Revised Social Assessment for the PNG Rural Communications Project

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Revised Social Assessment for the PNG Rural Communications Project Nancy Sullivan 10.3.10 Purpose of the Social Assessment

The objectives of the Social Assessment are to:

Increase opportunities for social development through identifying the project beneficiaries and their needs, ideas, and expectations; minimize adverse social impacts which might be caused by the project; mitigate unavoidable social costs of the project; and propose guidelines for adopting a socially sustainable project design.

Conceptual Approach and Methodology

The Social Assessment framework employed draws together widely used basic concepts of social assessment and concepts from the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach which places people at the centre of development.

The approach is geared to:

 Provide an understanding of the socio-economic, cultural and political contexts in which project will take place;  Identify the key stakeholders and beneficiaries of the project;  Ensure the potential beneficiaries understand the basics of the project;  Provide a mechanisms for stakeholders and beneficiaries to lodge their concerns or objectives regarding the project;  Identify and mitigate any possible adverse social impacts of the project.

The Social Assessment methodology combines semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and potential beneficiaries, with participant observation of everyday activities in the two provinces identified for the demonstration projects: East Sepik and Chimbu. These techniques are framed by a literature review of key ethnographic material on each of the two provinces. After flying to Wewak, in the East Sepik, the social and environmental assessment team drove along the Maprik Highway to the West Sepik border; then flew to Karamui Station in Chimbu Province and walked the station and its surrounds. In both provinces, randomly selected local people— potential beneficiaries—were interviewed in groups and individually with the express purpose of eliciting impromptu responses to the issues raised surrounding mobile telephony, both good and bad.

Background

Introduction

There is debate amongst mobile phone researchers as to the place of the phones in economic life and their economic impact in developing nations, particularly in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people. Some researchers suggest that mobile phones are an economic boon for the poor (for example, World Bank, 2007, pp. 2-3) while some research “suggests mobiles are doing more economic harm than good, and sometimes making poor people poorer” (Heeks 2008). The research conducted for this project tends to underscore the positive aspects of mobile phones for both the East Sepik and Chimbu populations. This is not to say there are no dangers, and these shall be discussed, but the communities recently introduced to mobile phones in the East Sepik Province enjoy significant benefits that range from individual safety and security to women on their own, and students away from home, to economic sustainability for small trade store and canteen owners who can ring ahead for supplies in town.

Those communities with even a small base of dependable cash income can integrate mobile phone usage into their lives without causing economic strife, whereas those communities with only inconsistent cash sources are more likely to feel encumbered by the need to buy phone cards. Thus, along the highway in Sepik people do complain about the costs of buying phone cards, and of having the phone charged at a power source (where there is no town power supply). But they are more critical, and more vociferous about the tendency to waste money on prank calls eliciting money or asking the recipient to call back (a Digicel service). Women were also more concerned about the practice of male callers ‘gas paia’ calling around at random than they were about money wasted on cards. Women are everywhere in PNG the first to benefit and yet also the first to pay the price, so to speak, for innovations. Men across the board are invite change and technological advances, but women may be more hesitant for social reasons. There are plenty of stories about sugar daddies giving young girls phones, and men facilitating adultery with mobile phones. But women are the ones who will benefit from emergency services now accessed by phone, from managing accounts by SMS texting to the bank, and by monitoring the well-being of family members away from home.

It is possible to extrapolate from the drawbacks from the Sepik region to the Karamui Plateau of Chimbu. Yet weighted against the potential benefits these drawbacks are insignificant and manageable by certain mitigation strategies. The major adverse impacts are largely a function of the novelty of telephony, and can be expected to diminish as the technology becomes more familiar, more commonplace in remote households. For the Chimbu people, where women are more constrained, and are strictly raised by their mothers, some social problems will undoubtedly occur. But here the community is far more remote from the mainstream of the province, depending entirely on mission air transport to sustain their health and education services, and will benefit disproportionately by a new means of communication. The economic potential for the Karamui with new communication technology is almost unlimited, combined as it will be with the ability for public servants, educated elite and even investors to resist migrating from Karamui to more business-friendly centres like Goroka and Kundiawa.

Scholarship

Communications scholar Amanda Watson reports on a mobile phone use study conducted recently on Kar Kar Island in Madang (Watson 2010:12-3):

How do rural people describe their feelings about the introduction of mobile telephony? Ward Member Giragir Mahana expressed a number of negative views about mobile phones, and particularly the damage he feels they are doing to the community in his area. Behaviours that he believes have increased as a result of the introduction of mobile phones include hold-ups, and extra-marital affairs. Nonetheless, he admits there are some benefits emerging, particularly the use of this technology by leaders and for business purposes. He is also pleased to be able to contact his children in the urban centres of Port Moresby and Lae.

And how do other members of the community express their feelings about mobile phones? On the plus side, there were a very high number of comments made about it being easier to contact friends and family who live a long way away from Orora. A high number of people

2 talked about using the mobile phone to ask for assistance from others (such as requesting money or store-bought goods). Quite a high number of comments were made about the use of mobiles in emergencies, and about it being easier to ring someone compared with walking a substantial distance to see them. Several people pointed out that using a mobile phone saves money that would have otherwise been spent on boat tickets or cars. A few people pointed out that if they’re travelling on the ship, they can ring ahead and ask people to meet them, which aids with both security and the transportation of cargo.

Elsewhere she cites Beschorner, and discusses the economic benefits and costs (Ibid:14):

There is debate amongst mobile phone researchers as to the place of the phones in economic life and their economic impact in developing nations, particularly in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people. Some researchers suggest that mobile phones are an economic boon for the poor (for example, Beschorner, 2007, pp. 2-3) while some research “suggests mobiles are doing more economic harm than good, and sometimes making poor people poorer” (Heeks, 2008, np).

In Orora, the main income generation avenues are selling natural produce at the weekly market in the neighbouring village, and growing cash crops, mainly coconut and cocoa. The local economy is also supported by remittances from relatives who live and work in urban areas.

In the survey, mobile phone owners were asked how they procured the finances for the purchase of their mobile phone, and how they fund the ongoing expenses of purchasing phone credit and recharging phone batteries. People gave a range of responses, primarily focused on income generation activities such as selling produce at market, and growing coconuts and cocoa. However, when asked directly if other people support them and give them money for purchasing phone credit, most of the respondents indicated that they do receive this kind of assistance, mainly from relatives and family members.

As for the matter of charging mobile phone batteries, the villagers listed only two options that they have for completing this task. One involves using the one diesel generator that is present in the village (which is only possible if the owners have fuel, which has to be purchased from the coastal stores), and the other involves walking down to the stores on the coast to have the handset charged there, at a cost.

It is important to remember that many people expressed concerns about the expense of using mobile phones, as was shown earlier. Aside from the costs involved, it is of interest to establish whether or not mobile phones in Orora are utilised in income generation. Only one survey respondent indicated that they used the phone for business purposes. This was a much lower number than was expected by the researcher. However, additionally, villager Moks Naing talked about the usefulness of the mobile phone in conducting business, explaining that it allows contact with people travelling to sell cocoa for him (Interview with Shong 'Moks' Naing, 2009).

3 EAST SEPIK PROVINCE:

The East Sepik Province occupies 43 700 km2 in the northwest of PNG. The northern part of the province is dominated by the Wewak coastal plains and islands, the Torricelli Range and the Prince Alexander Range. South of these mountains is a large area of hill country that stretches from Dreikikir in the west, to Angoram in the east. The middle of the province covers the plains, floodplains, swamps and lakes of the Sepik River and its tributaries. The Sepik Valley is around 80 km wide and 320 km long. The level of the Sepik River rises and falls by up to five meters every wet season. South of the Sepik Valley are the rugged mountains of the Central Range, which extend into Enga Province. The east of the province consists of the mouth of the Sepik River and large areas of coastal swamp around the Murik Lakes. Altitude varies from sea level to over 3000 m on the Central Range. The highest place where agriculture is practised is near Dreikikir, at 800 metres. Average annual rainfall varies from 1800 mm near Maprik, to over 4000 mm near April River. There is a moderate to long dry season in the east of the province with the driest area being in the lower Sepik Valley around Angoram. The six districts in East Sepik are Ambunti-Dreikikir, Angoram, Maprik, Wewak, Wosera-Gaui, and Yangoru-Saussia.

East Sepik had 343 181 people (6.6 percent) of total population of PNG in 2000. The province has experienced a population growth rate of 2 percent from 1980 to 2000 and this has increased to 3 percent for the period 1990 to 2000. The estimated rural population of East Sepik in the year 2000 was 270 000, which is seven per cent of the national rural population. The provincial rural population growth rate is 1.6 per cent per annum. Large East Sepik migrant communities are found at Rabaul, Madang, Lae and in the West New Britain oil palm settlements. The highest out- migration is from the Sepik Valley around Ambunti. The highest population densities are south of Maprik, in the Amogu Valley, with 175 persons/km2. The Maprik area has densities that average 80 persons/km2, while the Yangoru area and the islands off the Wewak Coast have 60 persons/km2. The area around Dreikikir and remote villages in the east of the province have densities of 30 persons/km2, while the Wewak Coast and Sepik Valley have 15 persons/km2. The northern fall of the Central Range has very low densities of one person/km2.

The Sepik Highway runs from Wewak to Maprik and is a well designed road, but is poorly maintained. It runs through the areas which have the highest population densities in the province. Traffic from inland Sandaun Province also traverses this road en route to Wewak. Roads from Pagwi and Angoram connect the Sepik River to the highway. There is a good road along the coast from Wewak to Aitape in Sandaun Province, but many river crossings are not bridged and flash floods are common. Outboard motor boat and canoe travel are common along the Sepik River and between the coast and islands. People in the hills, between Dreikikir and Yangoru, and on the coast and islands around Wewak, live within four hours’ travel of Maprik or Wewak. Most other people in the province require 4–8 hours’ travel to reach the nearest service centre, except for those in the northern fall of the Central Range and in remote parts of the Sepik Valley, who must travel for more than one day. (Hanson et al 2001: 205 ad passim)

The areas around Dreikikir and remote villages in the east of the province have densities of 30 persons per km2, while the Wewak Coast and Sepik Valley have 15 people per km2. The northern fall of the central Range has very low population densities of one person per km2.

Sepik River cultures

Seven hundred miles in length and with a catchment area covering nearly 30,000 square miles, the Sepik River occupies a special place in Papua New Guinea. It is the largest unpolluted freshwater system in all of New Guinea and it holds some of its rarest plant and animal species,

4 including two species of crocodile — one saltwater and one fresh — upon which the peoples of the river’s middle reaches are economically reliant. The region is one of the least economically developed in the country, and its 430,000 inhabitants depend on the forests and river for their livelihoods. The area is also one of the world’s most culturally and linguistically diverse, home to over 300 languages in an area a bit smaller than the state of Texas.

Among some peoples, including the Bahenimo of the Hunstein Range in the Upper Sepik region, certain parts of the land carry taboos because they are viewed as dwelling places of spirits, or masalai. Although lifestyles among the people of the Sepik are changing slightly as a result of outside influences, most traditional believes continue to be valued.

The Sepik River is not just one river, it is a complex of rivers running off the central highlands cordillera below, and the Alexander and Torricelli Mountains above, linking the main river to the surrounding floodplains and the hills beyond. The Upper Sepik is home to some of Papua New Guinea's rarest plants and more than half of the region's species are endemic – that is, they are not found anywhere else on earth.

The dominant Middle Sepik tribe is called Iatmul, and it arrived on the river from the Sawos region just north only within the last 400 years. But conquest of the river was a long process, and tumbuna stories tell of massacres, migrations and language shift up until the first decade of the twentieth century. After that, German and then Australian pacification patrols impelled the more settled lifestyles we see today. Still, as the Romans of the Roman Empire on the Sepik, the Iatmul people always had a more elaborated, more ritually complex culture than the surrounding peoples. Iatmul people are said to have come from a primordial crocodile, whose upper and lower laws split to become the people of the sun or earth moiety totem. But even this origin story varies from village to village.

Initiation is a major theme across the region. Boys must become full members of their father’s clan by enduring a several month long seclusion in the spirit house, during which their fathers and mother’s brothers instruct them in whispered tones about clan genealogies, song cycles, and other specialized information, although most of it is not strictly secret due to the lack of privacy. Knowledge is power, though, and only when endowed with this information are these boys considered men. But they also must endure taunting, frightening and painful rituals that will harden them and transform them from boys to men. These rituals also instil in the boy a sense of hierarchy within the clan, and his indebtedness to mother’s line. The clan that has given a wife to your father’s line always enjoys a certain superiority, and during initiation it is the mother’s brother who cradles and then cuts the boy’s back. Ritual scarifiers cut a patterned series of cuts down the boy’s back and buttocks, and in this way ‘release’ the mother’s blood left in the child since birth. It literally spills back to her brothers as they make a child for their brother-in-law’s line.

Traditional communication

The people in this ecologically diverse region speak more than 250 languages, which gives you some idea of their cultural variety. Just as these zones are ecologically interdependent, these peoples are also knitted together in systems of trade and communication.

Here knowledge is power, and material wealth is secondary. Ritual, genealogical, historical and even technical knowledge define one group from another, and maintain the distinctions that enable trade. And trade is everywhere, each place known for its own specialties. Only Aibom women, for example, have the knowledge to make the special Chambri Lakes pottery which they

5 trade all over the Middle Sepik. Only members of certain clans carve particular masks or figures, even if these too may be traded to other peoples.

Virtually every village depends on each other for fish, sago, ritual items or wives. Hence, the emergence and preservation of so many tiny little languages (some spoken by as few as fifty people): knowing multiple languages gives someone an edge in trade, while it also preserves esoterica as a trade material in itself.

Knowledge as power

Sepik culture is about memory, about secrets and un-shared knowledge, and languages that have separate dialects for men and women, and ceremonies that include singsings in ancient or borrowed tongues. Whereas highlands cultures are about wealth, and stage-managing huge exchanges, Sepik cultures are about hoarding and dispensing knowledge. These are the scholars of PNG.

Oratory is also central to village life across the Middle Sepik. Initiated men spend their days in the spirit houses casually and sometimes aggressively debating clan histories, genealogies and other information. The better storyteller can actually win a piece of history from another subclan, and in so doing assume entitlements to sago gardens, fishing grounds, carving patterns and other such valuables. But it’s a tricky game: many clan names and titles have secret second names, and these are coveted bits of information; yet to utter them is to defuse their power. The object for all men is to acquire as much of this information as possible, and to hoard its significance. Yet at a certain time in life a man must also start giving away this knowledge to sons or nephews, in a race against time, lest he die suddenly and take it all with him. At special congratulatory rituals called Naven (which are still performed for a young man’s firsts—first canoe, first bachelor house, initiation, marriage), the uncles recite long lists of genealogies for hours on end, rather like pages and pages of ‘he begat’ from the First Testament.

The Haus Tambaran or spirit houses of the Sepik are the focus of male life in the village. Still today, this is where initiated men often spend their days, where clan sacralae are stored, and where young boys are secluded and instructed by clan elders during their initiation. There is nothing unplanned about the haus tambaran. Most are divided in two by major clans, then subdivided by subclans which have their own seating platforms, carved posts and entrances at each quarter of the ground floor. The older initiated men sit toward the centre posts, the younger men toward either end. Thus, when you enter a haus tambaran you can go right to the centre to speak to the most important men. In some areas, these haus tambaran are simple constructions, much like a haus win. But for the Iatmul, Keram and Blackwater peoples, much like the inland Maprik and Kwoma, these ceremonial houses are really awe-inspiring structures—as much as 50 metres long, with soaring gables, saddleback rooflines, raised as high as 5 metres on stilts.

Results from Field Visits

Wewak to Drekikir by road: ‘Gas Paia’ ples

The Maprik-Yanguru Highway runs from Wewak to Drekikir across the northern half of the East Sepik Province. Digicel and BeMobile are well represented along the highway, although reception has a few spotty pockets, where people climb trees or walk into gardens to place a call. Digicel has placed 13 towers from Kreer Heights to the West Sepik border, virtually all close to the roadside. Their plan to roll out more still in 2010, largely down the feeder roads toward the

6 Sepik River, at Angoram and at Pagwi. Wewak has one Digicel representative, who works from his vehicle, and he confirmed that their policy is to follow the roads as much as possible.

BeMobile, on the other hand, has far fewer towers along the Maprik highway, and is planning to place at least two south of the Sepik River. Ground has been cleared for towers in Amboin on the Karawari River (near Kundiman) and in Timbunke on the Sepik River. These sites will provide coverage to much of the Middle Sepik tributary system from the Konmei to the Korosmeri Rivers. This central area is a highly populated and economically vital area, an excellent target for BeMobile service.

To the east and the west, however, the other tributaries south of the Sepik River that are not covered and may not be covered by commercial operators in the near future. To the East, the Keram to Yuat Rivers are highly populated and have been planting plenty of cocoa recently. To the far west, both the Frieda and the May Rivers have significant populations (increasing from the draw of the Frieda mine, yet to come on line), and between the two rivers Auna is a mission station with a High School.

Along the Yanguru-Maprik Highway the communities enjoy some of the most extensive Digicel coverage in rural PNG, and yet there are still are people cannot receive a signal and kids are found climbing coconuts to make a call. There are also two major integrated development projects being planned for the Maprik and Drekikir region, bringing logging and oil palm into these areas. The chances are good that Digicel will enhance its coverage, and that Bemobile, when it rolls out to East Sepik, will follow the current footprint and fill these pockets of weak transmission.

Discussions with Digicel, BeMobile

Digicel workers told us that the 2010 roll out for them will include the road to Angoram, to cover Timbunke and the eastern Sepik plains, and the road to Pagwi, farther west, which will cover the Wosera and Ilahita villages down to Ambunti on the river. With this, the only areas left to be served north of the Sepik River will be northernmost areas of Bumbita/Muhian Rural, the Albiges/Mablep Rural and the Boikin/Dagua Rural Districts to serve.

Bob Bates, owner of the Karawari Lodge, in Amboin, off the Karawari River south of the Sepik River (Karawari Rural District) confirms that BeMobile have started to construct towers at the small mountain behind the lodge in Amboim, as well as at Timbunke on the main Sepik River. This will provide transmission to the entire Karawari-Blackwater region.

The tributaries to the west and the east are remain uncovered, and are unlikely in the future to receive commercial coverage. On the Keram River to the East and between the Frieda and May Rivers to the west live some of the most remote peoples in the country. Not only are there no roads to their communities, but fuel costs make it prohibitive for motor canoe travel most of the time. Education and health services have been sadly lacking, or at best intermittent, for the past generation, and were it not for mission stations, and mission air strips, most of them would enjoy no services whatsoever.

Cocoa has been planted in these areas for some time now, and fermentaries are now being constructed, But the petrol ‘zoom’ for motor canoes costs as much as K25/gallon on these

7 tributaries, and all of it must come in from Wewak through Angoram Station, if not by mission planes. Villagers they tend to build giant rafts that can float downriver to Angoram where they sell sago and smoked fish at the market, sell their cocoa, and visit the major hospital in Timbunke, or jump on a PMV to Wewak. But the rising cost of fuel has made people south of the river increasingly isolated, and mobile phones could jump-start the economy of people who are already planting and fermenting cocoa.

In addition, and not insignificantly, the Keram and Frieda Rivers both have alluvial gold. People have been panning for it for years, and bringing it to Angoram and Timbunke where they sell it at risk for reduced prices. The people of the Upper Frieda River still wear arse-tanget and are on the verge of hosting a major gold mine, scheduled to come online in 2010. They have explicitly asked Digicel to bring in towers, but the company is not interested at this time. The magnet that is the mine will bring money to migrants and landowners alike in the area, and make mobile phones crucial to their emergent cash economy.

Potential Demonstration sites

Angoram District

Angoram District covers the Marienberg Hills, the Murik Lakes, the plains and swamps of the lower Sepik Valley, the Sepik Coast and the mountainous northern fall of the Central Range. The estimated rural population in the year 2000 is approximately 51 000. The highest population density is in the Gavien Resettlement Scheme, north of Angoram, with 53 persons/km2. The plains of the Keram River, in the east of the district, have 25 persons/km2. The people in the Sepik Valley and on the Sepik Coast require 4–8 hours’ travel by PMV to reach Wewak.

The northern fall of the Central Range is very remote and people require more than one day’s travel to reach the nearest service centre. There is a good road from Wewak to Angoram, which is partly sealed. Outboard motor boats and canoes are used on the Sepik and Keram rivers. People along the Sepik and Keram rivers earn moderate incomes from the sale of betel nut, fish and cocoa. Sago is the most important food in the district and is supplemented by low intensity mixed staple cultivation of banana, taro and Chinese taro. In the 1982–83 National Nutrition Survey, malnutrition in children under five years was assessed as poor; 41 per cent of children were stunted and seven per cent were seriously under weight.

The Sepik Valley, Sepik Coast and plains of the Keram River have low land potential constrained by poor soils and long-term inundation. The northern fall of the Central Range has very low to low potential caused by steep slopes, poor soils, high rainfall and frequent cloud cover. There is potential for agricultural development in the Marienberg Hills given the high potential land and reasonable access to markets. Cocoa, fresh food and betel nut are established smallholder cash- earning activities. Robusta coffee is also well established, but prices are low compared to other cash crops.

The most disadvantaged people in the district are those on the plains of the speaking Keram River who are constrained by very low cash incomes and low potential environments. Downriver the Kambot area people speak Kambot language, and upriver they speak Kominimung. The people upriver are especially disadvantaged by distance to the main river, and have few opportunities to improve their livelihoods. (Hanson et al 2001: Ibid)

8 Kektem LLG, Keram Rural District

At Bunem station on the Keram River there is an airstrip, a Community School and a Health Centre where people from all over the upper Keram come for assistance. The community pans for alluvial gold, and plants cocoa, so there is enough kina to support the purchase of flex cards. A possible tower site exists within a twenty minute walk from the station, atop a small hillock at a site called Wusetak, where the land is clear and unused. The site allows views of the the entire Keram floodplain. This is Kekten Ward (also written as Kevim on some maps). Nearby Angisi is on the 5 x 5 list of possible locations, and has 709 people by the 2002 ESP census. (Angisi is -4.67963, 144.3035 and 74.6 km from BTS.) Angisi today, by projecting a .025% annual growth rate, should have as many as 850 people, and Bunem’s population may be similar. The number of people who travel to and from Bunem must swell to more when the school is in session and the airfield is in use.

Table 14 (a). Kekten Ward (2002 ESP Census statistics) Census Unit Households Persons Males Females Kekten 32 171 91 79

Ambunti –Dreikikir District

Ambunti-Dreikikir District is in the west of the province. It extends from the foothills of the Torricelli Range, around Dreikikir, to Ambunti on the Sepik River. Average annual rainfall ranges from 1900 mm in the inland hills, to over 4000 mm in the upper Sepik Valley. Altitude varies from 30 m in the Sepik Valley, to over 1000 m on the Torricelli Range. The estimated rural population in the year 2000 is 48 000. The Ambunti area and the southern tributaries of the Sepik River have densities of 14 persons/km2.

There is no road connection between the district headquarters at Ambunti and the most populous parts of the district around Dreikikir. It is faster and easier for people in the foothills to reach the provincial capital at Wewak than to travel to Ambunti. People along the Sepik River require 4–8 hours’ travel to reach Wewak. Those living along the southern Sepik tributaries are very remote and require more than one day’s travel to reach the nearest service centre.

Agriculture in the Torricelli foothills is characterised by low intensity yam cultivation, with taro and banana as other important staple crops. Coconut and sago are also important foods. There are two consecutive plantings before fallow periods of 15–25 years, but a third planting of sweet potato is becoming common. Sago is the most important food in the Torricelli Range, on the lower hills and in the Sepik Valley. It is supplemented by low intensity mixed staple cultivation of banana, taro and sweet potato. In the 1982–83 National Nutrition Survey, malnutrition in children under five years was assessed as serious; 73 per cent of children were stunted and eight per cent were seriously under weight.

There is potential for agricultural development in the Torricelli foothills given the high to very high land potential and reasonable access to markets. Cocoa, fresh food and betel nut are established smallholder cash-earning activities. Robusta coffee has also been produced for a long time, but prices are low compared to other cash crops.

The most disadvantaged people in the district are the small populations in the fringe areas of the Sepik Valley, upstream of Ambunti, in places such as Maposi, Ama , Hotmin, Iteri and Frieda

9 River. These people have poor access to services, earn very low incomes and live in low potential environments. (Hanson et al 2001: Ibid)

In the western corner of the province there is a new Xstrata gold and copper mine coming on line, at Frieda River, and its remote villages have asked District and provincial authorities for mobile phone services. The best site for a tower is just west of the Frieda between the Frieda and the May Rivers, where Aumi village hosts a mission-run hospital that invites US medical volunteers to work periodically, and thus serves as a resource for the greater May and Frieda communities.

Table 14 (b). Aumi Ward includes (2002 ESP Census statistics) Census Unit Households Persons Males Females Aumi 2 12 71 35 36 Aumi 32 196 96 100 Ibu 1 18 104 55 49 Meni 8 39 20 19 Ibu 2 3 10 3 7 Totals 73 420 209 211

The table above represents the permanent citizens of the Ward in 2002, well before the in- migration that has occurred from the imminent Frieda mine to the east. Oum 1 and Oum 2 are the closest points on the list of 5 x 5 metre sites for potential towers, but these sites are on the Sepik River to the north of Aumi. (Oum 1 has 644 people in the 5 k sq radius, at -4.27488, 142.1436, and it 65.9 km to nearest BTS; Oum 2 has 517 people in a 5 km radius, at -4.22966, 142.1436 and is 65.3 km from nearest BTS).

This extremely remote area is about to be radically changed by the opening of the Frieda mine, and all that such a project entails. Villagers who have barely seen Europeans in their lifespan have already begun migrating toward the Upper Frieda mine base camp. The people on the Frieda River speak Iwam language, and are neighbours to the Hiyewe, a community of people known to anthropologists for their extreme egalitarianism (which is to say the Frieda River people share this ethic).

Xstrata gold and copper

Located near the headwaters of the Sepik on the border between East Sepik and Sanduan (West Sepik) provinces, the Frieda River mine aims is operated by a subsidiary of Australia-based Xstrata Copper, which also holds majority interest. The project is currently in the feasibility-study stage but is expected to begin construction in 2012, with production starting up in 2016. The exploration programme at the Horse-Ivaal-Trukai copper gold porphyry deposit within the Frieda project area has approximately 220 people on site with five rigs drilling approximately 2,400 metres per month. This activity is part of an extensive 36,000 metre drilling programme, currently focussed on geotechnical specific work, process plant site locations, quarries and potential dam sites.

Xstrata has pledged to conduct operations at the Frieda River mine in an environmentally and socially responsible way, but critics have expressed concern that environmental plans have not been made public and villagers of the Upper and Lower Sepik have not been adequately involved in the planning process. Of primary concern is that mine tailings might make their way into the river system. Discharge of millions of tons of waste from the Ok Tedi mine in neighboring Western Province resulted in a bona fide environmental disaster affecting some 600 square miles

10 of land and at least 30,000 residents of the Fly River system; the Frieda River mine is expected to be an even larger operation than Ok Tedi.

Writing in PNG newspaper The National in 2009, Andrew Moutu said, “I want to challenge and appeal to all the educated people of Sepik River societies throughout PNG to mobilize and address the question of a Frieda River mine before we dig and bury ourselves in the coffins of mineral intoxicants. As feasibilities are being carried out, we have the right to demand a sound environmental plan that incorporates all and every concern about our crocodiles and humans, fish and sago, water and contaminants, eels and mayflies, birds and mosquitoes, men’s houses and churches…”

Tunapi Hunstein Rural LLG, Ambunti-Drekikir District

Table 15. Current East Sepik tower sites:

BeMobile Site Unique Name Province Latitude Decimal Longitude Decimal Angoram Exchange East Sepik -4.057146 144.052058 Kreer Heights East Sepik -3.5844 143.6442 Kundiawa Exchange Chimbu -6.020795 144.971787 Maprik Exchange East Sepik -3.641218 143.055034 Mt Townsend East Sepik -4.1758 142.73 Mt Turu East Sepik -3.609026 143.365371 Yangoru Exchange East Sepik -3.65258 143.295919 Wewak Exchange East Sepik -3.554701 143.627 Digicel Area Latitude Longitude Wewak Suain 03 20 16.40 S 142 54 58.90 E Wewak Yakamul 03 16 29.40 S 142 41 17.50 E Wewak Aitape High School 03 10 42.24 S 142 23 57.84 E Wewak Aitape Hill 03 07 55.20 S 142 21 02.16 E Wewak Moem Barracks 03 33 31.40 S 143 41 53.10 E Wewak Airport 03 35 13.00 S 143 39 51.00 E Wewak Kreer Hill 03 35 10.80 S 143 38 40.40 E Wewak Yauwasoro 03 33 12.00 S 143 34 50.00 E Wewak Brandi Hill 03 36 25.30 S 143 42 22.20 E Wewak Bundirakwa 03 37 19.90 S 143 37 20.30 E Wewak Maprik 03 38 27.70 S 143 03 16.40 E Wewak Japrakwa 03 43 30.50 S 143 36 07.00 E Wewak Tuonumbu 03 45 41.00 S 143 27 45.00 E Wewak Yangoru 03 41 41.00 S 143 17 14.64 E Wewak Kubuking 03 38 47.00 S 143 38 17.00 E Wewak Huranga Hill 03 41 35.00 S 143 30 54.00 E Wewak Wingei 03 41 25.90 S 143 10 50.60 E Wewak Mer 03 26 38.10 S 143 28 39.60 E Wewak Ulau Mission 03 18 19.08 S 142 47 33.72 E Wewak Balam 03 22 02.64 S 143 10 40.08 E Wewak Karawap 03 24 35.70 S 143 25 01.30 E

11 Existing Internet cafes

Currently East Sepik has a handful of public internet sites: In Wewak, there is access at the Boutique hotel; and in town, one near CDS, at Baiter Ltd. HELP Resources’s public internet café is now closed, as is the one they established a few years ago in Ambunti.

There is a set of computers in one school at Marienberg, in Angoram District, where Divine Word University and the Catholic Church donated the resources.

Excellent additional internet café sites are Brugan Village and Maprik Station along the Maprik Highway, where secondary schools and business entities could benefit directly.

Benefits of Mobile Phones in East Sepik Province ‘ There are good and bad things from mobile phones’

All along the highway people were equivocal about the mobile phone. There are good and bad things about it, they said. Having had access to mobile phones for more than a year in most places, they would agree to all the potential benefits, even if they had yet to avail them. Mothers would agree it could help them in a medical emergency, although few actually said they had done so. Trade store owners saw the advantages of being able to call in orders, but unless you have a good mate in town, this is not as easy as I sounds. ‘Nobody delivers,’ one man told us.

When we asked if mobile phones were expensive they all said Yes, resoundingly. They eat up flex cards, they waste your money, Where we used to have some extra cash for cold drinks or some betelnut, they said, now we have none. It all goes into the phone. I asked one clutch of men whether they still has money for steam (homebrew) and they said yes, sure---that’s one thing they’ll always have money for---even before a flex card.

People agreed that if you control yourself, mobile phones work for you. They are a service to you. But if you have no self-control, they waste your money and may destroy relationships. They are instruments for picking up girls, accumulating boyfriends and girlfriends, stirring jealousies and boring secret lines of communication between husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, and so forth.

The Sepik societies are all knowledge based cultures. Rather than trade in material wealth, they trade in bits of esoterica and traditional knowledge. Being a scholar, being in possession of information, having an education, if far more important to Sepik people than it is to highlanders, for example. Charlie Wintawa made an interesting point as we drove the Maprik Highway. He wondered whether the use of garamut drums, so common in the past as a means of calling people to meet and even transmitting basic information through the bush, were as important now, with mobile phones.

Along the Sepik River the orators who command the most power in men’s houses are those who can remember long genealogical histories, almost as if they were reciting Dueteronomy with strings of ‘he begat’ that can go on for hours. Secret dialects, secret information, trade in song cycles and dances and even ritual formats, were what kept the pre-contact Sepik societies going. There are more languages along the Sepik River than in most provinces in PNG. Differences are

12 preserved and small languages aggressively retained, just as boundaries are guarded by highlanders.

Mobile phones provide vehicles for this, and are attractive because they represent specialized knowledge. On the other hand, they traffic along entirely unconventional lines than face-to-face societies are used to. They generate as much secrecy ad they do transparency, and it is entirely in the hands of the use whether they reinforce traditional values or undermine them.

1. Streamlining small business

 The river communities that rely on rafts to send their sago to market, and motor canoe fuel at K25/gallon to bring an emergency case to the nearest aid post, will see the most dramatic benefits come from transport efficiency. Not wasting time and money returning to the main centres for banking, restocking and even dealing with clients and suppliers will allow more kina to stay in the local area and be reinvested there.

. Trade store operators can call wantoks in town to bring in extra cargo, without wasting the cost and time of a PMV or motor canoe trip.

2. Access to services, to market

 People otherwise unable to send their produce to distant markets will now be able to pool resources or organize collectives to overcome this barrier. The same is true for access to schools and health services outside the immediate community: with mobile phones parents and care givers can manage the logistics more efficiently.

3. Banking

 River communities are beginning to make good money from alluvial gold panning and cocoa production. Whereas in the past the inability to open individual accounts and the difficulties associated with depositing and withdrawing from these have contributed to a certain low-level corruption and mismanagement of funds. With SMS text messaging and transfers from BSP and soon other banks, those who do open accounts will be able to manage them with discretion and confidence.

4. Cut out the middlemen

 The Sepik River communities are plagued with middlemen shopping for incense bark, eaglewood, vanilla, turmeric and even artefacts. They are especially vulnerable to being under paid for resources that get resold at provincial centres, usually at markets rates unknown to the villagers themselves. This mystification will no longer be possible in the age of mobile telephony, when even the most remote villager can check the retail price before setting his or her wholesale price. But more likely, villagers will stop relying on outsiders to market their goods.

5. Safety, security

13  Women in the gardens, at fishing grounds away from the village, and travelling to health stations or schools will have the reassurance of contacting police or relatives in an emergency.

6. Transparency of elected officials

 Whether this means constituents will ring their elected officials with their concerns, or they will follow up on promises made by using their mobile phones, the everyday performance of elected representatives will only improve when he or she can no longer be considered out of contact.

7. Transparency of private enterprise

 Mobile phone lift the evil on resource extraction projects in extremely remote locations where there is a danger of labour and environmental abuse and the tendency to leave local people in the dark about the progress of a project.

8. Performance of public servants

 The major problem with maintaining public servants posted to remote areas is keeping them there. When their families and banks are far away, it is doubly difficult to withstand the pressures of work in a new location. Mobile phones will decentralise sociality and allow distant spouses to communicate, and remote workers to bank by phone.

9. Educational services

 Teachers who can stay in touch with their spouses, can SMS or Text their banking requirements, and can organize bookings for their holidays, will be less likely to travel to the main towns to sort their clerical needs out. The majority of PNG’s ‘ghost teachers’ are those civil servants who have travelled to town to pick up their pay and continue to stay away for the conveniences town offers.

 Parents give mobile phones to their children boarding at school so they can stay in touch.

10. Text message services and updates

 Coffee, vanilla, cocoa and all other smallhold growers can regularly check market prices on their phones (Digicel even has a special service with the DPI, as noted in one of the text boxes here).

 The Health Centre APO was especially interested in the concept of sending medical data to main hospitals by mobile phone. When I told them that HIV/AIDs patients in parts of the world can text their t-cell count or some other data to a specialist, they agreed that the privacy and accuracy of this would be especially valuable.

11. Medical efficiency, services

 Medical supplies can be ordered and traced more accurately with mobile communication.

 Mothers can ring friends and family for emergency malaria meds or advice on a child’s fever, and sometimes they may even reach health officers for advice.

14  People in the garden or bush who suffer an injury or a snakebite can call for help.

12. Streamlining customary affairs

 Mobile phones are critical tools for spreading the news of a relative’s illness or death, and bringing a family together at such times. Even for occasions that are not emergencies, phones can reduce the time and cost of gathering participants and coordinating their responsibilities. In some case this may serve to sustain important customs that might otherwise wane for the logistical difficulties of maintaining them.

 When someone dies, and relatives must come in from all over to ‘sit krai’ or attend the burial, the greatest expense has always been coordinating travel plans and paying for trucks to bring everyone together.

 Mobile phones cut costs by eliminating inefficiencies, and allow all kinds of ceremonial life to be conducted on time, with as many people in attendance as possible, and perhaps by not bankrupting the hosts.

 Men who are out on a hunt can call in to tell family what they are bringing back, and how much

 Today a young man studying in Port Moresby can ring his grandfather and ask for a certain love or garden magic over the phone, and may even do so just in time if he’s unable to make it back during Christmas holidays.

Potential negative impacts

The same young man using a mobile phone to stay in touch with distant relatives may also use it to seduce an inappropriate woman, or speak intimacies to a virtual stranger in ways that have never been possible before. It is largely a matter of choice. And for this reason, Lawrence Igiam and Mary Jane Goro (76815017) at the Maprik Women’s Crisis Centre were very clear to explain to us the domestic costs of mobile telephony. They told us stories of misunderstandings and transgressions committed by mobile phones. This became available five years after the vanilla boom swept through the area, a time when vanilla growers grew rich overnight and without any other means of spending their new cash, they purchased beer and second wives, in that order. When vanilla went bust, the women were turned out on their own, and the Drekikir-Maprik aea is still paying the social price.

Were the same kind of boom and bust to hit the area today, mobile phones could seriously aggravate the domestic problems. Even now, wealthier men commonly hand mobile phones over to young girls, as a sugar daddy gesture. Sex workers call clients, and pimps arrange rendezvous in the Maprik area with mobile phones. The privacy they afford is perfectly suited to anti-social behavior.

More alarmingly, we heard again and again along the highway that mobile phones are being used in highway robberies. Raskols can ring ahead to their comrades when they spot a good car or full busload of women flush from market sales. Importantly, however, we heard about Maprik-born William Kapris, the famed Madang bank robber who was finally caught an put in jail. They told us that when Kapris left the area hold-ups dropped significantly. Unfortunately, just as we left the

15 province word got out that Kapris and eleven cohorts had broken out of Bomana jail and were yet to be found.

1. Money wasted on phone cards.  People report that Digicel is expensive because it doesn’t block prank calls, or missed calls. As a result when we see a missed call on our phone, we ring back, wasting flex minutes, only to find it was a mis-dial in the first place.Costs are aggravated by lack of power sources. People need to charge their phones, and those with generators charge kina to perform the service.

2. Harrassment – ‘gas paia’ o This is when young men call randomly on the chance of getting a young girl’s voice. Whether they use this to introduce themselves or harass the woman hardly matters; both forms are a nuisance to women in PNG, who generally don’t have experience deflecting strangers’ attentions.

o Students are distracted at school by ‘gas paia’ or just unnecessary phone calls. One father along the highway told us he sent his daughters to high school with a phone, for emergencies, but found men were calling them all the time during class hours, distracting them, so he had to take it away. A recent (late January 2010) news item regarding a woman in Tari is important to note: having received a pornographic text message from a man on her mobile phone, the woman’s brothers and male relatives promptly found and killed the caller.

3. Domestic disputes  Domestic confusion, jealousy and increased violence against women due to ease with which phones can support adultery.

4. Disputes over land arrangements  Misunderstandings over the tower rental MOUs, and where they should be placed.

5. Environmental health risks Towers may or may not have health risks, may or may not attract lightening. They also need to have enough tree clearance surrounding the site to be sure children don’t jump from trees into the fenced area, and no lit embers can be thrown towards the fuel drums.

Mitigation strategies

1. Increasing awareness through radio programming

People across the province listen to radio 95.3 FM Sepik Central ‘trupela station’ radio from 5 pm to 2 am. Where they cannot get reception, they listen to Karai Radio East Sepik, and FM 100.

All of the above negative impacts of mobile phones must be addressed in awareness campaigns to areas who will be receiving telephony for the first time. The Department of Communications and Information is planning to produce a series of radio spots and longer segments as site-specific campaigns to be rolled out before the towers are in

16 operation. In remote areas where radio is the only link to the outside world, and communities are dedicated to Karai programs, these campaigns will be produced in local language, tok Pisin and English, to compound the efficacy of their message. In the Sepik radio dramas, especially humorous radio dramas, will be deliver the message succinctly, sending up some of the more absurd misunderstandings about phones and clarifying the ways to switch them on and off, to dial a call, and to save minutes on their flex cards. Specific programmes shall be produced with social warnings for women and children about answering random calls, dialling random numbers, and blocking or refusing inappropriate calls and texts.

Additionally, radio spots are to be produced that explain the use and benefits of the Internet, and outline the dangers of unchecked internet usage. These spots will target at peri-urban communities first, and be more sophisticated in their message. Assuming the potential Internet users have some telephony and computer awareness, they must address the dangers of Internet scams, Internet porn sites, identity theft and the most serious implications of uncensored access.

2. Consultation as a prerequisite to decisions on tower placement

Of importance is the ‘free and informed consultation process for tower host communities and the agreements they sign. Agreements on land use should be prefaced by clear and open discussions an dactive engagement with host communities. In addition they should be documented either in the local language or in Tok Pisin.1 Agreements with communities regarding land use should be achieved and documented in a manner and form that is accessible to all parties

In addition, everywhere new towers are to be placed, radio programming must be produced and aired in anticipation of the introduction of mobile telephony. In remote locations villagers are not likely to know the physics of telephony, much less the limits of what can be attracted by a radio antennae.

3. Placement of towers should take into account cultural and social concerns  Tower placement should be away from community centres, avoiding sacred sites, gardens, playgrounds or other community interest locations. Bemobile places towers in school and church yards to guarantee some collective ownership of the asset.

1 Tangori Village has established the Digicel Towers Landowner Association (an organization spearheade by George Numbasa from Simbragu Village where the tower sits on Mt Bundirakwa), forged from their misunderstanding of the MOU’s presented and not clarified by Digicel: Their payment schedule reads K3000 ‘per annum’, an unfamiliar term that many believed to mean monthly rather than annually. In Tangori they placed a tambu sign of crossed coconut fronds before their tower and when Digicel workers had come to replace the fuel drums, they were ordered to remove this. But because the Digicel workers they came with a police task force, the villagers took this demand to be aggressive and stood their ground until they were forced to remove the sign.

17 CHIMBU PROVINCE

Chimbu, or Simbu (Sibu or Sipuu) is a word meaning thank you in Kuman language, the largest language group in the northern half of the province. Simbu people consider themselves warm- hearted, generous and open to new ideas. They contrast themselves with their Western highlands neighbours by explaining they are less bellicose or competitive, and more impulsively generous. When they give, they do so without expectations of return, much less returns with profit (which is characteristic of Highlands cultures to the West).

The classic Simbu big man is the self-made man, not the Pajero-driving multi-taskers you find in Mt Hagen. Whereas Hageners demand respect, some say, Simbus earn it. By reputation, they are less aggressive, more social, and self-reliant than their western neighbours.

Industriousness is the byword for Simbu Province. For all its rugged and steep terrain, Simbu is estimated to produce more sweet potatoes per person than any other province (Bourke and Harwood 2009:141). Agriculture provides the main source of cash income through sales of smallholder coffee, fresh food and firewood. In contrast to Western Highlands and Eastern Highlands provinces, there are no large coffee plantations in Chimbu Province.

The anthropologist Paula Brown observed as much in the sixties, when the province was undergoing dramatic socioeconomic change. She pointed out that the Simbu are anti- traditionalists who subsume new ideas and new technologies within their culture very nimbly, and look to the future more than the past. At the time, she notes (1972:7-8)

They were interested in every scheme for development, including some complete innovations, such as brick-making and wool-weaving. Whenever a new business was proposed, the Chimbus had high expectations for it. They planted passion fruit and other potential cash crops, were avid gamblers and eagerly worked as domestic servants, police and laborers. Chimbus would pick up shreds and fragments of the white man: tin-can tops, pieces of metal and beads, rags, vests and paint were worn with pride…Still another indication of this preoccupation with the present is their desire to have young people reach all the occupations and jobs now available—labor, domestic, technical, administrative and clerical. They were immediately attracted to new activities and goods of the white man.

In the sixties the coffee cooperatives were also being established. A decade later, anthropologists Lorraine Sexton and Wayne Warry both recorded the emergence of women’s own cooperatives, which were in effect small local savings and loan societies. Despite the prevailing characterizations of Highlands women as being oppressed by their menfolk, these savings schemes soon put Chimbu women on the map as relatively self-determined and business-minded in their own right. As Martha Macintyre explains (1998:224).

The cooperative organizations of women in some coffee—growing areas of Simbu Province, called alternatively Kafaina or Wok Meri, reveal in their aims and achievements that some rural women do see their interests as different from those of their menfolk. Sexton argues that the formation of the women’s cooperative savings societies reflects women’s resentment of their powerlessness and lack of autonomy compared with men. Wok Meri is a critical response to men’s squandering their money on beer and gambling’ (Sexton 1982:13).

18 The Karamui Plateau Karamui: ‘Mipela bek page taun’ (We’re a back page town)

Karamui station sits on the edge of a wide plateau just north of Mt. Karamui. The plateau hosts several major villages beside Karamui Station, and they are: Kiripari, Negabo, Tua, Tiligi, Masi, Diba and Yogoromaru to the west, and Boisamalu, Solita, Mieiu, Periai to the north, Naio, Wairo, Hwaiyo, Wairo, Waiyo, Yuro and Hoyaisiui to the east. Both Yuro and Negabo also have small mission airstrips. The current APO is Karamui Health Centre estimates that the wider population, embracing these villages, numbers roughly 16,000. There is also an aid post at Negabo, which serves the more southern villages of Sora, Noru and Dobu, towards the Erave River.

Culture

Karamui Plateau is culturally related to the Gulf Province. The Karamui people share much in common with fellow Pawaian speakers to the east on the southern side of Crater Mountain (at Haia), and below, the communities in the Gulf hinterland above the Kikori Delta (where the Fly River, Turama River, Purari and Kikori Rivers converge to meet the sea). Communities inhabiting the Papuan Gulf primarily live in both villages on the shore or in coastal mangrove forests, as well as in key regional centers like Kerema. Their north hinterland neighbours depend on sago, and this is the common denominator between these Gulf cultures and the southern Simbu-Eastern Highlands communities of Karamui, Haia and Wabo.

The cultural groups that inhabit this region speak Non-Austronesian languages and possess patrilineal descent systems. (see

A comparative study of Kuman and Pawaian, by D. Trefry. Canberra, Australian National University, 1969).Communities are organized on the basis of tribal and clan boundaries. The Salt-Nomane people claim part ownership of the mineral rich crater Mountain to their east, as part of their traditional hunting and sago ground.

But the Karamui people also face north. They look to Kundiawa and Goroka as their regional centres, and they come and go from the highland communities to their north. In this way they are truly a blend of coastal and highlands cultures, some might say the best of both: entrepreneurial, industrious, and yet pacific, not aggressive.

The Papua New Guinea Highlanders are amongst the world’s earliest horticulturalists, and perhaps the oldest continuous horticulturalists. Their social systems are the model for what anthropologists call ’big man’ societies, a form of egalitarianism that predates most western forms of democracy. Highlanders are also referred to as ‘pre-adapted to capitalism,’ demonstrating a form of ‘ebullient materialism.’ Their leaders are mankind’s quintessential entrepreneurs, amassing wealth in extended systems of ceremonial exchange called moka and tee.

Karimui-Nomane District is in the south of the province and covers the lower Wahgi, Tua, Oima, Purari, Koma and Pio valleys, the Karimui Plateau and extensive mountain ranges. Average annual rainfall ranges between 2700 and 4000 mm, increasing from north to south. Altitude varies from 300 m in the Purari Valley, to over 2800 m on Mt Karimui, which is an extinct volcano. Most people live between 800 and 1200 m in the Karimui area, and at higher altitudes of 1500 to 2200 m in the Nomane area.

19 The estimated rural population in the year 2000 is 26 000. The areas around Karimui in the middle of the district, and Unani in the west, have densities of 23 persons/km2. For some decades, ethnically different Chimbu speakers from the north of the province have been moving into the areas around Mt Karimui and opening up forest for the cultivation of low intensity sweet potato gardens.

The major clans in Karamui are the Yasi and Daribi clans. The Karamui speak Pawaia language, as do the Naiyo, Wabo and Haia people to the south and east. They also understand Gumine and Nomane languages. Traditionally the Karamui Plateau people were trading middlemen between the Gulf people and the Southern Highlands and elsewhere in Chimbu. They brought salts and shells from the coast and sent stone axes down to it.

Development history

It is interesting to note that they are exceptionally industrious as smallholders, and that this resourcefulness carries over to their civic life. In this sense they are much like the Simbu people in general. A 2002 a Department of Education report remarked upon this initiative in a discussion of teachers who lack motivation (National Department of Education 2002:40):

Too many at present remain confined to the office and have neither the inclination nor the motivation to look around for ways in which they can carry out their responsibilities… One province, Simbu, has displayed the type of initiative that is required. They have bought a number of horses to be used in the remote Karamui District. The elementary trainers in the district have been trained to ride the horses and to take care of them.

Industrious and driven like Highlanders in general, the people of Karamui are cut off from the real business opportunities of Kundiawa and the Highlands Highway. They are also just outside the boundaries of the development revolution happening to their south. Since the early 1990s, communities of the Papuan Gulf have experienced intensive localized development by multinational oil and logging companies. An oil pipeline now stretches from the Kutubu oil project in the Southern Highlands to an offshore oil terminal in the Gulf of Papua. Several logging camps have also been established, most of which are operated by Malaysian company Rimbunan Hijau.

While the long-term social and environmental impacts of these resource extraction projects has yet to be assessed, they have certainly generated a mixture of envy and fear from the communities just outside range, including Karamui. This is understandable when we realize that, in 1980 Salt- Nomane was one of 16 (out of 85) least developed districts in the entire country, and still, by 1996, it was predicted to be one of the poorest for that year (making it one of the 19 worst districts in PNG). (Bourke and Hanson 2009: 486-7)

Today the Karamui live on sago, and have lowland fruits and bananas, while they have also rich highlands subsistence base of sweet potatoes, yams, cucumbers, a wide variety of greens, and peanuts. Karamui Plateau is a watershed area, geographically, materially and culturally. It lies just above the junction of the Wahgi and the Purari Rivers, representing two very different horticultures and climates. Enjoying a perfectly temperate climate, Karamui farmers can grow almost anything, from mangoes, pawpaws, bananas, cocoa and copra, to kaukau, beans, cabbage, and peanuts. They grow rice as well as coffee, and planted vanilla as well as cardamom several years ago (cardamom was first planted commercially here in 1973).

20 When the news reached them in 2003 or 2004 that Sepik vanilla growers were getting as much as K500/kilo for A grade vanilla beans, Karamui farmers started clearing their coffee gardens to plant vanilla. The vanilla boom functioned a little like a pyramid scheme, however, and the first wave of farmers made great money, some even as much as K8-900/kilo, but the following waves made dramatically less. By the time the Karamui vanilla could be picked, the price was more like K30-40/kilo. Roughly 10% of those who planted actually got good money. One story recounts how a grower resorted to painting his beans darker and weighting his shipment with a brick, which, not surprisingly, was soon discovered. Importers.com website, a global business forum. Posted 2005

Karamui Vanilla Farmers Association is made up of 10,000 vanilla growers. Their main objective is to help achieve the National Government "Green Revolution" policy through newly introduced vanilla industry. The association is established to access training and market overseas. Contact person John Varey. (Not TradeSafe verified, not third-party verified).

Six tonnes of Arabica cherry and green bean coffee come out of Karamui station by mission planes every year. It is sold either at Kongo Coffee in Kundiawa, or preferably, for a slightly better price (K4.70-4.80 rather than K4.50/kilo), to one of three or four buyers in Goroka: Buso, Nodu and Airport Coffee. The cost of a single ticket to Kundiawa is slightly cheaper than to Goroka (K180 to Kundiawa, K220 to Goroka), and all shipped cargo is charged at K2.20/kilo. By contrast, a sign near the District Office in Karamui offers to buy beans for K1.60/kilo.

January is the month for peanut sales in karamui. Bags and bags of peanuts are airlifted to the Goroka market every week. Every day families roll out their peanuts on tarpaulins to dry, and roll them up quickly when the afternoon rains begin. A ‘hand’ of peanuts that might cost K5 in Goroka goes for K1 in Karamui, and the fistful normally sold in town for 50t is 10t in the local market. Children chew peanuts from morning to night, which goes some way toward explaining how fit they all appear.

Freight claims half the profit for peanuts, so people wait until a big man charters the MAF or SDA plane (the Cessna will cost K1800, the twin engine K5500) and they can load all their bags at once. Whomever brings the bag to market in Goroka will take half the profit, though, which means a K150 price tag in Goroka for a 20 kilo bag will bring the farmer K75. In Karamui, the same bag is K40.

There are smallhold cocoa trees, a limited amount of copra planted, as well as betelnut, and an oil palm plantation is being cleared for planting.

The Karamui people also grow rice. Because the shipping costs forces the retail price too high to compete with other rice in town, they only sell this locally. But they do provide rice to Wabo, on their southeast, where the Interoil project creates a demand. The station has about 3 rice mills, which people charge to use. A mill will cost K7000 to purchase. It must be run by a generator, which is the only form of power in Karamui.

Power lines run down the main road, but have long been useless. The story goes that the Elcom representative was a Gumine man, who was murdered by a jealous husband in 2006. PNG Power has never sent a replacement. Consequently, generator power runs Karamui. But a 200 litre drum

21 of petrol zoom, which must come in by plane, costs K700 or more. There is also a community wokabaut sawmill.

Nevertheless, and despite the extraordinary obstacles to market, Karamui is a wealthy area when coffee season comes around. The season runs from May to September generally, but peaks in June, July and August. A typical Karamui household might produce twenty bags of coffee and, depending on price, earn between K2-3000, after shipping costs. Because merchandise enters Karamui only by mission plane, the grower’s purchasing capacity is severely limited.

Banking

When the District Treasury was relocated to the station, this also facilitation the establishment of a Bank of South Pacific outpost. Unfortunately, though, theft forced these to close, and therefore few people in Karamui even have a bank account.

Civil society

Fabian Orupa also spoke to us in town about the Mt Karamui Conservation Society which was established some 14 years ago by John Hanuapu (who now lives in Goroka and Kundiawa). It’s aim has been to demarcate conservation land on the Mountain, which is owned by three clans, and promote the area as an ecotours destination. The organization is registered as a land owner group (LLG) but little has been done with it. As a result, we presume, Mr Hanuapu has migrated to town where he can possibly better facilitate the ecotours business.

Joe Nopros is District Administrator, and people tell us he is rarely in town. We tried to reach him in Kundiawa before arriving, but were unable to. Ironically, the after we arrived, a Police task force arrived on a flight and raised everyone’s suspicions that he was about to come and finally pay the Karamui youths who had cleaned the street, airfield and market over a year ago. Apparently the DA was able to pay Naiyo and other groups, but not the Karamui cleaners, and has only come to visit Karamui with policemen ever since. Police confirmed that payments were to be made, and the MP arrived on the following flight. MP Bose Mena has been in office 10 years, and lives in POM. We were told that for five years he sent no services, only promises, and now he’s just begun to bring services to Karamui. When we left, they were still waiting for the DA, however.

There is one Reserved Police Constable in town. The contingent of police once tasked to Karamui have long since left. Most community disputes are handled by Village Court Magistrates, only one of whom is a women. We were told by women that the Village Court bias is, as expected, toward the men born and raised in Karamui (rather than in-married women) and subject to bribery. The police are more impartial and therefore preferred by women.

There are 8 churches in area: Lutheran, Catholic, SDA, EBC, Revival, 4 Square, Baptist, and Pentecost. One can only assume that in the long absence of government services and resident elected officials, the community has invited all kinds of churches to the area in expectation of the services they can provide.

Water is a long way from the town centre. There was a pipe project to bring water from the mountain streams to town but the pipe wasn’t long enough, for which people blame the District Administrator.

Transport

22 The Highlands Highway runs across the north of the province, linking Kundiawa to Mt Hagen in the west and to Goroka in the east. But there are no roads connecting the busy north from the remote south of Simbu. The north and south of the province are divided by the deep and rugged Wahgi River gorge. There is a local network of poor quality roads around Karimui that are not connected to any other centre. People around Nomane, Kilau and Karimui require 4–8 hours’ travel to reach the nearest service centre, and those on the southern border of the province need more than one day’s travel to reach the nearest service centre. (Hanson et al 2001).

By any measure, the level of service delivery in Karimui is low. People in Karamui therefore rely largely on mission airplanes to come and go from Kundiawa and Goroka. A seat is expensive, however, costing either K180 or K220, and the result is that people who travel to town take their time coming back.

Michael Bourke and Tracy Harwood (2009) rank districts in PNG according to the access to market, where travel is defined as surface travel by a person on foot, in a vehicle or in a boat. Air travel is excluded because most people cannot afford it on a regular basis. The classes they define are:

Very poor access—more than one day’s travel to reach any level of service centre. Poor access—between 4 and 8 hours travel to reach a minor service centre. Moderate access---between 4 and 8 hours travel to reach a major service centre. Good access—between 1 and 4 hours travel to a major service center. Very good access---less than one hour’s travel to a major regional centre.

In these terms, Karamui suffers from very poor access to markets. The Provincial Administrator reports that a K20 million road project slated for 2010 should join Karamui with Gumine, just north, and therefore link the Plateau to Kundiawa and the rest of the country. But currently no vehicles enter or exist in Karamui. The wheelbarrow, one might say, is their ‘fifth element.’

Communications

There are no telecommunications in Karamui. There is a shortwave radio at the Baptist mission (where the American couple, Jared and Carol Holland, has lived for 17 years), and V-sat phones at both the District Headquarters and the High School. Significantly, however, none of these are operational. People receive Radio Chimbu, Karai National, FM 100. 93 FM and Christian radio from CRF Goroka.

Sanguma

Jack Urame writes in a 2008 review of sanguma for Simbu Province: (Urame 2008:p181-2 [emphasis added):

Sanguma belief and practice is said to be predominant in the province [Simbu] and found widely in all six districts of Simbu except Karamui where the original inhabitants practice sorcery. The difference…between the inhabitants of Karamui and the rest of Simbu is indicative of the cultural and anthropological differences between the two groups as well as the difference in the belief systems and practices of witchcraft and sorcery. Although Karamui forms part of the Salt Nomane District, it is separated by thick forest, mountains and the Wahgi River. The inhabitants share more similar physical features with the mountain people of Gulf Province than the do with the people of central and upper Simbu.

23 Although sanguma beliefs and practices are quite common in many parts of the Highlands Region, it was unknown in Karamui until the settlers who migrated there and brought their sanguma culture with them. This was confirmed in an interview with a man who lived there for many years. He gave an example of a woman from Mogiagi village in the Salt Nomane area who migrated to Karamui. She was on several occasions accused of practicing witchcraft and eventually killed by her own people living in Karamui.

Health

The current APO is Karamui Health Centre estimates that the wider population, embracing these villages, numbers roughly 16,000. There is also an aid post at Negabo, which serves the more southern villages of Sora, Noru and Dobu, towards the Erave River. In the 1982–83 National Nutrition Survey, malnutrition in children under five years was assessed as fair; 38 per cent of children were stunted and less than one per cent were seriously under weight. However, the high level of malnutrition in the Karimui area is disguised by the low levels elsewhere in the district. (Hanson et al 2001)

The Karamui APO, Masu Heto, reports that the Centre’s generator is out of order, their solar refrigerator is not working and its batteries are flat, but they do have one gas powered refrigerator to hold heat-sensitive medications. They do not have ARVs for HIV patients, although they do carry artimeter for malaria. Masu Heto, Paul Nongai, Deputy APO, and Dr. Yalo report that TB, pneumonia, and malaria are the most common problems, and they refer to ‘diarrhea’ as their greatest enemy. Mothers around the station confided that inoculations for babies are not always regular. There are health services and efforts to improve these services that are stymied by lack of communication and access to road networks.

Education

What makes Karamui especially attractive as a tower site is the High School in town, the five Primary Schools in the immediate vicinity, and as many as 13 Elementary Schools scattered across the Plateau. In addition, the station has one technical school, CIS, for computer science training.

While there are only a handful of computers in Karamui, Kundiawa has one public Internet Café (the only one in the province). Brown Balsi’s Internet Café, situated beside Air Niugini in town, is owned by Brown and his brother Francis Gari, from Gumine. Brown is a Computer Dcience gradate from UPNG and opened a café in Port Moresby’s Garden City first, and then came to Kundiawa to start a second café, which he left in the hands of his brother. This is clearly where the Karamui Vanilla Growers were able to post their details on the net in 2005.

Karamui High School has 10 teachers at the High School, most from Chimbu, but the head teacher is a Sepik woman (on leave at the time of our visit). The Governor donated a satellite dish to the school sometime in 2009, but the black box was subsequently stolen (some say by public servants, others say by youths in town). There is now a new satellite dish at the school waiting for a replacement box. Anna Joe is a High School teacher from Gumine and a National Sports Institute and University of Goroka graduate in Sports Administration. Capable and articulate, she is a mother who had been based in Karamui with her small children since 2008, while her husband remains in Port Moresby. Among her accomplishments at the school has been bringing 5 athletes to the PNG Games, where they garnered two gold and one silver metal.

24 Alex Mak, the Chair of the Primary School Board reported that the school has one computer and one generator. AusAid is providing new classrooms this year.

Anna Joe from the High School explained to us that there is a lot of marijuana and occasionally steam. The youths do not respect their elders, she says. The Karamui people used to hold both male and female initiations, which is widely considered the cornerstone of community hierarchy and respect. Nowadays, they have only an informal haus boi, where the young men hang out. Several years ago, when Paul Kande, from Chuave, came to live with his sister in Ward 6, he started a criminal gang with the young people. They committed a few break and enters, until 2009 when, to everyone’s relief, Kande was hounded down and shot in a Goroka tavern by the police. Since then, the youth have been less worrisome to the public.

There is a very conservative approach to parenting with young women in Karamui. Mothers are very restrictive with them. Today there are only about twenty young women in the High School, out of a total of 300-plus. Young women are subject to arranged marriages, as in their parents’ time, and a man need only make a gift of money or a pig to the family for him to ‘pasin lek’ of a young girl, sealing the betrothal.

Girls and women still observe a menses taboo and stay in the gardens during their period. Occasionally there is still be a first menses female initiation celebration as well, after a girl has been confined for a month or more. Chastity for women is a serious priority. Jealousy is the cause of most domestic strife. It is customary for a man to actually beat his wife if she complains of labour pains for her first child. As she screams out, he hits her until she admits to having a previous boyfriend, even if this person preceded the marriage by months or years. In turn, the husband can search this man down and demand compensation for his residual contribution (presumably from vestigal semen) to his child.

Women with retail outlets at the market (and there are roughly 4-6 of them) spend 2000 kina roughly 3 times/year to travel to GKA Kundiawa or HGU for supplies, with the cost of tickets, PMVs and freight included. All cargo is charged at K2.20/kilo. So they need to make this investment back by sales, which they barely do.

Table 16: Current Chimbu towers:

BeMobile Site Latitude Decimal Longitude Decimal Kainantu Exchange -6.10965 145.8859 Kundiawa Exchange -6.020795 144.9718 Digicel Area Site Name Latitude Longitude Kundiawa Kaviak Plantation 04 34 07.40 S 145 55 07.20 E Taraku Wawak 04 34 00.60 S 145 57 49.00 E Kup Walium 05 35 47.30 S 145 27 30.90 E Chuave Premiers Hill 06 01 13.70 S 144 57 55.30 E Moro Wandi 05 59 53.30 S 144 56 19.90 E Mendikwae Primary School Kup District Admin 05 57 58.20 S 144 48 10.40 E

25 Kupau Chauve Hill 06 08 18.60 S 145 07 35.20 E Guimine Moro Church 06 07 26.20 S 145 04 04.90 E Monono Eigun 06 09 50.74 S 145 06 07.22 E Karamil Hill Mendikwae Pri School 05 53 43.14 S 145 04 33.85 E Kangiri Kupau 05 58 34.79 S 144 58 35.24 E

Mobile telephones and internet access

In Goroka, visiting Bemobile representatives confided that they will not expand their coverage in Chimbu because of landowner problems faced along the highway. In general, they shall concentrate on resource extraction projects, where they know security and community ownership can guarantee some stability. These representatives were cavalier about the potential radiation risks of the towers, but they did explain that their strategy has been to place towers in schoolyards and churches, with some understanding that the antennas on the towers provide transmission at heights that clear the ground population.

Internet access is available in Kundiawa, and schools in Kerowagi, Mingende and Kundiawa have computers that will soon, if they do not already, enjoy internet access. But the majority of students in the province are not connected to the web, and Karamui High School would certainly benefit from an Internet Café.

Potential Positive Impacts 1. Access to services, to market . Better communication with the airlines for scheduling charters to market.

2. Banking

 Mobile phones facilitate the most convenient and efficient form of banking today: Text and SMS transfers and bank balance updates.

3. Cut out the middlemen

. Reduced inefficiency: no waste of money flying to and from Goroka to market goods, make contact with suppliers, check prices, etc.

. Money saved calling associates to purchase market cargo (childrens clothes, small goods, etc) rather than spending what people estimate to be K2000 three times a year to re-supply their market retail stalls. Women we spoke to knew from the prior existence of the BSP here that one could tele-text money between accounts on a mobile phone; they suggested they might send money to a relative to airlift cargo from Kundiawa, Hagen or Goroka for them.

4. Safety, security

. Women, especially mothers, agreed that phone a friend or relative would be important when a child falls ill. When symptoms can be shared and compared, people can treat many minor problems at home, with natural remedies, or be motivated to

26 bring a child to the Health Centre. The indirect effect may be that sanguma accusations will be reduced. Everywhere in PNG where sanguma is prevalent, most if not all forms of death are attributed to someone’s malicious intervention, requiring revenge action of some sort. With a better system of communication and heightened awareness of western bio-medical causation, or even a clearer understanding of what constitutes a mere sickness versus a serious illness, many of these deaths may be avoided. In turn, revenge killings may also go down.

. Community law and order problems can be reported, and perhaps even monitored, by citizens with mobile phones. This will cut response time and also diminish the sense of freedom from prosecution that young people feel.

5. Improved representation

. The District Women’s Rep is Dakan Sibirai, a strong woman with three teenage daughters. She was the only woman to stand with me at the first speech I made to the community and weigh in for the women’s side. We got the impression that she is a strong defender of women’s rights and would spearhead awareness programs were the tools available to her. We also note that Anna Joe, the young teacher, is am energetic and well-informed community member, who would be amongst the first to benefit from mobile telephony and eventually wireless internet.

6. Transparency of elected officials

. For the higher public officials who are tempted to conduct business away from the station, because of a lack of communication, the long term benefits for a community and unlimited. First, redirecting business from town to the village, will stem urban drift, heal domestic tensions, and bring more money directly back to the local economy. The incentives for conservation and efficiencies of scale, for rural development more generally will improve.

7. Performance of public servants

. Elected officials will be present in the community and have incentives to improve it. They may live the issues of remote life and strive to better it. The flow of services will run smoother and more efficiently, especially for these places where fuel exacts half of everyone’s income in some way or another. Elected officials will need to be more responsive to their communities, or bear the daily burden of not being so.

. For public servants, the introduction of mobile phones can make the difference between service and giving up. Countless teachers, health workers and administrators posted to remote locations soon give up on their job because they feel out of place, homesick, or unwelcome at first. These obstacles may be overcome by constant communication with loved ones far away, and those couples who are separated by work would certainly benefit from regular telephone contact. Mobile telephony can therefore work as an anchor for public services and a balm on strained family units.

8. Educational services

 Teachers who can stay in touch with their spouses, can SMS or Text their banking requirements, and can organize bookings for their holidays, will be less likely to

27 travel to the main towns to sort their clerical needs out. The majority of PNG’s ‘ghost teachers’ are those civil servants who have travelled to town to pick up their pay and continue to stay away for the conveniences town offers.

9. Text message services and updates

. Coffee, vanilla, cocoa and all other smallhold growers can regularly check market prices on their phones (Digicel even has a special service with the DPI, as noted in one of the text boxes here).

. The Health Centre APO was especially interested in the concept of sending medical data to main hospitals by mobile phone. When I told them that HIV/AIDs patients in parts of the world can text their t-cell count or some other data to a specialist, they agreed that the privacy and accuracy of this would be especially valuable.

10. Medical efficiency, services

. Medical supplies can be ordered and traced more accurately with mobile communication.

11. Streamlining customary affairs

 Mobile phones are critical tools for spreading the news of a relative’s illness or death, and bringing a family together at such times. Even for occasions that are not emergencies, phones can reduce the time and cost of gathering participants and coordinating their responsibilities. In some case this may serve to sustain important customs that might otherwise wane for the logistical difficulties of maintaining them.

Possible negative impacts

1. Harrassment

 ‘Gas paia’ random harassment of women such as experienced in East Sepik.

2. Domestic disputes

 Domestic tensions arising from misunderstandings of the telephone itself (including a female voice recording), and the tendency to entertain extra-marital telephone relationships.

3. Changes in social norms

 The undermining of strict parental controls over young women. Karamui is known for its tight control over daughters and their tendency to resist peer group socialising. Mobile phone will inevitably play a part in the gradual independence of both male and female youth from their parents, as they establish telephone relationships beyond their families. The confusion will be greater for young women, who will also experience new attentions by phone, some of them unwelcome. In this respect, it should be noted that the Government of Papua New Guinea is signatory to a number of important protections for children that

28 have explicit concerns with pornographic media content (see Annex B Policy Context).

Mitigation strategies

1. Increase awareness through radio programming

Karamui receives Christian Radio from Goroka, as well Karai, NBC, FM 100 and Nau FM. People depend on radio reports for everything from entertainment to awareness, and the Department of Communications and Information shall mitigate the negative impacts of mobile telephony by producing and airing a series of basic awareness spots on the use and abuse of mobile phones. This shall be targeted to women primarily, warning them of the dangers of random phone calls, pornographic texts and unwanted communications in general by phone—explaining that these are predictable occurrences that will eventually subside, and that they should not be overly alarmed nor should they personalize the insult implied. The emphasis in Chimbu should be on congratulating the community for its effective parenting of young women and children and explaining that the benefits of mobile phones will always outweigh the annoying side effects. Families must focus on the safety and economic security aspects of this development and try to minimize the disadvantages. Spots directed at men should imply that the use of mobile phones to harass and intimidate women is a wastefulness and antisocial sign of the user’s innocence and not his sophistication. These spots should be produced in Pawaian, Tok Pisin and English.

2. Womens Crisis Centre

In the East Sepik Province, the Maprik Womens Crisis Centre has helped remote women suffer the drawbacks to several developments, from the vanilla boom to marijuana, alcohol and a growth of polygamy. No one project or technology can be blamed for the complex social problems of today’s Papua New Guinea, and domestic strife exists in both remote and urban settings.

3. Provide information to communities on the environmental and health impacts of mobile towers

Everywhere new towers are to be placed, radio programming must be produced and aired in anticipation of the introduction of mobile telephony. In remote locations villagers are not likely to know the physics of telephony, much less the limits of what can be attracted by a radio antennae. Tower placement should be away from community centres, avoiding sacred sites, gardens, playgrounds or other community interest locations. Bemobile places towers in school and church yards to guarantee some collective ownership of the asset.

4. Placement of towers should occur only with the support of communities

Of importance is the ‘free and informed consultation process for tower host communities and the agreements they sign. Agreements on land use should be prefaced by clear and open discussions an dactive engagement with host communities. In addition they should be documented either in the local language or in Tok Pisin.2 Agreements with communities 2 Tangori Village has established the Digicel Towers Landowner Association (an organization spearheade by George Numbasa from Simbragu Village where the tower sits on Mt Bundirakwa), forged from their

29 regarding land use should be achieved and documented in a manner and form that is accessible to all parties

In addition, everywhere new towers are to be placed, radio programming must be produced and aired in anticipation of the introduction of mobile telephony. In remote locations villagers are not likely to know the physics of telephony, much less the limits of what can be attracted by a radio antennae.

Additionally, in Chimbu Province, the selection of tower sites should avoid locations where multiple and therefore contested ownership will be a problem.

OTHER FINDINGS

Key stakeholders

In land negotiations, key stakeholders include all clan or subclan leaders within the recognized landowner community, as well as the elected clan Counsellors. In this respect, both the younger and older leaders in a community can be counted. Wherever possible, womens groups should also be consulted (although in-married and generally not landowners per se, they are indeed impacted).

Norms around land use and previous arrangements

In both East Sepik and Chimbu provinces the tenure systems are generally patrilineal and virilocal, which means land is inherited through the male line and yet daughters (and their families) can be given rights to own or use land. In some areas of the highlands the system emphasizes primogeniture, meaning the eldest son inherits all or most and is responsible for the redistribution of land. Because none of these systems are etched in stone and imply provisions for emergencies (when a family line expires, or when migrants need to settle), land negotiations should be guided by the practices of usufruct and tenure already in use.

Groups vulnerable in land use arrangements

In general, the problems of land negotiations for tower installations will tend to disadvantage settlers or temporary residents on the land. Usufruct or land-use principles are flexible and must remain so, which means these negotiations must be careful not to establish precedents simply by virtue of being written into a contract. Therefore the terminology of said contracts should clearly indicate that whatever arrangements that include or privilege groups not otherwise recognized as traditional landowners must be for the term of the tower only and not in perpetuity or for any other land rental arrangements.

Conflicts and conflict resolution/grievance redress mechanisms misunderstanding of the MOU’s presented and not clarified by Digicel: Their payment schedule reads K3000 ‘per annum’, an unfamiliar term that many believed to mean monthly rather than annually. In Tangori they placed a tambu sign of crossed coconut fronds before their tower and when Digicel workers had come to replace the fuel drums, they were ordered to remove this. But because the Digicel workers they came with a police task force, the villagers took this demand to be aggressive and stood their ground until they were forced to remove the sign.

30 Papua New Guinea’s Village Court system has become the most effective and popular mechanism for dispute settlement across PNG. While it is not always impartial and not everywhere equally effective, it is nonetheless the first and last redress for everything from petty to grand violations of the social contract. If the Village Court is not always enough, it is most responsive to the given community. The anthropologist Michael Goddard, who has conducted extensive work on the Village Court system in PNG (Goddard 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005b), warns that these courts are effective only in terms of the communities they serve (and by which they are defined). In the context of discussing women in the Village Courts, Goddard reminds us (2005b:13): [A]n understanding of social context is vital to an appreciation of the workings and decisions of any village court, and possibly more useful in understanding their treatment of disputes than conventional notions of 'custom' or 'customary law' (cf Goddard 1996, Zorn 1991). Of course, village courts are no less capable than any other kind of court, formal or informal, 'higher' or 'lower' of making bad or unjust decisions(see, eg, Goddard 2002:10-11). Further, as the predominantly kin-ordered sociality of Melanesians continues to compel them, as Lawrence famously said, to be more concerned with keeping the sky up (Lawrence 1970:46) than adhering to the Western legal maxim fiat justitia, ruat coelum, the fate of individuals in a village court (both male and female) is sometimes determined more by the need for harmony and good order in the community at large than by principles of either Western or 'customary' law (see Goddard 1996, 2002, 2003). 3

It would be unwise to establish a jural mechanism merely for the purpose of this project, and so the use of Village Court officers and recognized community leaders of all kinds must be stressed, especially in the case of conflicts between landowners and land-users or migrants. In the case of violence, the local police are the single and most important redress. Nevertheless, awareness campaigns and clear discussions over any MOUs or contracts are mandatory and vital to preventing conflict in all provinces.

Accessibility to internet cafes

There are certain factors that may make it difficult for some people, women in particular, to access internet cafes. Internet café operators must refrain from creating multiple-use cafes that would exclude women by virtue of the activities permitted: alcohol consumption, video replay, gaming and other activities that target male clientele exclusively.

3 What can be seen from the examples from courts in the National Capital District is that the profile of disputes in each community is different, and that the practice of each village court needs to be contextualised in the sociality of the community it serves… To reinforce this last observation, with the caution that things are not always what they seem on casual observation, I will return to Erima village court, to give a little detail on one case I observed. A man brought his young wife to court claiming that she had committed adultery. He said he was certain she was seeing a man, whom I will call 'George', in another suburb. The wife denied this. After some questioning which provided no enlightenment, the village court decided it needed more evidence. It adjourned the case for a week for George to be found, and brought to court as a witness. By the following week George had not been found. After a further adjournment, with no sign of George, continued denial by the wife, and no other evidence or witnesses to the alleged adultery, the village court dismissed the case, which may appear at first sight to be a favourable decision for the wife.

Village court magistrates are elected from the community they serve, and often know more about the background to the disputes they hear than what emerges in court. I learned from the Erima magistrates that the marriage in this case was of the de facto type described earlier, secured by a nominal brideprice. The husband was known to be a violent man. The wife had never complained about his violence, and unless she or her kin brought a complaint against him the court could not take action. The magistrates were hoping that the wife or George would admit to adultery. George really existed, and they knew who he was. Desperate attempts had been made to locate him and persuade him to come to court, without success. After two adjournments, the court could no longer prevaricate and had to let the case slip away. Had the adultery been admitted, the magistrates' plan was to declare the marriage finished, order the wife (or her kin) to repay the small brideprice, and issue a preventive order against the ex-husband to keep away from the ex-wife, passing a copy of this to the village court serving the area where George was known to live, to ensure the wife would be safe. She could then have married George, reportedly a better prospect than the current husband. (Goddard 2005b:12-13)

31 Priority shall be given to bidders with business plans that are especially family-friendly, whether, for example, they are located near or within school and/or church grounds, or provide space and activities for children while their mothers access the internet. Bidders should consider the growth of an internet clientele which may be predominantly male today but will unavoidably include women and youth in the near future. Those cafes that discourage entry by women and youth will only be undermining their profit base.

Vulnerability to exclusion from benefits

Equal access to bidding materials for all interested bidders will be improved in each district by distribution of information through church and school networks, as well as Chambers of Commerce and other commercial venues. It is conceivable that women’s groups, church organizations and school associations will be interested in establishing internet cafes and otherwise find it difficult to compete with business houses for this opportunity. District level awareness campaigns and public media must emphasize the project’s inclusiveness at all times.

32 References Beschorner, N. 2007. Financing Rural Communications Projects: Some Approaches and Experiences. Bourke, R. Michael and Tracy Harwood, eds., 2009. Food and Agriculture in Papua New Guinea. Canberra: the ANU. Brown, P. 1972 [1943] The Chimbu: A study of change in the New Guinea highlands/ Cambridge, Mass: Schenkman Publishing Co., Inc. Giris, J., Rynkiewich, T., Dick Kapinias, I., & Winfrey, P. (2005). Emerging Issues for Women and Children in Papua New Guinea. Goroka, PNG: Melanesian Institute. Global Volcanism Program. (nd). Karkar. Retrieved 02/06/2009, from http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0501-03= Goddard, Michael, 992. Of handcuffs and foodbaskets: theory and practice in Papua New Guinea's village courts. Research in Melanesia, 16:79-94. _____1996. The Snake Bone Case: Law, Custom and Justice in a Papua New Guinea Village Court. Oceania 67(1):50-63. _____2000. Three urban village courts in Papua New Guinea: some comparative observations on dispute settlement. In S. Dinnen and A. Ley (eds) Reflections on violence in Melanesia, pp. 241-253. Canberra: Hawkins Press/Asia Pacific Press. _____ 2001. From Rolling Thunder to Reggae: Imagining Squatter Settlements in Papua New Guinea, in The Contemporary Pacific Vol 13, No 1 pp1-32. _____2002. Reto's Chance. Oceania 73(1):1-16. _____2003. The Age of Steam: Constructed Identity and Recalcitrant Youth in a Papua New GuineaVillage. In S. Dinnen, A. Jowitt and T. Newton Cain (eds) A Kind of Mending: Restorative Justice in the Pacific Islands, pp. 45-72. Canberra: Pandanus Books. _____2004. Women in Papua New Guinea's Village Courts. State Society and Governance in Melanesia discussion paper 2004/3. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. _____2005a. The Unseen City, Port Moresby: Pandanus Books. _____2005b Research and Rhetoric on Women in Papua New Guinea's Village Courts. Oceania. Volume: 75. Issue: 3. Publication Year: 2005. Page Number: 247+ _____2009. Historicizing Edai Siabo, unpublished seminar paper Macquarie University, 13/08/09. Greenfield, A. (2009). Personal communication with the author. Hanson, L. W., Allen, B. J., Bourke, R. M., & McCarthy, T. J. (2001). Papua New Guinea Rural Development Handbook. Canberra: Australian National University. Heeks, R. (2008, 27 December 2008). Mobiles for Impoverishment? Retrieved 12/5/09, from http://ict4dblog.wordpress.com/2008/12/27/mobiles-for-impoverishment/ HELP Resources, 2005. A Situational Analysis of Child Abuse and the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Papua New Guinea, UNICEF Papua New Guinea, Wewak. Interview with Albert Wowe. (2009). Interview. Orora. Interview with Gering Balipini. (2009). Interview. Orora. Interview with Shong 'Moks' Naing. (2009). Interview. Orora. Kunze, G. (1925). Pictures of a Village Life: on a New Guinean Island (E. Scotney, Trans. 3rd ed.): Mission House Barmen. Macintyre, M. 1998 The Persistence of Inequality, in Modern Papua N ew Guinea, ed Laura Zimmer-Tamakoshi, Kirksville MO: Thomas Jefferson University Press. Marcus, G. E. (1995). Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95-117.

33 McSwain, R. (1977). The Past And Future People: Tradition and Change on a New Guinea Island. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. MTS Foundation. (2007). Gaubin Hospital. Retrieved 02/06/2009, from http://www.foundation.mtspng.com/index5.html PNG National Department of Education, 2002. The State of Education in Papua New Guinea March, Education Reform Facilitating and Monitoring Unit. Pech, R. (1991). Manub and Kilibob: Melanesian Models for Brotherhood Shaped by Myth, Dream and Drama. Goroka, PNG: The Melanesian Institute. Rooney, D., Papoutsaki, E., & Pamba, K. (2004). A Country Failed by its Media: a Case Study from Papua New Guinea. Paper presented at the 13th AMIC Annual Conference, ‘Impact of New & Old Media on Development in Asia’. Sexton, L.D. 1982, Customary and Corporate Models for Women’s Development Organizations, IASER Discussion Paper No 42 Stanley, D. (1982). South Pacific Handbook (2nd ed.). Chico, USA: Moon Publications. Tacchi, J. A., Slater, D., & Hearn, G. (2003). Ethnographic Action Research: A user's handbook developed to innovate and research ICT applications for poverty eradication. New Delhi: UNESCO. Urame, J. 2008. A Review of some researches done on the beliefs and practices of sorcery and witchcraft in the Simbu Province, Catalyst Magazine Vol 38, No 2, p181-2. Vallance, R. J. (2008). Melanesian Research Ethics. Contemporary PNG Studies: DWU Research Journal, 8, 1-14. Warry, W. 1983. ‘Chuave politics’, unpublished doctoral dissertation, ANU. Watson, A.H.A. 2010. Mobiles in Orara. Unpublished paper.

34 ANNEX A

Chimbu Province services for women

Meri I Kirap Sapotim (MIKS) provides human rights advocacy, activism, and education and has grassroots activists at work in both Simbu and Goroka. Many MIKS members have been trained in crisis and sexual health counselling and are active in the regional networks to eliminate violence against women and girls. MIKS leaders and resources people are also competent trainers in human rights and particularly women and children’s rights. Their Chair, Sarah Garap, is a highly educated and visible advocate for women’s rights, and has recently been trained in Participatory Rural Assessment methodologies. She is amongst the very few indigenous women’s scholars in PNG, publishing on the rights and conditions of Highlands women. Her primary focus has and continues to be good governance, and supporting women in politics and the public domain.

Kup Women for Peace (KWP) was established (out of MIKS) in 2000 to promote peace and protect women’s and children’s human rights and to advocate against violence committed on women by individuals, warring tribal groups and the state. Their work includes increasing public understanding on the dangers of tribal fights and all forms of violence against women and children through community awareness, paralegal and human rights education, drama and son and conflict resolution training; creating a conducive environment for the elimination of all forms of violence against women by advocating legal and policy reforms to protect the human rights of all people, including women and children; and assisting with the introduction and provision of grassroots appropriate technology resources to promote economically self reliant initiative and rural self employment.

35 ANNEX B

Policy context

Some of the effects of mobile telephone and internet access in remote locations may invoke considerations of child abuse by exposure to pornographic messages and imagery. It is important to remain conscious of the general policy context for children, and especially the girl child, in PNG.

In a 2006 report on children’s risks, UNICEF reminds us that (2006:56-7):

Girls are generally at the very bottom of the social hierarchy in Pacific societies, particularly in Melanesia where there is greater gender inequality than elsewhere in the region. In accordance with this low status, girls are socialized to a sense of inferiority and they do not fully develop the notion of having a choice or an opinion. Furthermore, in countries where girls are of particularly low status in society, they are taught to never question male authority. This socialization process raises the vulnerability of these girls to sexual abuse and exploitation because adolescent girls who lack experience in making choices or contradicting males have difficulty in rejecting sexual advances, particularly when the man is older.

The HELP Resources 2005 study on Child Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) in PNG found strong links between child abuse and CSEC (HELP 2005:83):

Child abuse, in any form, is often a root cause of children being pushed into selling sex in Papua New Guinea. When neglect, emotional or physical abuse becomes too much to bear, many children want to get out and get away. The fact that many parents accept that children do run away and other families are willing to accept children who have fled their home or families, whether they are related or not, means that a child’s escape from criminal abuse in the home may never be followed up and the offences that were committed against them in their homes never registered or redressed. The focus of disdain and blame often falls on the child victim, and many people come to view young girls involved in selling sex as ‘like that’, ‘wanting that’ or ‘looking for that’.

PNG has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), but the status of women and child remains low relative to other Pacific Island Countries (PICs). All PICs have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which requires states to take necessary measures to protect persons under 18 years old against violence, exploitation and abuse. Articles, 7,8 and 9 of the CRC say that a child has the right to be cared for by his or her parents, that governments must respect family ties, and that children should only be separated from families when it is in their best interest.

Article 19 of the CRC requires States Parties to take all appropriate measures to protect the child from “all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child”. Article 34 is particularly relevant; binding States to protect the child from “all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation” and specifically to prevent:

(a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity.

36 (b) The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices. (c) The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.7

PNG adopted the Stockholm Declaration and Agenda for Action, which calls on governments, international agencies, NGOs, and other concerned organizations and individuals to direct technical and material resources towards combating commercial sexual exploitation of children. It specifically calls for countries to develop National Plans of Action to implement the Agenda for Action in the five areas of: coordination and cooperation, prevention, protection, recovery and reintegration, and child participation.

PNG’s Lukautim Pikini Act was passed by Parliament in April 2001, focusing national child protection priorities on the Convention on the Rights of the Child obligations, increasing the emphasis on prevention and family strengthening, and legislating a move away from institutional care. This Act is complemented by a range of policies that aim to protect children, including the National Disability Policy (2006) and the Early Childhood Care and Development Policy (2007).

In PNG, the police have specialized sexual offences units and Victim Support Desks focusing on improving the police response to family violence and strengthening networks and referral protocols. The establishment of Victim Support Desks in all of the capital cities’ police stations speeds up police response and helps provide more appropriate police responses to cases of family violence, especially where participants have been trained at the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre or through local NGO workshops on sexual violence. The establishment of community-run safe houses for battered women in large urban settlements and the gradual strengthening of networks and referral protocols are very significant advances.