By MALUM NALU
Today, please spare your thoughts and prayers for the people of Daru and Western province, who have needlessly suffered for so many years, because of neglect of both provincial and national governments and the squandering of billions of kina.
A once-beautiful colonial town has been brought to its knees through years of neglect by politicians and public servants.
I was in Daru last Friday, June 1, for the launching of PNG Sustainable Development Program projects, and what I saw around me truly bothered my conscience.
My thoughts and prayers also for my tambus (in-laws) in Iruupi village, where my late wife Hula comes from, one of the southernmost points of PNG, near the Torres Strait.
May Daru and Western province rise like the phoenix from the sad ashes!
I will help in what little way I can, that is my gurantee! |
A picture of abject poverty on the mudflats of Daru, Western province, which I took last Friday. This waterfront settlement is used by the 'canoe people' of Daru. They, and many others in Daru, live in abject poverty because of years and years of neglect by both national and provincial governments. |
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The canoe people of Daru, who live on their canoes on the mudflats of this forgotten South Fly town, are a feature of the place. They, and many others in Daru, live in abject poverty because of years and years of neglect by both national and provincial governments. |
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| A mother and her child cooking on a canoe on the mudflats of Daru |
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| Last Friday, when we were driving in for launching of the trestle wharf renovation in Daru funded by PNGSDP, these people from the nearby waterfront settlement on the mudflats stood by and wondered what was going on. They have suffered from years of neglect by both national and provincial governments. |
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| Daru post office last Friday, June 1. Goodness, Post PNG, with all the money you're making, why not set up a new post office for Daru? |
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Firewood vendors at a settlement at Tawo'o Point, Daru, where the international deepwater port is being built by PNGSDP. There is abject poverty in and around Daru because of years and years of neglect by both national and provincial governments.
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