Papua New Guinea is a country of roughly 6.1 million people just off the northern tip of Australia. Papua New Guinea boasts one of the most notoriously difficult mountainous terrains in the world with many parts of the country inaccessible by road or even by air. There are more than 700 language groups, reflecting the diversity of the Papua New Guinean peoples, and 85% of the population lives in rural or remote locations. The difficulty that Papua New Guineans face in accessing quality and affordable medical services and education contributes to the staggeringly high number of women dying from complications in pregnancy and childbirth which ranges from 470-820 women per 100,000 births, depending on location within the country. This means, in some cases, mothers in Papua New Guinea are over 130 times more likely to die than mothers in developed countries.
Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, is a very challenging city. It is hot, dusty, smokey, chaotic and dangerous, but it is also exhilarating and teeming with some of the most polite and friendly people I’ve ever met – everyone seemed to want to say hello to me or shake my hand. On my first visit to the Air Nuigini Cargo depot, to arrange collection of a shipment of medical equipment, I was talking with a very an intrigued man who on learning it was just my second day in the city, exclaimed, ‘Oh, you’re just a newborn baby here!’ and there were many times where I felt just that.
This visit to PNG was my first field trip as a young international development worker and there were many instances in my first week there that I found very challenging, such as seeing firsthand the reality of Papua New Guinea’s high rates of domestic abuse played out on the roadside, having to be accompanied everywhere for safety and security, sitting in complete darkness at the office during one of the routine power outages, to holding my breath each time our driver swerved to avoid a pothole in the road.
But the challenging moments were equally matched by remarkable and inspiring moments. My first visit to the Port Moresby Marie Stopes Centre and meeting the nurses was an amazing experience. I felt an instant connection with the work we do on the ground and seeing the queue of people waiting to go in was immediate validation of the remarkable and life-changing work Marie Stopes does.
Sister Hane, a retired nursed and Community Based Service Provider, told me that after her work at the centre and on outreach each day she goes home to Hanuabada (Port Moresby’s largest stilt village and settlement – it literally means ‘big village’) where she sits on the wharf, chews betel nut and casually but ‘covertly’ talks to people and answers their questions about family planning and sexually transmitted infections. .
One of the most enjoyable moments on the trip was helping the program take receipt of a newly donated ultrasound machine. The ‘new’ second hand ultrasound machine, kindly donated by the team from the Australian Marie Stopes Centre in Salisbury, Queensland, has with it the function to print pictures of the scans, which has never before been an option for our clients in Papua New Guinea. Sister Lista, the Port Moresby Centre manager, was very happy with the new machine and commented that this would be a great attraction for women who come to our centre for their ante-natal checks and scans as they would now be able to see a ultrasound scan of their babies.
While this was a short trip, I feel energised to return to Papua New Guinea in August and assist the program for a one-year placement as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development (AYAD).So as they say in PNG ‘Lukim Yu!’ or ‘see you soon’.
