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| Aseki Market, Menyamaya, Morobe Province |
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| Rusted Bed in Aseki on which women give birth |
The thing that I learnt from my travel to Menyamya is… “The power of unity saves a community from
ruins”.
In a small community like the stations, you would need to
believe in each other and lean on each other’s shoulder.
Many will say that this isn’t new for a small community. But
what’s unique about Menyamya is, its people have been maintaining a standard of
living through struggles.
They had been struggling with poor roads for over ten years
until quite recently.
The people have been survivors through out their existence;
they had once survived droughts and feminine.
They were once fierce warriors’ and very generous people. To
this date they still are both generous and critical. Peace is their virtue.
They have lived in their ragged and beautiful terrain for
many years… It’s the type of place to wake up to in the morning with a cup of
coffee and then read a good book all day.
The station itself used to be a well-organized government
station in Morobe Province.
It was where most graduates out from Public Administration
School aimed to work. A lot has changed
since than and the station is in vast contrast to before.
“Back than it had the flamboyance and appeal,” says Sam
William (Not his real name) who is now around 30 years old and spent his young
life in Menyamya.
“A few things have happened for Menyamya and some things
have not happened for it- I know because I have seen it with my own eyes”.
The things that haven’t been happening are the Menyamya
Health Center at the station and the Health Center in Aseki.
I went to visit the Menyamya health Center on a Monday and
what I saw was a concern to me. It wasn’t open- maybe there was no patient, but
when I asked the locals, they say it hardly opened.
They said that patients chose not to come to the center
because the Officer in Charges wife collapsed and died inside one of the wards.
I guess Papua New Guinean superstition plays a big role… we
shouldn’t go to the hospital for treatment because there are spirits.
But the sad thing is… while some are superstitious and don’t
want to come go for treatment others still do.
Often there is no Health Worker at work to attend to their
illness.
The ward councilor Susan Mai has raised concerns about the
center having its own specialist doctor and more staff because it the on center
that services four parts of Menyamya.
“ We have to have a doctor here because we go looking for
treatment in Lae and many have died at the outpatient, so we have to bring them
back and bury them,” she said.
In Aseki several kilometers from Menyamya station, the story
there is even worse. The health center really showed signs of neglect.
Beds were just rusted metal. A bed on which women give birth
to their baby is so rusted the Health workers had to support it with rocks and
repair it themselves.
They say that women actually fall off the beds when in the
process of giving birth. The bed had been there since the hospital was built in
the colonial era.
The Menyamya MP Benjamin Philip admitted that he hadn’t put
enough money aside to fix the Health Center because he had made roads the
priority.
But he has made it known to the people that districts funds will
be allocated to fix the poor health care facilities in Menyamya.
The fixed 24-kilometer stretch of the worst roads will help.
Menyamya like many other rural stations must be maintained
to a level that it should be. For better service delivery for tens of thousands of
people in the area.
