News
From The Home Front - October, 2002
A new grocery store opened up in Port Moresby recently. This is
always an exciting event because new food items are generally brought in.
This time it was cake mixes and Crisco.
A survey by the "Economist Intelligence Unit" assessed 130 cities around
the world in areas such as
health
and safety, culture and environment, education, and political infrastructure.
With number 1 being the best, it rated Port Moresby as number 130 or the
bottom of the list. Control Risks, a United Kingdom based security organization,
that keeps abreast of risk factors around the world for foreign investment
listed Port Moresby and Lae, Papua New Guinea in their ‘most dangerous
cities in the world’ category. There have been some articles in PNG’s newspapers
concerning these poor ratings and what they can do to improve their country.
One effort to help is being taken on by Chevron in the Southern Highlands
Province where they have an oil field. In alliance with the government,
they are sending people out to the villages to teach, "Conflict Resolution."
It’s sad that they don’t see the answer to this country’s problems lie
with following the teachings of the Bible and not in humanistic efforts.
The kina (PNG’s money) is crashing or dropping in value at a fast rate
now and thus store goods are
going
up just as quickly to make up the difference. We feel sorry for the average
person here in the city as they struggle to buy food for their families.
The building work is coming along real well, but it has left Frank and
the other men with black left
thumbs.
You know - bruised from missing the nail and hitting their thumb with the
hammer. Ouch! There’s not much you can do for that type of pain either,
except perhaps pray for better coordination.
The children who come to Sunday School are doing fine. Several times this
month I had thirteen
preschoolers
in my class. With that many children, keeping their attention is a challenge.
Since we have
our
class on the porch outside the Boy Scout building we sometimes have the
distraction of people yelling
at
each other as they walk by, cars zooming or screeching down the road, and
drums banging from a
charismatic
group nearby. Then there are the flies, fleas, ants, grasshoppers, and
butterflies that
sometimes
wander in our midst. It all makes for an interesting time.
Can you imagine having a surgeon operating on you while someone holds a
flashlight so he can see
where
to cut? There was a picture in the newspaper last week of a surgical team
operating when the lights
went
off and the back-up generator failed so they finished the surgery in the
dark with someone holding a
flashlight
overhead. The situations that the medical personnel have to face over here
are unbelievable
sometimes.
I figured out why time flies as you get older. It’s because you walk in
a room and forget why you are
there.
Therefore, you have to stand there looking at all the items in the room
trying to remember what you are doing. All this extra thinking and looking
takes up time and the day just flies by.
A friend in Christ,
Sister Cyd James
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