Fern Ridge (Safla Rama) Digest

Beautiful Wewak Beach Centre for Sepik Heritage Meeting Honorable Luamanuvao Winnie Laban of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand last month at the Council Room of the University of Papua New Guinea was indeed memorable. Honorable Laban is an Associate Professor and Assistant Vice Chancellor (Pasifika) at the Victoria University. I had the rare moment of discovery that she was the first Pacific Islander Member of Parliament in New Zealand and is a close relative of the famous Pacific writer and elder, Albert Wendt. Honorable Laban’s grandfather was one of the first Samoan missionaries to Papua New Guinea. UPNG VC Prof. Albert Mellam  Meets Hon. Luamanuvao WInnie Laban Her invitation for collaborative research and learning from each other strengthened my thinking about the kind of cultural research we do in Oceania. I am now researching folk narrative structures in literary and cultural productions of Oceania. My interest in teaching Pac

What used to be a quiet, out of the way township of Wewak, suddenly comes alive, bustling with myriad of activities. It’s cluttered with people and wrapped in some kind of cheap Asian fabric to give it an Asiatic aura. With the opening of the new town market built by the Japanese government Wewak seems to attract two kinds of entrepreneurs. There are those who sell organic garden produce such as vegetables, edible greens, fresh and smoked fish, and fruits. It is the largest modern market in the country.   The second group is made up of those who sell betel nuts and cheap Asian products outside the market fence. This group has its umbrellas up to provide shade for the traders. This group considers itself as the informal sector entrepreneurs of Wewak. The informal sector entrepreneurs now have their stalls with umbrella shades ring the small town of Wewak from the post office to the market and again on the eastern beach front to the post office, up the road to