I've been asked 'why is support staff required, why can't the translator do all the work?'
Here's a good example why:
Currently the guys who really know the software well for Bible translation are gone and so this morning we had a translator who had a problem and I got the call.
I went over to help them.
They had spent three days and three nights working on a booklet in two different languages and were unable to print it.
So I installed printer drivers and got the printers working.
She was very emotional and obviously exhausted and at her wits end and it was difficult for me to get an answer from her regarding certain things. She kept repeating 'I don't know'.
Typically before she got to that point, a member of the team who knows the software would have helped her.
I was unable to because I simply didn't know all the required formatting, the page size, the fonts for her language, etc... for making a booklet. I could have gotten her stuff successfully on paper, but not into the booklet form she wanted.
It turns out, the harsh reality of the fact was that all her time and effort formatting and including pictures, was wasted, because she didn't start out with the proper template, and therefore everything was on A5 paper instead of the smaller booklet size.
She would have to reformat it all, twice.
It was a sad moment for me. Not unlike when I used to have to tell students in college that they accidentally deleted their term paper.
There are times when I get to be the hero, and there are times when I have to be the bearer of bad news.
The bad news was that were a vital team member present then they could have told her how to do it right from the beginning. Instead she plugged along with her best guess and spent days doing the wrong thing.
So, can a translator do it all on their own?
You tell me. Having the proper support would have saved her days of wasted work and hours of emotional anguish. It would have brought the pamphlet to print much faster, and enabled her to do work where her strengths lie, instead of spinning wheels in areas where she is weaker.
Support staff is the coming together of the body with their different talents and giftings to help others who need it.
My job is to enable her, and today I had to help and watch as she realized that there was a gap between what I knew and what she knew, and there was no one around to fill the gap.
It was a sad moment for both of us, but even sadder for the Nankina and Ngain people who won't be getting a pamphlet in their heart language today.
They will eventually get it, but it will be late.
This scenario is also a good example of how sometimes, two people can't fill the shoes of 1 person with very specific knowledge. This is why we are constantly praying for God to be moving more people to come here. We need people to fill the holes that are left when people leave.
6/05/2011
6/01/2011
From the Keepers File
It is easy to forget 'thanks'. That's why I have a 'keepers' file. This is a folder where all emailed 'thanks' that come to me or my department get filed away. Another thing hard to remember because we do so much in a year, is to recall at the end of a year what we have accomplished.
The reason I want to keep the thanks, and the accomplishments is so that I can effectively communicate them to YOU, the people who enable us to be here.
This month I was able to volunteer some time each day at the TTC training course. I met several Papua New Guineans learning how to translate and use the Scripture in their heart language. It was refreshing to work with people at this level because often times behind a monitor you can feel detached from the actual translation effort even though your work does support it.
Anyway this morning I got a thank you for helping at TTC and I pass the thank you on to you, this was from the 'boss' the coordinator of the TTC
so thanks to you. This is the difference between support and no support. Sure this man could have done the class without us. I'm sure with a lot of effort he could have gotten things to print and found a way around requiring a network.
But thank you so much that he didn't have to!!!
The reason I want to keep the thanks, and the accomplishments is so that I can effectively communicate them to YOU, the people who enable us to be here.
This month I was able to volunteer some time each day at the TTC training course. I met several Papua New Guineans learning how to translate and use the Scripture in their heart language. It was refreshing to work with people at this level because often times behind a monitor you can feel detached from the actual translation effort even though your work does support it.
Anyway this morning I got a thank you for helping at TTC and I pass the thank you on to you, this was from the 'boss' the coordinator of the TTC
Thanks so much for your help during TTC – it has been SO much appreciated. Can’t really say it enough. For me this has been the best TTC I have been part of, and having you around has been a key part of this. Last year I was not able to do my job because I was constantly helping people try to solve network problems, or worrying about people’s network problems, or trying to contact CTS. Just knowing that you were there, that you were coming at a set time, that you were available was such a huge psychological burden removed and I could actually concentrate on doing things I am supposed to do – like checking how the teachers were doing and any help they needed with the content of their courses.
So, thanks very much!!!
so thanks to you. This is the difference between support and no support. Sure this man could have done the class without us. I'm sure with a lot of effort he could have gotten things to print and found a way around requiring a network.
But thank you so much that he didn't have to!!!
5/30/2011
communication
tonight at midnight we're rolling out a huge change to our network which should enable much more simplicity and functionality. It requires a large change of thinking for the people who live here and we have labored over how to best communicate that.
We have begun a series of open houses, in which we give the same presentation repeatedly at the top of the hour.
It's something new, and it has in fact been really well received.
The sacrifice is that in order to be available, we have to do this after hours.
So most of the computer staff here have been donating their nights this week to train the community on this 'new' way of doing internet access.
Pray that it goes well. It is one of the most ambitious projects to date, that we have tried, and we want the first impressions of it to be good, as it hopefully will be very reliable going forward and be a massive improvement for the community.
We have begun a series of open houses, in which we give the same presentation repeatedly at the top of the hour.
It's something new, and it has in fact been really well received.
The sacrifice is that in order to be available, we have to do this after hours.
So most of the computer staff here have been donating their nights this week to train the community on this 'new' way of doing internet access.
Pray that it goes well. It is one of the most ambitious projects to date, that we have tried, and we want the first impressions of it to be good, as it hopefully will be very reliable going forward and be a massive improvement for the community.
Translation Update
Seija M[...edit/...], together with her 6 translators, finished the gospel of
Luke today. They still need to work on checking it, but the milestone of
getting the first bigger book in pretty good condition was reached.
Luke today. They still need to work on checking it, but the milestone of
getting the first bigger book in pretty good condition was reached.
5/25/2011
Why is Internet so Expensive in PNG
I get this question a lot.
'why is internet connection so expensive in PNG'
The good news is that it's all getting better. The bad news is that it should already have been better.
Here is a really good summary article containing far much more than you ever wanted to know about it... but the summary is... this is GOOD for us!
Internet Growth in PNG Going From Stagnant to Very Exciting
Article by: Charlie Gilichibi, Team Leader IT & Special Projects Coordinator
Bandwidth Capacity Major Stages of Internet Gateway Development in PNG
16 Megabits per second APNG-1 (October 1967) on copper wire intended for telephone communications
560 Megabits per second APNG-2: (October 2006) on optic fibre for telephone and internet communication
10,500 Megabits per second APNG-2 + PIPE (September 2009) and National Broadband Network (work in progress to be completed in 2015) on optic fibre and power lines
Internet Price Comparisions
Internet Service Provider Prepaid Cost / MB Postpaid Cost / MB Cost of Setup or Dongle Purchase Coverage Centers
Daltron 40 toea 56 to 20 toea K400
Data Nets 40 toea 40 to 25 toea 30 centers
Datec 60 to 66 toea 60 to 20 toea
Digicel GSM 33 toea peak hours
25 toea off peak 22 toea peak hours
16 toea off peak hours K99 Port Moresby, Lae, Hagen and Kokopo
Global Internet 61 to 23 toea 61 to 23 toea
Hitron 20 toea K750 – K5920
Telinet CDMA 29 toea 40 to 16 toea
Why is internet expensive in PNG?
It is easy to point fingers at ISPs and blame them for un-affordability of the internet. Then again those pointing the fingers from the business and social space and the civil society at large can’t be blamed for their ignorance on why internet prices are so high compared to the rest of the world.
The basic economic principle of demand and supply is the immediate phenomenon that drives up cost of living including the cost of internet services. In the grand scheme of things and at its most fundamental, it is the lack of visionary leadership at the national and sub-national levels, so not to single out anyone as the problem is an inherited one as well as on-going the reasons are best left to your imagination.
When the internet took its first baby steps in the 1980s and the world was watching and nurturing it, when it developed to be a teenager in the 1990s and went rebellious with the parent world always counselling and guiding it and doing everything right in terms of national policy development and investment in a child in the PNG context that would later provide a welfare net for the parents in old age, leadership in PNG was too bothered in power plays then worried about what would become of the future.
Going back to demand and supply as the invisible hand that sets market prices, Sundar Ramamurthy CEO of Data Nets during an Emerging Technologies Seminar on Tuesday 10th of April 2011 said whilst the current capacity shared amongst the ISPs in PNG for internet services is 265 Megabits per second (Mbps), the overall demand is at 285 Mbps far outstripping supply.
PNG Internet Bandwidth Analysis
Current capacity between PNG and the rest of the world shared by ISPs is 265Mbps
Current total demand in Papua New Guinea is 285Mbps
Internet gateway undersupply by 20Mbps
PIPE Capacity into Madang is estimated to deliver extra capacity of 10,000Mbps
PNG’s Total Capacity once PIPE cable (via Madang) comes online is 10,500 Mbps
Source: Sundar Ramamurthy, Emerging Technologies Seminar 10.05.2011, Crowne Plaza
PNG’s National Broadband Network (NBN)
Once the National Broadband Network, currently work in progress is completed and links the PIPE optic fibre cable in Madang (from Guam) to the rest of PNG we can expect the power of the internet to be let loose running wild in the country just like how the nation experienced the explosion of mobile phone sector around 2006 and 2007.
Whilst the government will reserve some chunk of the 10,000 Mbps capacity for other projects of national significance even half of this capacity when divided and rented to each ISP would leave each of them with at least a whopping 265Mbps equivalent to the total capacity currently shared by all the ISPs. Benefits from this development would include:
• streaming of audio and video data (multimedia) that is of telephone quality at around 8Mbps
• CD quality audio compressed in MP3 format at 192 Kbps
• HDTV at 27Mbps – for instance distribution of EMTV via the internet
• Rest of the benefits aside, internet affordability for the masses. ISPs would initially throw in all differentiation gimmicks by packaging internet plans and selling them to existing customers. When they realise they are too big for the markets in the urban centers or when they have developed the winning business strategies to go hunting in the country side they will but eventually take the plunge. As Sundar Ramamurthy said, Papua New Guineans are our own worst enemies. We discount the majority as illiterate and ignore their will for the want of progress and when mobile competition arrived with handsets flooding even to those areas considered as the most disadvantaged by lack of access to reasonable education, the country was awestruck by the rapid proliferation of mobile devices even those with the best educated pessimism that the high illiteracy rate is an obstacle.
APNG1 & APNG2
Until recently (in early 2000s), connectivity to the rest of the world was via the 897Km long Australia-PNG (APNG) cable, a copper coaxial analogue telephone cable laid between Cairns and Port Moresby in 1967, and by Intelsat Earth stations at Port Moresby and Lae.
Telikom retired the legacy APNG (APNG-1) coaxial copper cable of 16 Mbit/s in 2006 replacing it with the 1800Km APNG-2 optic fibre cable that used to link Sydney to Guam redeploying it between Sydney and Port Moresby at an estimated cost of US$11 million. This was a wise decision by Telikom because a new 2nd generation optic fibre cable would cost an estimated US$60 million. Why the advanced countries were selling off these cables was because they have surplus 2nd generation optic fibre cable capacity to cater for their growing market demands for internet and voice communications.
The APNG2 cable has a capacity of 560 Megabits/second (Mbps). While 560 Mbps this is a lot of internet capacity compared to the 16Megabits/second prior to 2006 it still wasn’t enough as only roughly 270Mbps is shared amongst the ISPs for internet purposes whilst the rest is used by Telikom for voice communication purposes as that required a lot of capacity for the voice clarity required in telephone conversations. Not withstanding, while the rest of the world moved on to higher capacity cabling between 1980 and 1995 noting the demand placed on these cables, no longer for growth of voice demand alone but the rapid proliferation of the internet stripping constrained capacity from these telephone cables. This resulted in the 16Mbps capacity of APNG-1 between Cairns and Port Moresby originally intended for telephone communications stripping telephone communications capacity to be shared with internet communications in the 1990s.
This explains why when the internet first hit PNG in dribs and drabs in the early 1990s, cost was way out of reach even for small to medium enterprises and the word “internet” and its wonder world of benefits was only a word shared by the technology savy in the offices, streets and homes around the country.
The APNG-2 optic fibre cable has a serviceable life of 15 years since its commissioning in October 2006 and will be retired in or around 2021. That’s only 10 years away so where to from here?
Source: http://soft-brain.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html
It’s in the PIPE-line from Madang
The PIPE optic fibre cable gateway in Madang was commissioned for service in September of 2009 and like the split segment of this cable that was re-aligned linking Sydney to Port Moresby it also has a serviceable lifespan of 15 years.
It was reported in The National and Post Courier of 20.05.2011 that the Governor for Southern Highlands, Anderson Agiru and Peter Graham the Country Manager for ExxonMobil signed off on the construction of the 750km segment of the National Broadband Network Project that will link Port Moresby to Tari and Mendi at a cost of US$70 (K169.5) million. It was also reported that it will take 4 years to link up rest of Papua New Guinea from the date of project implementation sign off (19.05.2011) to the PIPE gateway in Madang. This means critical mass utilisation of the PIPE’s 10,000 Mbps will start around 2015. In that time PNG taxpayers will have accrued a loss in value utilisation of US$24 million (6 years of idle time divided by 15 year lifespan times US$60 million investment in PIPE) let alone the opportunity cost in the 6 years the PIPE Gateway from Madang will have been lying idle since it was commissioned in 2009.
The murky-side of communications development in PNG aside, we can expect and anticipate greater reduction of internet costs where it will eventually become more afforadable for the masses. This will be a result of fierce competition in the ISP sector and pleasing to note this competition process has already started. ISPs are now consolidating and preparing their battle plans for when the National Broadband Network will be unleashed. A good ISP will triumph by adapting to the times and taking advantage of opportunities as they come. A great ISP anticipates openings others don't see and creates possibilities that were not there before for their immediate survival, long-term growth.
Where to from here for Papua New Guinea after the serviceable life of the 1st generation optic fibre cables connecting us to the rest of the world reach end of life?
The answer is no one knows as there is no specific national policy or plan(s) for life after APNG-2 and PIPE optic fibre gateways connecting PNG to the rest of the world.
Generating confidence through the media and other means for the National Broadband Network may be crucial to creating demand and supply in anticipation of broadband services in PNG but so is candor.
References
Pacific Connectivity - HighLevel Consultation-18May07
Chapter 2 – Technical Viability
http://www.unescap.org/LDCCU/Meetings/PacificConnectivity-HighLevelConsultation-18May07-Almaty/VersionFromAlmaty-June07/2_Technical.pdf
Re-use and Re-routing of Retiring Cables (check the website where this article was downloaded)
Jamie Merrett, Remy Laude
http://suboptic.org/App/Uploads/Files/We1.09.pdf
PIPE Pacific Cable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_Pacific_Cable
Madang Landing Station
http://www.pipeinternational.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&task=tag&category=Landing+Station+Madang&Itemid=53
PTC09 Submarine Cable
http://manymedia.com/2009/01/ptc09-submarine-cable/
Telikom starts fibre optic plans
http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=130/focusContentID
=23375/tableName=mediaRelease/overideSkinName=newsArticle-full.tpl
APNG2 – Cable System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APNG-2_(cable_system)
Environment Warrior of Madang and Information Access a David & Goliath Story
http://heatheryoungleslie.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/enviro-warriors-of-madang-and-info-access-a-david-and-goliath-story/
Fibre Optic Network Test Run Lae to Madang on PNG Powers Infrastructure
http://pngengineering.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:fibre-optic-network-test-run-lae-to-madang-on-png-powers-infrastructure&catid=39:communication&Itemid=53
Telikom PNG's View of PPC-1: Madang-Guam (10Gbps)
http://soft-brain.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html
Digicel launches mobile 3G Broadband
Monday 9th May 2011
www.postcourier.com.pg
US Government Oks PIPEs Submarine Cable to Land in Guam
http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/networking/20669-us-govt-oks-pipes-submarine-cable-to-land-in-guam
'why is internet connection so expensive in PNG'
The good news is that it's all getting better. The bad news is that it should already have been better.
Here is a really good summary article containing far much more than you ever wanted to know about it... but the summary is... this is GOOD for us!
Internet Growth in PNG Going From Stagnant to Very Exciting
Article by: Charlie Gilichibi, Team Leader IT & Special Projects Coordinator
Bandwidth Capacity Major Stages of Internet Gateway Development in PNG
16 Megabits per second APNG-1 (October 1967) on copper wire intended for telephone communications
560 Megabits per second APNG-2: (October 2006) on optic fibre for telephone and internet communication
10,500 Megabits per second APNG-2 + PIPE (September 2009) and National Broadband Network (work in progress to be completed in 2015) on optic fibre and power lines
Internet Price Comparisions
Internet Service Provider Prepaid Cost / MB Postpaid Cost / MB Cost of Setup or Dongle Purchase Coverage Centers
Daltron 40 toea 56 to 20 toea K400
Data Nets 40 toea 40 to 25 toea 30 centers
Datec 60 to 66 toea 60 to 20 toea
Digicel GSM 33 toea peak hours
25 toea off peak 22 toea peak hours
16 toea off peak hours K99 Port Moresby, Lae, Hagen and Kokopo
Global Internet 61 to 23 toea 61 to 23 toea
Hitron 20 toea K750 – K5920
Telinet CDMA 29 toea 40 to 16 toea
Why is internet expensive in PNG?
It is easy to point fingers at ISPs and blame them for un-affordability of the internet. Then again those pointing the fingers from the business and social space and the civil society at large can’t be blamed for their ignorance on why internet prices are so high compared to the rest of the world.
The basic economic principle of demand and supply is the immediate phenomenon that drives up cost of living including the cost of internet services. In the grand scheme of things and at its most fundamental, it is the lack of visionary leadership at the national and sub-national levels, so not to single out anyone as the problem is an inherited one as well as on-going the reasons are best left to your imagination.
When the internet took its first baby steps in the 1980s and the world was watching and nurturing it, when it developed to be a teenager in the 1990s and went rebellious with the parent world always counselling and guiding it and doing everything right in terms of national policy development and investment in a child in the PNG context that would later provide a welfare net for the parents in old age, leadership in PNG was too bothered in power plays then worried about what would become of the future.
Going back to demand and supply as the invisible hand that sets market prices, Sundar Ramamurthy CEO of Data Nets during an Emerging Technologies Seminar on Tuesday 10th of April 2011 said whilst the current capacity shared amongst the ISPs in PNG for internet services is 265 Megabits per second (Mbps), the overall demand is at 285 Mbps far outstripping supply.
PNG Internet Bandwidth Analysis
Current capacity between PNG and the rest of the world shared by ISPs is 265Mbps
Current total demand in Papua New Guinea is 285Mbps
Internet gateway undersupply by 20Mbps
PIPE Capacity into Madang is estimated to deliver extra capacity of 10,000Mbps
PNG’s Total Capacity once PIPE cable (via Madang) comes online is 10,500 Mbps
Source: Sundar Ramamurthy, Emerging Technologies Seminar 10.05.2011, Crowne Plaza
PNG’s National Broadband Network (NBN)
Once the National Broadband Network, currently work in progress is completed and links the PIPE optic fibre cable in Madang (from Guam) to the rest of PNG we can expect the power of the internet to be let loose running wild in the country just like how the nation experienced the explosion of mobile phone sector around 2006 and 2007.
Whilst the government will reserve some chunk of the 10,000 Mbps capacity for other projects of national significance even half of this capacity when divided and rented to each ISP would leave each of them with at least a whopping 265Mbps equivalent to the total capacity currently shared by all the ISPs. Benefits from this development would include:
• streaming of audio and video data (multimedia) that is of telephone quality at around 8Mbps
• CD quality audio compressed in MP3 format at 192 Kbps
• HDTV at 27Mbps – for instance distribution of EMTV via the internet
• Rest of the benefits aside, internet affordability for the masses. ISPs would initially throw in all differentiation gimmicks by packaging internet plans and selling them to existing customers. When they realise they are too big for the markets in the urban centers or when they have developed the winning business strategies to go hunting in the country side they will but eventually take the plunge. As Sundar Ramamurthy said, Papua New Guineans are our own worst enemies. We discount the majority as illiterate and ignore their will for the want of progress and when mobile competition arrived with handsets flooding even to those areas considered as the most disadvantaged by lack of access to reasonable education, the country was awestruck by the rapid proliferation of mobile devices even those with the best educated pessimism that the high illiteracy rate is an obstacle.
APNG1 & APNG2
Until recently (in early 2000s), connectivity to the rest of the world was via the 897Km long Australia-PNG (APNG) cable, a copper coaxial analogue telephone cable laid between Cairns and Port Moresby in 1967, and by Intelsat Earth stations at Port Moresby and Lae.
Telikom retired the legacy APNG (APNG-1) coaxial copper cable of 16 Mbit/s in 2006 replacing it with the 1800Km APNG-2 optic fibre cable that used to link Sydney to Guam redeploying it between Sydney and Port Moresby at an estimated cost of US$11 million. This was a wise decision by Telikom because a new 2nd generation optic fibre cable would cost an estimated US$60 million. Why the advanced countries were selling off these cables was because they have surplus 2nd generation optic fibre cable capacity to cater for their growing market demands for internet and voice communications.
The APNG2 cable has a capacity of 560 Megabits/second (Mbps). While 560 Mbps this is a lot of internet capacity compared to the 16Megabits/second prior to 2006 it still wasn’t enough as only roughly 270Mbps is shared amongst the ISPs for internet purposes whilst the rest is used by Telikom for voice communication purposes as that required a lot of capacity for the voice clarity required in telephone conversations. Not withstanding, while the rest of the world moved on to higher capacity cabling between 1980 and 1995 noting the demand placed on these cables, no longer for growth of voice demand alone but the rapid proliferation of the internet stripping constrained capacity from these telephone cables. This resulted in the 16Mbps capacity of APNG-1 between Cairns and Port Moresby originally intended for telephone communications stripping telephone communications capacity to be shared with internet communications in the 1990s.
This explains why when the internet first hit PNG in dribs and drabs in the early 1990s, cost was way out of reach even for small to medium enterprises and the word “internet” and its wonder world of benefits was only a word shared by the technology savy in the offices, streets and homes around the country.
The APNG-2 optic fibre cable has a serviceable life of 15 years since its commissioning in October 2006 and will be retired in or around 2021. That’s only 10 years away so where to from here?
Source: http://soft-brain.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html
It’s in the PIPE-line from Madang
The PIPE optic fibre cable gateway in Madang was commissioned for service in September of 2009 and like the split segment of this cable that was re-aligned linking Sydney to Port Moresby it also has a serviceable lifespan of 15 years.
It was reported in The National and Post Courier of 20.05.2011 that the Governor for Southern Highlands, Anderson Agiru and Peter Graham the Country Manager for ExxonMobil signed off on the construction of the 750km segment of the National Broadband Network Project that will link Port Moresby to Tari and Mendi at a cost of US$70 (K169.5) million. It was also reported that it will take 4 years to link up rest of Papua New Guinea from the date of project implementation sign off (19.05.2011) to the PIPE gateway in Madang. This means critical mass utilisation of the PIPE’s 10,000 Mbps will start around 2015. In that time PNG taxpayers will have accrued a loss in value utilisation of US$24 million (6 years of idle time divided by 15 year lifespan times US$60 million investment in PIPE) let alone the opportunity cost in the 6 years the PIPE Gateway from Madang will have been lying idle since it was commissioned in 2009.
The murky-side of communications development in PNG aside, we can expect and anticipate greater reduction of internet costs where it will eventually become more afforadable for the masses. This will be a result of fierce competition in the ISP sector and pleasing to note this competition process has already started. ISPs are now consolidating and preparing their battle plans for when the National Broadband Network will be unleashed. A good ISP will triumph by adapting to the times and taking advantage of opportunities as they come. A great ISP anticipates openings others don't see and creates possibilities that were not there before for their immediate survival, long-term growth.
Where to from here for Papua New Guinea after the serviceable life of the 1st generation optic fibre cables connecting us to the rest of the world reach end of life?
The answer is no one knows as there is no specific national policy or plan(s) for life after APNG-2 and PIPE optic fibre gateways connecting PNG to the rest of the world.
Generating confidence through the media and other means for the National Broadband Network may be crucial to creating demand and supply in anticipation of broadband services in PNG but so is candor.
References
Pacific Connectivity - HighLevel Consultation-18May07
Chapter 2 – Technical Viability
http://www.unescap.org/LDCCU/Meetings/PacificConnectivity-HighLevelConsultation-18May07-Almaty/VersionFromAlmaty-June07/2_Technical.pdf
Re-use and Re-routing of Retiring Cables (check the website where this article was downloaded)
Jamie Merrett, Remy Laude
http://suboptic.org/App/Uploads/Files/We1.09.pdf
PIPE Pacific Cable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_Pacific_Cable
Madang Landing Station
http://www.pipeinternational.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&task=tag&category=Landing+Station+Madang&Itemid=53
PTC09 Submarine Cable
http://manymedia.com/2009/01/ptc09-submarine-cable/
Telikom starts fibre optic plans
http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=130/focusContentID
=23375/tableName=mediaRelease/overideSkinName=newsArticle-full.tpl
APNG2 – Cable System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APNG-2_(cable_system)
Environment Warrior of Madang and Information Access a David & Goliath Story
http://heatheryoungleslie.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/enviro-warriors-of-madang-and-info-access-a-david-and-goliath-story/
Fibre Optic Network Test Run Lae to Madang on PNG Powers Infrastructure
http://pngengineering.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:fibre-optic-network-test-run-lae-to-madang-on-png-powers-infrastructure&catid=39:communication&Itemid=53
Telikom PNG's View of PPC-1: Madang-Guam (10Gbps)
http://soft-brain.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html
Digicel launches mobile 3G Broadband
Monday 9th May 2011
www.postcourier.com.pg
US Government Oks PIPEs Submarine Cable to Land in Guam
http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/networking/20669-us-govt-oks-pipes-submarine-cable-to-land-in-guam
5/23/2011
Confessions of a single dad part II finale
well I got word today that my wife and son will be returning tomorrow!!! So we'll all be in the same country again! So this is the last installment of confessions....
Day 6 Sunday - Syd has a fever and chills so going to church is right out. Making this the 6th consecutive day of very little social interaction. I realize my wife is the tie that binds here. On the flip side, we're not producing a lot of laundry. Hmmn... coincidence? Trying to keep my daughter's spirits up, we still have our traditional family movie night, only with leftover pasta as our dinner instead of pizza. She's not that hungry anyway so it's fine. We both were kinda down because we'd been inside all day so we went for a trip around the center and said 'see you later' to some friends. I try to be extra goofy for her to cheer her up, and it's not hard to cheer her, she's a pretty optimistic kid.
Day 7 Monday - a lot of work to do, and Syd is feeling better so she's off to school. I come home dead tired and a friend delivers a home made dinner to us. WHAT a cool place this is to live! When the chips are down, the community pulls together. Syd and I have a quiet meal because the food was so good, and as she says 'this is funny we're quiet except to say 'mmm this is good'. ' Ever since a toddler she's always known how to cheer me up... a well timed hug, a good joke. Together we're doing okay without mom and calvin around. But the place is a bit empty without them.
Day 8 Tuesday - another long day of work, some GREAT things have happened. I have now gotten to the point where I can handle what comes at me, and fill in the gaps, but realize that not only is my wife an incredible woman and help to this family, but that single parents are probably always tired. It takes a lot of energy to be do all the things needing done, and still be emotionally available for your children. My daughter wanted to play with me every moment she could, which was exhausting but in the long run good for our relationship. I get the great news that my wife and son are returning tomorrow!!!! I'm excited for that.
Two weeks ago I prayed that God would give me the time to spend some alone time with my daughter to help build the relationship. Well we've had that.
1 week ago you all prayed that my son would get to the hospital safely. He did.
5 days ago you all prayed that he'd be disharged from the hospital, and he was.
Last night you all prayed that they'd come home tomorrow, and they are.
Tonight please pray for their safe travels.
Praise God and thank you.
Day 6 Sunday - Syd has a fever and chills so going to church is right out. Making this the 6th consecutive day of very little social interaction. I realize my wife is the tie that binds here. On the flip side, we're not producing a lot of laundry. Hmmn... coincidence? Trying to keep my daughter's spirits up, we still have our traditional family movie night, only with leftover pasta as our dinner instead of pizza. She's not that hungry anyway so it's fine. We both were kinda down because we'd been inside all day so we went for a trip around the center and said 'see you later' to some friends. I try to be extra goofy for her to cheer her up, and it's not hard to cheer her, she's a pretty optimistic kid.
Day 7 Monday - a lot of work to do, and Syd is feeling better so she's off to school. I come home dead tired and a friend delivers a home made dinner to us. WHAT a cool place this is to live! When the chips are down, the community pulls together. Syd and I have a quiet meal because the food was so good, and as she says 'this is funny we're quiet except to say 'mmm this is good'. ' Ever since a toddler she's always known how to cheer me up... a well timed hug, a good joke. Together we're doing okay without mom and calvin around. But the place is a bit empty without them.
Day 8 Tuesday - another long day of work, some GREAT things have happened. I have now gotten to the point where I can handle what comes at me, and fill in the gaps, but realize that not only is my wife an incredible woman and help to this family, but that single parents are probably always tired. It takes a lot of energy to be do all the things needing done, and still be emotionally available for your children. My daughter wanted to play with me every moment she could, which was exhausting but in the long run good for our relationship. I get the great news that my wife and son are returning tomorrow!!!! I'm excited for that.
Two weeks ago I prayed that God would give me the time to spend some alone time with my daughter to help build the relationship. Well we've had that.
1 week ago you all prayed that my son would get to the hospital safely. He did.
5 days ago you all prayed that he'd be disharged from the hospital, and he was.
Last night you all prayed that they'd come home tomorrow, and they are.
Tonight please pray for their safe travels.
Praise God and thank you.
5/20/2011
Confessions of a Single Dad part 1
Day 1 - Weds. People offered to invited us to dinner, but work is really busy and I have to figure out how to work late hours and still provide the emotional support for my daughter if we're going to make this June deadline. On top of that I've donated mornings to this training course. It's funny how this month was supposed to be about this new project roll out and TTC training, and now it's about surviving a medivac. Life changes quickly.
Last night Sydney and I made tacos. It was an easy meal, if you don't have to make sour cream. It was simple and nice, and we had left overs for dinner the next night. Tons of leftovers in the fridge. Sydney has music practice so that takes me to 4pm, work ends at 5pm and a friend volunteers to watch her until I get off work.
Day 2 - Thurs - yesterday wasn't so hard! I think I can handle this, especially since we've been invited to dinner tonight. "Hey Daddy, did you know that tomorrow there is no school all day!!! We can play!" I'm thinking.... how am I going to get someone to watch her, because I have to go to work. I'm sure they'd understand if I didn't, but the pressure is on, and I need to make progress. Still, my little girl might be needing extra hugs during this time of family separation. Ouch my back still hurts.
Well I found someone to watch her, but then she came down with a fever and she's cold and headachy. Must be this virus. So I cancel the afternoon plans...
I come home later and find my home alarm is sounding and my dog has jumped the fence. That is odd.
The day feels overall, sort of OFF... like nothing goes to plan. But, I didn't need to make dinner and the rest of the night goes well.
Day 3 - Friday - Sydney packs her own lunch, makes her own breakfast and heads off to school with her backpack and trumpet. Her fever is gone, and today looks to be productive. Dinner tonight is already covered, but I have to find time to go to the store, because we committed to seeing some friends off with a meal, and I will prepare some pasta tomorrow. 1pm the phone rings, Sydney's lunch was 'rotten' and she wanted me to bring her a new lunch... okay so now I pack a new lunch, and find time to get to the store. At the store, I can't find a can of mushrooms. I don't know if they're not there or if I can't find them. I ask a friend, they're not where they usually are. I find that our house is well stocked enough that I really don't need much of anything to host this meal. That's good!
Day 4 - Saturday - I wake up deciding today will be a sydney and dad day, we'll go to the river, make bread rolls, make dessert, cook dinner, play games. So I start by cooking up the leftover potatoes for country fries, and make an omelette with tomatoes, olives and avocado.. all produce I didn't want to go bad. And after cooking all this up Sydney looks at me and says 'Dad i think I'm going to throw up...' she hadn't even tasted it yet!!! She says 'but I'm happy you made breakfast.' Her fever is back. I tell her had I known she was feeling that sick, I would have made us some simple toast. So half my elaborate breakfast goes to waste.
Now she's on the couch resting, and I'm punching buttons figuring out how to work various kitchen appliances and meeting with relative success. I do not know how my wife stays in the kitchen all day on saturdays making cookies and whatnot, but I find it makes my back hurt.
My wife is an amazing woman, and very helpful to the community. I feel tad guilty that the community is lavishing love and care on us in her absence, almost like I'm collecting on her good will. But as of now, we have meals arranged for us for almost every day next week.
Which is awesome, but it means that the only time in the kitchen for me and sydney to share, is today and tomorrow. So we'll make the best of it.
Last night Sydney and I made tacos. It was an easy meal, if you don't have to make sour cream. It was simple and nice, and we had left overs for dinner the next night. Tons of leftovers in the fridge. Sydney has music practice so that takes me to 4pm, work ends at 5pm and a friend volunteers to watch her until I get off work.
Day 2 - Thurs - yesterday wasn't so hard! I think I can handle this, especially since we've been invited to dinner tonight. "Hey Daddy, did you know that tomorrow there is no school all day!!! We can play!" I'm thinking.... how am I going to get someone to watch her, because I have to go to work. I'm sure they'd understand if I didn't, but the pressure is on, and I need to make progress. Still, my little girl might be needing extra hugs during this time of family separation. Ouch my back still hurts.
Well I found someone to watch her, but then she came down with a fever and she's cold and headachy. Must be this virus. So I cancel the afternoon plans...
I come home later and find my home alarm is sounding and my dog has jumped the fence. That is odd.
The day feels overall, sort of OFF... like nothing goes to plan. But, I didn't need to make dinner and the rest of the night goes well.
Day 3 - Friday - Sydney packs her own lunch, makes her own breakfast and heads off to school with her backpack and trumpet. Her fever is gone, and today looks to be productive. Dinner tonight is already covered, but I have to find time to go to the store, because we committed to seeing some friends off with a meal, and I will prepare some pasta tomorrow. 1pm the phone rings, Sydney's lunch was 'rotten' and she wanted me to bring her a new lunch... okay so now I pack a new lunch, and find time to get to the store. At the store, I can't find a can of mushrooms. I don't know if they're not there or if I can't find them. I ask a friend, they're not where they usually are. I find that our house is well stocked enough that I really don't need much of anything to host this meal. That's good!
Day 4 - Saturday - I wake up deciding today will be a sydney and dad day, we'll go to the river, make bread rolls, make dessert, cook dinner, play games. So I start by cooking up the leftover potatoes for country fries, and make an omelette with tomatoes, olives and avocado.. all produce I didn't want to go bad. And after cooking all this up Sydney looks at me and says 'Dad i think I'm going to throw up...' she hadn't even tasted it yet!!! She says 'but I'm happy you made breakfast.' Her fever is back. I tell her had I known she was feeling that sick, I would have made us some simple toast. So half my elaborate breakfast goes to waste.
Now she's on the couch resting, and I'm punching buttons figuring out how to work various kitchen appliances and meeting with relative success. I do not know how my wife stays in the kitchen all day on saturdays making cookies and whatnot, but I find it makes my back hurt.
My wife is an amazing woman, and very helpful to the community. I feel tad guilty that the community is lavishing love and care on us in her absence, almost like I'm collecting on her good will. But as of now, we have meals arranged for us for almost every day next week.
Which is awesome, but it means that the only time in the kitchen for me and sydney to share, is today and tomorrow. So we'll make the best of it.
Medivac
the word has already gone out about my son's medivac. A virus brought on an exacerbation of his asthma which required we fly him to a hospital. So my wife and son flew to a different country leaving me and my daughter in PNG.
PRAISE GOD, Calvin is out of the hospital now, exactly as we prayed he would be. Thanks to those who prayed!!! Praise to GOD!! We knew God would do something incredible for Calvin and getting him out of that hospital when so many were praying, helped show our son the power of prayer.
Now that things have calmed for a bit, Kendal and Calvin have another week or so in Australia to do follow up checks, etc.
I thought some of you might get a chuckle out of a few blogs on what it's like for me to be a single dad of 1 parent in PNG, given that I now have to tackle a lot of things my wife does... and if I cut down what she does to the absolute bare minimum, I might have a chance.... and so... I bring to you
'confessions of a single dad'. until the family is reunited.
5/09/2011
Enormity
I'm sitting here in TTC1 class, observing and helping as computer needs arise.
TTC1 teaches basic English concepts and basic Bible translation and some other things I'm sure I don't understand.
As I look around I see the age of people. Some look over 60, few look under 30 years old.
Which makes me realize the task of bringing the Word of God to this country is enormous.
If it takes 20 years plus, to do a translation, I'm seeing many of these people here learning skills that will take them another 6 years to master. They will be translating while they learn.... but we're talking many many years before seeing fruits.
I admire teachers, knowing they are investing in the future... a computer guy like me demands instant results, if you told me to fix a computer and I wouldn't know if it worked for 20 years... well.... I might not respond well.
But in the midst of feeling this huge and heavy burden for all the work to be done... and the duration that it'll take...
I hear at the table next to me in Tok Ples, then English then Tok Pisin 'What's Grace... ' and they are opening books and talking and working out the concept of grace and pantomiming what they compare it to in their culture....
and I think again, yeah lots of work to do, but it's God's work, and He has a good plan.
TTC1 teaches basic English concepts and basic Bible translation and some other things I'm sure I don't understand.
As I look around I see the age of people. Some look over 60, few look under 30 years old.
Which makes me realize the task of bringing the Word of God to this country is enormous.
If it takes 20 years plus, to do a translation, I'm seeing many of these people here learning skills that will take them another 6 years to master. They will be translating while they learn.... but we're talking many many years before seeing fruits.
I admire teachers, knowing they are investing in the future... a computer guy like me demands instant results, if you told me to fix a computer and I wouldn't know if it worked for 20 years... well.... I might not respond well.
But in the midst of feeling this huge and heavy burden for all the work to be done... and the duration that it'll take...
I hear at the table next to me in Tok Ples, then English then Tok Pisin 'What's Grace... ' and they are opening books and talking and working out the concept of grace and pantomiming what they compare it to in their culture....
and I think again, yeah lots of work to do, but it's God's work, and He has a good plan.
Dinner Guests
Ituma Tobeen I have no idea how to spell it, but it means 'Good Night' in Nankina.
A while ago some friends of ours asked about the Nankina language project and how it was coming, and my wife remembered that. A few days ago some Papua New Guineans from that area were visiting a some friends that we were visiting and we found out who they were, so we invited them for dinner. Turns out, they leave on a plane tomorrow, so our meeting was timely.
From left to right meet:
Wienare - the Nankina language project leader
Tomas - a friend from the Ngaing language
Hubert - a mentor from Ngaing language who helps with Nankina.
Barbara - an Australian translator who is the ex-pat mentor for Ngaing and a friend to the Nankina group
Not knowing the history myself it turns out this was a very interesting night.
Several years ago, the Spaldings, a couple from my wife's home church worked on a translation for the Nankina people. After they left, the project went untended for a while, until Wienare got the fire to pick it back up.
Wienare is one of those guys who is really on fire for the work God has for his people.
We asked him about his people group.
3000 people - that's a large language group
His home village - Guarawon has 1200 people in it.
He has started literacy training, Bible translation, schooling, their village even has a medical centre.
The short version of his story is that he worked with the Spaldings, and attended TTC. the SAME training course I'm volunteering at right now. He learned English and how to translate and took that fire and went back to his village.
And from there, they've progressed to finishing Mark and have much of Genesis done, as well as literacy training curriculum and worship songs in their tok ples.
Ahvy - that means 'thank you very much' in their language.
One story they told was how in their village there was a cruel murdering man, who came to hear the Word of God in his own language. He had read in Tok Pisin, and heard in English the same things, but it didn't register. After he heard for the first time in his language, the fire of God went into his stomach, and he changed, and is now following God and leading the community.
It is one of many miracles God's Word has performed when people hear it in their own language.
Wienare has a lot of work ahead of him. This is a sort of stray language group that doesn't have an ex-pat translator assigned, but God put the fire and the ability in a national man, and the task is huge for him, and his wife and 5 children.... but he is excited and able.
I asked him what the needs were, and how we can pray.
He paused because the list of needs was very long, and gave us the short version
-the house they have is finally a semi-permanent house, but there is not enough room for translators to work inside and there is need for more room for literacy workshops.
-they have need of a water system, right now they go out to a rain barrel to get water
-they have need of another solar panel
-they need more workers, for the literacy work to take hold.
On top of all that, I learned many new things about Barbara as well. It took her ten years to get to Papua New Guinea. 10!!
So many people get discouraged after 2 or 3. But she kept going on... and we're thankful because she is a powerhouse of translation work. Not only does she lead her Ngaing work, but is sort of a helper for the Nankinas as well. And advocate.
The themes of the evening were:
-excitement for the miraculous work God is doing... even without an ex-pat affiliated.
-endurance and determination because the work is long
For us as support workers, it was great to get to spend time with these people, eat a good meal (that my wife prepared), and hear about what they are doing, it helps us connect what we do, to what they do.
I was glad to be able to lend a few words on technical aspects to them as well.
I can tell, only a week into it, that this month is going to be one to remember. God is showing us some neat stuff as far as directly working with translation.
Did you know that the homework assignment for TTC2 course is to translate huge parts of Genesis, and that students can't return for the third course until they've completed it!
This course is one of the kinds that gets things done.. actual translation is happening into tok ples!
God ... He will do this work without us, we are privileged to be along for the ride.
Pray for Wienare and the Nankina and their needs.
A while ago some friends of ours asked about the Nankina language project and how it was coming, and my wife remembered that. A few days ago some Papua New Guineans from that area were visiting a some friends that we were visiting and we found out who they were, so we invited them for dinner. Turns out, they leave on a plane tomorrow, so our meeting was timely.
From left to right meet:
Wienare - the Nankina language project leader
Tomas - a friend from the Ngaing language
Hubert - a mentor from Ngaing language who helps with Nankina.
Barbara - an Australian translator who is the ex-pat mentor for Ngaing and a friend to the Nankina group
Not knowing the history myself it turns out this was a very interesting night.
Several years ago, the Spaldings, a couple from my wife's home church worked on a translation for the Nankina people. After they left, the project went untended for a while, until Wienare got the fire to pick it back up.
Wienare is one of those guys who is really on fire for the work God has for his people.
We asked him about his people group.
3000 people - that's a large language group
His home village - Guarawon has 1200 people in it.
He has started literacy training, Bible translation, schooling, their village even has a medical centre.
The short version of his story is that he worked with the Spaldings, and attended TTC. the SAME training course I'm volunteering at right now. He learned English and how to translate and took that fire and went back to his village.
And from there, they've progressed to finishing Mark and have much of Genesis done, as well as literacy training curriculum and worship songs in their tok ples.
Ahvy - that means 'thank you very much' in their language.
One story they told was how in their village there was a cruel murdering man, who came to hear the Word of God in his own language. He had read in Tok Pisin, and heard in English the same things, but it didn't register. After he heard for the first time in his language, the fire of God went into his stomach, and he changed, and is now following God and leading the community.
It is one of many miracles God's Word has performed when people hear it in their own language.
Wienare has a lot of work ahead of him. This is a sort of stray language group that doesn't have an ex-pat translator assigned, but God put the fire and the ability in a national man, and the task is huge for him, and his wife and 5 children.... but he is excited and able.
I asked him what the needs were, and how we can pray.
He paused because the list of needs was very long, and gave us the short version
-the house they have is finally a semi-permanent house, but there is not enough room for translators to work inside and there is need for more room for literacy workshops.
-they have need of a water system, right now they go out to a rain barrel to get water
-they have need of another solar panel
-they need more workers, for the literacy work to take hold.
On top of all that, I learned many new things about Barbara as well. It took her ten years to get to Papua New Guinea. 10!!
So many people get discouraged after 2 or 3. But she kept going on... and we're thankful because she is a powerhouse of translation work. Not only does she lead her Ngaing work, but is sort of a helper for the Nankinas as well. And advocate.
The themes of the evening were:
-excitement for the miraculous work God is doing... even without an ex-pat affiliated.
-endurance and determination because the work is long
For us as support workers, it was great to get to spend time with these people, eat a good meal (that my wife prepared), and hear about what they are doing, it helps us connect what we do, to what they do.
I was glad to be able to lend a few words on technical aspects to them as well.
I can tell, only a week into it, that this month is going to be one to remember. God is showing us some neat stuff as far as directly working with translation.
Did you know that the homework assignment for TTC2 course is to translate huge parts of Genesis, and that students can't return for the third course until they've completed it!
This course is one of the kinds that gets things done.. actual translation is happening into tok ples!
God ... He will do this work without us, we are privileged to be along for the ride.
Pray for Wienare and the Nankina and their needs.
5/08/2011
Defining Urgent
Today two people came to ask me to get their email working.
I'm volunteering this month down at the training course where about 70 Papua New Guineans are learning anything from English to how to translate original Hebrew Scripture.
One person was an ex-pat who said 'I need my email working down here'. And she meant today, quickly, now please!! She was polite, but the urgency was there, knowing full well it works at home, but being as how this training facility is new, and it takes months to order network equipmenet like cables, and media converters and surge surpressors, we're only now bringing up the wireless for this building that 2 days ago didn't have power. Anyway, for them it was urgent.
Then I had a Papua New Guinean man ask me 'Chad can you make my email work?"
and I said 'yes, when did you last check it?'... assuming I'd hear 'yesterday at noon'.
He said 'hmmn.... well.. I haven't checked it last month.'
I didn't laugh, but inside it reminded me of the cultural definition of URGENT.
Tonight we have invited two new acquaintances to dinner, they are working in the Nankani language and we have friends back home who are interested in an update from them. We invited them for dinner at 6pm.
We are curious as to a few things:
1 - when will they arrive
2 - how many will there be
3 - do they anticipate talking all night or will they leave early?
With people of your same culture you often know what to expect. In the U.S. if you say 'we eat at 6' you expect people to show up 15 minutes prior or so... then pick up on social cues to go home .. ie.. a yawn.. etc.
With PNG you never know. You have no idea what's going to happen at any given exchange. It makes it exciting, but you have to be willing to put aside convention and invest in the relationship... so if you get wrapped up in 'I have to do this.. and this.. and this... " agenda thinking, you'll end up having a horrible experience.
As such my wife is preparing a meal that can stay warm for a while if they come late, and making more than enough should they bring friends.
It will be a good night I'm sure.
I'm volunteering this month down at the training course where about 70 Papua New Guineans are learning anything from English to how to translate original Hebrew Scripture.
One person was an ex-pat who said 'I need my email working down here'. And she meant today, quickly, now please!! She was polite, but the urgency was there, knowing full well it works at home, but being as how this training facility is new, and it takes months to order network equipmenet like cables, and media converters and surge surpressors, we're only now bringing up the wireless for this building that 2 days ago didn't have power. Anyway, for them it was urgent.
Then I had a Papua New Guinean man ask me 'Chad can you make my email work?"
and I said 'yes, when did you last check it?'... assuming I'd hear 'yesterday at noon'.
He said 'hmmn.... well.. I haven't checked it last month.'
I didn't laugh, but inside it reminded me of the cultural definition of URGENT.
Tonight we have invited two new acquaintances to dinner, they are working in the Nankani language and we have friends back home who are interested in an update from them. We invited them for dinner at 6pm.
We are curious as to a few things:
1 - when will they arrive
2 - how many will there be
3 - do they anticipate talking all night or will they leave early?
With people of your same culture you often know what to expect. In the U.S. if you say 'we eat at 6' you expect people to show up 15 minutes prior or so... then pick up on social cues to go home .. ie.. a yawn.. etc.
With PNG you never know. You have no idea what's going to happen at any given exchange. It makes it exciting, but you have to be willing to put aside convention and invest in the relationship... so if you get wrapped up in 'I have to do this.. and this.. and this... " agenda thinking, you'll end up having a horrible experience.
As such my wife is preparing a meal that can stay warm for a while if they come late, and making more than enough should they bring friends.
It will be a good night I'm sure.
5/07/2011
Mothers day
for some mother's day is about appreciating your mom, treating her with kindness.
for others, it's about getting extra opportunities to exercise motherly grace.
Today one of my children, whom shall remain nameless broke the microwave plate.
These things cost $40 bucks to replace, and will take about a month to arrive.
The microwave, even in PNG is an essential bit of life for us because the kids aren't allowed to use the gas stove on their own to heat their own lunches, and it's also much quicker.
Repair DAD to the rescue.
Superglue didn't hold it, but... I did bring 2 rolls of the 'good stuff' duct tape. You can not get good tape in country, it doesn't hold. MAsking tape, duct tape, both are rubbish here. Maybe scotch tape is okay.
SO, for those who would like to know...
cooking duct tape in a microwave appears to have no negative... no negative no negative.. no negative...no negative...no negative... side effects whatsoever.
(-;
seriously though, it didn't burn, nor give off any smellable gas, nor even heat up that much.
So I suppose, a duct tape microwave plate will keep us in reheated happiness until I can get one re-ordered from the states or find one in a leftover microwave around here.
Happy Mother's Day....
this year for Father's Day I'm hoping my kids break something I can fix with a swiss army knife and a paper clip. (-;
5/05/2011
Power Choice
this morning for the training course, I was migrating their file server, something I announced in advanced and planned for 9am.
I was in the middle of the project, ant at 8:59am someone ran in and said 'we're teaching a course and the projection won't work, can you come help?'
I had to choose between the urgent and the priority.... and decided to go help with the projection.
Well it didn't take long before I realized the projector was plugged into a UPS, and the battery was dead.
why?
because the switch enabling the outlet from the power was off (in PNG/AUS all outlets are called powerpoints and each outlet has a switch to turn on the power right above the outlet itself).
So I flicked the switch, easy fix... what? still no power.
So I went from outlet to outlet, room to room, trying to be invisible since class was still going on and whenever I moved the pngians seemed to track me with their eyes.
I finally found one powerpoint (outlet) with power, and the ups began to charge and they were up in under 3 minutes total.
Then I went back to continue the server migration.
on the way I ran into the building manager and said 'there is no power in there' he replied, 'I know we have an electrician trying to figure out why right now, but he doesn't know'.
....pause...
sorry had to swipe a horse fly out of my hair, it decided to dive bomb me and got stuck.
where was I?
oh the point about power.
No matter how much technology we employ we're still limited by the power.
power here is completely unreliable.
The only reliable power you get is if you run an inverter system of your own and regulate the voltage.
Things that simply plug into outlet, die quickly.
kitchen appliances, get burned out
electronics get surged and fried
monitors catch on fire.
the voltage and the frequency alter minute by minute and so UPS (battery back up) is a think of life here... surge supressors often give their lives up during lightning storms to save more expensive equipment.
If I had to guess I would say there are maybe 1000 surge surpressors on center,
3 dozen lightning arrestors
600 UPS's
300 power regulators
25 inverter systems (AC to DC power with battery backup)
and 2 gigantic generators to power it all when the power goes out.
we are always battling electricity.
I was in the middle of the project, ant at 8:59am someone ran in and said 'we're teaching a course and the projection won't work, can you come help?'
I had to choose between the urgent and the priority.... and decided to go help with the projection.
Well it didn't take long before I realized the projector was plugged into a UPS, and the battery was dead.
why?
because the switch enabling the outlet from the power was off (in PNG/AUS all outlets are called powerpoints and each outlet has a switch to turn on the power right above the outlet itself).
So I flicked the switch, easy fix... what? still no power.
So I went from outlet to outlet, room to room, trying to be invisible since class was still going on and whenever I moved the pngians seemed to track me with their eyes.
I finally found one powerpoint (outlet) with power, and the ups began to charge and they were up in under 3 minutes total.
Then I went back to continue the server migration.
on the way I ran into the building manager and said 'there is no power in there' he replied, 'I know we have an electrician trying to figure out why right now, but he doesn't know'.
....pause...
sorry had to swipe a horse fly out of my hair, it decided to dive bomb me and got stuck.
where was I?
oh the point about power.
No matter how much technology we employ we're still limited by the power.
power here is completely unreliable.
The only reliable power you get is if you run an inverter system of your own and regulate the voltage.
Things that simply plug into outlet, die quickly.
kitchen appliances, get burned out
electronics get surged and fried
monitors catch on fire.
the voltage and the frequency alter minute by minute and so UPS (battery back up) is a think of life here... surge supressors often give their lives up during lightning storms to save more expensive equipment.
If I had to guess I would say there are maybe 1000 surge surpressors on center,
3 dozen lightning arrestors
600 UPS's
300 power regulators
25 inverter systems (AC to DC power with battery backup)
and 2 gigantic generators to power it all when the power goes out.
we are always battling electricity.
5/04/2011
Out of my Element,... and loving it.
Yesterday I began my new assignment for this month. I have been loaned to a training course for teaching Papua New Guineans how to translate the Bible. It is a yearly course, and last year there were multiple network errors that caused the instructors many headaches. Typically they have someone with computer skills but this year's course they were short handed so we (my dept) volunteered me for 4 weeks.
There is a growing emphasis on training here. Yesterday I heard a 2 minute speech on how if this course fails, we might as well all go home because there will be no Bible translating going on in the country. I thought that a bit overly dramatic but was encouraged by the passion people have for this course.
Still, I'm not sitting at my normal desk, working on normal projects, and I am excited about this opportunity to work more directly with the process, however it's like your first day at a new job.
I'm still getting my bearings. Trying to figure out how this all works together, what their normal habits are.
I've been for a long time saying we should donate our people to each department for a week so we get an idea of how people actually use their network and computers. So this is my chance!
Today I decided to sit down with some people I didn't know at tea time and tried to talk. I was surprised at how timid I was. I'm not a timid guy, but it dawned on me... right after this moment:
Stephen, a PNG friend said, 'we are so happy you are here, very encouraging. I'm reading a book about Mother Theresa and she said that 'the smallest things done with the biggest love, make the biggest impact.' He then went on to explain to me how everyone teaching at TTC is very encouraged because it shows that they are being taken seriously.
It hit me that my presence here means more than fixing computers, it means that our department supports and is putting people behind the training effort, which is a big stamp of approval for the trainers.
It was after this moment, that I realized why I was timid.
In my office I'm seen as an expert, a good guy to come to. But here I'm amidst some of the top minds in translation and training in the country as well as side by side with the actual men and women working on bringing the Bible to their people.
THIS is where it gets real. This is where I'm amid some very intelligent and passionate people. This is a very direct application of my skills makes a big difference. And so I realize my respect for these people, and I do not fully understand their processes and do not wish to expose my ignorance without also exposing my desire to help them.
So, this month should be interesting, and stretching. I'm looking forward to getting to know the software they use a bit more and how they use their systems a bit more.
Mostly I'm excited at what God has in store for this month, because at the beginning of day 2 I can already see this is going to be a very interesting month. I've heard stories of being getting excited by training and getting addicted to it and leaving their posts for a job in training. I don't see myself going there, but I definitely understand the appeal of passing skills on in a way that teaches men to fish rather than giving them fish.
There is a growing emphasis on training here. Yesterday I heard a 2 minute speech on how if this course fails, we might as well all go home because there will be no Bible translating going on in the country. I thought that a bit overly dramatic but was encouraged by the passion people have for this course.
Still, I'm not sitting at my normal desk, working on normal projects, and I am excited about this opportunity to work more directly with the process, however it's like your first day at a new job.
I'm still getting my bearings. Trying to figure out how this all works together, what their normal habits are.
I've been for a long time saying we should donate our people to each department for a week so we get an idea of how people actually use their network and computers. So this is my chance!
Today I decided to sit down with some people I didn't know at tea time and tried to talk. I was surprised at how timid I was. I'm not a timid guy, but it dawned on me... right after this moment:
Stephen, a PNG friend said, 'we are so happy you are here, very encouraging. I'm reading a book about Mother Theresa and she said that 'the smallest things done with the biggest love, make the biggest impact.' He then went on to explain to me how everyone teaching at TTC is very encouraged because it shows that they are being taken seriously.
It hit me that my presence here means more than fixing computers, it means that our department supports and is putting people behind the training effort, which is a big stamp of approval for the trainers.
It was after this moment, that I realized why I was timid.
In my office I'm seen as an expert, a good guy to come to. But here I'm amidst some of the top minds in translation and training in the country as well as side by side with the actual men and women working on bringing the Bible to their people.
THIS is where it gets real. This is where I'm amid some very intelligent and passionate people. This is a very direct application of my skills makes a big difference. And so I realize my respect for these people, and I do not fully understand their processes and do not wish to expose my ignorance without also exposing my desire to help them.
So, this month should be interesting, and stretching. I'm looking forward to getting to know the software they use a bit more and how they use their systems a bit more.
Mostly I'm excited at what God has in store for this month, because at the beginning of day 2 I can already see this is going to be a very interesting month. I've heard stories of being getting excited by training and getting addicted to it and leaving their posts for a job in training. I don't see myself going there, but I definitely understand the appeal of passing skills on in a way that teaches men to fish rather than giving them fish.
Facing Failure
I might as well blog about this too.
The tone of this entry is not complaining... in fact a great many things are going good for us here.
We just celebrated our son's 10th birthday,
Easter was the other day,
we're very busy at work,
we received a recent care package...
life is good.
Which is why I can talk about failure without complaining or being overly negative.
Failure is something most of the volunteers (missionaries) here experience regularly.
One failure might be that while you're trying to gain acceptance in a village to begin translation work, someone in a drunken fit burns down your village home forcing you to evacuate.
That takes a huge emotional toll on a family, it's a huge setback in the progress of a translation, and in the end a lot of issues have to be dealt with before things can get back on track.
Another failure could be scheduling and planning a training class only to have little to no one arrive because of various problems (hevi's) in their villages.
This is the land of the unexpected... and everyone has to deal with failure in their own way... and recognize that often it has nothing to do with our efforts.
I would be interested in hearing how you have dealt with the disappointment of seeing your labor fall apart in front of you.
Recently I had been working on a new technology that promised to solve many networking issues here, I got very excited about it and worked very long hours on it for a period of a month.
And then, the day we put it into production, something came up very quickly that proved we'd be completely unable to use it and thus, the problem is not solved.
Today of course I felt a little bit like the wind was taken out of my sails. I was so hopeful that this would solve huge issues for everyone.
But it won't.
You know that verse that says 'count it as joy, when you face trials of many kinds?'
I do not believe we are expected to be joyful immediately.
The Bible says to mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep.
There is a time to share in suffering and failure.
First I'm very thankful that my personal inability to succeed in this is nothing in comparison to having my village house burned down.
But we do face disappointment.
And the way we have learned as a family to 'count it as joy' is simply to realize that in suffering and disappointment we aren't alone, and if we bear it well (as Job did), that it can in fact be a form of worship.
Humbling ourselves means that when our pride is wounded from failure, we turn to God to seek comfort and recognize it can only be done WITH HIM.
On the flip side, it's technology so I'm very certain we'll eventually find a solution, (we're tenacious that way)... but we go forward praying for God's help in this.
And we pray for encouragement for others who have faced even worse discouragement.
Finally,
God is good.
Today someone told me something I found very encouraging...
they said,
'well, last year at this translation course, things were hectic, there was lot of network failures and printing problems, but now things seem to just work.'
that told me that our team of computer techs did it's job in the last year... we made things better for the translation folks...
and that feels good.
We strive to continue to make things better for the translation efforts and am confident that with your prayers we'll find a solution to this big problem we've been trying to solve.
The tone of this entry is not complaining... in fact a great many things are going good for us here.
We just celebrated our son's 10th birthday,
Easter was the other day,
we're very busy at work,
we received a recent care package...
life is good.
Which is why I can talk about failure without complaining or being overly negative.
Failure is something most of the volunteers (missionaries) here experience regularly.
One failure might be that while you're trying to gain acceptance in a village to begin translation work, someone in a drunken fit burns down your village home forcing you to evacuate.
That takes a huge emotional toll on a family, it's a huge setback in the progress of a translation, and in the end a lot of issues have to be dealt with before things can get back on track.
Another failure could be scheduling and planning a training class only to have little to no one arrive because of various problems (hevi's) in their villages.
This is the land of the unexpected... and everyone has to deal with failure in their own way... and recognize that often it has nothing to do with our efforts.
I would be interested in hearing how you have dealt with the disappointment of seeing your labor fall apart in front of you.
Recently I had been working on a new technology that promised to solve many networking issues here, I got very excited about it and worked very long hours on it for a period of a month.
And then, the day we put it into production, something came up very quickly that proved we'd be completely unable to use it and thus, the problem is not solved.
Today of course I felt a little bit like the wind was taken out of my sails. I was so hopeful that this would solve huge issues for everyone.
But it won't.
You know that verse that says 'count it as joy, when you face trials of many kinds?'
I do not believe we are expected to be joyful immediately.
The Bible says to mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep.
There is a time to share in suffering and failure.
First I'm very thankful that my personal inability to succeed in this is nothing in comparison to having my village house burned down.
But we do face disappointment.
And the way we have learned as a family to 'count it as joy' is simply to realize that in suffering and disappointment we aren't alone, and if we bear it well (as Job did), that it can in fact be a form of worship.
Humbling ourselves means that when our pride is wounded from failure, we turn to God to seek comfort and recognize it can only be done WITH HIM.
On the flip side, it's technology so I'm very certain we'll eventually find a solution, (we're tenacious that way)... but we go forward praying for God's help in this.
And we pray for encouragement for others who have faced even worse discouragement.
Finally,
God is good.
Today someone told me something I found very encouraging...
they said,
'well, last year at this translation course, things were hectic, there was lot of network failures and printing problems, but now things seem to just work.'
that told me that our team of computer techs did it's job in the last year... we made things better for the translation folks...
and that feels good.
We strive to continue to make things better for the translation efforts and am confident that with your prayers we'll find a solution to this big problem we've been trying to solve.
4/30/2011
Record Player
Today's breakfast conversation between me and the kids
"and they jumped on a record player and spun around and…"
me "wait, do you know what a record player is?"
syd "yup"
calvin "yes"
me "what does it do?"
syd "it plays records"
calvin "well, you put a huge black thing like a CD on it, and then it has a needle and you put the needle in one of the… there's scratches all over the big black cd thing, and the needle stays in one of the scratches and gets closer and closer to the middle until the song or whatever is done, and then it's over."
this coming from two kids who saw a typewriter in a museum and went nuts over it.
"and they jumped on a record player and spun around and…"
me "wait, do you know what a record player is?"
syd "yup"
calvin "yes"
me "what does it do?"
syd "it plays records"
calvin "well, you put a huge black thing like a CD on it, and then it has a needle and you put the needle in one of the… there's scratches all over the big black cd thing, and the needle stays in one of the scratches and gets closer and closer to the middle until the song or whatever is done, and then it's over."
this coming from two kids who saw a typewriter in a museum and went nuts over it.
4/28/2011
All Christian Parents Should See This
I rarely do anything other than report on what we're doing here, on this blog.
Recently our church services have been playing videos of different preaching because it takes a lot of work to organize a church service every week when you have no staff dedicated to it. So occasionally a video will be shown.
I saw this sermon (you can listen or download the video)
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/let-no-one-despise-you-for-your-youth
The main GIST of the message is that parents should not give their children a heritage of believing that being a Christian is following a set of rules.
They should instead endeavor to teach their kids about a relationship with Christ.
It's a huge challenge, and if you listen/watch it may challenge your approach at parenting a bit.
I personally have inherited a wonderful heritage from my family that has taught me the value of prayer, the desire to seek a relationship with Christ, and I do not feel bound by rules and traditions although I honor them, I do not feel they define my salvation.
Many people I know have 'left the church' or 'turned away from God' because their entire understanding of Him is that He gives them rules that they don't fully like or understand.
It's a sad scenario. To lose out on the wonder that is Christ and knowing Him is a tragedy.
One of the things they say about going to the mission field is that you are confronted with things in ten years that would take most people 100 years to be confronted with and as a result your faith is forced to grow quickly.
I have become so addicted to seeing Christ move in my life and around me!! Watching Him work is incredible, and brings me closer to Him. But last night it dawned on me, that many people are losing out on that opportunity simply because they see Christianity as a religion of rules.
The true wonder of this life, is getting to know Christ just enough through our sin clouded bodies, that we want to get to know Him a LOT more later when we're untethered and unshackled in heaven!!!
Recently our church services have been playing videos of different preaching because it takes a lot of work to organize a church service every week when you have no staff dedicated to it. So occasionally a video will be shown.
I saw this sermon (you can listen or download the video)
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/let-no-one-despise-you-for-your-youth
The main GIST of the message is that parents should not give their children a heritage of believing that being a Christian is following a set of rules.
They should instead endeavor to teach their kids about a relationship with Christ.
It's a huge challenge, and if you listen/watch it may challenge your approach at parenting a bit.
I personally have inherited a wonderful heritage from my family that has taught me the value of prayer, the desire to seek a relationship with Christ, and I do not feel bound by rules and traditions although I honor them, I do not feel they define my salvation.
Many people I know have 'left the church' or 'turned away from God' because their entire understanding of Him is that He gives them rules that they don't fully like or understand.
It's a sad scenario. To lose out on the wonder that is Christ and knowing Him is a tragedy.
One of the things they say about going to the mission field is that you are confronted with things in ten years that would take most people 100 years to be confronted with and as a result your faith is forced to grow quickly.
I have become so addicted to seeing Christ move in my life and around me!! Watching Him work is incredible, and brings me closer to Him. But last night it dawned on me, that many people are losing out on that opportunity simply because they see Christianity as a religion of rules.
The true wonder of this life, is getting to know Christ just enough through our sin clouded bodies, that we want to get to know Him a LOT more later when we're untethered and unshackled in heaven!!!
4/27/2011
Stuff I learned
the photo is for fun, lots of war wreckage can be seen in these parts.
For those that are concerned that my skill level might atrophe while here, I thought it might be fun to list out all the things I have learned since January.
In 4 months I have learned the following technologies that I have NEVER seen before:
-Packeteer - how to do packet shaping - We deployed it and I became the resident 'expert' on the topic... the deployment was so successful we were able to improve our network performance by a lot.
-PPPoE - I've only heard of it until now, and now I've setup a server and tested it
-Captive Portal - the concept was familiar, but now I'm intimately informed about this... think Starbucks hotspot.
-FREERADIUS - the leading radius server out there, and now I know it very very well.
-PFSENSE - having never used this box before, I'm very familiar with it now
-VMware VSphere - I'm an admin now on a cluster and have imported many vm's and we've together migrated to an 90% virtual environment!!!
-Net Scopia - a new application for video/audio conferencing that we're testing out.
Many of these technologies are currently leading in the industry, and many of them would be necessary skills for a network technician who wanted to work for say, an Internet Service Provider.
I however have no intention of updating my resume because I enjoy working in the Lord's employ. While learning and using these things has required a lot of my grey matter lately, I have enjoyed learning new things, and wanted to inform anyone who was concerned, that my Lord is keeping me challenged, and up to date. As He always has. I owe every one of my skills and abilities to His guidance. I will boast in the Lord for taking an average mind like mine, and jamming all this stuff into it, admittedly at times, against my will. But in the end He has made me a useful person and I do very much enjoy being useful.
4/19/2011
nsswitch.conf
today I was configuring ldap authentication on freeradius for the middle A of the AAA model... anyway... I came to edit the nsswitch.conf file, something I haven't done for nearly a decade....
and this warm feeling washed over me, like a warm blanket,
and I realized ...'aaaaaah... I'm working in unix again. It feels like home.'.
total.... GEEK..... moment.
and this warm feeling washed over me, like a warm blanket,
and I realized ...'aaaaaah... I'm working in unix again. It feels like home.'.
total.... GEEK..... moment.
4/18/2011
Arnotts
been having a long few days of experimenting with Captive Portals and Ubuntu.
CoovaChilli, and more.
So.. I decided to take a 2 minute break and enjoy...
a BUSH BISCUIT.
When was the last time you had a graham cracker?
Well these Bush biscuits (biscuit is Australian for cookie), are about the size of your hand, and they're thick, and dry and sweet.
And until you've eaten them for a few months, you don't really like them.
Still it's a staple snack over here for me... and something I enjoy with hot tea at 10am and 3pm.
That's right, at work a whistle blows and everyone is free to take a 15 minute tea break.
The last one I took was a few months ago, as I typically don't stop working for TEA because I'm knee deep in some issue.
But today I took 2 minutes, and ate a bush biscuit.
em tasol.
(that's all folks).
4/15/2011
Iphone Jury Rig
My latest Jury Rig.
Cell Phone Sim Card
Trying to unlock an iphone 4 and migrate from an old (donated) iphone 2g.
The biggest problem is my iphone wouldn't' unlock… until today.
The second problem is our carrier here, doesn't make micro sims, which the iphone 4 requires.
Most people might say 'well cut it to match' but it's not that simple, Digicel uses the OLD sim cards… so here's what I did.
I live way out in the highlands where we can't get mail or …well anything quickly. So what to do when my new Gevey sim card hack came in the mail?
Well, first, I had to get a micro-sim to fit. Seeing as how mine wouldn't, I posted on the 'wanted' newsgroups and a neighbor actually had the RIGHT kind of SIM!! YES! I didn't have to wait a month to get a new one.
So I got it, and then compared it to my old AT&T micro sim and used my leathermans tool to make the cuts.
I had to make the TOP card look like the bottom card in order to make it fit into my phone. A few well placed cuts later and I did. Making sure to match up the lines of the metal portions.
I put the new micro sim into this device, the Gevey.
After going through all the steps to activate the Gevey it dawns on me that my new sim hadn't been activated or possibly was expired and I didn't know the number of it… and since my phone is not yet unlocked I couldn't make the necessary calls.
OOPS.
Now I have a microsim and no other working device to put it into to make the calls. NO ONE ELSE ON CENTER had a device that would take a microsim….
so…
I took the plastic card the original sim came in.
and cut a piece out of it
and shaped it like a regular sized sim (The top card in the top picture).
But then I cut a microsim shape out of it, very carefully so as not to cut myself or ruin the 'adaptor' I was making.
THEN, I put my homemade sim adaptor into the phone's sim cradle, and snuggled in my microsim into it.. and put it into my old phone, and made all the calls necessary to activate the card.
Then all I had to do what pop it out and pop it into my new phone.
Bingo.
Tools needed:
-1 Leatherman multi-tool
-2 phones
thankfully no bandaids.
If I were in the states, I'd have walked into the closest Tmobile store and asked for a proper micro sim, and it would have taken me 30 minutes.
this process took me a little closer to 2 hours. But I prefer to call it being resourceful.
Cell Phone Sim Card
Trying to unlock an iphone 4 and migrate from an old (donated) iphone 2g.
The biggest problem is my iphone wouldn't' unlock… until today.
The second problem is our carrier here, doesn't make micro sims, which the iphone 4 requires.
Most people might say 'well cut it to match' but it's not that simple, Digicel uses the OLD sim cards… so here's what I did.
I live way out in the highlands where we can't get mail or …well anything quickly. So what to do when my new Gevey sim card hack came in the mail?
Well, first, I had to get a micro-sim to fit. Seeing as how mine wouldn't, I posted on the 'wanted' newsgroups and a neighbor actually had the RIGHT kind of SIM!! YES! I didn't have to wait a month to get a new one.
So I got it, and then compared it to my old AT&T micro sim and used my leathermans tool to make the cuts.
I had to make the TOP card look like the bottom card in order to make it fit into my phone. A few well placed cuts later and I did. Making sure to match up the lines of the metal portions.
I put the new micro sim into this device, the Gevey.
After going through all the steps to activate the Gevey it dawns on me that my new sim hadn't been activated or possibly was expired and I didn't know the number of it… and since my phone is not yet unlocked I couldn't make the necessary calls.
OOPS.
Now I have a microsim and no other working device to put it into to make the calls. NO ONE ELSE ON CENTER had a device that would take a microsim….
so…
I took the plastic card the original sim came in.
and cut a piece out of it
and shaped it like a regular sized sim (The top card in the top picture).
But then I cut a microsim shape out of it, very carefully so as not to cut myself or ruin the 'adaptor' I was making.
THEN, I put my homemade sim adaptor into the phone's sim cradle, and snuggled in my microsim into it.. and put it into my old phone, and made all the calls necessary to activate the card.
Then all I had to do what pop it out and pop it into my new phone.
Bingo.
Tools needed:
-1 Leatherman multi-tool
-2 phones
thankfully no bandaids.
If I were in the states, I'd have walked into the closest Tmobile store and asked for a proper micro sim, and it would have taken me 30 minutes.
this process took me a little closer to 2 hours. But I prefer to call it being resourceful.
4/14/2011
33.3
2010 HIV update.. 33.3 million people living with HIV in the world.
Does that number strike a chord in anyone?
here are some PNG stats on HIV and AIDS... this is all public record.
PNG
By Dec 2009 – 28,294 reported cases of AIDS (source: New Zealand AIDS Foundation)
An estimated 1,300 people died of AIDS-related causes in 2009
Approx. 2,400 adults were newly infected in 2009 – 200 each month
Approximately 800 children were newly infected in 2009 – 67 each month
Total estimated new cases each month is 267.
Currently 0.92% of the PNG ADULT population is HIV positive (lower than previously estimated due to improved sampling of the population, especially through antenatal clinics), although this is higher in the Highlands (1.02%) and Southern (1.17%) regions.
Estimated to be about 34,100 HIV+ persons living in PNG in 2009
Approximately 3,000 children in PNG were living with HIV in 2009.
Antenatal testing has greatly increased, from 17 centres conducting the testing in 2005 to 178 in 2009.
The rate is now higher in rural than urban areas and growing fastest in rural PNG.
HIV is reported in all provinces and districts in PNG.
Generalised epidemic – that is it is in all segments of the population, not just high risk groups.
Women are infected at a younger age than the men – but of those infected half are women, half men.
Currently PNG has the highest rates of HIV and other STIs in the Pacific area and for HIV is the 4th in the Asia-Pacific region (after Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia).
Reasons for the Spread of HIV in PNG
Gender inequality and violence against women
Forced sex within and outside of marriage is common
70% of women report being beaten by their husbands.
Women will sell sex for very little – buai, entrance to a video parlour or game room, cigarettes, alcohol or drugs and money. Some girls will sell their bodies for 2-4 kina.
The favorite age of girls (based on personal discussion with many men) is 14-16 years old.
Men and women both have multiple sexual partners – often concurrent.
Polygamy is a long standing part of the culture for men
“Big man” syndrome in which men gain importance by the number of women they have, especially younger ones.
Men often work away from home in logging or mining or as drivers. In Tari, 17 of 20 truck drivers hired in August of 2010 were HIV+. Prostitution is widespread.
Routes of spread in PNG
96% sexually transmitted
Risk of HIV from one non-traumatic episode of normal intercourse is 1:500 to 1:100. (Centers for Disease Control – CDC)
This increases 10-fold with anal intercourse (which occurs in PNG between men and men, especially in prison, and also men and women) (CDC)
Also increases if there are sores from an STI on either partner or is the sex was traumatic.
Risk is a bit lower if the man is circumcised.
Risk is much, much less if condom is worn and worn properly.
High risk areas are:
Markets (all over)
Wharf areas
Church camps, including and especially youth camps
Traditional Feasts
Shows and Festivals
Sports Tournaments
Schools
“6 to 6” stops along the Highway
Discos and nightclubs
4% mother to infant
HIV infected pregnant woman transmits the virus to her unborn baby in womb or during delivery 15-30% of the time
Most transmission occurs during delivery.
Transmission rates up to 45% have been reported in areas where prolonged breast feeding is the norm.
Medication to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission is now available at birth (starting in labor) even if the mother’s CD4 blood count doesn’t qualify her for long-term antiretroviral therapy
Reduce transmission from breast milk by safe feeding:
Breast only for 6 months,
Then completely wean and feed with cup and spoon.
Bottle feeding is a killer in PNG. Bottle fed babies (even with HIV+ mothers) are more likely to die from infections they get through the bottle feeding than from HIV.
<1% via blood transfusion or contaminated needles.
Blood transfusion of HIV+ blood is about a 100% risk of infection.
But the virus is killed on contact with air so razors and other objects are not infectious for long.
Risk from a needle stick – needle has HIV+ blood in it and a person is stuck – transmission of HIV occurs in 3:1000 such incidents.
Does that number strike a chord in anyone?
here are some PNG stats on HIV and AIDS... this is all public record.
PNG
By Dec 2009 – 28,294 reported cases of AIDS (source: New Zealand AIDS Foundation)
An estimated 1,300 people died of AIDS-related causes in 2009
Approx. 2,400 adults were newly infected in 2009 – 200 each month
Approximately 800 children were newly infected in 2009 – 67 each month
Total estimated new cases each month is 267.
Currently 0.92% of the PNG ADULT population is HIV positive (lower than previously estimated due to improved sampling of the population, especially through antenatal clinics), although this is higher in the Highlands (1.02%) and Southern (1.17%) regions.
Estimated to be about 34,100 HIV+ persons living in PNG in 2009
Approximately 3,000 children in PNG were living with HIV in 2009.
Antenatal testing has greatly increased, from 17 centres conducting the testing in 2005 to 178 in 2009.
The rate is now higher in rural than urban areas and growing fastest in rural PNG.
HIV is reported in all provinces and districts in PNG.
Generalised epidemic – that is it is in all segments of the population, not just high risk groups.
Women are infected at a younger age than the men – but of those infected half are women, half men.
Currently PNG has the highest rates of HIV and other STIs in the Pacific area and for HIV is the 4th in the Asia-Pacific region (after Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia).
Reasons for the Spread of HIV in PNG
Gender inequality and violence against women
Forced sex within and outside of marriage is common
70% of women report being beaten by their husbands.
Women will sell sex for very little – buai, entrance to a video parlour or game room, cigarettes, alcohol or drugs and money. Some girls will sell their bodies for 2-4 kina.
The favorite age of girls (based on personal discussion with many men) is 14-16 years old.
Men and women both have multiple sexual partners – often concurrent.
Polygamy is a long standing part of the culture for men
“Big man” syndrome in which men gain importance by the number of women they have, especially younger ones.
Men often work away from home in logging or mining or as drivers. In Tari, 17 of 20 truck drivers hired in August of 2010 were HIV+. Prostitution is widespread.
Routes of spread in PNG
96% sexually transmitted
Risk of HIV from one non-traumatic episode of normal intercourse is 1:500 to 1:100. (Centers for Disease Control – CDC)
This increases 10-fold with anal intercourse (which occurs in PNG between men and men, especially in prison, and also men and women) (CDC)
Also increases if there are sores from an STI on either partner or is the sex was traumatic.
Risk is a bit lower if the man is circumcised.
Risk is much, much less if condom is worn and worn properly.
High risk areas are:
Markets (all over)
Wharf areas
Church camps, including and especially youth camps
Traditional Feasts
Shows and Festivals
Sports Tournaments
Schools
“6 to 6” stops along the Highway
Discos and nightclubs
4% mother to infant
HIV infected pregnant woman transmits the virus to her unborn baby in womb or during delivery 15-30% of the time
Most transmission occurs during delivery.
Transmission rates up to 45% have been reported in areas where prolonged breast feeding is the norm.
Medication to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission is now available at birth (starting in labor) even if the mother’s CD4 blood count doesn’t qualify her for long-term antiretroviral therapy
Reduce transmission from breast milk by safe feeding:
Breast only for 6 months,
Then completely wean and feed with cup and spoon.
Bottle feeding is a killer in PNG. Bottle fed babies (even with HIV+ mothers) are more likely to die from infections they get through the bottle feeding than from HIV.
<1% via blood transfusion or contaminated needles.
Blood transfusion of HIV+ blood is about a 100% risk of infection.
But the virus is killed on contact with air so razors and other objects are not infectious for long.
Risk from a needle stick – needle has HIV+ blood in it and a person is stuck – transmission of HIV occurs in 3:1000 such incidents.
Uh oh, the Sugar is Gone
Ramu, our sugar factory, has stopped making sugar.
News
Thursday 14th April, 2011
Ramu’s bitter dose
BY OSEAH PHILEMON
and SIMON ERORO
SUGAR consumers throughout Papua New Guinea stand to pay over 70 percent more for sweetness when imported sugar from Thailand arrives on the shelves of their supermarkets and trade stores within the next week.
The reason for this is failure by the Government to grant tariff relief to enable Ramu Agri Industries Limited (RAIL) to import sugar from Thailand under a relief arrangement until sugar production can resume at the Gusap factory.
RAIL general manager Jamie Graham told the Post-Courier in Lae yesterday that the company had asked the Government through Treasurer Peter O’Neill as far back as November last year for the tariff to be reduced from 70 percent to 40 percent.
The minister told this newspaper last week (see clipping) that he had given approval for a one-off partial reduction of tariff for Ramu to import sugar.
This had apparently not been followed through by government instrumentalities to have it gazetted in order for Customs to apply the lesser duty.
RAIL’s sugar production was affected by severe dry spell last year and vandals set fire to 700 hectares of the productive cane fields. When the company became aware that production was projected to drop by 7% and demand up by 15%, it made a submission to Mr O’Neill for the tariff reduction to ensure sugar consumers were not hard-hit with high prices of the sweet import.
Mr Graham said the government assured the company this would be done by January 2011but it reneged on the undertaking.
Mr Graham said late last week he was assured by the National Executive Council Secretary and the Treasury Department that Cabinet would make a decision on the matter this Monday but Cabinet did not meet as planned.
He said Thailand sugar arrived at the Lae port last week and was awaiting clearance. Yesterday morning Ramu instructed their customs agents to pay the 70 per cent tariff on the imported sugar and get it off the wharf. Ramu also had to pay for 10 days of storage and wharfage fees while awaiting clearance.
Mr Graham said the company could not let the sugar sit at the wharf while waiting for the NEC decision on tariff reduction as the costs of storage would increase significantly. He said the company imported 2000 tonnes of sugar from Thailand with another 2000 tonnes to arrive within a month’s time.
Any NEC decision now on the reduction in tariff will be “too late” and consumers will just have to wear the huge increase in the price of sugar once it arrives at the shops. “We have no choice but to pass on the increase to the consumers,” Mr Graham said.
The imported sugar was yesterday being transported to the Gusap factory where it will be tested to ensure it meets Ramu Sugar standards before being packed into the various packaging sizes and transported to wholesalers and shops to meet the outstanding orders.
Mr Graham said the actual price of the sugar on the shelf will not be determined until all the costs have been added up. For every K1000 worth of sugar, Ramu pays the government K700 (70 per cent) and this is why the price will shoot up sharply until the local sugar production returns to normal. Other costs to be factored into the price formula include wharfage, freight and repackaging.
Ramu had planned to import up to 8000 tonnes of sugar to meet the domestic PNG market in the interim. But good news is on the way.
Mr Graham said on Tuesday this week the boiler at the sugar mill was started up which is the first sign that sugar canes are about to be brought into the mill for processing.
News
Thursday 14th April, 2011
Ramu’s bitter dose
BY OSEAH PHILEMON
and SIMON ERORO
SUGAR consumers throughout Papua New Guinea stand to pay over 70 percent more for sweetness when imported sugar from Thailand arrives on the shelves of their supermarkets and trade stores within the next week.
The reason for this is failure by the Government to grant tariff relief to enable Ramu Agri Industries Limited (RAIL) to import sugar from Thailand under a relief arrangement until sugar production can resume at the Gusap factory.
RAIL general manager Jamie Graham told the Post-Courier in Lae yesterday that the company had asked the Government through Treasurer Peter O’Neill as far back as November last year for the tariff to be reduced from 70 percent to 40 percent.
The minister told this newspaper last week (see clipping) that he had given approval for a one-off partial reduction of tariff for Ramu to import sugar.
This had apparently not been followed through by government instrumentalities to have it gazetted in order for Customs to apply the lesser duty.
RAIL’s sugar production was affected by severe dry spell last year and vandals set fire to 700 hectares of the productive cane fields. When the company became aware that production was projected to drop by 7% and demand up by 15%, it made a submission to Mr O’Neill for the tariff reduction to ensure sugar consumers were not hard-hit with high prices of the sweet import.
Mr Graham said the government assured the company this would be done by January 2011but it reneged on the undertaking.
Mr Graham said late last week he was assured by the National Executive Council Secretary and the Treasury Department that Cabinet would make a decision on the matter this Monday but Cabinet did not meet as planned.
He said Thailand sugar arrived at the Lae port last week and was awaiting clearance. Yesterday morning Ramu instructed their customs agents to pay the 70 per cent tariff on the imported sugar and get it off the wharf. Ramu also had to pay for 10 days of storage and wharfage fees while awaiting clearance.
Mr Graham said the company could not let the sugar sit at the wharf while waiting for the NEC decision on tariff reduction as the costs of storage would increase significantly. He said the company imported 2000 tonnes of sugar from Thailand with another 2000 tonnes to arrive within a month’s time.
Any NEC decision now on the reduction in tariff will be “too late” and consumers will just have to wear the huge increase in the price of sugar once it arrives at the shops. “We have no choice but to pass on the increase to the consumers,” Mr Graham said.
The imported sugar was yesterday being transported to the Gusap factory where it will be tested to ensure it meets Ramu Sugar standards before being packed into the various packaging sizes and transported to wholesalers and shops to meet the outstanding orders.
Mr Graham said the actual price of the sugar on the shelf will not be determined until all the costs have been added up. For every K1000 worth of sugar, Ramu pays the government K700 (70 per cent) and this is why the price will shoot up sharply until the local sugar production returns to normal. Other costs to be factored into the price formula include wharfage, freight and repackaging.
Ramu had planned to import up to 8000 tonnes of sugar to meet the domestic PNG market in the interim. But good news is on the way.
Mr Graham said on Tuesday this week the boiler at the sugar mill was started up which is the first sign that sugar canes are about to be brought into the mill for processing.
4/13/2011
4/12/2011
ASKIM for tech
an ASKIM is a request for help.
I have a request for help for the readers of this blog.
We have a unique situation in that we are trying to find a way to authenticate all users going out over our network against a RADIUS (microsoft NPS) server.
We need to be able to either LOG their access... OR create a HOTSPOT type of environment where they pre-pay or post-pay for their usage in KB/MB NOT in time.
So far we've proven:
-pppoe server will authenticate against radius but will not log usage...
-hotspot servers like Antamedia don't log in MB they log in time.
If anyone happens to know of a solution that will log network usage in MB/KB and authenticate against radius, PLEASE let me know.
I suspect you'll be working for an ISP or some CHAIN of shops that offer paid WIFI.
it's a hail mary, but our research isn't coming up with the specific solution we need....
we're several weeks into testing out things to remove our current situation.
Currently we're running an ISA server and we want to get away from it.
thank you
I have a request for help for the readers of this blog.
We have a unique situation in that we are trying to find a way to authenticate all users going out over our network against a RADIUS (microsoft NPS) server.
We need to be able to either LOG their access... OR create a HOTSPOT type of environment where they pre-pay or post-pay for their usage in KB/MB NOT in time.
So far we've proven:
-pppoe server will authenticate against radius but will not log usage...
-hotspot servers like Antamedia don't log in MB they log in time.
If anyone happens to know of a solution that will log network usage in MB/KB and authenticate against radius, PLEASE let me know.
I suspect you'll be working for an ISP or some CHAIN of shops that offer paid WIFI.
it's a hail mary, but our research isn't coming up with the specific solution we need....
we're several weeks into testing out things to remove our current situation.
Currently we're running an ISA server and we want to get away from it.
thank you
4/11/2011
The Case of the Missing Cream
A small town, in the middle of Papua New Guinea holds a school book festival and promises that the class who wins the most points in the reading competition will have an ice cream social.
The 6th grade class was so excited that they won, and when the day for the ice cream party came.... there was no ice cream.
*dramatic music* dum dum.. DUM!!!!!!!
Who took the ice cream? Where did it go? Did it accidentally get sold? Why is there not more?
All of these questions required a Nancy Drew like investigation.
The road was out, the bridge was out, the freezer truck couldn't make the 3 hour journey into town to buy some ice cream.
But the ice cream was ordered and in stock, where did it go?
They first discovered that the ice cream was sold, as the DO NOT TOUCH, FOR 6TH GRADE BOOK FAIR!!! signs were overlooked.
But later that was found to be untrue.
Nearly a month later, while doing maintenance on the store freezer the tubs of Dairy-Free, Pseudo Ice Cream were found!
Soon the 6th graders will be rejoicing as the mystery has been solved. Just in the nick of time, as 6th grade graduation is only weeks away.
4/07/2011
SCBA no U
A few years ago I volunteered on our local branch fire team. At the time I joined there was very little training and we had no gear, but we had a Japanese fire truck.
Since then we've had a fire marshall dedicated to getting gear donated, and we've fought a large house fire.
Today, I've been trained on the operation of the fire truck (pumps, hose maintenance, water usage), proper use of a fire hose, we have turnout gear now and they actually found some that almost fit me well, and the most recent addition to our collection of gear:
SCBA. Think SCUBA without the Underwater... Self Contained Breathing Apparatus.
Yesterday I got trained in how to connect everything, how to put it on, how to breath with it.
I've never been certified to dive, but if you have it's a similar procedure, and we're VERY glad to have this stuff now, so that we can actually enter a burning building without causing harm to ourselves.
Although we pray we never have to, we train as if we will.
Tomorrow we'll be doing a full gear exercise. We have 2 minutes to put on all our gear.
Then after that we'll be doing blacked out exercises where we have to go into a building and find a person and pull them out. We've done this before but not in full gear.
You'd be surprised at how hard it is to find a dummy, in pitch black, in a room you've never been in before, with a partner... and then pull the body out.
Sometimes I marvel at what God is doing in my life.
Who knew years ago that by 2011 I would have actually driven a fire truck and fought a fire, and been trained in all this stuff!
I had been certified in CPR, Infant CPR and AED's (difib units) years ago and found out that I can be recertified here by our clinic nurses.
I'm constantly amazed at the opportunities you have here, to serve and to learn new things... and then be able to use them to support the community.
4/05/2011
Giaman Ren
pronounced
(Geeyah mon rain)
Giaman means 'liar'
Ren means 'rain'
Giaman Ren is when it starts to rain, anywhere from light to moderate rain, but then within a few minutes it goes away, typically while the sun is still out.
Giaman Ren is something you learn to detect when you've been here a while.
For example,
If you've only been here a short while, you may find that on a sunny morning you put your clothes out on the line to dry by the sun (because we don't have dryers), and then a few minutes after sitting down, all your hard work complete, it starts to rain. You immediately jump up and run outside and gather all your clothes to avoid them getting even more wet.... come in side only to find out the rain has stopped.
You have just been duped by Giaman Ren.
But if you've been here a while like we have, you hang your clothes out,
sit down, look at the rain and say 'I'm hoping it's Giaman Ren'... and enjoy sipping your cool water for a few minutes, and then when the sun stays out and the rain goes away you take another sip enjoying the satisfaction of knowing you didn't waste the last 3 minutes of your life.
Of course, if it ISN'T Giaman Ren, then you'll wind up getting soaked while you bring the clothes in, but sometimes that's a risk well worth taking.
(Geeyah mon rain)
Giaman means 'liar'
Ren means 'rain'
Giaman Ren is when it starts to rain, anywhere from light to moderate rain, but then within a few minutes it goes away, typically while the sun is still out.
Giaman Ren is something you learn to detect when you've been here a while.
For example,
If you've only been here a short while, you may find that on a sunny morning you put your clothes out on the line to dry by the sun (because we don't have dryers), and then a few minutes after sitting down, all your hard work complete, it starts to rain. You immediately jump up and run outside and gather all your clothes to avoid them getting even more wet.... come in side only to find out the rain has stopped.
You have just been duped by Giaman Ren.
But if you've been here a while like we have, you hang your clothes out,
sit down, look at the rain and say 'I'm hoping it's Giaman Ren'... and enjoy sipping your cool water for a few minutes, and then when the sun stays out and the rain goes away you take another sip enjoying the satisfaction of knowing you didn't waste the last 3 minutes of your life.
Of course, if it ISN'T Giaman Ren, then you'll wind up getting soaked while you bring the clothes in, but sometimes that's a risk well worth taking.
3/30/2011
Techno God Stuff
sorry for not posting, life is very very busy here for the next 2 weeks as I'm responsible for getting translators' laptops joined to the new wireless network we rolled out.
Two quick notes I thought were cool.
On furlough I had to learn 2 new tricks:
1 - cracking a safe. Our safe battery died as we hadn't used it in 3.5 years, because we left it in the U.S. So I had to learn how to look up the safe schematics, and find out how to open the door with a dead battery. Not too incredibly hard, if you have the thought to look it up.
I mentioned the story in passing to a friend, who today was sitting next to the finance manager here who happened to ask 'no one here knows how to open a dead safe do they'. to which he got the response 'Chad Owens might be able to help you'.
So I got the request 'I hear you crack safes!' I replied 'no, I once opened 1 safe and it was hardly cracking, but let me see if I can help'.
Within 20 minutes the safe was open.
Thanks God for that experience on furlough.
2 - I had to learn to unlock an iphone while on furlough. When I got back one of the doctors here who rely on a smart device for their job, said 'Chad, I had this phone but it won't unlock, can you help me?'
And because I had been blessed with friends who donated an iphone to me as well as taught me how to unlock it, I was able to the doctor unlock his previously broken phone.
So...
I give thanks to God, for giving me those two small experiences and turning them into a way I could be helpful here to people outside of my normal day to day job.
Wow, God knows... He knows WAY ahead of time... and it's cool.
Two quick notes I thought were cool.
On furlough I had to learn 2 new tricks:
1 - cracking a safe. Our safe battery died as we hadn't used it in 3.5 years, because we left it in the U.S. So I had to learn how to look up the safe schematics, and find out how to open the door with a dead battery. Not too incredibly hard, if you have the thought to look it up.
I mentioned the story in passing to a friend, who today was sitting next to the finance manager here who happened to ask 'no one here knows how to open a dead safe do they'. to which he got the response 'Chad Owens might be able to help you'.
So I got the request 'I hear you crack safes!' I replied 'no, I once opened 1 safe and it was hardly cracking, but let me see if I can help'.
Within 20 minutes the safe was open.
Thanks God for that experience on furlough.
2 - I had to learn to unlock an iphone while on furlough. When I got back one of the doctors here who rely on a smart device for their job, said 'Chad, I had this phone but it won't unlock, can you help me?'
And because I had been blessed with friends who donated an iphone to me as well as taught me how to unlock it, I was able to the doctor unlock his previously broken phone.
So...
I give thanks to God, for giving me those two small experiences and turning them into a way I could be helpful here to people outside of my normal day to day job.
Wow, God knows... He knows WAY ahead of time... and it's cool.
3/21/2011
Skype
My latest headache here is skype.
Our internet connection shared across 500 accounts, is 400kbps download speed.
Compared to your connection in the U.S., well yours is least 5 times that probably more, and NOT shared to 500 people.
2 years ago, a few people were using Skype. Today nearly everyone is using it. But my internet connection hasn't improved and it's killing my network. While I was on furlough the decision was made to run it through our web proxy.
We run a proxy here for many reasons, not the least of which is web caching.
As soon as that happened people started complaining of wierd slowness.
Then I returned from furlough.
I started investigating all these wierd slownesses.
People began to complain about Skype not working all the time. I'd be caught in the hallway, called at home on weekends, asked to 'drop by and help'.
It didn't take long for me to put 2 and 2 together and realize Skype was killing my network.
Thankfully God saw this coming and saw fit to get two packeteers donated to us. So I've been pouring through the training manuals and I setup a lab and now, I'm a novice at it, but I'm able to do traffic shaping and keep skype at a low standstill.
Unfortunately there is no way to divorce the skype protocol over proxy (port 443) from the proxy itself and so even though skype is failing it's still killing my proxy server.
Skype is a wonderful tool for communication.
It's a horrible protocol for a network administrator with a limited internet connection and a proxy.
So... I need to find a way to completely kill Skype... everything else suffers until I do.
The only way I've found so far is through a Cisco router running the latest ios, only I don't HAVE a cisco router.
So until I can remove the proxy, or otherwise find a way to stop Skype, people here are going to be complaining about slow internet connection.
....
then it hit me... what about a non-technical solution... simply ask everyone to uninstall skype! See what happens? See if it will work! Do I dare ask the community to uninstall the software that enables them to , albeit choppily, speak to their family?
Enter Digicel.
We now have a cell phone company here that will let us call several world regions for about 40 cents a minute, which isn't too horribly bad.
Anyway,
I'm happy I found the cause, now I need to find the solution. But of course it works that way because you rarely are seeking a solution without first having a problem.
Our internet connection shared across 500 accounts, is 400kbps download speed.
Compared to your connection in the U.S., well yours is least 5 times that probably more, and NOT shared to 500 people.
2 years ago, a few people were using Skype. Today nearly everyone is using it. But my internet connection hasn't improved and it's killing my network. While I was on furlough the decision was made to run it through our web proxy.
We run a proxy here for many reasons, not the least of which is web caching.
As soon as that happened people started complaining of wierd slowness.
Then I returned from furlough.
I started investigating all these wierd slownesses.
People began to complain about Skype not working all the time. I'd be caught in the hallway, called at home on weekends, asked to 'drop by and help'.
It didn't take long for me to put 2 and 2 together and realize Skype was killing my network.
Thankfully God saw this coming and saw fit to get two packeteers donated to us. So I've been pouring through the training manuals and I setup a lab and now, I'm a novice at it, but I'm able to do traffic shaping and keep skype at a low standstill.
Unfortunately there is no way to divorce the skype protocol over proxy (port 443) from the proxy itself and so even though skype is failing it's still killing my proxy server.
Skype is a wonderful tool for communication.
It's a horrible protocol for a network administrator with a limited internet connection and a proxy.
So... I need to find a way to completely kill Skype... everything else suffers until I do.
The only way I've found so far is through a Cisco router running the latest ios, only I don't HAVE a cisco router.
So until I can remove the proxy, or otherwise find a way to stop Skype, people here are going to be complaining about slow internet connection.
....
then it hit me... what about a non-technical solution... simply ask everyone to uninstall skype! See what happens? See if it will work! Do I dare ask the community to uninstall the software that enables them to , albeit choppily, speak to their family?
Enter Digicel.
We now have a cell phone company here that will let us call several world regions for about 40 cents a minute, which isn't too horribly bad.
Anyway,
I'm happy I found the cause, now I need to find the solution. But of course it works that way because you rarely are seeking a solution without first having a problem.
Chile today Hot Tamale
Quotes from my son's report on Chile (4th grade)
'in Chile in 1992 the population was roughly 14 million people. i have no idea what it is today."
"The area of Chile is 292,258 square miles or 756,945 square kilometers for anybody that isn't American"
"Spanish is the main language spoken in Chile. I suppose it is because Spain ruled Chile before September 18th, 1818"
Bibliography:
"I got all of my information from the 1992 World Book"
'in Chile in 1992 the population was roughly 14 million people. i have no idea what it is today."
"The area of Chile is 292,258 square miles or 756,945 square kilometers for anybody that isn't American"
"Spanish is the main language spoken in Chile. I suppose it is because Spain ruled Chile before September 18th, 1818"
Bibliography:
"I got all of my information from the 1992 World Book"
3/20/2011
Fiber
We run fibre under the ground to various buildings as our network backbone. It's Multimode 100mb fibre. We run it because that's what we can afford. This new bit of fibre we had donated to us is actually quite hardy underground, and less likely to break.
As is our habit, we install a network cabinet wherever fibre is going to terminate and plug into a switch (cisco). But we don't have any fibre termination boxes so we make our own.
We take a plastic hobby box, which is simply a plastic box with a cover, then we drill holes in it... sometimes we grind it down a bit so that the nuts will fit on the barrel connectors... then we put the fibre barrel connectors in, terminate the fibre with our handy dandy fibre termination kit (no we don't fuse them, we use some tyco bits that use gel inside, very easy to do) measure the signal, and we're a go.
Above is a pic of one of our home made fibre boxes.
We've made them out of anything we can get our hands on. The last one we installed was made out of an old radio enclosure that we drill holes in. (a bent aluminum box).
3/17/2011
For Coffee fans
for all my coffee loving readers out there... today as I stepped outside of my office I saw this truck. The Coffee Industry Corporation truck. Without that context the translation of the slogan on the side is sort of humorous.
'yumi lukautim kofi na kofi bai lukautim yumi' in an almost latin like turn of phrase this means:
'You and Me look out for coffee, and coffee will look out for you and me' In this context it means protect or watch-out for.
This one is almost completely English so you should be able to understand it. (-;
Today is 4
Today is the anniversary of our 4th year here. We arrived in this country on this day 4 years ago.
It was right before our 2 week meeting we hold every 2 years. We barely knew our way around, we hadn't started our jobs yet.
Now we're settled, experienced, been doing our jobs for a while, have experienced many different things, met many different people, seen many new Bible dedications.
It honestly seems like longer than four years in some respects. And in other respects much shorter than 4 years.
Next week conference starts again, and I am responsible for the networking portion of it. We're ready, the team is trained, the equipment is in place...
you can pray for us as those 2 weeks of conference is when we come together to decide on our leadership and strategy for the next 2 years.
3/15/2011
Slip Slidin'
For those who may have thought our kids are 'missing out'. They aren't. Here we make our own fun. Sure they may not have access to arcades and malls and 7-11's but they have tons of home made fun, which I think, is better anyway.
Every now and then the high schoolers pull out a big long thick piece of sheet rubber and roll it down the hill. At the bottom they put old mattresses. Then then run water and soap down it and let the kids have fun. Here's a few pics.
So Saturday afternoon, while I was doing chores and my wife was doing chores, the kids walked up the dirt road a bit, and had an hour of slippery fun.
Indians
So my son comes home last night, typical boy, and says 'oh yeah, tomorrow I'm supposed to wear a costume to school and you're supposed to bring dinner'.
WHAT?
My wife is already under a lot of pressure right now, this was a bit too much so she said 'your teacher should have given us more warning'. And so my son's reply was 'well she told me weeks ago, I just forgot'.
So we replied,
there will be no food, and any costume you wear you have to dig up on your own, we do not have time for last minute stuff like this.
While alone my son came to me, wearing his made up custume of shredded rags and said 'dad I'm supposed to be a native south american, and I need something for my head that makes me look like an indian'.
So I replied 'well if only you had a Cleveland Indians cap.' as a joke.
His face lit up, and he said 'I DO!!!' and he ran off
Apparently a year ago my daughter found a baseball cap at a yard sale here, and picked it up for him. He wore it rarely in the sun, because he wasn't an Indians fan.
But he came back wearing it and was happy. Thank goodness because I'm sure many of you know how unhappy a child who doesn't have a costume for school can be.
That silly little cap averted a possible family crisis! (-;
WHAT?
My wife is already under a lot of pressure right now, this was a bit too much so she said 'your teacher should have given us more warning'. And so my son's reply was 'well she told me weeks ago, I just forgot'.
So we replied,
there will be no food, and any costume you wear you have to dig up on your own, we do not have time for last minute stuff like this.
While alone my son came to me, wearing his made up custume of shredded rags and said 'dad I'm supposed to be a native south american, and I need something for my head that makes me look like an indian'.
So I replied 'well if only you had a Cleveland Indians cap.' as a joke.
His face lit up, and he said 'I DO!!!' and he ran off
Apparently a year ago my daughter found a baseball cap at a yard sale here, and picked it up for him. He wore it rarely in the sun, because he wasn't an Indians fan.
But he came back wearing it and was happy. Thank goodness because I'm sure many of you know how unhappy a child who doesn't have a costume for school can be.
That silly little cap averted a possible family crisis! (-;
Cargo Cult
Two friends of mine are new translators and recently got back from a several month stay in their village. They were not expecting people there to know about Christ, obviously, otherwise they would not have become missionaries to go. But what they found was a bit surprising. They had been told about cargo cults before. We all have heard about them. But apparently in this particular language area, there is a very strong cargo cult.
Cargo cult is a term that can mean a variety of things. The core of the idea is that there a religion has been built around the idea of how to get stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo-cult
In this particular area, they have a complex structure of beliefs that revolve around stuff. So what he found was a very attentive audience listening to him talking about the Gospel because they believed that because he had white skin, he was an emissary from heaven to teach them all about how to get more stuff.
No one wanted to offend them, because if the white saints leave, then they will never unravel the secret to finding more stuff.
Their system is so ingrained in them, that they in fact have no problem believing some basic tenants of the Gospel because they, from the perspective of a cargo cult, only make sense.
They don't reject the Gospel, they simply see it as more evidence that the white people understand more about life in general and therefore they want to be more like what they understand Christ would be like.
It makes for a very difficult obstacle to reaching them with the TRUTH. However, one thing works in my friends' favor. They have a seeking heart. They desire to learn, and know and understand!
Pray with us that this cargo cult mentality will find the Truth, and that our friends will have the wisdom to know how to pierce it with God's truth.
Cargo cult is a term that can mean a variety of things. The core of the idea is that there a religion has been built around the idea of how to get stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo-cult
In this particular area, they have a complex structure of beliefs that revolve around stuff. So what he found was a very attentive audience listening to him talking about the Gospel because they believed that because he had white skin, he was an emissary from heaven to teach them all about how to get more stuff.
No one wanted to offend them, because if the white saints leave, then they will never unravel the secret to finding more stuff.
Their system is so ingrained in them, that they in fact have no problem believing some basic tenants of the Gospel because they, from the perspective of a cargo cult, only make sense.
They don't reject the Gospel, they simply see it as more evidence that the white people understand more about life in general and therefore they want to be more like what they understand Christ would be like.
It makes for a very difficult obstacle to reaching them with the TRUTH. However, one thing works in my friends' favor. They have a seeking heart. They desire to learn, and know and understand!
Pray with us that this cargo cult mentality will find the Truth, and that our friends will have the wisdom to know how to pierce it with God's truth.
3/13/2011
Tsunami
For those asking, PNG was not hit hard by the Tsunami.
We live at 5000 feet above sea level, but our major places of supply are at sea level, as well as several translator villages and regional centres.
All we saw was minor flooding. We are praying for those who saw much worse.
here is the news report
Tsunami causes minor flooding in PNG
By Liam Fox
There have been reports of minor flooding in Papua New Guinea from the tsunami triggered by Japan's massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake.
The PNG National Disaster Centre says unusually high tides caused flooding in low-lying areas of Manus Island and Wewak on the north-east coast.
Manus governor Michael Sapau says residents on the island's north-west coast reported that the sea rose by around a metre in the early hours of this morning.
Mr Sapau says officials have been sent to inspect the affected areas, but early reports do not indicate any serious damage.
"Minor inundation, no major damages," he said.
Meanwhile, residents on New Ireland in PNG's far north-east say the tide rose and fell several times in quick succession last night but there has been no flooding.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/12/3162412.htm?sect
We live at 5000 feet above sea level, but our major places of supply are at sea level, as well as several translator villages and regional centres.
All we saw was minor flooding. We are praying for those who saw much worse.
here is the news report
Tsunami causes minor flooding in PNG
By Liam Fox
There have been reports of minor flooding in Papua New Guinea from the tsunami triggered by Japan's massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake.
The PNG National Disaster Centre says unusually high tides caused flooding in low-lying areas of Manus Island and Wewak on the north-east coast.
Manus governor Michael Sapau says residents on the island's north-west coast reported that the sea rose by around a metre in the early hours of this morning.
Mr Sapau says officials have been sent to inspect the affected areas, but early reports do not indicate any serious damage.
"Minor inundation, no major damages," he said.
Meanwhile, residents on New Ireland in PNG's far north-east say the tide rose and fell several times in quick succession last night but there has been no flooding.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/12/3162412.htm?sect
3/06/2011
Engaging
Church Engagement
At the head of the room a man spoke in a language I didn't understand, and held out a 2 kina bill. Later he said in English 'I was saying that I have this 2 kina bill, anyone here can come and take it, it is my free gift to you.' No one took it because no one could understand him, he was speaking in Spanish (de Costa Rica).
The illustration proved the point that people couldn't know about the Gospel or using the Word unless they understood the language.
Yes we translate the Bible. Then what?
That's the question. Well anyone in the know, please pardon my over simplification of this process.
Translating the Word takes over 20 years. During that time you're working on relationships, developing leaders, discipling, teaching reading and writing, giving tools on how to teach the Bible, giving audio and video examples, teaching skits, and overall preparing a culture anywhere from 'we don't want the Bible' to 'we really can't wait' and in a perfect scenario, by the time the Word is published in their heart language, the people are already changed and can't wait to deploy the Scriptures to their children and surrounding people.
In a less than desirable situation you have a people with a new Bible who never use it because they don't grasp how to teach from it.
Enter the Church Engagement team. A relatively new team, but the ministry is something that has been going on for decades. Still the team itself goes into churches and sees how they are integrating with the Word and where they need help and then puts them in touch with the right help.
They've heard things like 'well we have the bible but no one uses it'. OH, they need to talk with the Scripture use team who will help them understand how to teach others and use the Word of God to make an impact.
This team is still small and growing and it's a side team (work on weekends) the people on the team have their normal jobs to do too. But on the weekends they make a job of trying to work side by side with people and show them how to really teach from and use the Scriptures they have.
We have a lot of resources here, and this new team is trying to get those resources in the hands of local pastors and leaders. WE have identified over the years that there can be some falling through the cracks, and this team is there to fill in the cracks.
That's of course my perception of it, and I like the idea. They've recently been challenged by the huge amount of interest they are generating to supply people with the answer to the question 'How do I get involved' ?
The side effect of this is that they are generating interest in the country by Papua New Guineans as to how to get involved in the ministry of spreading God's Word. That's incredible.
They've recently listed a need in the area of video/audio production, and I'm currently considering volunteering. I think it might be too much too soon, to volunteer my weekends to producing video, but on the flip side, I know I'd enjoy it tremendously.
At the head of the room a man spoke in a language I didn't understand, and held out a 2 kina bill. Later he said in English 'I was saying that I have this 2 kina bill, anyone here can come and take it, it is my free gift to you.' No one took it because no one could understand him, he was speaking in Spanish (de Costa Rica).
The illustration proved the point that people couldn't know about the Gospel or using the Word unless they understood the language.
Yes we translate the Bible. Then what?
That's the question. Well anyone in the know, please pardon my over simplification of this process.
Translating the Word takes over 20 years. During that time you're working on relationships, developing leaders, discipling, teaching reading and writing, giving tools on how to teach the Bible, giving audio and video examples, teaching skits, and overall preparing a culture anywhere from 'we don't want the Bible' to 'we really can't wait' and in a perfect scenario, by the time the Word is published in their heart language, the people are already changed and can't wait to deploy the Scriptures to their children and surrounding people.
In a less than desirable situation you have a people with a new Bible who never use it because they don't grasp how to teach from it.
Enter the Church Engagement team. A relatively new team, but the ministry is something that has been going on for decades. Still the team itself goes into churches and sees how they are integrating with the Word and where they need help and then puts them in touch with the right help.
They've heard things like 'well we have the bible but no one uses it'. OH, they need to talk with the Scripture use team who will help them understand how to teach others and use the Word of God to make an impact.
This team is still small and growing and it's a side team (work on weekends) the people on the team have their normal jobs to do too. But on the weekends they make a job of trying to work side by side with people and show them how to really teach from and use the Scriptures they have.
We have a lot of resources here, and this new team is trying to get those resources in the hands of local pastors and leaders. WE have identified over the years that there can be some falling through the cracks, and this team is there to fill in the cracks.
That's of course my perception of it, and I like the idea. They've recently been challenged by the huge amount of interest they are generating to supply people with the answer to the question 'How do I get involved' ?
The side effect of this is that they are generating interest in the country by Papua New Guineans as to how to get involved in the ministry of spreading God's Word. That's incredible.
They've recently listed a need in the area of video/audio production, and I'm currently considering volunteering. I think it might be too much too soon, to volunteer my weekends to producing video, but on the flip side, I know I'd enjoy it tremendously.
3/03/2011
People of Tantamount Worth
The couple featured in this coming documentary are one of the first couples whose laptops I helped configure for village email. In fact possibly they are the first PNG translator couple I met and helped in this country. We spent many hours together and I prepared their systems to be secure and receive email in their village, so when I run into them I occasionally ask them how things are.
I remember clearly a conversation I had with them about how they love getting email from their son, and how they wished their son would write them as often as I write my family. In fact they asked me years ago to call their son (jokingly) and tell him to write their mother more.
So if you're out there, write your mother! (-;
I'll be interested when this film is released to see more about their village life.
3/02/2011
Locked explained
theft of portable devices is at times a problem here. So I'm always telling people to buy laptop locking cables. I purchased 5 while in the U.S. combination style because I have tooooooo many keys.
Anyway, I had to secure a new Apple mac mini. There are several on center here and I noticed, they have no locking slot. So... what to do?
If you go online you can find a lot of mounting/securing mounts for $60.00 or more. Well I found one for $40. I wanted a 'behind the monitor/swiveling' mount but none existed. SO, I bought the cheap $40 one.
It came 3 weeks later.
I then looked at my monitor, it's an old NEC with a ton of extra plastic around the metal stand, so I figured, I could drive the screws into the plastic, being careful not to damage any internal cables or cause a short. And I did.
The result is, a swivel 'under the desk' mount, attached to the back of a monitor. I had to sacrifice the pedastal up/down motion of the monitor stand, but I never use that anyway.
Then a simple padlock secures it, since the monitor itself is already cable locked in place.
Viola! .... clean, hidden, accessible, and.... SECURE.
Effectively turning my monitor into an 'iMac' like system.
Anyway, I had to secure a new Apple mac mini. There are several on center here and I noticed, they have no locking slot. So... what to do?
If you go online you can find a lot of mounting/securing mounts for $60.00 or more. Well I found one for $40. I wanted a 'behind the monitor/swiveling' mount but none existed. SO, I bought the cheap $40 one.
It came 3 weeks later.
I then looked at my monitor, it's an old NEC with a ton of extra plastic around the metal stand, so I figured, I could drive the screws into the plastic, being careful not to damage any internal cables or cause a short. And I did.
The result is, a swivel 'under the desk' mount, attached to the back of a monitor. I had to sacrifice the pedastal up/down motion of the monitor stand, but I never use that anyway.
Then a simple padlock secures it, since the monitor itself is already cable locked in place.
Viola! .... clean, hidden, accessible, and.... SECURE.
Effectively turning my monitor into an 'iMac' like system.
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