MISIMA ISLAND (Part One)

After 17 years I finally travelled back to the island of gold, Misima. Bubu nain was waiting for us at the airport. She, Tama and small uncle Bimbo left the village at around 6:30am on the only Mulolu PMV to get to the station. By 8am they had already arrived and made their way to the airport to wait for the Airlines PNG flight that was scheduled to arrive at 1pm. 

 From left to right: Bubu Nain, Elizabeth and uncle Bimbo with all our luggage waiting for Mulolu

It could not have come at a better time than this now that I'm a grown man going back to visit my anxiously waiting family. I just could not understand why they greet you with tears, "for goodness sake I'm not leaving yet", was what I said in my mind, but it is something you have to get used to when you have returned after a long time. But it was great to see bubu meri and uncle Bimbo, who, after 17 years did not change much at all.

                                                        Mulolu PMV in Bwagaoia Station

The wait in the station was a long and tiring one, me, mum and Elizabeth were used to the luxury of having a vehicle to take us around at our convinience, however; we had to wait for more than 3 hours for Mulolu (the only PMV in Bagilina village) to come back from a hire errand. Getting on the PMV was not a challenge, we were new faces so were told to get on first. By the time the last person got on (hanging) we were crammed like sardines in a can. The journey was a butt hurting and leg cramping, neck spraining one, on an unsealed road and an unforgiving terrain that took us from the coast into steep mountains and back to the coast, it was a humbling experience because I got to taste the reality that my family here go through.

 Bubu Nain's House at Bagilina village 

The village was just as I had remembered back when the Matbob family last visited in the christmass holiday of 1995, though many changes had taken place the environment was very much how I had remembered. The first few days were very challenging, it was more of an adjustment stage and I for one was affected the most. First and foremost my village is outside the network coverage and I could not get intouch with my dear Theonila in Arawa, there was no electricity, no flush toilets (this was the worst hahaha), but the village has no problem with water supply, fresh water is everywhere! Cold running rivers are within walking distance from each other and you just have to choose whether to go left or right.

 

Elizabeth and Bubu Nain washing dishes

Fresh flowing rivers like this are within walking distance of each other

 I realised that people from Bagilina are very hard working, like I said before, the terrain is unforgiving, and in the case of the Bagilina people; they live on the side of steep rocky mountains. The road ends at Bubu nain's house and the rest of the way is a narrow rocky track that continues for another 10 kilometres or so. Though the terrain is harsh and extremely rocky, food in the village is always in abundance. My jaw hurt from eating purple taro (yasam) almost everyday with prawns, fish, crayfish and shells. It was like a never ending food fest for us. Bubu nain had a big wooden box of goodies from town, but we would keep that for visitors who would often cook and bring food everyday to the house. 

                                                                                                                          

Food galore...

It was the abundance in food that struck me the most apart from the beauty of the place. I had not realised this when I had previously visited, I was too little and ignorant to notice. It was a reality check and a challenge to me to see people here can do so much with the little resources they have. There is very little space to build houses because the entire Bagilina village is located on the foot of a very steep rocky range. So people have to build houses on rocks or, they will have to cut through rocks and build their houses on top. 

Building houses in Bagilina is not that easy.

 




In the next 2 articles I will feature the "Beauty of Misima" and "The Strive for Development" as a preview to my main article which is the proposed reopening of the Misima mines by mining company Gallipoli. The mine is said to be much bigger than the previous and will take a proposed life span of 80 years.

By Nathan Matbob