOOK REVIEW FOLLOWING, IT IS USED BY A POLYNESIAN BOY TO MAKE THE CANOE'S SAIL!
A BOOK TO READ: THE BOY WHO WAS AFRAID
A couple of months ago I read a book which is a reader in primary schools in some parts of the Pacific. It is titled The Boy Who Was Afraid. It is interesting.

The book tells the story of a boy named Mafatu, a 15 year old boy from Hikieru, a small Polynesian island; he was the son of the Great Chief of the island but was taunted and teased by the other boys because he was afraid of the sea. The author of the book is Armstrong Sperry, an American who has studied life in the Pacific.

WHY WAS MAFATU AFRAID?
His fear of the sea may be the result of him and his mother pushed out to sea by a swift current when he was only three. The canoe that they were in capsized out in the open sea. They finally got washed upon the shore of an islet and the mother died while feeding the child with some bits from a cracked coconut.
When the boys go out fishing as all males about his age and older are supposed to do Mafatu does not because he is afraid of the sea; he would stay back and fix up the fishing strings, hooks, nets and spears. Because of that he was often made fun of.


THE ESCAPE AND SURVIVAL
Unable to withstand the jeers and taunting by other boys he left the island in the night in a canoe with a skinny dog named Uri and overhead flew Kivi, an albatross.
After days and nights of tossing in the sea without any land in sight, escaping Moana, the angry Sea God, and being pushed along by the current that has helped many a Polynesian sailor sailing westwards, he and the dog sailed into an uninhabited island with a volcanic peak that rose three thousand feet. The island had coconuts, breadfruit, wild bananas and wild pigs, a type of creature that his island, a flat atoll did not have.
His skills of making nets, strings, hooks and spears helped him survive. He made a spear, fish traps out of bamboo and hooks out of bones from a whale’s skeleton. He even made a knife out of basalt that helped him kill a hammerhead; the hammerhead had on many occasions stolen his fish from his trap and tried to attack his dog when he fell into the sea from a trip that they made out into the lagoon.
He killed a boar, cut it up and made an umu (or a mumu), a ground oven with hot stones, to cook the boar with wild bananas. He made a necklace out of the tusks of the boar, something that only one man on Hikieru had, and that was his grandfather who had ventured to the distant islands in Tahiti where men were said to kill pigs with nothing but a knife.
Mafatu also made himself a new canoe out of the great, tough tamanu tree (or tamano which is the famous calophyllum) for his return journey to Hikieru. The sail of the canoe he made from the leaves of pandanus tree. He even killed feke, the giant octopus when it attacked him when he dove down into the water to reclaim his knife which fell over his canoe on a trip out to the lagoon.

THE BAD MEN
The many accomplishments that he made he said prayers of thanks to the God of the fishermen, Maui. He believed that it was Maui who was his only hope at sea to thwart the designs of Moana, the Sea God, to end his life.
It was while on one of his walks to inspect the island that he realized the other side of the island was used for ritual purposes. He also noticed from the plateau at the top of the island that about 50km away to the east was another island, possibly the home of those who came for their rituals on this island. What he was fearful about was that the people who came to this island may in fact be the feared man-eaters of the east, stories about whom he had heard from other relatives at Hikieru.
On the day that he killed the feke, he was too tired to climb to the plateau to have a look to the other side of the island where the ritual place was – something that he did everyday.
The next morning he was woken up by thumping sounds and made his way to the plateau. There he saw that the men from the neighbouring islands were already starting a ritual with the thumping of drums. He barely escaped four men who tried to capture him. He fled to his side of the island, got onto the canoe which was set for the journey home, stocked with water in bamboo containers, poi of bananas and fresh coconuts; he manages to get the canoe into the water and paddled out before the men reached him.
The men ran around the island and got into their canoes and paddled after him; they were angry because their motu tabu (forbidden island) was profaned by a stranger. By then Mafatu and Uri were out of the lagoon and into the open sea.
The distance between the canoes of the man-eaters and Mafatu’s was closing rapidly; but Mafatu prayed to Maui:
Maui, e! Do not desert me! This last time – lend me your help.
The God of the fishermen may have heard his prayers and a wind puffed up and the crab-claw sail swelled smooth and taut and the boy used every art and skill he had to increase the distance between his vessel and the savage men.
The wind kept up and sure enough his canoe skimmed fast through the open sea, too fast for the savages to catch up with him.

THE JOURNEY HOME
It would be days and nights of sailing, with every container of water and coconut consumed to the point that he thought he just might never see his relatives again and share with them the evidence of things he had accomplished, a great canoe, a great necklace and stories that he would have told.
The wind also had stopped blowing and he was dragged on by the tide eastwards. Each day was hot and the heat burned him; and his nights were cool but were filled with anxiety. At night he could see the Southern Cross deep in the south and Mata Iki (Little Eyes) in another part of the sky; but the stars that he knew he would steer by were the three stars of the Fishhook of Maui.
One day in frustration the boy looks to the north-east and notices a light glow above the sea, something that sailors note that the lagoon of an atoll throw into the sky.
Te mori! Lagoon-fire!
The boy gasped.
At about the same time a flapping of wings caused the boy to look up into the sky and sees Kivi, his albatross friend, as it flies towards the glow over the atoll.
Ah, home! Hikieru!
The boy knew he was home.

A GREAT BOOK BY A GREAT AUTHOR
In not too many words let me say that this book is a great book written by Armstrong Sperry (1897-1976). Check who Sperry is on the internet, possibly wikipedia. Sperry’s grandfather was a sea captain and he loved the sea. Sperry also joined the US Navy towards the end of WW1.
The book notes, as you can see in my reviewing the story, how the islanders were very skillful and survived with the knowledge that they had.
The book also records the growth of a boy into a man, a man of courage. It was his surviving on his own, building his own canoe, fishing and hinting big, wild creatures that kind of sets him apart from what he was a few months earlier.
The book was sold in USA under the title CALL IT COURAGE.
The book also records certain skills which may be fast disappearing in many Pacific Island countries; it is good research material for those who are interested in traditional knowledge of fishing and making of fishing equipment in parts of the Pacific.
I will check to see what the stars Mata Iki and three stars of the fishhook of Maui are and may let you know later on.
The book I read was published by Heinemann Educational Books Ltd; most probably in 1961.
Armstrong Sperry is a professional illustrator and therefore the illustrations in the book were made by him.
Sperry published 29 books. Two of his books before he published Call It Courage in 1940 are:
Wagons Westward: The Story of the Old Trail to Santa Fe (1936), and Little Eagle, a Navaho Boy (1938).
The two books look interesting to me.
#In my next article I may tell you about another book written by another westerner who learned about the navigational knowledge and skills of the Pacific Islanders.


I HAD MY HEEL CUT BY CORAL AT ANIBARE! (07/11/09)

The picture shows the Anibare Boat Harbour on Nauru, looking north.
Last weekend, on Saturday, I joined the church folks for a barbecue/picnic at the other end of Anibare Bay (at the northern end).
It was raining all morning but the sun came out later in the afternoon as we were making our way to Anibare.
I walked from Menen for the three kilometres or so past the Anibare Boat Harbour (picture shown above) and onwards to the north.
I overcame my fear of the rocks and coral and went further out onto the reef. But the waves got me a bit unsteady and I cut the heel of my right foot on a coral. (I had this fear because in my own hometown I can go out to where the surf is on pure sand; no reef, no rocks, nothing! However in Nauru, coral reef surrounds the island and many coral pinnacles can be seen jutting out of the water in different locations.)

It was a small cut and in the night I felt the pain and the swelling. Throughout the week I was fearful that the cut may be infected with poison from the coral; it hurt on Monday (and the rest of the week) and I had to wear sandshoes to work to ease the painful swelling. It is now almost a week now and the swelling has eased. I think my body is working well in fighting the infection, if there was any. (Thanks to the Almighty one!)

I should say I enjoyed the barbecued/grilled chicken and sausages cooked on that day. It was also the first time for me to watch food grillled by using charcoal. The juiciest part of the day was eating chunks of tuna grilled over the hot charcoal. I have learned yet another way of cooking fish; and I am dreaming if what I can do when I get back home to PNG.

These folks teased me about the possibility of me providing a 'mumued' pig and I told them I have never mumued a pig and therefore I cannot do that - no, not just yet!

The mumu way of cooking (a PNGean term) is often referred to as 'umu' by some other Pacific Islanders like the Fijians and the Tongans.
A BOOK TO READ: WE, THE NAVIGATORS; THE ANCIENT ART OF LANDFINDING IN THE PACIFIC - BY DAVID H. LEWIS


One of the best books that I have browsed through as regards Navigation Knowledge in the Pacific has been by Dr David H. Lewis. The book is titled We, the Navigators: the Ancient Art of Land-finding in the Pacific. It is published by the University of Hawai’i Press. (There are a few copies of this book at the Michael Somare Library of the University of Papua New Guinea.)
I skimmed through pages of the book a few years ago in the hope of doing a research project on navigation knowledge in the Pacific, as well as in PNG. My interest was mainly to do with the knowledge of the stars and other heavenly objects when applied to knowing the times and the seasons, as well as in travelling.

THE MICRONESIAN NAVIGATOR
One of the stories in Lewis’s book is about how one of the chief navigator from Micronesia (close to Saipan, I think), which is on the 17 degrees latitude north of the equator, led a group on a traditionally built sailing canoe from the north to one of the islands to the south, close to the equator. Dr Lewis was also in that canoe.
That journey took weeks and for the most part they were in the sea for days without sighting any land. That is not unusual for sailors in the Pacific who are said to have been sailing without land in sight for hundreds of years before the Europeans ever did.
The sailors did not have any modern day equipment like compasses, sextants or charts. The aim of the journey was for a person like Dr Lewis to observe and learn as to how the sailors can sail without using modern day equipment.
During the day the sailors looked at the sun to check their direction of travel and in the night they used the stars. The Southern Cross (the constellation of Crux) was a main group of stars that they tried to pick out each night to get their bearings. As the days passed more of the Southern Cross in its ascent and descent about the south was seen (indicating that the sailors were gradually approaching the Equator).

THE SOUTHERN CROSS HELPS PEOPLE FIND THEIR DIRECTION
Just for your information, Southern Cross is a very important group of stars for people in the South Pacific. It comes up deep in the south-east each night and drops into the south-west, almost like rotating about the approximate South Pole of the Earth; hence it was used to work out where south was and from there the other three directions, north, west and east, can be approximated. The Polynesians and Melanesians also used the same knowledge. The Australian Aborigines also used the Southern Cross to work out their direction.
(I read in a book recently that states that there is no word ‘lost’ in an Aboriginal dialect. ‘Lost’ is a foreign concept; How can one be lost if one knows the stars?)

THE WESTERN WORLD CAME TO KNOW THE SOUTHERN SKY ‘RECENTLY’
The people further up in the northern hemisphere as in Europe cannot see the Southern Cross. In fact its usefulness and the whole night sky in the southern hemisphere was only known and charted in the last hundreds of years when sailors from Europe ventured into the south, as when Captain James Cook sailed to the Pacific.
(The knowledge about the different stars, constellations and other objects in the northern sky were quite well established thousands of years ago. The Sumerians, Babylonians and Persians studied the heavens and refined that knowledge and then the Greek borrowed that knowledge and introduced it into what is now that western world. The names of many constellations like Orion, Centaurus, Aquarius, etc, originate from Greek mythology. However the knowledge was well known in the Middle East and also in Egypt - that is hundreds of years before the rise of the Greek Empire.)

STRANGE METHODS BUT THEN THEY GOT HOME
Now back to our Micronesian sailors. It was fascinating to Dr Lewis how the navigator, with no western navigation knowledge and no instruments managed to get the canoe to their destination safely. At times the navigator would comment about the colour of the water stating that they were getting close to their destination – and that with no sight of land at all. To any person who did not have that knowledge the water was just plain water - just like what they have been moving through for the last couple of days.
In one instance the navigator dipped his foot into the water and stated that they were doing okay - the water was much warmer, and that meant they were close to their destination, and yet again, there was no land in sight!
Despite, how unorthodox his methods were (to a westerner), the canoe and everybody on it finally reached their destination.

WHO IS DAVID LEWIS?
David Lewis was born in England, raised in New Zealand and went to school in Rarotonga where he came to appreciate the navigation skills and knowledge of the Polynesians.
He later went to England to do his medical studies at the University of Leeds. He also served in the British Army as a medical officer during the war.
At different stages of his life he has gone on trips around parts of the world in his yacht or catamaran – which is named Rehu Moana. At one time he sailed from England to US in a trans-Atlantic race, picked up his wife and children in the US, and then sailed around South America, through the Strait of Magellan, across the Pacific, then through the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa.
In one instance he also made a journey from Tahiti to New Zealand using traditional navigation knowledge, that is, without using a compass, sextant, or marine chronometer.
Check out who David Lewis is in wikipedia.
I AM BACK IN PNG! (09/03/10)
If you have been following this blog you will notice that I have not been updating it for the last few months because I was in my small village back in PNG.

Many interesting things have happened since including my starting a student paper titled SUCCEED IN YOUR STUDIES. It is going to be produced monthly (starting March, 2010).

I am printing it and selling it with the aim to motivate, encourage, inspire and guide students so that they succeed in their academic studies. I am writing for students in secondary and tertiary levels of learning.

I have already started selling it in Wewak and I am now in Port Moresby to do the same.
If you are interested in buying a copy, just let me know, my email address is:

hwbthomas@gmail.com

I shall keep you updated.
TUESDAY MAY 11 2010
It has been a long time since I wrote something in these pages.
Here are some updates about what I am doing now:
Since arriving home from Micronesia (where I was a contract officer) in December 2009 I have been without a job.

Sending numerous applications for a job brought no favourable responses.
For 3 months I lived in a small village (at the northern end of PNG mainland) and became a paper vendor;I produced the paper myself.

Then I came to Port Moresby; that was made possible by some money created from the sale of the paper at home in Wewak as well as from the tremendous help and support from a brother of mine.
In Port Moresby, the city, I produced some copies and waited almost one whole month to sell the paper. I was penniless but was again supported by understanding relatives.

Two weeks ago I got a job with a newspaper company.
I am still selling the student paper that I am producing. Some friends are assisting me.
The paper sales are very slow and I am kind of regretting that I am in a job that requires me to be in the office or going out on assignments from 9am to 5pm; my regret is that I do not have the time now to sell my own paper - on the streets where the market is.

In the past months I have learned:
MANY PEOPLE WILL SAY THEY BELIEVE BUT WHEN IT COMES TO KEEPING THEIR SIDE OF THINGS BALANCED, THEY SHOW THAT THEY DON'T REALLY BELIEVE.

BUT THERE ARE THOSE WHO WILL BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE; IN FACT THEY SEE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AND ARE SEEING MUCH MORE THAN YOU SEE!


THE ADVICE TO MYSELF IS:
NEVER FORGET SUCH FOLKS AND SUPPORT THEM ALL YOU MUST!
THEY ARE THE ONES THAT WILL MOVE MOUNTAINS WITH OR WITHOUT YOU!
THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT THIS SLOW, DYING WORLD NEEDS
!
MAY 26 2010

YOU MUST NEVER EVER GIVE UP:
1. HAVE A DREAM
2. BELIEVE IN IT WHOLE-HEARTEDLY
3. WORK HARD

IF ONLY WE CAN DO THAT, THEN WE WILL ACHIEVE WHAT WE SET OUT TO DO!
I HAVE ANOTHER BLOG! (19/06/2010)
I have another blog that you can check on blogspot.
It should provide my thoughts on almost a daily basis.
The link is:

http://thomas-learning2live.blogspot.com


Hi people.
I have been blogging in another site, but for convenience, I am just jotting these few lines.
On Thursday June 09, I went to Sir John Guise Stadium, Port Moresby, PNG, to watch the netball game between Cook Is and Samoa in the Pacific Netball Series.
Here is a photo of the first game on that day.
That match was between Cook Is and Samoa.
Cook Islands was leading Samoa at half time – 18/15 - when I left.
Cook Is in the end beat Samoa 44-35.
The experienced goal-shooter Curly Taripo was in devastating form, calling on her girls to give their best after every sunk goal.
I was kind-of supporting Cook Is.

Sometime in the future I will let you know where you can get a short clip of the action.
PNG was demolished by the favorites Fiji 72-34 in the second game of the final day in the series.
I will give you other details later.

Go Cooks, Go Rarotonga.
#The picture shows part of the Samoa team before the start of the game.



PACIFIC LIVING (Countries of the World - Others)    -    Author : THOMAS - Papua New Guinea



3461 visitors since 2009-08-07
Last update : 2011-09-22

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