Fern Ridge (Safla Rama) Digest

WrICE fellows in Vigan, Philippines 2017 WrICE workshop in National University of Philippines Steven Winduo is a celebrated Indigenous writer and scholar with teaching and research affiliations in several universities throughout the world, including the US mainland, Hawaii, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. His poetry collections include  Lomo’ha I am, in Spirit’s Voice I Call ,  Hembemba: Rivers of the Forest ,  A Rower’s Song  and  Detwan How? . He has also written the short story collection  The Unpainted Mask , essay collection  Transitions and Transformations: Literature, Politics and Culture in PNG , and a novel,  Land Echoes.  He has several articles published in peer-reviewed journals and magazines around the world. Winduo is also a regular columnist with  The National , with his weekly column Steven’s Window in  The Weekender . For more information follow the link below http://mwf.com.a...

At Tufi Wharf for the Book Making Workshop 2017 They became academics, teachers, doctors, pilots, lawyers, judge, advisors, and consultants. Each of them, like their compatriots, was trained to embrace their purpose in life as if theirs was the shouldering of the burden of a post-independent country. The cohort I belong to include the likes of Kenneth Sumbuk, Christine Sumbuk, Lawrence Sogoromo, Henry Ivarature, Boena, Margaret Kuira, Gerisoma James, Susan Kaupa, Henry Okole, Robert Turare, Eddie Oa, Grace Guaigu, Bob Aaron, Martha Aaron, David Nalu, Gedisa Iga, Kulal Hoheg, Mary Bray, Christopher Raymond, Paul Tusais, Mrs. Paula Bogambari Tusais, Kenny Samuel, Steven Kassman, Tomait Nondasil, and to name a few. We went on to build impressive careers and contributed to the development of the nation in various fields we studied after Aiyura National High School. The support network came from other students by way of interest groups. The greatest help came from boys and girls in...

Aristotle, ToRot and Momis July 21, 2017 The National Weekender   Article Views:  214 By STEVEN WINDUO AT the St Joseph’s Catholic church, I had one of the most powerful homilies I ever heard with such tenacity and vigour. It was the Feast Day of Blessed Peter ToRot, whose life and death is celebrated after the late Pope John Paul II beatified him in Rome. The Apostolic Nuncio to Papua New Guinea, Archbishop Kurian Mathew Vayalungkal, highlighted the link between the life of Peter ToRot and the sacrament of marriage and what marriage life is in the Catholic Church. ToRot was imprisoned and killed by the Japanese invaders for standing up against polygamy and for practising his faith as a Christian during the World war II. He was a simple villager who lived as a catechist of the Catholic Church in those days. Archbishop Kurian’s point was that for a happy marriage three ingredients are needed: praying together, loving and caring for each other, and forgiving unconditiona...

  It is challenging to write fiction, based on actual history, than on pure imagination. The challenge is to be as close to history, but aided with literary license to reconstruct a storyline that maps out the narrative. The technique known as fictionalizing history is taken on board to plough the field of history and fiction to make something grow out of it. Land Echoes (2014) is my first novel based on my grandfather, Holonia Jilaka, whose life inspired this book. Although not a biography the novel’s timeline is based on the part of my grandfather’s history. I recorded my grandfather’s story on tape when I was a UPNG student many years ago. The part that I was interested in was the part where he went to the Highlands of Papua New Guinea in 1933 as a shepherd boy with the Catholic missionaries. He spent three years (1933-1935) in Simbu area before being discharged as a mission boy. He then joined the police force, taking his training in Rabaul depot under the instru...

Dear Readers, I have been absent from my blog for over a year. I will return to the blog as of this year 2015. Several reasons have made it difficult for me to be consistent. The most important of all is the accessibility to the internet at where I am located. I think this problem is now solved. I will have full access to the internet this year. I have a year of articles that I will post on this blog. I thank you for visiting the blog as regularly as you have been. I promise to post new exciting and stimulating articles for your consumption in the next few days and onwards. I hope you will spread the news that I am back on the blog. Invite your friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and other internet beings to visit this exciting blog. I have decided to change the name of the blog to Land Echoes. I am not sure if you like that. If not please leave a comment for me to consider. I value your visits to the blog. I hope to link up with you again soon. Have a productive 2015 ye...

First publlished in Steven's Window, The National Newspaper early this year. Thanks. A death happened in the hamlet right after ours in the village. That was soon after Christmas that the relatives had to set up the ‘house cry’ right up the first week of New Year 2014. The deceased was a woman of standing in the community that when her body arrived on Monday afternoon a lot of the surrounding community members paid their last respects that evening. The night went smoothly for most of the mourners until the morning when a commotion began with some of the relatives accusing others of using sorcery.  The problem was that instead of participating in the laments and mourning in the night some of the youths decided to drink ‘steam’ in the night. My father who had gone over early for the burial returned dismayed that there was a fight early in the morning.  He asked me if I can help him with some money to sort out the customary restrictions that the relatives of the dec...