Our first visit after....

Its been a while since we last went to see you, I think its our first since you were rested. Its been hard on us all. Im glad that we came to see you.

Andrew Tabel got a small brown bus and we drove with the gang to Alexafhen. He was the driver and Beno was with us too and we all went together.

Happy Birthday!

So today was my birthday. You were sick in your bed but you asked me to go down to the cafeteria at ground floor of the hospital to get a small cake. I got a slice of cake and came up to the room. Together we sang 'Happy Birthday' to me...lol. This is the best birthday gift I have received. To sing with you is something I am so grateful for my best friend!

Painim Aut Health Seminar

DWU's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences held its first health seminar on Wednesday 4th October 2017. The seminar was titled 'Painim Aut Health Seminar' with the theme: 'Capturing current health research: A collaborative focus to address the Health Vision 2050'. This small project is a partnership between Divine Word University, the Papua New Guinea Australia Alumni Association, and the PNG Australia Alumni Association - Madang Chapter.

A typical Madang garden

A typical garden on the coastal, lowland parts of Madang province. As you can see, there are bananas trees, yams growing in mounds with sticks used to assist the vines of the yams grow upwards above the ground. You can also see betelnut trees lined in between the yams and the banana tress. The ground looks cleared and cleaned suggesting that someone is tending to the gardens on a regular basis. Right in the forefront of the picture, someone just planted some sweet potatoes (kaukau).

A simple analogy of health service user fees in PNG

Wanpla papa em name blong em ‘John’ na em I gat wanpla kanu. Displa papa i promisim ol pikinini blong em olsem em bai lukautim ol na displa kanu bai givim helpim lo ol taim ol i bungim hevi. Nau displa kanu i gat wanpla wokboi isave lukautim em na papa blo kanu i save baim wokboi sampla moni lo wok em i wokim. Planti taim wokboi em i save hamamas tru lo wok tasol sampla taim, papa blong displa kanu ino save givim mani blong stretim kanu or baim nupla pul or stretim saman blo kanu. Nau, kanu ino stap stret na halivim igo lo ol pikinini blo John ino kam gut tumas. Ol pikinini blo John bungim hevi na wokboi I wari lo ol. Wokboi i kirap na tok: ‘Ol pikinini, sapos yupla laik mi halivim yupla, orait yupla putim mani kam na yumi stretim saman blo kanu na displa kanu bai halivim yumi gen’. Ol pikinini i harim displa na tromoi mani igo lo wokboi na wokboi usim mani lo stretim kanu na i halivim ol pikinini. Papa blo displa kanu I lukim displa samting i kamap na korosim tru wokboi na tokim em lo stoppim displa pasin. Em tokim wokboi: ‘displa em kanu blo mi na mi bai givim mani or stretim lo laik na taim blo mi, ino wok blo yu lo painim mani na stretim kanu’. Wokboi i harim displa na em i belhat nogut tru na tok: ‘Boss, yu stap na lukim hevi kamap lo kanu na yu no stretim, yu larim ol pikinini blo yu bungim bikpla hevi tumas. Mi stap wantaim ol na mi lukim hevi blo ol. Nau yu tok mi noken kisim mani halivim lo ol pikinini lo stretim displa kanu. Displa kanu ino halivim ol pikinini blo yu blong wanem yu yet ino stretim displa kanu.  Na yet yu tok mi mas ronnim displa kanu na stap isi tasol. Boss,displa toktok blo yu em i asua tumas'.

In this story, the 'papa blo kanu' is the Government, the 'wokboi' represents public health services and the 'pikinini' represent users of the public health system. This story above is a simplified version of public health services such as hospitals, district hospitals, health centres charging the public, user fees, to operate and maintain their respective services while the government looks on and does not fund the required infrastructure and maintenance of primary health care. 

Now we hear that the government has cut K50 million from Church Health Services this year. Where is the rationale in this? All the Community Health Worker Training Schools are run by Churches. 

In 2012, the PNG Promoting Effective Public Expenditure(PEPE) project surveyed 360 primary schools and health clinics across eight provinces. Many of the same facilities were also surveyed in 2002. They discovered that the average health clinic sees fewer patients and has a lower level of drug availability than ten years ago.
 • 41 per cent of clinics received no external funding or in-kind support in 2012.
• 29 per cent relied only on user fees to cover operational costs.
 • Only 20 per cent of health clinics have beds with mattresses.
• 75 per cent of health workers contribute to the cost of health care delivery from their own pocket.

The PNG health care system is really on life support.....

But there are good strategies for the way forward such as the private partnership programs between the state and private institutions to bring health services such as Oil Search in delivering Malaria and HIV/AIDS  programs. A key point highlighted by Feachem et al is changing the way we have been doing things in order to achieve better health outcomes. In their report, they pointed out that the PNG Government must implement a newer approach to managing health which is to embrace public private intergrated partnership (PPIP) whereby the government become 'stewards' rather than 'providers' of the health system.

Mi mekim 'Homemade Ginger Beer'

After my recent trip to Port Moresby where I stayed with the Christian Brothers, they showed me how they made the non-alcoholic ginger beer. So when I came back home, I decided to brew my own. The first version is good but the second one will be great.

When I went to town, I saw that the same version but factory made is around K20 for only four bottles. So if you make your own, you could have more than four bottles!

 

Making Advocacy work

When people think about Advocacy, they think about 'awareness' but advocacy is something a bit more than that. Advocacy is 'the deliberate process of influencing those who make decisions'.
Advocacy will influence policy makers as a means of addressing policy root causes of poverty and discrimination. Advocacy efforts are not with individuals but should reach large segments of the population.
So this week, I did a two day training for various organisations giving an introduction to advocacy and steps to carry our an effective advocacy campaign for their organization.

The workshop was funded by Strongim Pipol Strong Neisen and facilitated by myself on behalf of Divine Word University. Particpants were representative of organisations such as Buk Blong Pikinini, Baptist Union, Aigon Cooperative Society, Eastern Highlands Family Voice, Country Women's Association Madang, Media for Development Initiative, Department of Community Development, Salvation Army, Transparency International, West New Britain Community Development Forum, PNG Assembly of Disabled Persons, Catholic Diocese of Wabag, United Church and also Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) Inc.

Never get angry with a.....

Sharing some thoughts about the PNG workers especially when it comes to Anger Management…seriously im bored tonight…lol

· Never get angry with a policeman….the sight of a car fanbelt in their hands alone is enough to change your story

· Never get angry with a nurse…inserting a cathetha is a basic nursing procedure

· Never get angry with a teacher….its their duty to be ALWAYS right

· Never get angry with a fireman…..their fire fighting axe head has two sides

· Never get angry with a soldier…… they have a weapons armoury at the barracks

· Never get angry with a receptionist…..you could catch the phone on your head

· Never get angry with a bus driver …..going 100 miles per hour down the highway is just him showing how much inadequate you are!

- Never get angry with a magistrate......a 'contempt of court' ruling is never far from his grasp

- Never get angry with a plumber..........they could just reverse your household sewerage system 
Ok that I've written this and read it over, Im almost laughing myself silly imagining how each situation would present itself...hahahahaha

I should be heading to bed now. ....Cheers you all and catch you on the other side of tomorrow

Afternoon people

Papa and his tumbuna sitting under a tree watching people going home

Twenty lessons learned

 Below are some lessons I have learnt over the past years while being here at DWU.

1.       Always prepare yourself for each class. Students expect you to be prepared to deliver the lesson so go through the actual lesson plan before you teach

2.       Don’t patronize the students – they are far too intelligent for you

3.       Be kind always – yes always. This might be the very first time a student approaches you or asks a question in class. Your answer will determine their response to you for the whole semester

4.       Be punctual. Always be there in front of the class ready to go. Your early presence tells them you have something important to teach today

5.       Praise students publically – it lifts their spirits and encourages enthusiasm

6.       Never use a permanent marker on the whiteboard – it just makes you look like a fool

7.       Never turn your back to the class and read off the slides – it makes you look like you are talking to the whiteboard rather than to the students.

8.       Don’t forget your flash drive after teaching or powerpoint presentation – this is a major no no.

9.       Alot doesn’t mean great. A really good lecture doesn’t necessarily mean a PowerPoint presentation of 30 slides or more – even two slides can last an hour if you really break it down through questions, discussion and case scenarios and then the student will understand the content better.

10.   If you are late for class, apologise to the students

11.   Bad breath is a killer!

12.   Sarcasm is a great tool – only if you use it at the right time.

13.   The only way students can really learn about a topic is for them to talk about it in class. For them to do that, they need to do research first…and this means reading!

14.   Bloom’s taxonomy is the ideal reference point for student learning and teacher teaching

15.   Class attendance can mean class attitude – a full class shows there is expectation to learn.

16.   Semester marks, sometimes, isn’t a true reflection of a student’s academic ability.

17.    Even if you’ve tried your very best, you can NEVER please all the students in the class. Some will love your class while others are there for the marks only!

18.    Some students just don’t want to be here. They are so lazy and take for granted the opportunity to study in a university.

19.   Facebook is seriously a bad distraction for students in the classroom and outside.

20.   Some students come from tough, violent backgrounds, poor families and lonely homes but they attack school work like busy bees scoring high marks each semester. Some students come from privileged homes and well off families and score low marks at the bottom of the class...

So that's it. There are many more things that I have observed, experienced and dealt with as a teacher and I may write about them later on.

Cheers! 

Why arent PNG Journalists confrontational?

Why aren’t Journalists in PNG confrontational? I am affirming that ‘confrontational’ here means to ‘stand up’ or ‘speak out’ and ask the hard questions to those who are responsible for the masses in terms of health, education, welfare, ICT etc.  While there may be a variety of reasons and some people will have even more stronger, valid points than I may make here, in my opinion, I believe that the ability of a journalist to be ‘confrontational’ is hampered by news media organizations in the country who employ journalists.

1. Lack of support by news organisations -  I am of the belief that we as journalists in PNG have very little to be confrontational about since we have not shown that we are prepared for hard work. When was the last time, a news organisation put effort, resources and sought professional and technical advice to investigate a story? When have we seen a step by step investigative story uncovering facts and intelligent writing? The story of budget cuts and not enough resources have been excuses that impede us as journalist to take longer, deeper meaningful research into an issue. Entertainment news has taken over the issue based news because it is easier to write and takes much less time to produce. How often do we see a follow up of a story six months after an event happened? We never got to hear what happened to the outbreak of Cholera in remote area of Morobe Province six months later after everyone closed up and went away. Then we had a similar outbreak in NCD some months later. Which news organisation wants to send a reporter to visit this remote part of Morobe, then ask the hard questions to WHO, Morobe Provincial Government and minister for Health, study the epidemiology of Cholera, trace the origins of Cholera in PNG, find the associations between susceptibility and transmission? All this finding and exploring takes time and financial resources – something news organisations profess not to have. Iam of the opinion that if news organisations or journalists are to be foundations of the fourth estate, then time and financial resources must be devoted to investigate stories and seek to uncover facts and figures that influence issues. News organisations must be prepared to fund journalists to travel, do research and help write intelligently and produce news stories.

2. Keeping journalists in news media. - Iam also of the belief that journalists who possess the passion and the drive to take on investigative journalism, are not being rewarded or justifiably commensurated financially by news organisations. This, I believe is not only found in PNG but evident throughout the Pacific.  Many who start off in the field of journalism as general news reporters, who then take specialist fields such as business, HIV/AIDS, politics, agriculture, mining, carbon fuels, information technology, sports etc don’t usually stay in that news area for long. This is because as they become more experienced, more knowledgeable of the subject area and write accurately, they are more often than not, subject to be coaxed into leaving the news organizations for ‘greener pastures’. This mostly include higher salary, housing, travel, allowances and better working hours, all of which better than those provided by media organizations. They then become public relations officers, community media officers or even journalists in that organisation. Thus, this migration leaves a gap in news organisations that cannot be easily filled. Gone are the person’s valuable experiences, advisory roles, leadership, news values, contacts, etc, things which cannot be easily replaced.  How is that related to a journalist be confrontational? For a journalist to be confrontational, he/she needs good advisors to guide the research, people who can be mentors, people who have experiences over decades, people who can sniff out a rat or see a problem a mile away - the kind of skills are not easily given but gained over the years.  As they leave, they also take their reputation, skills and credibility and leave the news organisation having very little to write or produce investigative stories. It is about time news media organisations pay journalists what they deserve and keep them on the job for longer periods.

Em tasol!

Sometimes life just seems so unfair.

Sometimes life just seems so unfair.

To be fair, would be to have love, to cherish it and to forever set your gaze upon it and know that it is physically present. To be fair, would be to know that your ‘wanblut’ would never be taken from your side. To be fair would be to have your spirit alive like a bright flame in pitch darkness, lighting up the way. To be fair, yes to be fair, is to be sure of when you will be called from this life to the next

Yes sometimes life can be unfair; to have the angels visit your doorstep. For the angels to visit your doorstep would be such a travesty but to be not ready for his calling would be the ultimate abomination. To have the life and spirit snuffed out while young is a reminder of the temporal existence we all share. We are reminded that we are mere mortals among the stars and as William Penn, the English philosopher put it: ‘For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity’.

I lost a brother to cancer today. I love you Tony Nathaniel ‘Guran’ Abady. I admire you for your strength and courage even though you knew the end was near. I came to know you through your sister but I immediately liked you because of your spirit. You were such a good person, loved music and laughter and your humble heart always won you many friends. You will never be replaced. We have mental sights and sounds of you and they will always be in our hearts. You are loved a thousand times over till infinity.

Sometimes life just seems so unfair.

 

Tony Nathaniel Abady needs financial assistance to do a liver biopsy overseas

A young man desperately needs financial assistance to have a liver biopsy procedure in Australia.

He will need more than K50,000 to pay for the medical expenses, airfares to Brisbane, Australia and then chemotherapy.

Tony Nathaniel Abady, from Bogia District in Madang and now works for Boroko Motors in Port Moresby must go overseas to do a biopsy on his liver as this type of medical procedure is not done here in PNG. 

Tony Nathaniel Abady

According to Consultant Radiologist at the Pacific International Hospital, Dr. Pius Umo, who performed a CT Scan, Tony was diagnosed with a Primary Hepatocellular Carcinoma on his liver. His liver is enlarged at this stage but other major functions are stable. He will need to do a liver biopsy as the medical procedure will help assess the stage (early, advanced) of liver disease and infections. The procedure can also detect the cause of abnormal levels of liver enzymes that have been found in blood tests..

Tony’s family and relatives have already began raising funds in January this year. They have also opened a Trust Account #1010659033 with BSP at Wagani in Port Moresby and are now calling for assistance from the general public to help. The account name is Abady Tony Nathaniel Trust Account. 

More information can be sought from Ms. Naureen Mani on Digicel 70505648, Bmobile 76461510 or on the office line 3024518 or email: naureenm@borokomotors.com.pg. You can also contact Mr. Michael Asagoni on Digicel 71172555 or email: mrasagoni@gmail.com.

Tony is the son of Mr. Lawrence Abady Snr and Mrs. Roddy Abady, who were high school teachers in Malala Secondary and then Marianville Secondary School. He has three sisters and a younger brother. His sister, Thadreina Abady, a Senior Tutor at the Divine Word University has appeal to the general public to help her brother.

Ends.