MORESBY MESSENGER 4

New Year Moves
January in PNG is 'summer' holiday time - all the government offices take a long time to re-open after Christmas and New Year, and all schools are closed until the new academic year starts at the beginning of February. In the Anglican Church, however, this is a time of considerable staff activity, as it is within this period that the bishops draw up new 'postings' lists for those clergy to be moved, usually after completing 4 years in a parish. This often coincides with the priest taking his two months' leave after 2 years' service; so he and his family will travel back to their home village for a holiday, and immediately upon their return move elsewhere. And, rather like 'chains' of house movers in Britain, the whole process may require one family to make the first move before anyone else can make theirs - all of it complicated, of course, by the attendant need to move clergy children to different schools….

By the end of 2007, Peter had pretty much worked out who he wanted to move where, and began the delicate procedure of talking to the priests and parish councils involved to find out whether their needs and preferences corresponded with his plans for the diocese as a whole - all rather like a game of chess, but with real people on the board! Things were further complicated by the November floods in Oro Province, as some clergy were unable to take their home leave, while some priests and parish councillors did go and while there communication with them was impossible. Eventually, however, the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place, a chain of moves organised, and the new postings put in place. As you can imagine in such situations, parishes do not always get much time to repaint or repair a rectory between one man leaving and the next arriving, so Fr Denny Guka and family leaving St John's Cathedral, nobly camped out at St Martin's Boroko in the church hall until their rectory was ready for them - can't imagine any English parish requiring a clergy family to do that! Thus February saw Peter conducting his first Induction services for three of our city parishes, and issuing a licence for a priest to go to St Lawrence's Tabubil - the diocese's furthest-flung parish in the mountains near the Indonesian border. These have been colourful and happy occasions, and in each church we have felt that both priest and people are happy with the moves.

A different sort of move, but equally important, is that of Gilford Kove, a young man from Oro Village squatter settlement, who is starting 4 years at Newton Theological College - the first ordinand our diocese is starting to sponsor since we arrived. Peter had flown over to Popondetta together with all the other bishops for Newton College's annual council meeting just before the new term started, when Gilford's place there was approved. On getting up at 4am for the return journey, however, they discovered that the College bus, scheduled to take them to the airport, had broken down…. After a long wait, the driver of the College truck was found - only to hear that the tyres were flat, and the only pump five miles away. At this stage all five bishops of the Anglican Church of PNG picked up their bags and trudged down the road in the dark until a PMV (public motor vehicle) came past which they flagged down! Bishop Tevita paid the fares (Peter didn't have a bean on him!) and they got to the airport in time - as the flight was an hour late anyway…. This is a nice little illustration of the unpredictability of life here, applying to high and low alike: hard to imagine all the bishops of the C of E, say, having to thumb a lift on the A1…!

New Year Growth
Port Moresby's relatively short rainy season arrived on cue on Christmas Day with a satisfactory downpour that evening. Overcast days and similar deluges can be expected up until April, after which they gradually disappear. So Moresby is nice and green again, and we have become adept at forecasting rainy days from seeing which way the huge PNG flag on Parliament Hill is blowing! All this moisture has galvanised Sue into action to begin establishing more of a proper garden around our home: new fencing behind the house led to planting a hedge of bougainvillea and hibiscus cuttings in front of it, to try and eventually ameliorate noise and dust from the road, while new plants in the front are proving very colourful. Gardening is very satisfying here because of the fast growth rates: sow some pawpaw seeds in September, have little trees big enough to plant out by November, and the first fruits are developing on trunks taller than us by March - good, eh? We have also benefited by someone else's sowings: the tall pawpaw tree right next to our house can be harvested directly from the balcony, using a crozier to pull the trunk towards us!

Work has started on our compound where the new STI clinic is to be built, in the form of site levelling and mounding. Sue suggested that money could be saved by taking our own shrub cuttings, so a green-fingered compound workman is starting off 1000 bougainvillea and 1000 plumbago cuttings in plastic nursery bags - all taken from existing plants around us. By the time the clinic is up, they should be ready to plant in their new positions: we may well do something similar for a chapel garden, when we are able to start that project.

Bishops and Cardinals
The Anglican Church of PNG's handful of expatriate employees (and their dependants) have, since last August, found themselves in the embarrassing position of being here illegally. This was because our Provincial Secretary failed to submit new work permit applications when the old ones expired. Archbishop James Ayong eventually asked him to resign, and Port Moresby's Diocesan Secretary Tim Williams was asked to put in the applications instead. Christmas holidays arrived, all central government bureaucratic activities ceased, and we continued in limbo - Tim actually being barred from flying home to Australia on Boxing Day for his niece's wedding. All this prompted a useful analysis of how ACPNG is administered, and how the system might be improved - with our Australian Anglican partners ABM attending discussions too. The upshot was that a new structure has been put in place based on a plan suggested by Peter whereby the 5 diocesan bishops and their secretaries, plus the senior Provincial staff from the office in Lae meet quarterly for strategic planning in a more consultative fashion.

The end of February finally brought Peter's new work permit, valid until July 2010, in which he finds himself employed in a category entitled "Bishops and Cardinals" - reminding us that he's already been a cardinal - we have photos to prove that in the 1970's he and fellow UCL student David Lloyd hired cardinal costumes and roller-skated up and down Downing Street in the days before it was gated off… As a bishop, however, he has been invited to Australia after Easter, where he will preach and give talks in the parish of Christ Church North Adelaide which will assist us in fund-raising for our chapel: building has to start by the end of June, otherwise the planning permission lapses. He will also attend one day of the Australian Bishops' conference being held in Newcastle, New South Wales. Prior to this, however, we will have a week's holiday with English friends near Brisbane: it will be our first break since we arrived in Port Moresby - the first anniversary of which falls this year on Easter Day. We will celebrate this at the Church of the Holy Family, Hohola, where Peter will be preaching at the Holy Week services.

May all your Easter celebrations be joyful ones!

Peter and Sue Ramsden,
P.O.Box 6491,
Boroko,
NCD,
Papua New Guinea ramsden@daltron.com.pg