Comments

I find this story very captivating in the sense that one has to experience the hustle of an ordinary grass roots Papua New Guinean life in order to project a realistic approach in life as far as social and development policy is concerned. Relatable.

Thanks for linking the piece here. I saw it earlier and found it very insightful!

Love to work on a New Zealand farm

Thank you for this moving and insightful account. Re vaccination, the initial wave of resistance, at least where I work is slowly receding (this is based on my personal interactions with colleagues). A 'soft lock down' has been implemented.

Thanks for the clarity of the PNG Constitution Section 45. Many have misunderstood and misrepresent the Sovereign State of Papua New Guinea.

Hi Katherine I think this is a really great point and one that I am also grappling with. In my experience, part of the issue is that the local leaders and reformists with whom I work do not have the same incentives and time on their hands as someone like me to be writing blogs and articles. They are too busy doing the real work of social change 😊 and the drivers of power that they are trying to influence in their political economies are not often ones that engage with these sorts of publications. But I do think there is a further secretarial/ ‘campaign manager’ role that outsiders can play here - write the abstracts to enable these leaders to present at learning conferences, draft up their ideas and advice into blogs like this one here (particularly again if English is not the first language). Would love to hear your ideas also though!

Thank you for this article. Five years ago, La'o Hamutuk wrote a brief report on street vendors in Timor-Leste. Although we didn't look into those who mainly sell pulsa, some of the information may be of interest: https://www.laohamutuk.org/misc/vendors/16StreetVendors.htm

Ron May, a towering figure whose intellect many of us have benefited from and many more will into the future. Thank you for your distinguished service to PNG and the Pacific at large.

Loved reading this Ron. A story better than fiction, and what a privilege to having known you and Patricia for the past two decades. Hope you continue to research and write about PNG and Australia.

Thanks Amanda. Very excited to dive into your research. Thanks Roy for your comments!

It's brought heartbreak for the Pacific and Timor-Leste.

Fabulous and fascinating insights. Thank you Aashna for sharing. Also Amanda for the above link.