Over the Easter break I had the opportunity to return to my home in Bougainville, although it was a chore getting there (the ridiculous fees that Air Niugini charges for goodness sakes it’s cheaper to travel to bloody Cairns!!!), not to mention the taxing 6 hour drive (especially if you’re 7 months pregnant) – however it was worth the effort. Coming back to the harsh reality of life in Port Moresby is as pleasant as chewing on corrugated iron, even if you’ve been away for only a few days. I got reminded not only of what I was missing out on BUT also what was lacking that should be a given.

In our home provinces (well those provinces NOT poisoned by disgusting mine tailings in their river systems) we have fresh, free flowing clear water to drink and bathe in. There’s no need to look for a ‘certified organic’ symbol or labelling on our food. You don’t have to worry about paying monthly rent or land rates because the land we have our houses, gardens and agriculture plots upon is as ours as the people who share the same gene pool as us. We have our own systems in place that have for thousands of years served the purpose of reconciling and healing broken relationships rather than dealing our justice, actually maybe that’s why we have so many ‘law and order’ problems we are trying to live up to rules and regulations that don’t fix or heal any wrong done but merely punish wrong doing!

No matter where in the outer provinces you go – it seems everywhere else is a more pleasurable, than the main city of Papua New Guinea. Come to think of it, we sacrifice a lot more than we gain by moving to ‘the city’ for the sake of education or employment opportunities.

Now maybe there is an excuse for Bougainville (especially my precious wild South) that’s still in recovery and rebuilding stages - but other provinces after 38 years of independence AND more than 5 significant resource projects (that supposedly have contributed meaningfully to the development of PNG) should have complete access to well-resourced and well-staffed health centres along with quality primary and secondary education.

Seeing once again, the rusty structures and the still (after 24 years) slightly blue mighty Jaba River, the left over bits of iron from washed away bridges and the remnants of large warehouses made me nostalgic and glad at the same time. Nostalgia for the affluence that Panguna brought in its heydays but glad that it was shut down because it has given my generation an opportunity to really think about what we want for the future of Bougainville. The crisis despite all the damage, hurt and destruction it caused has opened many of my generations eyes to be more politically and economically aware.

Right now our parents’ generation may be the ones creating the legislation, building the infrastructure and economic opportunities for Bougainville but when it comes down to the actual movement of Bougainville – my generation will be the ones that steer where it will and can go…I have started praying earnestly that Bougainville doesn’t follow the road that PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji have gone. Where it seems everything is for sale including the political and economic integrity of those nations, where millions of hectares of land has been prostituted leaving the landowners as good as squatters on their own land, where multinational companies have additional rights and are given large tax holidays increasing their dominance and leaving the citizens to make up by paying stupid amounts of income tax and GST etc.

But then again the time for praying earnestly maybe is long gone – it may be time for a movement and surely it must be movement in the right direction.

©Klaireh