“One lady told how she had lost three boys and two daughters to malaria, another man spoke of the three children that he had lost to malaria . . . the stories went on and on.  One chap said that until the missionaries came to Malamaunda, they had no access to any medicine due to their remote location, and the death toll each year was in the thousands.  Even now, the villages “close” to Malamaunda are a number of days walk away, and Bob Kennel told how a man had tried to bring his child sick with malaria to the village where Bob was - a three day walk.  After a day’s hike, the child died in the man’s arms and all he could do was return home to bury his little child.  This is happening right now.  As I write this, people here in PNG are dying from malaria . . . only a very short flight away from Australia.  This should not be happening . . . this must not continue to happen.”

Imagining myself as that father carrying his sick child rammed home the impact that malaria has.

Lets not ask “What would I do?

Ask “What can I do?“

While in PNG I met with:

• PNG Bible Society
• Leaders from the Baptist Union of PNG
• Staff from the Christian Leaders Training Centre (CLTC)
• Staff from New Tribes Mission
• Staff and management committee of CRMF (Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship)
• MAF Papua New Guinea Board
• John Kupp, Senior Pastor PNG Christian Centres
• Staff from MAF Papua New Guinea

The MAF LT component of my visit was to share with various groups of people the ministry of MAF Learning Technologies. It is important at this stage of the ministry in Asia Pacific for our staff and those connected closely to us, that it is clear what MAF Learning Technologies ministry looks like so they can communicate to others and potential partners the ministry services and vision.

The most common need described to me was for resources. Learning materials (printed or digital), Bible studies, courses. When I talked about audio resources such as sermons, books, Bibles there was a great amount of interest. The barrier here appears to be access. For example, many of the MAF national staff can afford an MP3 player, but cant access audio Bibles or teachings – and want to! Internet accessible resources are not an option to them – dial-up is slow and unreliable, broadband is new and very expensive, VSAT remains the best option for the near future although Telikom now provides a 3G/CDMA USB modem wireless service which is providing good speeds, but still an expensive option for people in PNG, internet cafes where the public can get online are as rare as a coconut in Antarctica. Christian bookshops have music CDs but not teaching. Digital audio players called the ‘Proclaimer’ are being distributed by the PNG Bible Society (on behalf of Faith Comes by Hearing), but no-one I talked to had heard of them or seen any such device around Goroka or Mt Hagen. Feeding resources for ministry is certainly a service being sought by the Church there.

Philip Bungo, CLTC TEE coordinator, was very interested in DEScribe/DEViewer to put some of his TEE material into a digital format. He gave me some of his learning material so that it could be put into DEViewer as a demonstration of concept – this may become a project for the CRMF Learning technologies position holder. CLTC have over 1000 students doing their TEE courses (each under K40 in cost) and believe they would have many more if others in remote, poor communities could afford the fees.

I gave Richard Wali from Papua New Guinea Bible Society a GoBible (audio NIV NT in English, with scripture, stories, key verses available from the menu) which I bought while in the USA. I was prompted by their desire to reach out to the youth of PNG with audio New Testaments, and to develop audio NT in Tok Ples (mother tongue languages) for people in remote areas.

Richard Wali with GoBible

The church leaders I met host conferences annually for their pastors and typically cannot have all pastors come into the conference – both groups of church leaders I met with showed interest in the concept of recording conference speakers and distributing via MP3 or CD. Again their need was for resources – audio or written. John Kupp is running a Bible College in Mt Hagen for a small number of students, but the college lacks formal structure, course curriculum planning and material, and is probably typical of many small Bible Colleges being run by churches in PNG.

Nikolai Ballin (wife of MAF pilot Brad) attended an STS Workshop in 2009 in the USA and has since run a brief introduction to orality teaching technique with her home group. She is very keen to co-ordinate an STS Workshop in Mt Hagen once suitable dates for the program are advised by program management. Other MAF staff were also interested in learning oral teaching strategies.

MAF learning technologies can certainly meet some of the needs in Papua New Guinea. Whether by equipping the isolated church or equipping our staff in order that they may provide spiritual leadership within their communities. CRMF have budgetted for a Learning Technologies position on their staff and I believe this person will assume responsibility for co-ordinating MAF Learning Technologies ministry projects within PNG.

Please give thanks and pray with me:

• For continued contact with people we can serve and minister to in Papua New Guinea
• For the future MAF LT country co-ordinator for Papua New Guinea
• For the enthusiasm and excitement showed by many who heard of the various MAF LT ministry services
• That we can connect people in PNG to other ministries willing to serve the people in PNG

In this joint project with the Faith Comes By Hearing ministry, staff from the PNG Bible Society distribute the Proclaimers to isolated churches through the four ministers fraternals operating in Papua New Guinea.

What is a Proclaimer?
The Proclaimer is a digital player dedicated to playing God’s Word in the local heart language.

• An installed microchip contains Scriptures in the heart language; the chip will not erase or wear out from frequent playing.
• The battery will play for 15 hours and can be recharged enough times to play the entire New Testament more than 1,000 times.
• The Proclaimer has a built-in generator and solar panel to charge the battery.
• The solar panel, in addition to charging the battery, will run the Proclaimer even without battery power as long as there is sunlight.
• The sound is digital quality and loud enough to be heard clearly by groups as large as 300.

The Proclaimer was developed primarily as a playback device for poor and illiterate people who may not have any other source to hear God’s Word.

PNG Bible Society Vision

The PNG Bible Society has a vision and a passion to see more young people involved in reading and hearing the Scriptures – especially in their own language or ‘Tok Ples”.  They have plans to build a studio in their existing warehouse in order to make audio recordings of the New Testament.  There are over 800 different languages in Papua New Guinea and they have determined that the best place to start is with the Enga region tok ples, which amazingly is spoken by the one people group.

On Friday I visited the Christian Leaders Training College (CLTC) in Banz, Papua New Guinea.

I met with Mr Philip Bungo who is the co-ordinator for the TEE (Theological Education by Extension) program being run by CLTC.
CLTC has designed this program to cater for lay workers, elders, pastors, local Bible school teachers, and church leaders to study towards their “Certificate of Christian Foundations”.

“The need for sound Biblical teaching and training of Christian leadership is one of the most urgent issues in our country and the South Pacific Islands today” says Mr Bungo.  Mr Bungo came to Christ through studying a TEE course when in prison many years ago.

The Certificate of Christian Foundations is a course which is designed to integrate Biblical knowledge to equip and enable a student to become a true disciple of Christ.  The courses also equip a student to minister to their churches and families.  Students are able to learn in their home community and not leave home or travel across PNG to study.  This also allows students to remain active in ministry while they study.

There are three main components of TEE study:

1. Home Study – a goal set of one unit per week (approx. 4 hours) with students studying at home using learning material provided by CLTC. Workbooks contain learning notes, questions and revision tasks
2. Practical Assignments – Each unit of study has a project or practical assignment to be done i order to put their learning into practice.
3. Regular Small Group Seminars – these provide opportunity for students to share together what they have been learning.  Led by a tutor, these groups are occasions of mutual encouragement, fellowship and spiritual growth.

He currently has over 1000 students across the country studying various courses on topics including:

• Discipleship
• Worship
• Marriage and Family Life
• Life of Christ
• Childrens Ministry
• and 11 other topics

Each of these courses costs less than PGK40 (40 Kina is about AUD$17) and yet despite the low costs many Papua New Guineans in remote areas simply cant afford to take the courses.  If you are prompted to help support the training of isolated PNG church leaders by covering their costs for some or all of their TEE courses contact me.  The courses are made available in both English and Tok Pisin and can be studied in a group of 7 – 12 led by a tutor or in isolated student mode.

As these students grow spiritually, the Church in Papua New Guinea becomes more spiritually mature and better equipped to be used by God to reveal Himself to others.

Pray that all those wanting to study, learn and grow will be able to with the removal of whatever barriers they face.

Their goal is to be PNG’s leading mobile data service provider.  At the moment Digicel mobile web data is available on GPRS enabled handsets and Digicel charge this data at the rate of PGK1.99 per MB (equivalent to AUD$0.82/MB)

To compare this to what option we have in Australia right now – Virgin Mobile offer 3G web access plans AUD$15 for 1GB of data (AUD$0.015/MB or 4toia per megabyte)

Mobile Web services currently available in PNG for mobile web access:

Digicel Web Access – GPRS – PGK1.99 per MB, to GPRS handsets or Digimodem (USB)
at PGK2 per megabyte, Im not even going to try this one out…….

Telikom X’Cess – 3G-CDMA – PGK0.20 per MB, to X’cess EVDO (USB)

I picked up a Telikom Xcess CDMA modem from Telikom Mt Hagen a couple of days ago and did some speed tests around Kagamuga (Mt Hagen, WHP, PNG) using www.speedtest.net (with nothing else running in the background, and connecting to the Brisbane server).

The modem itself is an ADU-510c (pictured right), and came with a USB extender and software disk.
I had to install  run it on Windows 7 in compatibility mode for Windows XP.

Results from speed tests so far:  (fastest download – 2270kbps at POM International airport)

May 25 Tuesday 530pm
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 40Kb/s Upload – 10kb/s
latency 453ms

May 25 Tuesday 545pm
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 310kb/s Upload – 10kb/s
latency 276ms

May 25 Tuesday 6pm
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 40kb/s Upload – 10kb/s
latency 1333ms

May 25 Tuesday 850pm
couldnt connect – verifying, terminated

May 27  Thursday 410pm
Raining
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 350kb/s Upload – 40kb/s
latency 244ms

May 27 Thursday 415pm
Raining
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 710kb/s Upload – 50kb/s
latency 244ms

May 27 Thursday 420pm
Raining
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 850kb/s Upload – 50kb/s
latency 284ms

May 27 Thursday 600pm
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 980kb/s Upload – 60kb/s
latency 229ms

May 27 Thursday 610pm
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 1290kb/s Upload – 60kb/s
latency 224ms

May 27 Thursday 710pm
Kagamuga
Download – 320kb/s Upload – 50kb/s
latency 235ms
May 27 Thursday 745pm
Kagamuga
Download – 860kb/s Upload – 50kb/s
latency 206ms

May 29 Saturday
Mt Hagen Squash Club
Time          Dwn (kbps)     Up(kbps)
400pm      1240                50
405pm        540                50
410pm       1460               60
415pm       1160               50
425pm      1740               60

May 30th

POM International Terminal

515pm     1430     70
520pm    1870     80
530pm     2270    80

MAF Pilot Clint Smith with the GA8 Turbo Airvan in Toowoomba

Toowoomba’s airfield received a special stopover from an aircraft on a mission yesterday.  A newly developed turbo charged airvan or GA8, designed and manufactured in Gippsland, Victoria, was on its way to Papua New Guinea to take on the world’s most difficult flying conditions.

The plane was built for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to carry out medical and missionary work in developing PNG.  MAF pilot chief Clint Smith said PNG was a country of difficult terrain with few sound roads.

“PNG is a struggling, developing nation hindered by isolating terrain and there are places where there are no roads or where the roads can only be used for a few months each year,” Mr Smith said.

“Some of the airstrips are shocking and weather patterns can be really, really unpredictable.”

The $775,000 plane will take pride of place in MAF’s PNG fleet alongside 15 other aircraft.  The big difference with this latest edition is the addition of a turbo-charger that will allow the plane to soar to greater heights faster.  Mr Smith said a United States military assessment of flying conditions worldwide found the standards required to fly safely in PNG are the highest in the world.

And MAF will be one of only two organisations to benefit from funds raised by the epic journey.

Ken Evers 33 and Tim Pryse 51, will depart from Bendigo Aerodrome on a day to be determined in May bound for Norfolk Island.

They will continue their journey across the Pacific to California via Hawaii then on to Arizona and New Orleans. From there they will touch down to refuel in Jamaica and Barbados before heading south to Brazil, then due east across the Atlantic to Africa, on to India, Vietnam, the Philippines, PNG and back to Australia.

The history-making flight commemorates Australia’s Centenary of Flight when the famous contortionist Harry Houdini conducted Australia’s first controlled, powered flight in March 1910, changing the landscape of flying in this country forever.

Ken and Tim will fly a GA8-TC Airvan over 26,740 nautical miles in 230 flight hours. The eight-seat Airvan is manufactured by Gippsland Aeronautics in Morwell (Vic).

The flight aims to draw attention to malaria, the world’s most common infectious, mosquito-borne disease, claiming over a million lives annually. Most victims are those least able to afford preventative drugs or treatments.

The pilots hope to raise one million dollars

to combat the global impact of malaria by inviting donations via the millionsagainstmalaria.com website to two nominated charities - Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and the Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and Pacific (AFAP).

People in many of the tropical and sub-tropical areas the pair will fly across suffer from malaria including Papua New Guinea where Ken Evers grew up as a teenager and was deeply impacted by the Work of MAF.

“MAF pilots are my heroes”

“For me, MAF was the epitome of aviation. MAF pilots are my heroes,” he said.

“Living in PNG and watching the work of MAF taught me the lesson that you can use the gifts you have been given to do the right thing. And of course in the case of MAF it is using the gift of flight to help people.

“I watched what MAF did in PNG. I saw my friend’s life saved (by a MAF flight) and now I want to offer my support. I think MAF is such an unsung group. People fail to see that MAF is saving countless lives every year. ”

For further details about Ken and Tim’s epic journey and an opportunity to donate online to MAF, go to  www.millionsagainstmalaria.com

Carter Family and the DOT motorcycle - 2009

Mr Carter rode into Dunedin on the South Island on Wednesday and was expected to ride into Gore yesterday, before reaching the town of Bluff today – clocking up 2,220km in 14 days. He plans to end the ride at an annual motorbike rally called the Burt Munro Challenge at Oreti Beach near Invercargill this weekend.

So far, he has been able to raise more than NZ$20,000 (K40,000) on his road trip – far short of the NZ$1 million (K2 million) needed to by a new Australian-built GA8 Airvan and donate it to the Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) for its work in PNG. Mr Carter was reported by the Otago Daily Times as saying that he was praying hard for more funds.

The DOT tackles a rough stretch of road in PNG

Mr Carter bought the motorbike in 1959 and shipped it to Mt Hagen where he and his family were doing missionary work. He said the DOT (devoid of trouble) was ideal for the remote and rugged conditions he encountered in the Western Highlands province, and it was his only mode of transport for the seven-and a-half years he lived and served God there. When it was time to return to New Zealand, the motorcycle was “a wreck”, so he sold it to the mission and left it in PNG.

Thirty-eight years later, Mr Carter had retired and was keen to relive a small part of his youth by buying another 1955 DOT Scrambler. After a long search, he found one and, to his astonishment, it turned out to be his very own old 1955 model – refurbished. “I was convinced that God was part of this reunion and I made the decision to ride the DOT from Cape Reinga to Bluff, as a fundraising venture towards the purchase of a new Mission Aviation Fellowship plane for Papua New Guinea,” Mr Carter said.

PNG men admire the DOT

Source: PNG National newspaper

Supporting PNG communities

Coffee grown in the highlands of Papua New Guinea is some of the best around. However, for many growers, getting the coffee processed is nearly impossible due to an accessibility and lack of roading infrastructure.

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is often the only outside contact for these isolated communities. They provide aerial transport of people and produce, thus helping Papua New Guinea’s developing economy.

LatitudeSix – coffeeforcommunities returns 10% of sales of it’s coffee, back to the growers in Papua New Guinea. This is over and above the price the growers initially get for selling their beans. The projects that LatitudeSix help fund, aid further development of the communities that grow coffee crops.