In February we had the pleasure of ma=
king an excursion to the village of Medibur. …
This village about 100 km from Madang, but with the curves=
in the road and all it was a 325 km journey. The trip took us about ei=
ght hours one Sunday. A friend from DWU, Brother Brendan, was our tour =
guide and along the way we collected up a friend of his, Damlik. Damlik=
is a recent DWU grad who is presently interning in medicine at a rural =
health center and soon will be a practicing doctor. We picked up Damlik=
on the outbound journey and enjoyed the day with him. (You can see Dam=
lik in the photo of the dug out canoe.)
The trip took us along =
the North Coast Highway from Madang. The road was in excellent conditio=
n in places and very rough and pot-holed in others. On good stretches w=
e could manage as much as 80-100 km/hr but in many places we only averag=
ed around 20 km/hr. It turns out Br. Brendan knows a few folks in Medib=
ur. A few years back one man from the village was a student at DWU.
If you're curious, you can locate Medibur here: http://wikimapia.o=
rg/26968836/Medibur.
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<=
img alt=3D'' src=3D'http://files.myopera.com/bcupp/albums/14185012/thumb=
s/village-6.jpg_thumb.jpg' />
The folks in this village live in simple grass houses, as you c=
an see, as their ancestors have done for generations. The village has a=
generator which they can choose to run if they care to use the fuel. S=
uch villages sometimes run their generator for a few hours each week. C=
ooking is done over open fires and you can see laundry in the pictures.<=
br/>
We were told =
there is an open pit toilet across the highway from the village (20-30 m=
eters away). There is also a school for the children somewhere nearby a=
nd a rural health clinic within a few kilometers. Such improvements in =
village life were mostly unknown throughout the country except for the l=
ast few decades.
<= br/>
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The children were=
fun. Children are certainly the international ambassadors of good will=
, everywhere. They laughed, sang, ran, and played all around us. When =
they saw our camera, they just had to have their pictures taken. Beside=
s me and Cindy, you can see Br. Brendan with the children. We asked abo=
ut the adults but it seems most adults simply go inside their houses whe=
n outsiders are in the village. Br. Brendan did visit with the two men =
he knows in the village. We also paid respects at the gravesite of the =
former student, who died of tuberculosis a little while ago. =
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The more we live here, the more often we say ever=
y day "expect the unexpected!"