Nomad Report

Nomad Report
Dr Peter Bowman
24 December 2004
On 16/12/04, after a hectic week in Kiunga setting up plans and
nets and stores to the various Nomad areas, Jan and I and Giwi
flew into Nomad on an APNG Twin Otter with a load of nets.
We stored nets and stores marked for Dodomona locked up at the
Council offices (Tokia has the key) and had the rest carried by
Gasume people to Gasume for storage in Father Aloi's mission
radio shed. The carriers names were listed for free nets when we
distribute to Gasume.
Wed 17 Nov: We sent to Honinabi for 33 carriers for Haninabi &
Suabi nets - nets for their whole family as payment.
Thu 18 Nov: We set off for Honinabi, about four hours to the north-west, leaving Luke at the store
to load up the carriers when they arrive. Meanwhile we had our own problems for patrol baggage
carriers - no volunteers from Gasume, the response we got was "they aren't our nets so we don't
want to carry them". Even at 4K per day. I'll try 5K next time. We managed to pick up a man
and a boy in Nomad, for the price of nets for their family.
As well as me and Jan, our patrol consists
of:
Giwi: the Kiunga nets officer, supervising
the first net distribution in Nomad area.
Jeff Onibo: Jeff is a Kiunga man, a
pastoral worker with Father Aloi's mission
who has made himself invaluable as a
patrol manager and clerk. We have hired
him on a casual basis at 15K per day.
Wesley: A Community Health Worker
from Mougulu, attached on a voluntary
basis to our patrol by Moses. He had
walked the 20km from Mougulu to join us
the previous day.
Tom: a companion and carrier brought by
Wesley from Mougulu, whom we will pay
5K per day as a carrier.
Luke: A landowner at Gasume, and Father Aloi's mission Prayer Leader, also hired for the patrol
at 15K per day.
Our baggage includes personal gear, the "Kitchen Bag",
and three medical kits each for Jan and me: a basic
diagnostic-plus-emergency-drugs 'Doctor's Bag" box,
an "Extended Kit" with bits and pieces for minor
procedures plus a few injectable antibiotics and
antimalarials, and a bag of standard, locally available
clinic drugs.
We soon met the carriers on their way to Gasume, and
they were arriving back at Honinabi not long after us -
including a party of women who chose to walk

separately from the menfolk. We settled comfortably in with Steven Ruma, the CHW. Bananas,
sago, kau-kau, greens, and flying-fox for
dinner.
We had made a little embossed gold plaque sewn onto the
First Net stating "World First 5-year Net - Honinabi 2004".
The Toksavi went well, followed by presentation by Giwi of
the First Net to Dina Gabo, and net sales plus top-up MDA
went briskly for the next four hours. People from nearby
villages and corners (Sodiobi, Teriabi, Wonabi, Kwombi,
Giwobi and Negekambi) had been notified already to come
into Honinabi for the event. There were some villagers from
further afield also. The population listing was chaotic, but we
settled on treating the whole group of villages as a unit, for
simplicity. We sent 6 carriers back to Nomad to fetch
another 160 nets from Brother Joachim at Gasume as we
looked like running short.
Fri 19 Nov: The "toksavi" (information and
health talk with the community) got under
way about 0830. We had lined up a local
leader and ex Provincial MP, Dina Gabo, to
receive the first net, in the absence of the
current Councillor Iya Fami. As far as we
were aware, these are the first Long-Life
nets to be distributed in the world. (since
then, it seems likely that although they may
have been the first purchased, they are not
likely to have been the first distributed. See
“Time” article of 29Nov04 below.

Sat 20 Nov: We split into two patrols. Jan is to complete the Honinabi area with Giwi and Steven
before returning to Kiunga to meet Margaret and Shawny. I headed north to Testabi (four hours
walk) and Suabi with Jeff, Wesley and Tom. I had already sent Luke ahead to organise 16
carriers from Testabi, who duly arrived and were loaded up before we set off in the afternoon.
Testabi is a neat and clean village of the Gubo tribe, free of pigs by a local council agreement.
They go out to hunt wild pigs occasionally, but don't keep domestic pigs. The result is more
chickens, more kau-kau (sweet potato), more grass, and less mud. Their houses have a range of

interesting split-level open architectures, often
with the kitchen semi-detached, which is more
sensible than the Gebusi all-enclosed plan.
There is a very sociable central "wind-house"
with open sides and all-round sitting benches
for meetings, or for just whiling away the hours
with a pipe and good company - and it seems
to be open to the women also. The village is
SDA, but their missionary, a local man who
converted the village fifteen years ago, died
three years ago. It's Saturday, but there is no
church activity. The village is a spiritual
vacuum. I will tell Fr Aloi that the moment
seems ripe for a takeover bid.
We stayed in the long-abandoned aidpost, but ate very sociably with a local man Gibson and his
family. Several huge fresh-water prawns for dinner (plus bananas and sago).
Sun 21 Nov: Toksavi and Nets and MDA went well through the morning. There are a lot who
have not had the MDA from Honinabi. There are requests to buy more nets, but on our figures
we will be short in Suabi so we are not selling beyond the standard distribution. We are running
very low on single size nets - all the carriers want singles. Sixteen carriers arrived from Suabi, as
arranged by radio from Honinabi.
Mon 22 Nov: Loaded up the carriers and set off for Suabi, about five hours further north. We
walked in the rain, cool and pleasant conditions. Amazingly there are no leeches. Yet a mere
7km to the east, at Igulabi, the leeches rule. Why is it so?
At the Gamami/Bigere river, I got some wonderful movie footage of the carriers emerging from
the jungle to the canoe landing, to the racket of high-spirited jungle whoops.
Suabi is a surprise. It has an airstrip and aidpost, we knew that. But it also has a splendid
modern timber mission house with tanks, glass windows, insect screening, solar lighting, radio,
and gas stove, all abandoned less than a year ago by the long-time ECP American missionary,
Tom Covington and his family. It is cared for now by the station manager Willy. And get this - it
has functional plumbing and a FLUSH TOILET - the only one east of Kiunga, I am sure. We
cooked on gas for two days until the gas ran out. "Gas pinis" as they say here.
In the office I found a roll of maps - including a large-scale survey map of the Dodomona area,
with villages marked but not named. This is just what we need for Margaret's Dodomona patrol -
we have no other map of that part. I don't think the mission will miss it now.
The HCW is Henik Taprin, a handsome
young man with dreadlocks in both his hair
and beard. He had a student from
Rumginae, Roy, with him. Roy remembered
me from my first visit to Kiunga Hospital
where he was working in the outpatients.
It seems that the five villages on the map in
the Suabi area have all moved in to become
corners of Suabi - the only outlier now is a
small village one or two hours to the northeast
whose name is recorded in the GPS
which is now defunct. It turned out that the
majority of them came in the next day for nets

and MDA, so we did not go out to visit there.
There were five Councillors in Suabi, four of them from villages many days walk to the north-east
and north-west. They were walking to Nomad for a councillor's meeting. They asked many
questions about whether ADI was going to do nets and MDA in their villages. Tinahae, Omeri
and Komogato are on Porgera's list. But Duha, Tobi, Okaki, Kehera, and Sesenabi are way out
of the "Nomad" area, but not in Porgera's sphere of interest either. I told them ADI was probably
not going their way anytime soon.
Councillor Joshua of Komogato and Sesenabi showed me a copy of the Porgera World Alliance
Project with nets and filariasis MDA in 2000. This is the first direct information from Porgera that I
have seen. The scientific work is impressive.
Councillor John, four days from Tinahae and
Omeri, together with his son, offered to carry
for us (two days) back to Nomad. It seems
that after his meeting he will walk to Kiunga
(another five days) to open a bank account so
he can access his ward money, which
amounts to something like $1000 for his
population.
Tue 23 Nov: We set up the circus under a
large shady tree in the morning, with brisk
sales. The population here is considerably
less than we had forecast and we ended up
with twenty or thirty nets left over which we did
not want to carry back. We gave ten each to Steven and Henik to sell for petty cash for their
aidposts. The rest sold like hot cakes when we released them.
Wed 24/ Nov: Stopover in Testabi again, as guests of Gibson again. I sent Giwi and Luke off to
Honinabi to pick up Steven and go north with the remaining nets in Honinabi to Udamobi, which
Jan ran out of time to visit. They will meet us back in Nomad.
Thu 25/11/04: Back in Nomad. Giwi and Luke are back already - they walk fast without the
waitpela dokta. I sent Jeff to Siragubi to arrange 10 carriers for Friday.
Fri 26 Nov: Margaret blew in on MAF in the morning.
Sent 100 nets to Siragubi, and took Margaret there in
the afternoon for an "orientation" circus. All the nets
went, and we had to send the carriers back to Gasume
to pick up their payment nets! They tell us of a village
to the east called Defromasum, which is not listed
anywhere, and many of the villagers have turned up for
MDA and nets at Sirigubi. We will have to visit.
I treated a 35yr old male bedbound for the past two
weeks with severe testicular swelling, huge spleen, and
fevers. It turns out he has had testicular elephantiasis
for five years, untreated until the MDA last month. He
has reacted badly, and now has a huge unilateral
orchitis. I give him multiple antibiotics, antimalarials,
analgesics, and Fefol, and arranged for him to get
referral from Nomad HCC to go to Rumginae for
orchidectomy.

Sat 27 Nov: Things are very quiet at Gasume with Fr Aloi away in Kiunga, and Brother Joachim
holding the fort here.
Radio sked with Jan in Kiunga. Airlines of PNG refuse to go to Mougulu. I looks like we will have
to walk the nets from Nomad to Mougulu. I do the calculations, but the walk is a full day each
way, and the logistics for such a huge number of carriers are daunting. MAF are booked to get
450kg of Margaret, Giwi, nets and stores from Nomad to Dodomona.
Greg, the pilot landed at midday on a charter
from Kiunga with various freight for Father Aloi,
a bale of nets for Fuma, and the two drums of
petrol for the outboard for the Strickland River
run. There was not a soul at the airport or a
Gasume to help - Saturday everyone goes to
get sago in the bush. Jeff, Luke, Br Joachim,
Margaret and I rolled those two drums, in full
midday sun, through the fence, across the river,
up the hill, and a kilometer back to Gasume. I
remember asking Fr Aloi when I first arrived
how he did this, and wondering at his answer -
"we just rolled them". Now I know. We all
earned our pay and lost a kilo or two that day.
Sun 28 Nov: Margaret set off to discover Defromasum , about 1 1/2 hours to the east, with Giwi
and Jeff. I stayed for the radio sked. It seems Porgera might move some nets for us.
Defromasum patrol successful - it exists and needed nets and MDA.
Mon 29 Nov: The 3pm sked gave the news that 1) a Porgera Twin Otter was about to arrive with
nets, and 2) MAF was coming RIGHT NOW to do the Dodomona run. They got packed and
headed for the airstrip within five minutes!
The Porgera plane landed packed with nets,
and tried to offload some marked for Nomad.
With no good communication with Kiunga we
had no idea what nets were going where, but
it seemed a good idea to get as many nets
as far east as possible while the opportunity
presented. We bundled them all back in,
then threw in everything else we could
muster from Nomad and Gasume stores to
go to Mougulu too. We will have to count it
all up and recalculate numbers later.
Apparently we have Father Aloi to thank for
this providential Mougulu drop. He tells me
that the pilot wasn't licensed for Mougulu
strip, and couldn't do it. But he spun a
persuasive yarn about what a huge
community health effort this was, and moved
the pilot to do it anyway. Thanks Porgera
and Fr Aloi.
Tues 30 Nov: 0730 "Balus ikam!" The MAF plane didn't get here yesterday, but caught us all
unawares again this morning. We loaded 450kg including Margaret and Giwi and waved them

goodbye. Apparently they landed unscheduled at Fuma half an hour later, to await the fog lifting
at Dodomona. The books and pencils were to go with the rest of the of nets the next day - but we
got a radio message from Margaret that the Dodomona population was much less than predicted,
and to cancel the balance. Dodomona didn't get any colouring books - sorry.
I spent a couple of hours in the afternoon with Jonah
Wigibo, the Porgera Community liason Officer in Nomad,
drinking coconut and planning the Strickland Naval
Campaign. Three good ships under Admiral Aloi,
Commodore Jonah and Captain Jean will take Dokta
Shawny and team including Johannes and Roland up and
down the Strickland, Sio, and Tomo rivers. A complex
land-and-river logistical exercise will get the nets out in
record time. And Porgera will be paying for all the fuel
they use! We forged a concept that ADI will take over
filariasis MDA and nets in the seven villages of Porgera
interest that lie within our area, but Porgera will continue to
provide occasional immunisation and medical patrols to
these villages. Jonah will float this with his superiors.
Wed 1 Dec: Brief talk with Jan at Kiunga on the radio. She
left for Oz later in the morning. Her organising and logistics
work has been terrific.
I did a minor ops clinic for Nomad Health Centre –
excisions of two large old chronic quiescent abscesses,
one on a mid finger, and one in the big toe web and sole. You never see this sort of thing in
Australia.
In the afternoon I did an hour’s talk with Grades 3-7 at the local school – about filariasis and
bednets. They all spoke some English, and most probably understood some of it.
Thu 2 Dec: To Mougulu. I arrived in a crowd at Mougulu airport. Moses and Miriam were
seeing of half their staff on the return flight – Wesley (going to Rumginae for a refresher course),
and George-of-the-Jungle, and a student, Edward.
There has been drama in Mougulu. Moses assures me that tribal warfare, probably reverberating
through to the streets of Kiunga, has been narrowly averted.
Jan described George long ago as a chicmanet,
and this has naturally got him into
trouble. Apparently George and Edward
talked very briefly, but a little too intimately,
with a couple of local girls, and even took a
photo. The families were livid! These girls
are already betrothed. There were
machetes and bows and arrows at Moses
door, and an ugly scene with a dented door
and blood on Moses’ face, with George and
Edward sheltering in his bedroom. As luck
would have it, Moses & Miriam were also
playing host that day to a visiting
government officer with a large payroll and
a police escort. The Inspector, complete
with shotgun, kept a damper on
proceedings.

Nevertheless Moses’ negotiating skills were put to the test throughout the night. By 3am they had
forged a deal involving K1000 compensation from each of the boys, and no payback. The
Rumginae clinical superviser arrived on an emergency flight that morning, and George & Edward
were shipped out on the afternoon flight.
That night ,with the last of charcoal-baked pork and cassowary meat left over from Moses’ son
Kaleb’s birthday feast two days before, we listened to the stories from Moses, Miriam, the
Inspector, the Administrator, and various other guests packed into Moses’ little house for dinner.
This is worth ADI taking note of : This administrator is Yangtem KATI, Research Officer for
Division of Planning PO Box 84, Kiunga, Ph 5481015. His Director is Menesah KAMBONG, and
the Project Officer in the Division is Pancras LINUS. Yangtem was hugely interested but totally
unbriefed on ADI’s activities. At the end of the evening, he was effusive in his support for what
we were doing, and wanted to be more in touch with ADI. He is an educated and effective officer.
He told me of changes currently being worked in WP administration by the new Governor – of
which the K97000 back-pay he had just brought to Mougulu is an indication. I have given this
contact to Margaret & Shawny, who will follow it up.
Fri 3Dec04
The problem was now that Moses was suddenly short-handed
and unable to provide an HCW for my patrol. Onto the radio.
Mougulu can talk to Montford on the Health network. Montford
can talk to Nomad on the Catholic network. Jeff got the
message on the three-o’clock sked, and walked to meet me at
Mabomanibi the next day.
In the afternoon Moses and I got out some instruments and set
about doing an amputation of an old damaged and useless ring
finger belonging to a local man. It turns out Moses has no
sterile instrument kits, and just at present, no pressure cooker.
The amputation went fine, in a clean rather than sterile fashion.
Moses asked for me to do a few vasectomies, but he must get a
new pressure cooker before I could contemplate that.
Moses has enough cataract candidates on his list to keep a
opthalmic surgeon busy for a while. Mougulu has never had
such a visit, but I think the time is ripe for one. Maybe ADI
could look at attracting a volunteer ophthalmologist for a couple
of weeks. He could be guaranteed some adventure hiking as
payment.
Sat 4Dec04. To Mabomanibi.
Mabomanibi is about 2 ½ hours easy walk to the
south west, in the first half-hour over a splendid
wire suspension bridge across the Kumo River
gorge. This was installed many years ago by
missionary Tom Hoey, and is still in good condition.
It worried me briefly that it is unlikely anyone now
holds the responsibility to inspect or maintain it
periodically. But hey, it works at present!
My patrol now is Aima, Tom, and two lads from
Mougulu who have volunteered. Jeff joined us in
the late afternoon.

MDA and net sales in the afternoon, and we
sent messengers (they travel in pairs) to
Hafimi for carriers for tomorrow. We stayed
in the house of Councillor Andrew Teleya.
He was very proud of his second-hand iron
roof. Except that we discovered during the
night it leaked seriously through all the firsthand
nail-holes.
Councillor Andrews regaled us with his life story including running a trade-store in Mougulu but
had to close it when he somehow lost K3000. Later on we got the other version of the story from
Aima: The lost K3000 was in fact money collected from his community in his capacity as
councillor! Strange he is still councillor, and still seems to be on speaking terms with his
community.
This village has a few goats – very unusual. They killed one today. Goat meat for dinner was
extremely tough.
Sunday 5 Dec: Sold more nets in the morning, arranged carriers for Soya, then on to Hafimi,
about 2 hours further easy walk. We settled into the vacant house of HCW Hayata Wanipi who is
absent on leave in Mougulu at present. We set up MDA and nets again after bananas and a brief
siesta in the long house in the early afternoon. The organising is easier with Jeff back on the
team.
Mon 6 Dec: To Soya, 1 ½ hours south-east.
We are settling into a routine of arriving
before lunch, setting up in the long-house,
eating bananas and coconuts, then the nets
and MDA. We sell nets to every family as
pre-listed now, and no longer release
remaining nets for sale – they buy everything
released, and we may end up with a shortage
in Mougulu at the end. We walked back to
Hafimi to stay.
Anowobi is a conundrum I can get no good
idea of how far it is, and no information on its
population. A messenger I sent to get the
information from Anowobi village recorder
yesterday did not return. Time is running out:
I sent carriers for another 100 nets from
Mougulu for Anowobi.
Tue 7 Dec: Anowobi turned out to be 1 ¼ hours to WSW, and it’s population was 89, not the 200
that we had been led to believe. The extra hundred nets arrived but we didn’t need them and had
to carry them all the way back to Mougulu.
Anawabi is bundled into a ward with a single ward including Yulabi, Istim and Magatem, which we
access from Nomad, but are in fact not far to the south-west from here. It’s interesting how the
roads all connect up.
At Anowobi there were four men who have migrated from Magatem, in fear of their lives having
been accused of sorcery. We sell them nets also. Back to Hafimi again for the night.

Wed 8 Dec: From Hafimi to Manomanibi for lunch and
a bit more MDA, then on to Mougulu. We have five
extra carriers and the excess nets with us now.
Captain Greg and his balus flew over us about 20 mins
out of Mougulu. We arrived in time to give him a load
of spears and billums to take back to Kiunga.
An hour later, just time for me to to have had a coconut, a cup of tea and a bath and start feeling
almost civilised again, Margaret and Giwi staggered in from their Dodomona patrol via Hafimi.
We restored them with coconut, tea and bath. They have completed the job, but Margaret has
had a hard time with the highland terrain of the Dodomona area. She has walked in sandals, and
her feet are a mess, and she has lost several kilos. We paid off her carriers, some of whom
have walked all the way from Dodomona with her.
Thu 9 Dec: Greg came around twice today: Margaret shipped out to Kiunga on the first plane.
Giwi is staying to work around Mougul with Moses selling nets and topping-up MDA. I cadged a
ride to Nomad on the second flight – flying definitely beats walking. Meanwhile Fr Aloi arrived
back at Nomad from Kiunga.
Also on the plane were Johannes and Roland,
technical teachers from Kiunga Boys’ Town
college, volunteering on a plan cooked up by
Jan and Shawny to do some maintenance jobs
around Nomad, and maybe repair a few water
tanks in the Strickland villages. By evening, Fr
Aloi’s house had a beautiful set of stairs
useable by us clumsy white folk, and the
church had a bell with a ring fit to inspire even
the less faithful in the village. Over the next
few days, the Nomad Health Care Centre
water tank was working for the first time in nine
years, and Fr Aloi’s house was lit by solar
power.
Fri 10 Dec: Shawny is supposed to have arrived today, but she is still trying to get nets out of
Kiunga. There are still none delivered to Nomad, and we have long advertised today as the
distribution day. I went into Nomad to talk with Sister Yoto and staff, and pass the word that nets
would happen sometime whenever they arrived, and it might be after Christmas now.
We have just enough nets to cover Gasume and Kukudobi Corner. I was saving this to use for
orienting Shawny, but it seems a pity to waste a day, and she will have a tight schedule to finish
the Strickland operation before Christmas.
Meanwhile, a planning session with Father Aloi cooked up Plan About F for the Fleet operation on
th Strickland. There’s still no sign of Jonah, who was last heard of leaving Kiunga with his 40HP
dinghy for the long trip to nomad via Lake Murray. Shawny has finally had delivered to Yehebi by
MAF. So Plan F is starting to look like Plan A again.
When Jeff went to Kukudobi Corner to make a village list, he was met with suspicion and no
cooperation. Apparently a local leader is warning them that accepting ADI’s nets will compromise
their compensation case with Porgera. Father Aloi and Luke and I decided to visited the corner
and try to sort it out. A long informal talk under a coconut tree with some of the village men
seemed to smooth the waters, and the corner turned up en masse for MDA and nets that
evening.

We did Gasume & KC starting in the cool of the afternoon at 4pm, then ran on into the night by
torch and hurricane lights. They took all the allotted nets, then the last left-over remaining
doubles. The Nomad store is now bare.
Sat 11 Dec: Shawny and Jean arrived
on the mid-morning flight, together with
a couple of bales of nets. No rest for
the newcomers – we bundled them
straight into SS Aloi for the short trip up
the Kuma river to a landing point for the
track toYulabi. We had arranged last
week in Anawobi for five carriers to
come from Yulabi today - a bit of a long
shot, and no carriers arrived. So Luke
found us five carriers from Gasume for
K5 per day, loaded them up and sent
them off to meet us in Yulabi.
Our patrol now was myself, Shawny,
Jean, Jeff, Halima – a lass from
Tarakbits doing volunteer missionary
work for Father Aloi, Herman the CHW
from Nomad, and two young men from Nomad as carriers. The walk to Yulabi was hard as
always, about three hours with several creek crossings. For me, this walk which had left me
exhausted and dehydrated two months before, seemed no effort today. I even carried a 7kg
medical kit; but then I am 10kg lighter now so I was still ahead on the balance. Shawny found the
uphills tough going, but survived and will do fine. At Yulabi we walked round the corners to
advertise our presence, then settled into Fr Aloi’s parish house.
Sun 12 Dec: The MDA & nets Yulabi in the morning was Shawny’s orientation event, and went
through with unusual orderliness. We walked the 1 ½ hours to Istim, a small village, where
Shawny did her first talk and MDA and nets –all no trouble with our now experienced and welldrilled
team. Then back to Yulabi for the night.
Mon 13 Dec: In the morning we sorted out my gear -
anything remotely useful to stay with the patrol.
Camping mattress, batteries and patrol funds to
Shawny. The LED headlight for Herman.
I made fond farewells to all these wonderful people who
have supported ADI patrols for the past two months,
then separated, Shawny and team heading south to

Magatem where they will meet Father Aloi and the Fleet, and me with two north guides back to
Nomad.
Tue 14 Dec: A long wait for the MAF plane through the day. On the positive side, APNG brought
in another three bales of nets. To Kiunga in the afternoon on MAF, and hasty farewells to all and
sundry at Montford Mission.
Wed 15 Dec: To Port Moresby the long way via Mt Hagen, Guroka and Lae. I was able to follow
the Strickland and Baia Rivers from 10,000 ft as we flew north-east from Kiunga, and to recognize
Suabi mission station from the air.
These three months in Kiunga and Nomad have given Jan and me more adventure and amazing
experience than we could possibly have dreamed of. It’s nice to be packing up and returning to
civilisation and real showers. And it’s good to contemplate that we have indeed achieved
something on our shift.
oooooOOOOOooooo