Monthly English edition - Issue 14 June 2015

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End Violence Against Children!

A Historical event for the Anglican Church in PNG

By Frieda Sila Kana

The consecration of BishopDenny Bray Guka in PortMoresby on Sunday 24th Maymarks a fully nationalised Angli-can Church of Papua NewGuinea Province.

Bishop Denny Guka is from asmall village of Katuna, AmbesiParish in the North Coast of Popon-detta, Oro Province. After 20 yearsof being a priest that Fr. Guka hasnow been elevated to a higher of-fice. However, he admitted that itwas an office which he had fearedwhen he was called to the priest-hood.

“Ever since I became a priest, Ihad always been afraid of beinggiven a bigger task, but now I canaccept it because I know I’m notalone. I have my wife and all of youto help me along,” he said.

“Today I feel humbled to be tak-ing this office. I would like to be a

door mat on which the people Iserve will walk upon. Just like thegift mat that was brought for thisoccasion by a rural congregationfrom a remote area of the GulfProvince, which had my name,‘Bishop Denny Bray Guka’ woveninto it. Today as the ushers werelooking for a place to put this mat, Isaid to them to put it at the door-way of the church, so that every-body will walk on it as they enter.Some of you may not have noticedbut it was there and you walked onit,” Bishop Guka said.

He encourage all other prieststhat they should humble them-selves and be like a mat so thatpeople can walk on us.

“I am an ecumenical Christian. Iwant to work with the whole bodyof Christ. Not only the Anglicanbrethren. If I have to say somethingsignificant today, I would say this.“If some people want to know whatkind of Christian believer I am, and

they cut me up, they will discoverthat I am a truly ecumenical per-son,” Bishop Guka said.

The new bishop said he had in-vited other brethren from the Bodyof Christ to his consecration butonly a few turned up because per-haps it was the day for worship, theday being the ‘commemoration dayof Pentecost.’

To emphasize his determinationfor the unity in the body of Christ asbelievers, the new bishop quoted acommon saying in Kenya which heheard during a visit some yearsback, “You are not alone – I no yuwanpela tasol – Yumi yet, We are!”

On this note, Bishop Guka citedthe words of a priest in a rural areawho used to send him inspirationaland encouraging texts everydaywho on the morning of the ordina-tion, sent one text that said,“brother my prayers are with youthis day.” He cited this to empha-size the importance of those in the

work of God to stand together inprayer in support of one another.

He also quoted the words of theLord Jesus’ prayer for his disciples,“that all may be one”, to emphasizethe importance of the ‘Unity in theBody of Believers’, saying that al-though people think that PNGCouncil of Churches may be‘dead’, it is surely alive.

“PNGCC is still alive, we justneed to get our house in order,”Bishop Guka said.

Thus he acknowledge the pres-ence of notable people such as theEcumenical Representative fromthe Catholic Church, Fr. Josephfrom Bomana, Rev. Martin Wayne,the deputy chairman of the Evan-gelical Alliance, Colonel Boude,Chief Chaplain from the PNG De-fence Force and other chaplains,the current and former governors ofthe Bank of Papua New Guinea.Also present was the Governor for

NCD, Powes Parkop and his wifeand former Prime Minister, SirMekere Morauta and his wife.

Bishop Guka was consecratedby the Head Bishop of AnglicanChurch of PNG province, Arch-bishop … Clyde supported by…..

The signing of the legal docu-ments were witnessed and ap-proved by the Chancellor of theAnglican Church and deputy chiefjustice of PNG, Justice BernardSakora.

The bishop was handed over thesymbolic shepherd’s staff by hispredecessor, Rev Bishop PeterRamsden and a symbolic ringplaced on his finger as the symbolof authority and covenant to the of-fice as well as a cross necklace tocomplete the requirements for visi-bility of the office he would occupy.

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Gender-Based Violenceis often seen as ‘normal’

in PNG - P3

P2 June 2015 Youth/Music Scene

By Timothy Koi

MUSIC has been combined insuch a way as to produce beautyof form, harmony, and expres-sion of emotion which is lovedby everyone even the little kids.With that in mind, Harvey SebeaHoeke is promoting HIV/AIDSawareness through music. Harvey Hoeke established a

group, Friends That Care (FTC) in2002 and this group consists ofvarious young talented singers withthe aim of raising awarenessthrough local and contemporarymusic and video production.Since the official launch on 19th

August 2002, FTC has over 1000artists from all over the country.With the engagement of the artists,FTC uses their songs on AudioCDs, Video Clips, Educational Cal-endars and awareness booklets. After its launching in 2002, FTC

has been campaigning in night-clubs, markets, schools, shoppingcenters and other places on WorldAids Day and related events. Forover a decade now FTC has fo-cused on educating young PapuaNew Guineans to be free fromHIV/AIDS. FTC has been operatingon donations from members of Par-liament and business houses in thepast years. In December 2, 2013, FTC

launched its long-term strategicplan known as “FTC VISION 2020”by Minister for Health Michael Mal-

abag, to promote the slogan “LETCHILDREN BE AIDS FREE CITI-ZENS” which was initiated by thefounder Harvey Sebea. FTC ismore focused in educating youngchildren in every way to abstain orprotect children from the deadlyvirus.As part of the awareness pro-

gram, FTC in conjunction withPapa Cidy, Jah Boy and Jagarizzarhosted a live performance at TheCosmopolitan on in NCD, last Sat-urday 23rd May. The show saw 3 groups perform-

ing late into the night, with Jagariz-zar opening the show followed byJah Boy who belted out some hitsincluding Baby Love which had thecrowd singing along too. After 1am,Papa Cidy took to the stage andthe crowd dancing away to his pop-ular hit Evalina. Papa Cidy, bornHamidu Sekyeru is a Ugandansinger. He is currently on his SouthPacific tour and was supported byJah Boy from Solomon Island andJagarizzar from PNG. In partnership with FTC, Papa

Cidy spoke out about his concernand also his support toward theprogram. “I would like to say that AIDS is a

terrible disease, stay away fromdrugs which can lead to HIV. Stayaway from sex and wait for the righttime, AIDS can destroy life but ifyou can’t, use protection. My aim isto teach kids to stay away fromHIV/AIDS, educate the young ones

before they grow older. I have lostmany friends to AIDS that is why Iam saying this, we should not beturning a blind eye to it. It is a greatidea to support this programthrough my music.” Mr. Hoeke said, this is the first

event they hosted together. He saidthere are more coming up and inthe future it will be an annual event.Their next event will be on 27th ofSeptember, this year. Apart frommusic, FTC has also producedbooklets which will be sent out to all

the schools in the country. So farthey have printed 12, 000 copiesfrom the target of 50, 000. Thosebooklets will be made available inschools around the country by termthree of 2015 school year throughthe Provincial Council of Women.

AIDS/ HIV awareness through music

YOUTH SAY...

withEsther Wani

Empowering youth in the 21st Century…

Name: Enoch JohannesAge: 25Home Province: WHPDream Job: Civil EngineerEmployment: Technical Officer atNational Airports Corporation

What do you say about imple-menting the death penalty?

The Death Penalty should not beimplemented in PNG.

What do you think will happenif the death penalty is imple-mented?It will add fuel to the fire meaningit will create a lot more problems.In a setting where payback killingis becoming a norm, the idea ofimplementing death penalty willcreate more and more problems.It can even fuel a fierce tribal fightin the highlands where more dam-age and harm will be done.

Blood shedding is against the bib-lical principles. Who are we totake a brothers life. Let God alonejudge. At this age and time, every of-fender is equipped with at leastammunition and a gun. There willbe no such thing as surrender be-cause the culprit knows that he isa dead meat if the police catchhim so there will be an exchangeof fire which can result in thedeath of a police officer or the of-fender or both being severely in-jured.A death will cause pain to the fam-ily and relatives of the victim/of-fender so there will be nocorporation or a good working re-lationship between the police per-sonnel and the victims’ relatives inthe process to investigate and ap-prehend the offender.My recommendation is to main-tain the current penalties in placewith hard labour. Maybe he/shecan change for better while serv-ing their sentence. There are liv-ing testimonies of people whogave their lives to God and be-come some of the mighty preach-ers and also hard working PapuaNew Guineans. The governmentshould look to improve the livingconditions of the inmates and im-plement programs that will helpthem so that they can turn fromtheir bad habits and become bet-ter citizens.

Name: Jones G MaioniAge: 25Home Province: Northern ProvinceDream Job:EnvironmentalistEmployment:CC Agent – SupportTeam DIGICELPLAYWhat do you say about implementingthe death penalty?It’s a great approach taken by the Lawand Justice sector. We should not callourselves a Christian country while in-nocent people become victims of veryoffensive crimes and the offenders aretreated lightly for their crimes. The biblestates clearly that the “Wages of Sin isDeath” – so be it.What are some of the things youthink will occur if the death penalty isimplemented?Upon the implementation of deathpenalty surely crime rates will decreasesimply because it will bring fear into allthe criminals of what the outcome oftheir crime would be if caught by the lawand justice and found guilty of it.

Name: LyanneTogibaAge: 23Home Province: MadangProvinceDream Job: Doing my dream jobEmployment: Journalist

What do you say about imple-menting the death penalty inPNG?I’m not for death penalty. Takinganother person’s life is a bit ex-treme. However, today’s crimerates and the length criminals goto, in stealing is mind-blowing. Stillthat doesn’t warrant the deathpenalty, there should be a wideconsultation on how a betterpenalty is applied to people whocommit crimes. That is, some-thing not too over the top but justright for the crime committed.What are some of the thingsyou think will occur if the deathpenalty is implemented?I believe that if the death penaltyis implemented, there will be nopoint in living anymore, becauselife will be seen as nothing. Peo-ple will not care anymore. Our so-ciety will be given to the dogs.

Name: Linda AsiAge: 23Home Province: Southern HighlandsDream Job: LawyerEmployment: Student at the University ofGorokaWhat do you say about implementing thedeath penalty?I think the death penalty should not be imple-mented because we are a Christian country.We should get down on our knees and prayfor change. I think the communist way of liv-ing is trying to make its way in. If deathpenalty occurs killing will be going on as no-body’s business and things will get out ofhand.What are some of the things you think willoccur if the death penalty is imple-mented?The Papua New Guineans are good at payingback and if a father is killed in death penaltythe sons and brothers will want to kill the per-son responsible for killing them and things willget out of control. The good side of it, deathpenalty I think will reduce corruption in PNG.

Papa Cidy performing live at the Cosmopolitan on last week Saturday night.

June, 2015 P3 Feature

While acknowledgingthe presence of the Gov-ernor for NCD, the newlyanointed bishop commit-ted the Anglican Churchof Port Moresby Dioceseto clean the streets ofPort Moresby as in part-nership with NationalCapital District, and heinvited the ecumenicalfriends to get broomsand rakes and sweepthe city before the 2015Pacific Games.

A Historical event for the Anglican Church in PNG

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Bishop Guka serving the holy communion soon after his ordination at the St. Mar-tin’s Anglican Church in Port Moresby.

Archbishop Clyde Igara holds up Bishop Denny Bray Momaendo Guka’shand to present him to the faithful as the new bishop of Port Moresby dio-cese.

JOINT INTERNATIONAL OBSERVER MEDIA STATEMENT 2015 Autonomous Bougainville Government Election

An international observer groupobserved the polling period ofthe 2015 Autonomous Region ofBougainville’s Election followingan invitation from the PapuaNew Guinea and AutonomousBougainville Governments. The group included representa-

tives from Australia, the EuropeanUnion, Japan, New Zealand, theUnited Kingdom and the UnitedStates of America. International ob-servers were provided operationaland coordination support by theUnited Nations and observedpolling across almost all con-

stituencies in North, Central, andSouth Bougainville from 11 to 20May.The international observer group

congratulates the people ofBougainville for their commitmentand enthusiasm as they partici-pated in an election that has beenconducted in an often challengingenvironment. Polling observed bythe international observer groupwas conducted in a peaceful at-mosphere. The Office of theBougainville Electoral Commis-sioner and election officials werecommitted in performing their du-

ties and polling stations were gen-erally run in an effective and trans-parent manner. The presence oftrained candidate-appointed scruti-neers at polling stations and oftrained domestic observers furtherenhanced the integrity of the votingprocess. The Bougainville PoliceService and Community AuxiliaryPolice were diligent throughoutpolling, which enabled a safe envi-ronment for the people ofBougainville to exercise their rightto vote.The international observer group

observed in some cases features

with the electoral roll and votingprocedures that could be improved.The observations of the interna-tional observer group will bebrought to the attention of the elec-toral authorities. The Office of the Bougainville

Electoral Commissioner is to becommended for its responsivenessto discrepancies with the electoralroll. The international observergroup commends the Office of theBougainville Electoral Commis-sioner’s response to allow as manyeligible Bougainvilleans as possi-ble, the opportunity to vote in line

with Bougainville’s electorallaws. We thank the people of

Bougainville, the Office of theBougainville Electoral Commis-sioner, election officials, and thepolice for warmly welcoming the in-ternational observers. The international observer group

will continue to observe the elec-tion during the counting periodcommencing on 26 May. We lookforward to a continued peacefulprocess leading to the responsibleformation of government by electedcandidates.

Gender-Based Violence is often seen as ‘normal’ in PNGBy Esther Bralyn Wani

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) isoften considered normal in PapuaNew Guinea. People say it is ourculture or give so many excuses forthe practice of violence againstwomen. Even some women be-lieve that and continue to stay inthat situation without knowing thatviolence is a cycle, it will continueuntil the worst happens.An expert on GBV Isis Oru, who

is with the Family Sexual ViolenceAction Committee (FSVAC) saidculture is a living thing, which con-tinues to be renewed and modifiedand changed in response to bothinternal and external factors. Hesays that it is not “static, but dy-namic” – changing all the time.He says by describing culture,

we mean culture is beliefs, prac-tices, institutions and technologiesof a society. It describes what peo-ple believe, how they live, their val-

ues system and the way things aredone.“Gender Relations is not the only

part of culture which is changing –we do many things our parents andgrandparents would not have imag-ined. These are also changes inculture,” said Mr. Oru.However, some traditional and

religious groups think that womenare the keepers and preservers ofculture. They say wives, mothers,sisters and daughters must notstep outside of traditional culture.They are given names and labelsas selfish, without any backgroundor a property of a man and manymore. Although, men break most ofthe cultural practices and beliefsthey are still not burdened with thesame expectation.He also added that women also

value their religious beliefs, na-tional identity and their culture.However, he stressed that it doesnot mean that women should con-

tinue to put up with discriminationand violence. He said it is possibleto preserve culture, while also mak-ing sure that all human beings haveequal rights.Mr Oru outlined, the difference

between Gender and Sex. He saidthat sex is physical traits that iden-tify someone as male or femalesuch as male or female reproduc-tive organs.

Gender on the other hand, is theroles and responsibilities of menand women, boys and girls.Theway women and girls view them-selves as different to men and boysin a society determined by cultureand society.GBV happens when men experi-

ence bullying in the past or grow upin a household where violence wasseen every day or maybe they want

to be over possessive. There areso many reasons why people prac-tise GBV but that is not normal.People must not turn a blind eye

on GBV. Most women and mentake bride price as an excuse touse violence on women. Most ofthe men think that because theyhave paid the bride price, it is theirright to discipline their wife. Evensome women feel that it is normalfor their husbands to use violenceon them.The government has responded

to this problem by setting theseLaws to protect families from GBV.They are the Family Protection Act2013, Sexual Offences and the Ev-idence Act – 2003, Medical LegalProforma – sexual offense cases,Marriage Act 2014, Gender Equityand Social Inclusion Policy and theGender Policy- National Depart-ment for Health and HIV. Familiescan now be protected under theselaws.

Sorcery related violence. Photo: Internet.

P4 June, 2015 lifestyle

American visitors overwhelmedby PNG’s hospitality and cultureBy Veronica Hatutasi

THE hospitality andfriendliness of thepeople, diverse cul-tures and the pristinenatural beauty of theenvironment hasoverwhelmed andwon the hearts of fourAmericans who re-cently visited PNG.Three sisters Emma

Wingert of Nebraska,Rose Sternberg ofIowa, Jane Berkley andcousin, young Zoe Ark-feld came all the wayfrom the USA on a pil-grimage to visit thegrave of their late uncleArchbishop Leo ArkfeldSVD, fondly known inthe Catholic Church cir-cles as the “FlyingBishop” of Wewak, andalso, to participate inthe consecration and in-stallation of the newbishop of the WewakCatholic diocese,Bishop Jozef Roszynskilast month.Archbishop Leo Ark-

feld, the Flying Bishopand a long time DivineWord Missionary in theSepik was bishop ofWewak and also servedin Madang, died in 1999was buried at the Wiruimission cemetery inWewak.He was fondly called

the “Flying Bishop” ashe was a missionarypilot and in the absenceof good road networkfrom the 1960’s throughto the early 80’s, Arch-bishop Leo flew theplane to do his pastoraland missionary work,as well as health, edu-cation, mission needs,emergencies and gen-eral deliveries to themany rural outstations,mission posts and

parishes in the Sepiksand the Momase re-gions.Along with the three

sisters and cousin waslong-time missionarypriest in the East Sepik,Goroka and PortMoresby and also, aone- time financial con-troller and general man-ager of Word PublishingCompany, Fr VinceOhlinger SVD. Fr Vinceis the nephew of lateArchbishop Leo Arkfeld.He is now retired andliving at the SVD retire-ment house in Wiscon-sin, he was happy forthe chance to return toPNG, a place where hespent the prime of hislife in the service of thechurch and people ofthis country. He leftPNG in 2001.The four women were

overwhelmed by thefriendliness and hospi-tality of the people theymet, saw, spoke with.

They were adventurouseven, to have a taste ofcrocodile meat offeredto them on their briefrendezvous along themighty Sepik River.By the time they had

completed their twoweeks in PNG, the 5visitors had travelled invarious modes of trans-portation including fly-ing from Port Moresbyto Wewak, by car fromWirui in Wewak on athree and half hours dri-vable road to a missionpost in Timbunke in themiddle Sepik, by canoeon the mighty SepikRiver and by road upthe Highlands Highwayto Goroka and Hagen. After completing a

degree in combined An-thropology & Sociologyfocusing in Latin Amer-ica from the Universityof Santa Cruz in Califor-nia, Young Zoe is cur-rently helping out withher parents business

while at the same time,pursuing a Masters inBusiness Studies & In-ternational Develop-ment.She is fascinated by

PNG and plans to re-turn one day, if achance comes her way.“We all had a great

time in PNG, talked tomany people on thegeneral happeningsand it is interesting tosee many differenttypes of people, yet withmany commonalities,desires and familystructures. “Everyone was really

nice and helpful .This isa unique trip and a pil-grimage to rememberour late uncle’s 15thdeath anniversary, andalso for the installationof the new Bishop forWewak. “I didn’t know what to

expect as I was tooyoung and didn’t knowthe late bishop, and the

work he did in PNG. Butfrom what people saidand did showed us hewas well known, admiredand loved, and he im-pacted on the lives ofmany Papua NewGuineans. The four visitors had a

memorable experienceon their travels and forone, the three hours’drive to Timbunke in midSepik was fantastic,though generally, theroad was “not too good,but drivable.“We travelled by

canoe on the SepikRiver, ate stewed croco-dile meat which tasteddelicious! But the heatwas more than we areused to, however, thebeautiful natural scenery,friendly people and therich cultural activities wesaw on our way compen-sated for that .I wouldlike to spend more timein PNG, and I plan to re-turn in future,” Zoe said.

Their fondest memo-ries included their recep-tion in Wewak and alsofrom the villagers at Tim-bunke.“The reception we got

at Wewak, especiallyupon hearing that wewere family members ofthe late Archbishop Ark-feld who was held in highesteem by the people,was so great.“The wonderful wel-

come at Timbunke bythe villagers who gaveus young coconuts orkulau to drink and thesingsing group on theboat was incredible,”Rose said.She also stated that

the singing during thenew bishop’s installationceremony which was ablending of tradition andthe normal liturgy wassomething unique butawesome.The biggest changes

that Fr Vince has seen inPort Moresby in his 14

years of absence in PNGare, the rapid populationgrowth in the city, andthe deteriorating roadconditions in some urbantowns and cities, but thefriendliness and hospital-ity of the people remainsintact.“There’s lots more

people now in towns andeverywhere else onegoes. Roads are a lotworse than previously,especially in Mt Hagenand Goroka.In Port Moresby

though, there are moreroad-works and round-abouts which can getconfusing.“But the people remain

the same as ever, happycheerful, and everyonegreets you and I greetthem back, which isnice.”Fr Vince congratulated

the Wantok staff for theirgood work in keeping thenewspaper going despitethe many challengesfaced.

EXCITED WITHCARICATURES :Rose Sternberg,Zoe Arkfeld, JaneBuckley and FrVince Ohlinger ad-mire their caricaturecompliments of pop-ular Wantok car-toonist, Jada Wilson.