ABM - Aid for cyclone stricken Oro Province
One of the cyclone-stricken villages in Oro Province, PNG. Photo Bishop Denys Ririka
Report of the Oro Disaster and pastoral visit of coastal communities on behalf of the Archbishop of ACPNG, by Bishop Denys Ririka.
I sincerely thank the ABM, AusAid, and especially the Government of Australia for the deployment of the Australian Defense Force for two weeks. Bringing the much needed relief supplies and distributing them immediately established, without doubt, hope and assurance in the hearts of many who were badly stricken by Cyclone Guba.
Oro Province is dominantly Anglican.
Imagine losing everything that contributes to one's identity, dignity and status in communities washed out overnight. Leaving everyone on the same level, both the well-to-do and not so well, the intelligent and the dull. The disaster forced them all to undergo together the experiences of shock; confusion, loss, anger, fear and uncertainties.
All those who had lost everything were like orphaned children, nothing visible signified home for them. Their vegetable gardens were covered six inches to a foot or two deep with mud and silt; while other gardens were either washed away or buried under silt and logs. (Church buildings have been washed into the sea at Pongani, Dombada, and Bakumbari.)
The Pastoral Visit Tale
On Thursday 29 November Bp Denys Ririka sailed out of Lae with 12 bales of 1kg rice; 5 cartons of tinned fish; 2 bales of 1kg sugar; 2 cartons of Milo; 2 cartons of instant coffee; 2 cartons of Hard Biscuits; 70 litres of water; 200 litres of diesel as reserve. Two teenage boys (students) stranded in Lae, needing to go home for holidays were welcomed to join David, the assistant to Timothy the skipper and the bishop.
The following five hours was hard going against the wind and the rising waves until they sailed behind the islands.
At 3:45 am they set sail into the coastline of Oro Province on Friday the 30 November, St Andrew's Day.
Three kms north from the mouth of the Mamba River and half a km off shore they sailed into glossy, milky brown coloured uninviting water. Mamba was flooding, and there were islands of palms, trees and logs floating out to open sea. It took 15 minutes to navigate around three reefs as a local man shouted instructions from the beach because the water was muddy.
Following the instructions carefully, Tim steered the boat to about 15 metres from the shore.
The boys checked the depth of the dark brown chocolate water and indicated that it was over a metre deep. David dropped the anchor and Tim and the bishop and slid into the water to wade ashore. Both men sank into a muddy water bed. They waded carefully until they were on the dry sandy beach and met a handful of people who had congregated.
The Bishop then instructed the boys to offload rice, fish for the community, sugar and some coffee for the priest. And there at the beach Fr Edgar asked the bishop to pray for his people and bless them before sailing on. Bishop Ririka prayed with the people there at the beach.
The scene was gracious and heart-breaking. The visit was rewarding; being with them was valuable; and departing was painful yet challenging.
'Most of the places that I visited from here on followed the similar pattern. Swimming and wading ashore seemed to be the way to go.'
Bp Denys Ririka's wife Lesley spoke recently at the Parish of St Mark's, Bellerive which supports the work of ABM in PNG. Lesley Ririka is sister to Joan Harvey of the Anglican Parish of Burnie.