Kings Note
A personal blog...
October 25, 2024
Lessons on video shooting
October 04, 2024
Community based rehabilitation for PWDs is a need
As the PNG economy faces a downtown, many people in our country are going through tough times. Yes the price of goods and services is rising rapidly and many services like health and education are becoming unattainable for many people in our country. But spare a thought for People with Disabilities (PWDs) who continue to suffer most. If able bodied people are having a hard time and consider themselves 'suffering' then what more can we can for people living with disabilities! They are even facing a situation far more worse.
I met two staff of the Madang Creative Self Help Centre who visited PWDs along the rural north coast road villages in Madang as part of their community based rehabilitation program. I tagged along with them as they travelled to the north coast of Madang to conduct their community based rehabilitation program for people living with a disability. We visited villages along the north coast road such as Megiar, Dylup and Tokain.
I believe one of the saddest part of our trip was hearing that two of the PWDs had passed away recently. One was a PWD that has mobility issues - the PWD did not have a wheelchair so that person crawled using their hands. Usually the PWDs with mobility issues would have wheelchairs but I think you also have to note that many rural areas in PNG are not suitable for wheelchairs as the ground surface is uneven and jagged in many places. There needs to be more innovation in developing mobility equipment for PWDs that fit the PNG landscape.
The Madang Creative Self Help Centre can do so much as it is also limited in its capacity. The Centre runs two programs a) A community rehabilitation program b) Inclusive Education Program. The inclusive education program is one where children within the Madang town vicinity who have a disability can get an early childhood education. The program is supported by the PNG Government through the National Department of Education. The Community Based Rehabilitation program, on the other hand, is run by the centre and is entirely voluntary. Its focus is on supporting the inclusion and participation of PWDs in Madang's development and livlihood.
August 26, 2024
An Amazing Manusian
Yesterday afternoon, as I sat with my two boys in the Lutheran Memorial Church, it finally dawned on me that our country had truly lost one of its nation builders. I was among a large group of people who had gathered at this Lutheran Chapel in Madang town to witness the funeral mass for the late Major (Retired) Francis Malikes Molean. He was born on 8th September 1947 and had died in 19th August 2024. He had resided in Madang for 33 years but he was M'Buke island in Manus. He really did live a full life with challenges, triumph, sacrifices and great victories.
He was around 17 or 18 years of age doing his studies at the Kerevat National High when the Australian Navy came for recruitment. He jumped at the opportunity and never looked back. Over the years I have been told of his exploits and quite amazed that he sought little recognition for his achievements. I mean how many Papua New Guineans can say that they have sailed the famous Sydney to Hobart Race or took part in the Vietnam War when he was with the Australian Navy? He was also a President of the then Sopmu Malai Bay in the Manus Provincial Government system, a lecturer at the PNG Maritime College, captained the Madang Resort's star vessels such as the Melanesian Discoverer.
If ever any young Manusian wanted to look for inspiration to succeed, they neednt look far. Francis Molean was such a strong character and overcomer. His impeccable record in the PNG and Australian Navy still stand strong and his role in community development, academia and government are greatly respected and admired among many Manusians and Papua New Guineans.
August 07, 2024
Making decisions about life
Part of the DWU campus in Madang town |
Jeremy Mark to the Communication Arts students |
Some students pose it Jeremy Mark |
Grandlyn Mark tells her story about life and social relations |
Jeremy Mark talks to the student body |
August 02, 2024
UNRE to gain K6million from Balsa sales
When I saw this newspaper article about the University of Natural Resources and Environment (UNRE), I was pleasantly surprised!
I mean our country is going though a very difficult time economically. Prices of goods and services are growing higher making the actual running of organizations, financially difficult. But here was an organisation in PNG that was making some really good money despite the economic downturn. It truly showed great leadership and management in making this a reality.
Post Courier 31st July, 2024 |
In this difficult times, more and more educational institutions are begining to take this path of raising their own revenue to fulfill govenment delayed funding. Good on them!
June 23, 2024
Harnessing people partnerships
In teaching students, I have tried to include people outside of my circle to speak from their space to my students. This allows the students to listen to perspectives they would otherwise not have known. It encourages them to see how theoretical lessons in class can translate into meaningful projects and processes in the workplace. While I have not recorded all these sessions, the ones I have listed on my blog include Roslyn Albaniel and Ruth Waram some years ago. However, this semester, I decided that it would be good to go down this path again as the unit I was taking was new and needed fresh ideas from other people than me.
The first person to accept my invitation was Bronwyn Kili. As a youth activist, she talked about here experiences of using social media/digital media to run numerous social and community campaigns she was part of.
The next person that accepted my invitation was Helen Tuka. She has worked in various organisations over the years and completed a Master of Communication from RMIT in Melbourne Australia. She now works as the Marketing Director for DWU.
She talked about marketing strategies that the University uses particularly those on social media. She also focused on how 'branding' is important in maintaining corporate identity and recognition of products/services. She also focused on the challenges faced by organisations as they improve their corporate branding and create a communication strategy.
The last person to come speak to my students was Picky Airi. Mr. Airi is the Director for the Center for Learning and Teaching at DWU. He did a session on using software applications in developing animations. He pointed out the various applications such as Doodly, Toonly and Videoscribe. During the session, the students installed the software called Videoscribe on their laptop and then proceeded to develop a short story animation.
May 12, 2024
May 03, 2024
May 3rd is Media Freedom Day
Today is the 3rd of May. We often put this day down on our calendar as 'Media Freedom Day' - a day dedicated to remember and celebrate the work of journalists and media workers. This year's theme: A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the Face of the Environmental Crisis, encouraged all of us to reconsider how we, as news reporters, journalists and communications people report and inform the public on rising environmental issues and climate change.
The students of the Communication Arts (CA) Department at Divine Word University in Madang took to the schools in the surrounding community to inform them of the remembrance and magnitude of the Media Freedom in light of rising climate and environmental issues.
At first assembly on a Friday morning, the first group of CA students arrived at Kusbau Primary School. The school currently has 1,700 students and 53 teachers and CA students quickly adapted to the use of loud hailer and began their engagement with the student body during school assembly.
April 23, 2024
Hibiscus on the fresh earth
This afternoon I saw something that unsettled me.
There was a burial of a person in the public cemetery. There were around 12 people there. Around four women were crying - their voices already weak and raw after much crying - as the body was lowered into the ground while two men quickly dumped spades of ground over the casket. The rest of the group just slumped down in the shade of the metal fence that ran alongside the cemetery, hiding from the overpowering afternoon sun.
The thing that struck me as something different was that those 12 people were the only people there. There were no cars or flowers or groups of people or sad songs as is commonly seen during burial ceremonies. They all wore black clothes but they seemed like they just wanted to bury the body and then go home quickly. I was thinking that it might have been a person who was not thought of well in the community or a criminal thus it seemed no one wanted to come and say their last goodbye.
I walked away and an hour later I came by the cemetery. Everyone had left by then. I saw the place of burial and it was an unmarked grave with just three or four hibiscus flowers heaped together on the fresh earth. That's all. Nothing more. Truly, we came into this world with nothing and we will leave this world with nothing. Blessed is the name of the Lord!!!!!!
The public cemetery was overgrown with grass and a beaten track runs through it |
April 14, 2024
Flight Simulation on Google Pro
I'm sure many people know this already but I didn't!
I found out just today that you can actually do a flight simulation on Google Pro. on your laptop. So naturally, I did a flight simulation over Lorengau town😀🤣. The images on the Lorengau map are from a few years back but its ok. You can click on two locations eg: Momote and Lorengau and the flight takes you from point A to Point B while you see places.
Coming in from highway into Lorengau |
Flying in from the north coast over Lorengau town |
Google Earth Pro is a software that you can download on your desktop or on your mobile device
Using keyboard keys is good but for those that have a gaming joystick, you can really control the flight indicators well like speed and height above ground. I used the keyboard keys and of course crashed multiple times!
Yes I did this using Digicel data so was good to move and maneuver.
March 03, 2024
Newspapers in PNG can reduce sports gambling among young people
Gambling in many countries is often thought of as a form of entertainment, characterized by betting or wagering something valuable or financial such as money (WHO, 2024). The furthest I have delved into gambling may have been playing Bingo when I was in the village over the Christmas holidays. But believe me when I say that gambling has risen in Papua New Guinea especially among vulnerable groups such as young people (ABC Pacific, 2023).
Casino gambling came into the scene
through the passing by PNG Parliament of the Gaming Control Bill 2007 that
allows casinos and internet gambling in PNG (Rayel et al., 2016). Over the years, as internet became easily
accessible, Papua New Guineans began to take up online gambling with some
ordinary punters loosing up to K1000 (US$300) in a year on Australian National
Rugby League betting application NRL 365 (ABC Pacific, 2023). In Australia, around 80,000 to 160,000
Australians experience problem or addictive gambling which includes a range of
negative social outcomes such as criminality, housing instability, relationship
problems, financial difficulties such as indebtedness, and domestic violence (Miller et al., 2014). This might be happening in PNG too though there
is little research being done on this. In Australia, younger men are most at
risk of falling into gambling because they are more exposed to sports betting
normalisation processes such advertising during NRL games on TV or on social
media platforms during sports updates (Seal et al., 2022).
Young people who are not careful can loose their hard earned cash to online gambling |
However, the media can be an avenue to call out addictive gambling especially newspapers which can help vulnerable groups such as young people. Firstly, Miller et al, noted that newspapers should frame stories around gambling by including the voices of problem gamblers. While these problem gamblers might be reluctant to share their stories, at least the story begins the debate around reducing the addictive nature of gambling. Journalists have a responsibility to reduce gambling in our communities by finding problem gamblers or reformed gamblers and doing their stories. Secondly, another way to tackle problem gambling is to combat it with advertising. There is already evidence that advertising leads to increased risk of gambling (McGrane et al., 2023) so newspapers must turn this around by using advertisements to reduce addictive gambling patterns by providing strategies such as setting personal limits on betting (ABC Pacific, 2023). Who will foot the advertising bill? Miller et al (2014), pointed out that there must be collaboration between the media and health organizations to develop ways to financially back advertising against gambling.
Newspapers can be a used by public health organisations to reduce gambling among young people |
So personally, I believe that if you have never tried online gambling, do not try it as it can become addictive and lead to social and health problems for you down the line. Even if you already began sports betting, seek to set a limit for bets or never bet more than you can lose. The PNG Government must also see this as a rising problem and find ways to address this before many more social and health problems arise.
References
ABC Pacific. (2023). Online
sports betting is on the rise in Papua New Guinea, but experts warn of risks
associated with gambling.
https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/programs/pacificbeat/png-gambling/102006846
McGrane, E., Wardle, H.,
Clowes, M., Blank, L., Pryce, R., Field, M., Sharpe, C., & Goyder, E.
(2023). What is the evidence that advertising policies could have an impact on
gambling-related harms? A systematic umbrella review of the literature. Public
Health, 215, 124–130. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2022.11.019
Miller, H. E., Thomas,
S. L., Robinson, P., & Daube, M. (2014). How the causes, consequences and
solutions for problem gambling are reported in Australian newspapers: A
qualitative content analysis. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public
Health, 38(6), 529–535. https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12251
Rayel, J., Manohar, P.,
Atu, I., & Raka, R. (2016). Gambling Tourism in PNG- A Grace or a
Curse?: Implications of the Proposed Casino Gambling as Perceived by the
Community. https://devpolicy.org/Events/2016/PNG-Update/4c_Rayel.pdf
Seal, E., Cardak, B. A.,
Nicholson, M., Donaldson, A., O’Halloran, P., Randle, E., & Staley, K.
(2022). The Gambling Behaviour and Attitudes to Sports Betting of Sports Fans.
In Journal of Gambling Studies (Vol. 38, Issue 4). Springer US.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-021-10101-7
WHO. (2024). Addictive
Behaiours: Overview. Addictive Behaviours.
https://www.who.int/health-topics/addictive-behaviour#tab=tab_1
March 02, 2024
Amazing Pero Pero
Madang has some really good places to visit if you are looking for a getaway.
I recently took my children for a tip to a rural guest house on Karkar Island in Madang. You have to travel for about an hour out of Madang town until you reach Megiar village. Then you can get on a boat and travel for another hour on a speed boat to get to Kuburne village.
On arrival, you will see that the guest house is located in the village setting but the owners have moved a bit to the edge of the village and set up their lovely guest house. The guest house, set in the lovely Kuburne village, has two bungalows which are well made and comfortable. The interior of the two houses are done well - you have polised wooden floors, comfortable chairs, proper solar lighting, running water for bathrooms and toilets.