PNG comes to town

‘They tie up the legs of a pig, stab it and let it slowly struggle to death. When it finally dies, they see who the dead pig’s snout points to. And that is the person responsible for the death,’ explained Fr. Masjon on how blame for a person’s death is determined. The PNG system of Payback insists that no one dies of natural causes. ‘Someone must be responsible for that death and that person must pay,’ Fr. Masjon emphasised.

It all came flooding back; I might have left Kiunga, but Kiunga has never left me. ‘PNG would never leave you; you’ll carry it with you always,’ a poignant reminder from a religious during the final days of my placement in Kiunga. Layered though they might be from recent experiences, it did not take much for them to resurface.

Between October 2010 and December 2012, Esther was the Financial Administrator and I was the HR Manager in the Diocese of Daru-Kiunga. During which time we were tasked with setting up and codifying systems and processes for the financial and HR administration of diocesan operations. Our work included the training and mentoring of diocesan administration personnel in the same systems and processes established. But, we soon came to realise, the tasks were not as straightforward as there was always the interplay of societal and cultural forces we had to contend with.

All was made apparent as Fr. Masjon regaled everyone with insights and stories about life and conditions in Kiunga and the Western Province of PNG, during the dinner we hosted at our place on his last night in Maliana. He started his work as a missionary priest in Kiunga taking charge of a parish, before being summoned back to the diocese to be mentored for the Financial Administrator post by Esther. He has assumed that position since we left at the end of 2012. We have been in contact regularly since our departure – over finance or HR matters and also to just catch up.

When we were invited back to Kiunga for a working visit in 2013, Fr. Masjon was intrigued to learn that we were taking up a placement in Timor-Leste in 2014, as he has relatives in West Timor who he visits regularly. He promised he would make the effort to cross the border and pay us a visit when he is back in Indonesia during his sabbatical in 2015.

He made good his promise when he started messaging us about the possibility of visiting us when he was in West Timor. The arrangements for his intended two day visit was made all too easy for us; Fr. Norberto, the Treasurer of the Diocese of Maliana (one of the organisations we are presently attached to), was only too glad to play host to a visiting priest from Indonesia, and accommodating him in Betania Training Centre, the Diocesan Guest House. All that was left was for Fr. Masjon to hop across the border while he was visiting his relations in West Timor.

We picked Fr. Masjon up at Batugarde, just an hour’s drive from Maliana on a tepid afternoon in May 2015. And that first day he was in the care of Fr. Norberto, who introduced Fr. Masjon to diocesan religious and staff, and had him as a dinner guest with the priests that evening.

He spent his next and last day with us showing him around the Township and visiting OHM, the other organisation we are attached to. The day concluded with an animated Fr. Masjon entertaining all about life and times in the Diocese of Daru-Kiunga.

It is a diocese with a mission, he enthused; the pastoral need of the local population was the conduit through which the health, education and other societal services came through to local communities. A major part of the service included the building of pastoral centres, schools, and health aid posts in the remote parts of the Western province of PNG, where moving men and material was a logistical nightmare. And the Diocesan Administration office had to ensure that administrative support was there to support these flows.

The Diocesan Administration Office also had to prove its integrity time and again over the years; subjecting itself to audits from different funding agencies to prove the transparency and accountability of diocesan operations. The honesty of the diocesan nerve centre is crucial in guaranteeing funders' confidence and faith in the diocese, and that in turn guarantees the flow of funds from abroad to meet program needs.

What was an eye opener for the guest that night were the very human problems and demands that the Admin Office had to constantly navigate through: the different manifestations of the cargo cult, the payback system, the ‘wantok’ mentality, and the melding of animism and black magic with Catholicism within the local culture.

The night ended with Fr. Norberto giving an open invitation to Fr. Masjon to visit the Diocese of Maliana anytime.

All the way back to Batugarde the next day, we could not stop talking. Fr. Masjon wanting to know about our work in Timor-Leste, and us about what was happening in the Diocesan Admin Office in Kiunga: Hilda has become an invaluable member of the office; Judy had a third child (!!); they have employed a HR manager to take over my position and they are grateful for the HR and Finance Policy and procedures manuals we created before we left, they have become the point of reference for them.

But they were also having problems; problems which Esther have been trying to remedy via email but it has gotten to the stage where further training have to be provided in some of the financial reporting areas. He was happy to hear that we were willing to make a trip to Kiunga for that if they needed us. He will have a talk with the Bishop about how best to work that out and get back to us.

All this and more Fr. Masjon imparted to us during the drive down. Before we knew it, we've arrived and... after final good-byes and hugs, Fr. Masjon walked through the border checkpoints back into West Timor.

And we found ourselves actually missing Kiunga...