PhD Pilot Study – Nissan, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea

Day 13 – Monday, 1 November 2010

The sun rises its usual 5:00 am, after which time people rise and begin to play, make noise, etc. I get up at around 6:20 am, feeling almost guilty about being so "late" get get going.

Today World Vision Officer Patrick comes down with Malaria. I am reminded that this killer disease is an ever present reality in Papua New Guinea, aware that after the mosquito assaults in the Carterets I myself am not beyond contracting it weeks later. Patrick takes his first sets of chloroquine tablets and spends the day resting, while I meet George Tarara, the Executive Manager of Nissan Atolls to present my research interests to him which meets with his support.


Conducting interviews in Rogos Village, Pinepel Island. This island community is especially hard hit by low-lying land, wind storm exposure and related food shortages.


Afterwards we take the boat to Pinepel Island where I do two interviews. My conversation with Conrad Willy is especially informative and engaging. When I ask this community leader how many people live in Rogos Village, he instantly spills out the number: 338 ("until last week we were 337, but on Thursday we registered a newborn child.") Wow! The words that immediately come to my mind are "initiative" and "leadership". While several communities sofar only knew that they were "roughly 16 familes" or so, this community knows its people precisely, a reminder that leadership is not an inherited but acquired skill which goes a long way as Conrad Willy humbly demonstrates by his fascinating answers to my research questions.


Rogos Village, Pinepel Island: Speaking to Conrad Willy I am reminded of the power of leadership to transform communities, evidenced by his discernible influence.


We take pictures and video of the whole community before eventually taking off to return to Nissan, dragging some lines behind the boat as we make our way back. David and Daniel catch a Rainbow Runner each, virtually at the same time. After another brief stop at a village that exhibits severe signs of coastal erosion we eventually return to Holy Cross Catholic Mission High School.