A few days ago when travelling on the south coast of Manus, we came past Pamachau. It is a very small island just a few hundered meters or so off the mainland of Manus. The space between this island and the mainland, where Waratalai and Lawes are, creates a narrow waterway where boats travel through when the high seas are rough. Many people who travel on the south coast come past this group of four or five houses which are literally on stilts due to rising sea waters.
The fascinating thing about this picture is that I first saw this white house on a person's laptop at DWU in Madang so many years ago. He had this picture of the house on his laptop's desktop. I had asked this person why he had this as his desktop picture and he would proudly tell of this spot here. Of course it was my late colleague Mr. Kichawen Chakumai and this was his house. He was one of PNG's senior and qualified health administrators serving in the early government health's 'one system' just after PNG's Independence, then the two health systems in the 1995 Organic Law on Provincial & Local Level Government era and then the new 'wan system tasol' in the 2007 Provincial Health Authority era (health managers know what Im talking about...). He was also a Health Extension Officer who became an academic at DWU and taught many HEOs and Health Administrators/Managers that came through DWU.
My eyes watered as i stood on the boat in the mid morning sun and saw this white house. The last time I saw him alive was when I helped carry him from his house to the car to go to Modilon Hospital some three years ago. I wished that when i finally travelled this way, I would have stopped the boat to come meet you and hug you under your white house. Sometimes we miss people not because they are gone and are no more in our presence but we miss them more because of the 'what ifs' and the 'what could have beens'.
I salute you and I miss you too!
