Fern Ridge (Safla Rama) Digest

 Callan Services worker examines girl --courtesy of Callan Services   We hear little about the world of deaf and hard and hearing in Papua New Guinea. In recent times I was contacted by an old friend and colleague, Steven Wawaf Labuan. I was thrilled with the contact after so many years. Wawaf, as I had known him, was teaching linguistics as a tutor at the University of Papua New Guinea before he returned to the Morobe province. The first thought I had was that Wawaf had completed a book of poems chronicalling a bohemian life outside the corridors of high learning in the great grassland of Markham Valley. That was possible, rememberingWawaf as that radical poet willing to recite nationalisticpoems along side those streect preachers at the crowded Boroko commercial center. But not so, I would soon discover several emails later. Steven Wawaf Labuan is a different kind of poet altogether. He is someone who is more interested in working with teaching language to the deaf an...

The link between literacy and democracy in contemporary Papua New Guinea needs our attention at this time. The general election is around the corner few months away. Papua New Guineans will vote their favored leaders to represent them in the National Parliament. The election process is both cumbersome and challenging for most people. The educated ones will find the voting exercise meaningful and easier to do, but the majority of Papua New Guineans living in our rural villages will need more than a helping hand to participate in the election process. More than 50% of our people have no basic literacy to help them with the election process. Most times we assume they understand the meaning of, democracy, election, voting system, and what makes good leaders. Most people who vote do so because of what they understood as an important exercise in citizenry. Last Christmas students in some of our tertiary institutions used their vacation period to educate and inform their communities about...

I sometimes envy writers in our society who struggle so hard to have their writings published. I have been writing since the early 1980s through sheer conviction that what I do is for the sake of doing what I do best even without having to get paid for it. That conviction has led me to do extraordinary things and discover extraordinary people around the world. Over time I managed to have my own writings published around the world. I also managed to give readings of my work in PNG, Fiji, Sydney, Hawai’i, Canada, and Minnesota, USA. The life of a writer is never one that is static, but it is one that is full of creative spirit and commitment to transfer human thoughts to print with as much honesty, passion, and integrity. Writing helps a writer to breath life where there is no life, no conscience, and truth making. In the journey I made as a writer in this country I discovered interesting aspects of such a life. To write a good book takes many months or years before it is published. Th...

 Children need social protection   Social reform is very much a product of political will in any society. Many of the changes in our life-styles and way of life are by-products of our political will to participate in the changing world. The hard reality is that the wheels of change affect our lives no matter where we live in this country. The argument that our societies will remain unchanged has no loyalists in this country or elsewhere in the world. All societies change because of the need to or because of the political will exercised by its citizenry and political leadership. Others change unseemingly because of the innovation of technology and global movement of capital in all corners of the world. The challenge is fixed on the ability of the people to adopt to these changes. In so doing societies must develop visions, strategic plans, and road maps to take them down the road of progress. So often this means making sacrifices in order to fit into the scheme of things. The ...