Fern Ridge (Safla Rama) Digest

Book Cover: Growing Up Gende  January was full of surprises for me. A day before the end of the month I had a yellow card from the Post Office at UPNG advising me to collect a package from Marengo Mining Limited. I collected two copies of a book entitled: Growing Up Gende (2012). Marengo Mining Limited had published the book. The author of the book is Dr. Laura Zimmer-Tamakoshi, an anthropologist with long-term engagement with the Gende people of Papua New Guinea for thirty years of her life. Dr. Zimmer-Tamakoshi writes that “the work I have done writing and putting this book together has been made without any payments, my only request being that Marengo print plentiful copies to be freely handed out to local schools, individual Gende and other community organizations.” In her Facebook message to me she stressed the same point to me. This is a marvelous little book dressed with rare historical photographs captured in black and white films, more recent and

Mount Rattlesnake in background, Sudest Island. The discovery of gold near Laloki and Brown Rivers in the 1870s did not make mining an economically viable option. It was the 1888 discovery of gold on Sudest Island in the Milne Bay Province that led to a gold rush of Europeans from the declining goldfields of North Queensland. Further discoveries of gold in Woodlark and Misima around the same time saw the heavy presence of Europeans in any one time on these islands. Eight years later The Brisbane Courier (Qld) of Saturday 17 October 1896 published Sir William Macgregor, the Lieutenant Governor of New Guinea, an account of this mining. “On the 23 rd the steamer anchored at the east end of Hula Bay, on the south side of Sudest island, some half-a-mile from the store built by the British New Guinea Gold Mining Company. It is at the head of this bay that the company is to carry on its operations.” “Some time ago certain gold-bearing quartz veins were

 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

Australian Geographic had this information on new evidence on peopling of the Pacific. By:AAP with AG Staff February-9-2011 Share The final major wave of Pacific migration brought the Maoris to New Zealand 700 years ago (Photo: Getty Images).NEW DNA EVIDENCE has emerged which overturns theories on how humans spread across the Pacific. The islands of Polynesia were first inhabited around 3,000 years ago, but where these people came from has long been a hot topic of debate amongst scientists. The most commonly accepted view, based on archaeological and linguistic evidence as well as genetic studies, is that Pacific islanders were the latter part of a migration south and eastwards from Taiwan which began around 4,000 years ago. Now, scientists believe the DNA of current Polynesians can be traced back to migrants from the Asian mainland who had already settled in islands close to New Guinea 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. The evidence was uncovered by researchers at the University of Le

The much awaited collection of short stories spanning more than 30 years of writing is now out. The collection untitled: The Unpainted Mask was copublished by UPNG Press and Manui Publishers. The book is printed and distributed in the USA by Masalai Press and online at various online book ordering services. Product Description Steven Edmund Winduo demonstrates his ability as a writer in this collection of short stories. The collection captures the changing social, cultural, and political landscapes of Papua New Guinea.The collection is a blend of published and unpublished short stories. The stories cover journeys people make from their unperturbed societies to ones in constant negotiation with change. These stories blend lived experience with imagined ones among Papua New Guineans.The book highlights the sometimes uncomfortable relationships and challenges emerging in different sociocultural encounters. One major theme runs through all stories in this collection: Mask. People wear

December began for me with the ambivalence resulting from seeing too many traffic accidents almost every week in our city. It is a sad reminder that people are careless with their own lives. It is also a sad reminder that the irresponsible actions of careless or drunk drivers can lead to the deaths of innocent men, women, and child. The reminder we need to take heed of is that with so many drivers without proper education of traffic rules on the road anything can go wrong. We also prepare ourselves as Christians to celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ. We prepare ourselves both mentally and physically. Mentally we prepare ourselves to rejoice in the birth of our saviour as man to live among us. Physically we slow down or wind down in our activities or take a break from what we do every day of the year. Christmas is a time to celebrate, sing, praise, and dance to the new born King two thousand years ago in the Holy Land. It is also a time to say thank you to God who guided us on our jo