Over the past five years I was fortunate to learn a bit of French and Motu, one of our 850 or so languages.
I realised that for those who love music, it would be nice and uplifting to learn songs that are sung in the language that you are studying.
For those who sing hymns, I am sure that hymns have been translated to almost all the common languages ... you only need to find the right hymn book ... knowing the tunes it would not be hard to learn to sing those songs.
Another thing one can do is to compose poetry or songs in the language that you are studying.
About three years ago I penned these words in Motu:
Sinagu Tamagu e
Lalogu ai
Sibogu asina kamonai
Hari lauegu mauri na heto
My mother my father
Think of me
I myself did not hear
Now my life is like this
Monday, April 2, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
A COMPOSITION IN FRENCH
Bonjour à tous. (Hellow to everyone.)
Sorry for the delay in not posting anything.
Today I found it interesting that we did some composition in our French class.
And I am posting the dialogue that the other classmate and myself came up with.
The topic in this Level III French is about stating the time (Le Temps) and the hour (L'heure).
mardi 21 février 2012
C’est une composition que nous avons fait aujourd’hui dans la classe.
(B = Bernadine; et Moi = moi)
B: Bonjour monsieur. Je voudrais un aller Paris-Montparnasse.
Moi: Bonjour mademoiselle. Vous partez quand? À quelle heure?
B: Je pars à neuf heures.
Moi: Désolé, ce train est complet. Il y a de la place à dix heures. Ce bon avec toi?
B: Oui, c’est bon. C’est combien?
Moi: Vous voulez un aller simple, ou un aller-retour?
B: Un aller simple, s’il vous plaît. C’est combien?
Moi: Soixante-dix euros. C'est bon?
B: Oui, c’est bon.
Sorry for the delay in not posting anything.
Today I found it interesting that we did some composition in our French class.
And I am posting the dialogue that the other classmate and myself came up with.
The topic in this Level III French is about stating the time (Le Temps) and the hour (L'heure).
mardi 21 février 2012
C’est une composition que nous avons fait aujourd’hui dans la classe.
(B = Bernadine; et Moi = moi)
B: Bonjour monsieur. Je voudrais un aller Paris-Montparnasse.
Moi: Bonjour mademoiselle. Vous partez quand? À quelle heure?
B: Je pars à neuf heures.
Moi: Désolé, ce train est complet. Il y a de la place à dix heures. Ce bon avec toi?
B: Oui, c’est bon. C’est combien?
Moi: Vous voulez un aller simple, ou un aller-retour?
B: Un aller simple, s’il vous plaît. C’est combien?
Moi: Soixante-dix euros. C'est bon?
B: Oui, c’est bon.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
LEARNING TO TEACH ENGLISH USING THE 4S METHOD
The 4S Primer 1 book used in the course.
In 2000, while I was studying for a year at the University of Goroka, Eastern Highlands, I stumbled over a few interesting library books. (They were outside the required courses’ reading texts.)
One of them told the story about the effort of Fidel Castro and his government to eradicate literacy in Cuba after they took over the rule of the country in Jan 1, 1959.
They declared 1961 to be the year of education and the Cuban Literacy Campaign started. At the start of 1962 – after about 1,000,000 teachers and students reached out to teach the illiterate 707,212 workers and peasants – the literacy rate shot up to 96%, one of the highest in the world
Each teacher or student who went out to educate the rural people was equipped with, among others things, primers and a lantern.
The students included primary school, secondary school and university students.
The primers were really two books: We Shall Read and We Shall Conquer.
There are stories of 10-year-old, fresh-faced, literate city kids working alongside and learning from 70-year-old peasants in the fields during the day. In the night the students became the teachers and taught the elderly the basics in reading, writing and sounding the words correctly in Spanish.
The bonding that grew out from the programme between the young teachers and the rural folks is another story and is the subject of other books.
Reading about that story made me realise that the basics in literacy in a language (as in English or Spanish) can be easily taught within a short time using a primer – an elementary textbook that is used to teach children or illiterate adults to read, write and correctly pronounce words.
So for the last decade I have been hunting for a primer to teach English.
Last week I got my first primer, thanks to Omega Ministries, an inter-denominational Christian organisation which arranged for Carl Musch, a Christian minister from Queensland, with his able assistant Ben Joseph to run a one-week programme for those who were interested to learn and later teach using the 4S approach of learning English.
Those who turned up for daily three-hour sessions comprised mothers, teachers, young men and women with different interests. They went through Primer 1 in the four days, and may sign up later for the Primer 2 sessions.
The 4S stands for Sight, Symbol, Sounds and Self.
The method teaches students to see (sight) the letters of the alphabet (symbols) and learn the phonemes (sound chunks) of the letters singly or as in a group.
That enables the reader or learner (self) to work out how new given words may be pronounced.
Musch said the more traditional way of teaching was the “whole-word” approach, where students saw a word, memorised the word and its pronunciation.
“The top students in the traditional way of learning were those who memorised the spelling and its sounds. That however was not a good method for the 80% majority of the people who struggled using that methodology,” Musch said.
The 4S approach which also incorporates a bit of the traditional method – and with the use of audio CDs and other materials - should help the struggling 80% of the people learn English.
Musch said the 4S method has been used to teach Aborigines in outback Australia as well as prisoners.
I, personally, have realised that PNG has its own form of English and at times can be confusing.
Many including the educated are not careful in distinguishing in pronunciation between the words “hill and heel”, “bed and bird”, “birth and bet”, “lash and lass”, “though and door”, “shore and sore”, “radar and rather”, “thin and tin”, “then and den”, “met and mat”, and so forth.
Possibly going through a 4S programme will help us be more correct in the use of English – and teach others to do the same.
The 4S method may indeed be a part of the solution to our literacy problem in PNG.
More information about possible 4S programmes in the future can be obtained by emailing Musch at imla-office@imla.org.au or visit the website at http://www.imla.org.au/.
(Note: This story appeared in The National newspaper, January 27, 2012.)
In 2000, while I was studying for a year at the University of Goroka, Eastern Highlands, I stumbled over a few interesting library books. (They were outside the required courses’ reading texts.)
One of them told the story about the effort of Fidel Castro and his government to eradicate literacy in Cuba after they took over the rule of the country in Jan 1, 1959.
They declared 1961 to be the year of education and the Cuban Literacy Campaign started. At the start of 1962 – after about 1,000,000 teachers and students reached out to teach the illiterate 707,212 workers and peasants – the literacy rate shot up to 96%, one of the highest in the world
Each teacher or student who went out to educate the rural people was equipped with, among others things, primers and a lantern.
The students included primary school, secondary school and university students.
The primers were really two books: We Shall Read and We Shall Conquer.
There are stories of 10-year-old, fresh-faced, literate city kids working alongside and learning from 70-year-old peasants in the fields during the day. In the night the students became the teachers and taught the elderly the basics in reading, writing and sounding the words correctly in Spanish.
The bonding that grew out from the programme between the young teachers and the rural folks is another story and is the subject of other books.
Reading about that story made me realise that the basics in literacy in a language (as in English or Spanish) can be easily taught within a short time using a primer – an elementary textbook that is used to teach children or illiterate adults to read, write and correctly pronounce words.
So for the last decade I have been hunting for a primer to teach English.
Last week I got my first primer, thanks to Omega Ministries, an inter-denominational Christian organisation which arranged for Carl Musch, a Christian minister from Queensland, with his able assistant Ben Joseph to run a one-week programme for those who were interested to learn and later teach using the 4S approach of learning English.
Those who turned up for daily three-hour sessions comprised mothers, teachers, young men and women with different interests. They went through Primer 1 in the four days, and may sign up later for the Primer 2 sessions.
The 4S stands for Sight, Symbol, Sounds and Self.
The method teaches students to see (sight) the letters of the alphabet (symbols) and learn the phonemes (sound chunks) of the letters singly or as in a group.
That enables the reader or learner (self) to work out how new given words may be pronounced.
Musch said the more traditional way of teaching was the “whole-word” approach, where students saw a word, memorised the word and its pronunciation.
“The top students in the traditional way of learning were those who memorised the spelling and its sounds. That however was not a good method for the 80% majority of the people who struggled using that methodology,” Musch said.
The 4S approach which also incorporates a bit of the traditional method – and with the use of audio CDs and other materials - should help the struggling 80% of the people learn English.
Musch said the 4S method has been used to teach Aborigines in outback Australia as well as prisoners.
I, personally, have realised that PNG has its own form of English and at times can be confusing.
Many including the educated are not careful in distinguishing in pronunciation between the words “hill and heel”, “bed and bird”, “birth and bet”, “lash and lass”, “though and door”, “shore and sore”, “radar and rather”, “thin and tin”, “then and den”, “met and mat”, and so forth.
Possibly going through a 4S programme will help us be more correct in the use of English – and teach others to do the same.
The 4S method may indeed be a part of the solution to our literacy problem in PNG.
More information about possible 4S programmes in the future can be obtained by emailing Musch at imla-office@imla.org.au or visit the website at http://www.imla.org.au/.
(Note: This story appeared in The National newspaper, January 27, 2012.)
Monday, December 19, 2011
LEARNING FRENCH WITH L'ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE PORT MORESBY
A French Level II class posing with their tutor, monsieur Antoine Lombard. The students are Bernadine (left), Amy and Solomon.A small group of people has just completed their level two French after six weeks of three-hour weekly classes. The lessons were organised by the Alliance Française de Port Moresby, as facilitated by Monsieur Antoine Lombard, who also teaches French to students at the University of Papua New Guinea.
The group comprised a house wife, a computer networking staff, a staff with a migration organisation and a journalist.
The group completed the course with an examination that comprised listening comprehension, reading comprehension and written comprehension exercises.
French is not really foreign as some may think. English has adopted a lot of French vocabulary as in terms like bon café, chauffeur, en masse, déjà vu, crème de la crème and chef de mission, to name a few.
Learning a different language enables one to look into the lives of a group of the people who speak that language and helps one learn about the culture and way of life.
To communicate with this people in their language brings one to identify oneself with them. A kind of knitting occurs between the learner and those who speak the language – something that those who do not know the language would not have.
Then there are concepts embedded in the language that a translation may not completely capture.
People learn another language for various reasons.
Some study it to learn about the people and their culture. Anthropologists and other social scientists may want to do that to understand the people who speak a language with the knowledge that some concepts will only be understand in its proper sense with the knowledge of the language that the people use.
Missionaries also learn languages to communicate to the people that they are called to minister to. Hudson Taylor, the English missionary had to learn Chinese on top of his medical science knowledge to become useful in China.
Some learn a language to use it as a tool to understand certain literature. Taylor Caldwell is the author of Dear and Glorious Physician, the book that tells the story of the life of the disciple Lucanus (or Luke), the Greek medical doctor who penned the history of the early Christian church. Some of the oldest documents on the church are written in Latin and she had to translate bits from these to be used in writing the book.
Others learn another language to challenge themselves. A journalist who learnt level one French early in the year said he attempted the subject as he attempted to study foundation mathematics years ago.
He said: “Everything does not become clear in the first few lessons; one must work consistently and perseveringly to master the basics.”
Yet others learn a language to possibly work or study in a country where people speak that language. Many professionals in the Third World work to master English to apply for residency status in Australia or America.
To the east of PNG, the French territories of New Caledonia, French Polynesia (including Tahiti) and Wallis and Futuna are strictly francophone (French-speaking).
The language of commerce, of instruction in schools and in daily life is French. Someone who does not know French would be lost should the chance come to visit countries or cities that are francophone.
Early this year a relative, who is in the sales business, accompanied a sports team to New Caledonia. He was armed with his business cards and tried to make business contacts with people there. He said he never got past saying Bonjour (Hellow/Good day) because the person he was attempting to communicate with could not speak English.
When the PNG sports representatives went to Noumea for the Pacific Games in September, the leader of the PNG mission and a journalist wrote that they wished they learnt French.
While doing laundry, the mother of a young man on a PNG team that brought home a gold medal found a note in his son’s trousers pocket that read something like: “Je t’aime. Claire.”
The mother was confused and asked a student with the Alliance Française for a translation. The translation provided was: “I love you. Clare.”
The student notified the mother that the words in the note do not necessarily imply that there was romance. They could be words offered by one to express great admiration for another as when fans of Céline Dion wave placards with the words when she performs live in Paris.
Incidentally, French happens to be the official language of Dion’s home province of Quebec in Canada. She was singing songs in French long before she learnt English and sung for the English-speaking population. (Probably some of her best songs are sung in French, not English.)
French also happens to be the language of Blaise Pascal, the mathematician and philosopher, Claude Debussy the musician, Louis Pasteur the chemist and microbiologist, Alexandre Dumas the writer of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo and Victor Hugo the creator of Les Miserables, among others.
The students with the Alliance Française will start classes early next year.
Anybody interested in learning French and accessing related resources can contact Monsieur Lombard on 326 1764, 326 7120 or by email direction.afpom@gmail.com or check the website www.afportmoresby.org.
The group comprised a house wife, a computer networking staff, a staff with a migration organisation and a journalist.
The group completed the course with an examination that comprised listening comprehension, reading comprehension and written comprehension exercises.
French is not really foreign as some may think. English has adopted a lot of French vocabulary as in terms like bon café, chauffeur, en masse, déjà vu, crème de la crème and chef de mission, to name a few.
Learning a different language enables one to look into the lives of a group of the people who speak that language and helps one learn about the culture and way of life.
To communicate with this people in their language brings one to identify oneself with them. A kind of knitting occurs between the learner and those who speak the language – something that those who do not know the language would not have.
Then there are concepts embedded in the language that a translation may not completely capture.
People learn another language for various reasons.
Some study it to learn about the people and their culture. Anthropologists and other social scientists may want to do that to understand the people who speak a language with the knowledge that some concepts will only be understand in its proper sense with the knowledge of the language that the people use.
Missionaries also learn languages to communicate to the people that they are called to minister to. Hudson Taylor, the English missionary had to learn Chinese on top of his medical science knowledge to become useful in China.
Some learn a language to use it as a tool to understand certain literature. Taylor Caldwell is the author of Dear and Glorious Physician, the book that tells the story of the life of the disciple Lucanus (or Luke), the Greek medical doctor who penned the history of the early Christian church. Some of the oldest documents on the church are written in Latin and she had to translate bits from these to be used in writing the book.
Others learn another language to challenge themselves. A journalist who learnt level one French early in the year said he attempted the subject as he attempted to study foundation mathematics years ago.
He said: “Everything does not become clear in the first few lessons; one must work consistently and perseveringly to master the basics.”
Yet others learn a language to possibly work or study in a country where people speak that language. Many professionals in the Third World work to master English to apply for residency status in Australia or America.
To the east of PNG, the French territories of New Caledonia, French Polynesia (including Tahiti) and Wallis and Futuna are strictly francophone (French-speaking).
The language of commerce, of instruction in schools and in daily life is French. Someone who does not know French would be lost should the chance come to visit countries or cities that are francophone.
Early this year a relative, who is in the sales business, accompanied a sports team to New Caledonia. He was armed with his business cards and tried to make business contacts with people there. He said he never got past saying Bonjour (Hellow/Good day) because the person he was attempting to communicate with could not speak English.
When the PNG sports representatives went to Noumea for the Pacific Games in September, the leader of the PNG mission and a journalist wrote that they wished they learnt French.
While doing laundry, the mother of a young man on a PNG team that brought home a gold medal found a note in his son’s trousers pocket that read something like: “Je t’aime. Claire.”
The mother was confused and asked a student with the Alliance Française for a translation. The translation provided was: “I love you. Clare.”
The student notified the mother that the words in the note do not necessarily imply that there was romance. They could be words offered by one to express great admiration for another as when fans of Céline Dion wave placards with the words when she performs live in Paris.
Incidentally, French happens to be the official language of Dion’s home province of Quebec in Canada. She was singing songs in French long before she learnt English and sung for the English-speaking population. (Probably some of her best songs are sung in French, not English.)
French also happens to be the language of Blaise Pascal, the mathematician and philosopher, Claude Debussy the musician, Louis Pasteur the chemist and microbiologist, Alexandre Dumas the writer of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo and Victor Hugo the creator of Les Miserables, among others.
The students with the Alliance Française will start classes early next year.
Anybody interested in learning French and accessing related resources can contact Monsieur Lombard on 326 1764, 326 7120 or by email direction.afpom@gmail.com or check the website www.afportmoresby.org.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
WHY THE NAME - A THOUSAND NATIONS
The Central Sepik students at the University of Papua New Guinea perform a traditional dance during their provincial day celebration in September 2010. They have their own unique culture - one among thousands of others in Papua New Guinea.Bonjour! (Hellow!)
You may have wondered why I named this blog a A THOUSAND NATIONS.
Well, as you may already know, PNG (my country) has more than 850 languages. That is almost about a thousand - which means there are about 1,000 different people groups in PNG.
Before you doubt this take note of this.
Take the Motu-speaking people along and around the Port Moresby coastline.
There are a good number of Motuan villages stretching over about 100km east-west along the coastline. All the people in those villages - of Manumanu up west, to Hanuabada in Port Moresby and to Gabagaba in the east - are Motuans and speak Motu (the language).
But when a local from each different village speaks Motu you will notice that they have their peculiar way of speaking, possibly what the linguists may call the "dialect".
Thus, if you count all those different dialects, then the number of languages in PNG may really be over a thousand.
That makes us, Papua New Guineans, unique.
My big question to my friends is: Can we find a way to trade our skills in languages?
That is: Can we create something with our skills in language that we can trade with the Western world without destroying our forests, seas, rivers and atmosphere?
Think of it, in PNG, the typical person grows up learning at least three different languages.
For a rural kid she or he already knows the local language.
In school s/he learns Pidgin to communicate with friends from different language groups and also learns to read and write in English (the language of education from secondary to tertiary learning).
For those who move from district to district or province to province for various reasons (e.g. parents transfer from one posting to another) pick up many more languages.
The typical person in the Western world grows up learning only one language, work and pass on with that one language.
It is a wonder and blessing, isn't it? I mean, to come from a country that has more than a thousand dialects/tongues, hence, a thousand nations.
You may have wondered why I named this blog a A THOUSAND NATIONS.
Well, as you may already know, PNG (my country) has more than 850 languages. That is almost about a thousand - which means there are about 1,000 different people groups in PNG.
Before you doubt this take note of this.
Take the Motu-speaking people along and around the Port Moresby coastline.
There are a good number of Motuan villages stretching over about 100km east-west along the coastline. All the people in those villages - of Manumanu up west, to Hanuabada in Port Moresby and to Gabagaba in the east - are Motuans and speak Motu (the language).
But when a local from each different village speaks Motu you will notice that they have their peculiar way of speaking, possibly what the linguists may call the "dialect".
Thus, if you count all those different dialects, then the number of languages in PNG may really be over a thousand.
That makes us, Papua New Guineans, unique.
My big question to my friends is: Can we find a way to trade our skills in languages?
That is: Can we create something with our skills in language that we can trade with the Western world without destroying our forests, seas, rivers and atmosphere?
Think of it, in PNG, the typical person grows up learning at least three different languages.
For a rural kid she or he already knows the local language.
In school s/he learns Pidgin to communicate with friends from different language groups and also learns to read and write in English (the language of education from secondary to tertiary learning).
For those who move from district to district or province to province for various reasons (e.g. parents transfer from one posting to another) pick up many more languages.
The typical person in the Western world grows up learning only one language, work and pass on with that one language.
It is a wonder and blessing, isn't it? I mean, to come from a country that has more than a thousand dialects/tongues, hence, a thousand nations.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
USING PIDGIN AS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS
Yesterday, I happened to listen to NBC Karai Dabai Talk Back programme and one of the topics discussed was about introducing the Pidgin as the language to educate students in schools, colleges and universities.
The elderly man who promotes this idea, and has brought this up from time to time with Radio host Mathilda Gaveva, was a certain David from Wewak, East Sepik.
I decided to give a call and make a statement.
I said Pidgin, as a language, is not our language as some people like to think.
It is a Creole; it is made up of a mixture of words borrowed from different languages.
It is also a trading language, promoted more by the Chinese traders in the Asia and Pacific region. Our Pidgin - which is generally understood by Solomon Islanders and Vanuatuans - is a mixture of English, German and local language words.
When we think globally, we will note that English is the best language to learn, not Pidgin.
We, PNG, have the natural resources, western countries want to make deals with us regarding the resources. The best language to use is a language they will understand - and it is English.
We must not be lazy and entertain our children coming home complaining that English is hard. We must urge them to work hard.
All the best things in life are not gained by simple means.
We must also remember that our parents and grandparents went to school in the 1960s and learnt everything in English. For most there was no preparatory school.
But today some of them speak better English than many of us who have more books, more radio stations, see a lot TV and see more movies.
I also mentioned that many people today do not speak correct Pidgin.
How many university students today speak as well as write correct Pidgin? What about the students in primary school?
So, it is not easy to just adopt Pidgin as a language to educate students.
Then, there is also the task or rewriting all the textbooks and readers.
How will you translate all the technical terms in English and words that you do not have substitutes for in Pidgin?
We must think globally.
If we were to trade with a country like France, it would be to our advantage to have a knowledge of French.
About a third of the French population can speak English but all their books, textbooks, signs, etc are written in French.
In the same way as we must push ourselves to learn French to deal with the French, we must urge our children to learn English.
Of course, it is hard, but we must still urge them to learn the language.
A wealth or sea of knowledge is already captured in the form of books, magazines, web-blogs, etc in English - not Pidgin.
Teach the children English to give them legs to go out and capture the knowledge already out there. English enables them to get those information.
I said the Sepik man must know that there are Sepiks that are now working as engineers in Australia or associate professors in western countries - Australia, America and Europe.
There are Papua New Guineans flying planes in the Arab Emirates.
All these professionals learnt English to get there.
We must urge our children to learn English. It is the way to go.
The elderly man who promotes this idea, and has brought this up from time to time with Radio host Mathilda Gaveva, was a certain David from Wewak, East Sepik.
I decided to give a call and make a statement.
I said Pidgin, as a language, is not our language as some people like to think.
It is a Creole; it is made up of a mixture of words borrowed from different languages.
It is also a trading language, promoted more by the Chinese traders in the Asia and Pacific region. Our Pidgin - which is generally understood by Solomon Islanders and Vanuatuans - is a mixture of English, German and local language words.
When we think globally, we will note that English is the best language to learn, not Pidgin.
We, PNG, have the natural resources, western countries want to make deals with us regarding the resources. The best language to use is a language they will understand - and it is English.
We must not be lazy and entertain our children coming home complaining that English is hard. We must urge them to work hard.
All the best things in life are not gained by simple means.
We must also remember that our parents and grandparents went to school in the 1960s and learnt everything in English. For most there was no preparatory school.
But today some of them speak better English than many of us who have more books, more radio stations, see a lot TV and see more movies.
I also mentioned that many people today do not speak correct Pidgin.
How many university students today speak as well as write correct Pidgin? What about the students in primary school?
So, it is not easy to just adopt Pidgin as a language to educate students.
Then, there is also the task or rewriting all the textbooks and readers.
How will you translate all the technical terms in English and words that you do not have substitutes for in Pidgin?
We must think globally.
If we were to trade with a country like France, it would be to our advantage to have a knowledge of French.
About a third of the French population can speak English but all their books, textbooks, signs, etc are written in French.
In the same way as we must push ourselves to learn French to deal with the French, we must urge our children to learn English.
Of course, it is hard, but we must still urge them to learn the language.
A wealth or sea of knowledge is already captured in the form of books, magazines, web-blogs, etc in English - not Pidgin.
Teach the children English to give them legs to go out and capture the knowledge already out there. English enables them to get those information.
I said the Sepik man must know that there are Sepiks that are now working as engineers in Australia or associate professors in western countries - Australia, America and Europe.
There are Papua New Guineans flying planes in the Arab Emirates.
All these professionals learnt English to get there.
We must urge our children to learn English. It is the way to go.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
BIO-FUEL: GOING THE CLEAN ENERGY PATH
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2011In August I visited a Cassava Bio-Fuel Project Site outside Kwikila in Rigo, Central Province. The project is initiated by the Korean company Changhae Ltd. I was invited by a pal and the company's environment officer, Joseph Pahau.
I enjoyed my two nights and a day there.
By listening to what the workers there said I was reminded of my Energy Physics lessons decades ago.
It is the way to go.
From what we know fossil fuels would be all but exhausted in half a century.
Developed countries are already investing in renewable energy sources like wind, hydro, tidal, wave, solar and biogas.
PNG is rich in all these resources but then, as most in the world, we have yet to harness those forms of energy and save whatever other fossil fuel sources that we may have - which includes oil and gas.
In the picture above are PNG University of Technology students, Crystal (left) and Susie, with harvesting supervisor Thomas Ond showing some of the huge cassava tubers that the harvesting excavator unearthed in one of its runs.
Crystal and Susie are two of more than a handful of students who were at the cassava plantation for a three-month practical training programme.
When they return to campus after the 12-week outing they have to present to their lecturers a completed research paper.
The plantation site is beside the ever-flowing Kemp Welsh River.
The place is quiet and spacious.
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