YOU DO NOT REALISE THAT YOU ARE THE MOST NEEDED UNTIL YOU GET THERE

This is my first time experience as a teacher at the Pindiu High school. Firstly if you don’t know where that place is located, here’s where. Pindiu is located at the foot of the Cromwell range in the Finschhafen district, Morobe Province. It is a small station built around an old airstrip on two and a half hectares of flat but slope mountainside. Traveling to Pindiu from Lae is very expensive. From Lae to Finchhafen costs K80 for the Lutheran shipping passengers. From Gagidu in Finchhafen traveling by road up to Pindiu is K70. And you would have to spend on food and buai roughly K50 totally about K200 for the trip.

Well the adventure gets interesting because you do not get to Pindiu at the end of the road trip. The road trip actually ends at Silamana which is roughly half a day walk to Pindiu. Actually half a day walk is what the locals told me but it took me for the first time one heck of a whole days walk.

The passenger trucks couldn’t travel passed Silamana because the road was in a very bad condition. So I stayed the night and walked 6 o’clock first thing in the morning. By the time I got to Mongi River it was 3:00pm in the afternoon. And from Mongi River to Pindiu Station it took me approximately another 6hours to get there. By 9:00pm I arrived at the newly built Pindiu High School.

Most of the populated villages are located beyond Pindiu and most people depend on coffee as the main cash crop for income. I have witnessed villagers carrying bags of coffee beyond Pindiu, passed Pindiu to Mongi and up to Silamana. I learnt they have been doing that for more than 6 years now. There is huge untapped potential in coffee to boost the economy of Finchhafen that I have seen ignored under the broad day light. There are many closed down trade store you can see in many villages as it has become quite impossible to transport goods in bulks up to the station. With the few struggling retailers that are still operating the cost of goods sold is so shockingly expensive.

The nearest health facility is the Wagazaring Health Center. It lacks proper facilities and medical supplies for more than six years now. On the 5th of March, 2012 I witnessed a girl who was bitten by a snake. There was no supply of anti-venom when she was taken to Wagazaring health centre for treatment. On the way down to Pindiu and the next kilometers down to the river the girl died.

On my way back to Lae, I accompanied a fellow teacher and his pregnant wife. The husband is a teacher at Pindiu High School and the wife is a teacher at Pindiu Primary School. We had to walk that distance from Pindiu all the way to Silamana. The only reason for the couple to go down is for the pregnant wife to get better maternal treatment and proper health care before, during and after labour.

Most of you only heard about Pindiu High School but did not see it yet. Well, the school has this year registered about 300 students. The students come from as far as Dedua, Mindik, Burum, Lalang, Gain and also the surrounding nearby Pindiu villages. The school is a boarding school. The school only takes grade 9’s and 10’s. There are two (2) bush material and two permanent building built building for classrooms. There are two bush material built dormitories for the male and female students respectively. The mess is a semi-permanent building. The Pindiu LLG contributed four old permanent houses to the school that is now used as teachers’ houses. The administration office is a permanent building.

I taught English for the grade 9. Well it is sad that I cannot teach them Grade 9 curriculum so I have to improvise at a level of Grade 5 or 6. You have to speak in English and then translate in tok pisin again in order to really know if they understand what you meant. There are no resources to teach so we have to make use of what we have at hand. There are three grade 9 classes and two grade 10 classes. The teaching staff is really understaffed so we have to take double subjects and even taking the subjects we are not specialized in. I just hope that the head teacher won’t ask me to teach science in the next couple of weeks because I have no idea of this subject but I will pray that God will help me to help these students.

Well, its only 6 weeks for me to be in Pindiu and I shared with you some of my experiences. I am a young newly graduate male teacher from Siassi District and I have a heart to serve diligently in my career as a teacher. It doesn’t matter whether I am from Pindiu or not I will give my best with the help of God. I would like to encourage young teachers especially those who are not married to go out there to the remote schools and serve. These students and the people need you. By the time we get married we won’t have such opportunity as we would have when we are unattached. You won’t have to worry about marital responsibility.

People in the remote villages are kind people. There is food and good community around you. YOU DO NOT REALISE THAT YOU ARE THE MOST NEEDED UNTIL YOU GET THERE.

I pray that many young newly graduate teachers must have a heart to go out to many such remote schools as Pindiu high school to give their best to the needed Papua New Guineans out there.
Thank you.

Peter Daniels (Mr.)
Teacher - Pindiu High School

Comments

  1. Kind hearts are very rare. Well done Peter.

    ReplyDelete
  2. God has seen yo heart, Peter. Do not lose hope and have faith in God and may this journey you have taken be your success in life. God bless you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am now where I am because of sacrifices made by people like you Peter. I am from a remote village and had to walk to school every day including Sunday for church. Our teachers and their families also use to walk to town which could take a whole day for their supplies. It is time the government rewards people line you better. Keep up the good work and I salute you my teachers.

    ReplyDelete

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