Islands Post Post-Courier
§ Wednesday 01st September, 2010
Rebuilding lives
By PETER KORUGL
Michael Tane goes around Arawa town today on his bicycle, greeting everyone cheerfully and he is happy with the world. He should be happy for peace has returned to his land and town after the 13-year conflict that saw thousands of people die. As he pedals his push bike around the streets, his eyes take in the metal frames or giant concrete structures that are still left standing and he is reminded of the bloody conflict that raged throughout this town and throughout the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Every now and then, his fingers would move to his head to feel the scar left there from a bullet fired by a gun held by a member of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) at the height of the crisis. “I am one of the lucky ones. The gun had only one bullet. The rest of the BRA unit had no bullets too,” Michael said, and a broad grin lights up his dark face. Michael is married to a non- Bougainvillean woman and like everyone else in similar relationships, he was targeted by the BRA. “They suspected us of being spies for the PNG Defence Force and they hunted and killed anyone they caught. “I wanted to run so I decided to send my family members out of Bougainville but they refused to go. “They told me their place is here, with me and we will die with you,” so we stayed. “One day they came into our village and took me. “They sat me down in front of my family and put the gun to my head. Just when I thought my captor was going to squeeze the trigger, I hit the barrel of the gun upwards with my hand. “The sudden movement must have surprised the man for he fired but the bullet flew past my head. It scratched my skin and I was bleeding from the wound,” Michael recalled. He said they took them to another camp where they were held captive for two weeks and then released. “The BRA commander in that camp knew me. After two weeks he allowed us to go,” he said. Michael has a daughter who is now employed and he has found a job at the Kieta wharf. With the money he brings home, his family is starting to slowly rebuild their scattered lives. Michael’s story is synonymous with what is happening in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville - nine years down the road since the crisis ended. Everywhere the villagers are rebuilding homes and lives shattered by the crisis even though there is distrust among certain sections in communities in the region. “Shops are opening up among the ruins in Arawa. Business activities are picking up. People are going back to the cocoa and copra, coffee is being introduced and the people are responding to it well. “And there are non-governmental and donor organisations working hard with the people,” Tarcisisus Karuai, a local businessman added. While there is hope for many, there are many people who are still traumatised from the experience in places where the fighting was heavy. Then there are many young people who lived through the crisis without going to school and are now expected to catch up with the others. There is still more work to be done. |