Martyn is ready to take the truth to Australia

BY KEITH JACKSON

THE MAN WHOSE NAME Papua New Guinea's The National newspaper has banned from its pages, Martyn Namorong, is getting ready to take the truth to Australia.

In 2009 - when still a medical student at the University of Papua New Guinea - Martyn began The Namorong Report blog with a point by point summary of one of his lectures.

There was little action on the blog – and no sign of what was to come -until early 2011, when an article, The land of the disenfranchised, was republished by the PNG Attitude website.

And so a wonderfully talented writer emerged into public view. Namorong went on to win PNG’s Crocodile Prize national literary award for the best essay and is now a political activist and PNG’s most prolific and internationally quoted blogger.

Martyn is from the Fly River in western Papua, the most impoverished region of PNG. He dropped out of medical school in his final year and, to fund his writing, took to the markets of Port Moresby selling buai (betel nut).

Apart from providing a source of income, this experience offered some deep insights into the struggling and depressed society and culture of modern PNG, impressions which greatly influence his writing.

Now Martyn is to make his first trip outside PNG as he embarks on a lecture tour of Australia (Take the Truth to Australia, 10-20 April) funded by private subscription after the federal government dithered over whether it should provide him with assistance or not.

I always thought all my life that I was destined to great things and make a difference to humanity. Today, faced with the uncertainty about the future and the hardship of living in the city, I’m more concerned with being able to survive each day. I am more concerned about my own welfare than saving the world.

The system of education in this country is a failure trap. It is supposed to groom Papua New Guineans but all it does is it produces a lot of failures. In grade 8 tens of thousands get thrown out, in grade 10 and 12 thousands more fall through the crack in the system.

In my case, I regret going to medical school because now I am just an unskilled person. I am definitely not skilled to survive in the savannah of East TransFly nor do I have formal qualifications to be recognised in the cash economy. Thus by default I sell betel nut on the street like many other disenfranchised people.

I don’t dream anymore, I am grounded in the reality. I grapple with the facts as they are. Perhaps there are too many visionaries and dreamers such that no one is there to deal with the reality of life in Papua New Guinea.

“Namorong,” writes journalist Doug Hendrie, “joined a growing group of [Papua New Guinean] writers who are unafraid to speak boldly of the issues holding their country back, and challenging the mainstream media.”

 

Martyn will visit Melbourne (10-15 April), Sydney (15-18 April) and Brisbane (18-20 April). He is available for media interviews and for a limited number of corporate or group presentations.

Media contact: Ben Jackson (0417 407 565)  Meeting contacts: Linda Koerner (Melbourne, 0449 962 252), Keith Jackson (Sydney, 0411 222 682), Murray Bladwell (Brisbane, 0413 057 673)

Comments

[Phil Fitzpatrick]

Apart from the mean spirited nature of Jim Wilson's remarks the other thing that irked me was the assumption that a "failed" medical student could automatically consider nursing as an alternative.

This degrades what is essentially a completely different profession. My wife is a registered nurse and she has a degree to prove it. If she had wanted to be a doctor she would have done a different degree.

[Bernard Yegiora]

Phil - The critique is due on 27 April. I will enlighten you interested readers only if I survive sleepless nights of marking.

[Peter Ella]

Utopian....that will be the day alright! I empathise with brother Martyn's experience.

I'm a UPNG graduate majoring in graphic design and communication. I graduated in 1997. I, partly by choice and partly by circumstances influenced by culture, was out of work and homeless with my young family in 2004.

I spend 6 months with my uncle at 6 Mile settlement. During the duration of time there I came face to face with the reality of life for most PNGeans.

Young families, young adults, teenages out of school and dragged into crime, prostitution and drug dealing. But as a creative artist I improvised, used my creative talent and dug my way out of what was almost my grave.

I worked hard and things have chaged for me and my young family. I have a heart for helping out but once you get down you can't reach out.

I have encountered a lot of young people out there with latent talent and potential. I don't have the resources and capacity to assist them, but I've encouraged them and directed them to seek assistance from government institutions.

How far they have gone or if the institution has assisted them with the same passion I have I can't tell.

All the best to brother Martyn!

Utopian............that will be the day.

[Phil Fitzpatrick]

I think everyone who reads PNG Attitude, Martyn not the least, would be very interested in what your students think Bernard.

Any chance of a summary?

[Bernard Yegiora]

In comparison to Jim I have a different opinion.

I think Martyn has triggered a shift in our (PNGeans) way of thinking.

What he is writing about may not bring tangible changes in this decade, but in the years to come it will influence the new generation of PNG leaders.

I have given his award winning article to my students as part of their assessment. They are to read and do a critique, worth about 10 marks.

Does his experience related to their experience, do they know other unemployed people like him, what do they think of the article, these are some of the guideline questions that I gave to my students.

I greatly commend Keith and others for your aid in supporting Martyn's mission.

"The Keyboard is mightier than the Sword".

[Harry Topham]

To Jim's comments I reply - The pen like the scalpel can sometimes be just as successful for curing society’s ills.

[Peter Kranz]

Harry - the old Thurber cartoon is still one of the best.
http://wconger.blogspot.com.au/2007/03/funniest-cartoon-in-history.html

And on a more serious note, Jim Wilson's comment is a disgrace and I apologise to Martyn on behalf of all right-thinking people on this blog.

However I appreciate KJ publishing it and exposing such thoughts for what they are.

'Onya Martyn!

[Harry Topham]

Peter - Touche!

[Jim Wilson]

I would have thought a medical student would have had a relatively easy path to nursing (or some branch of the medical world), but it appears that buai sales has more attraction.

I appreciate the situation Martyn is in, but he seems to be a lot of noise, and has not actually done anything physical towards his country, other than promote mouth cancer.
___________

What an extraordinarily mean-spirited and ignorant remark to make of a young man who, through his writing, entirely self-supported, has provided great insights into the impoverished reality of life for many Papua New Guineans. I wonder what Jim thinks of the contribution of Charles Dickens to social change in 19th century Britain - KJ

[Peter Kranz]

Harry - If I was an expert in irony, my nice white shirts would be completely crease-free. (!)

[Harry Topham]

Peter - The irony of April Fools jokes may be lost to many in PNG but you never know maybe The National may pick up on it?

A long time ago my housemate and I tied to pull the wool over the eyes of our butler on April Fools day about a mythical steam train running down the whiteman ranges.

Got myself in all sorts of trouble when a flock of locals descended on the local sub district office wanting to know when the whiteman express was arriving

[Peter Kranz]

And if you think I was being far-fetched with the dinosaur refrence, check this -

"A Papua New Guinea reporter says women in East New Britain are being told to be on the alert for any more sightings of a dinosaur .

Earlier this week there was a second reported sighting of the so called dinosaur at Warangoi after a sighting in March in Tinganavudu.

Jesse Lapou says locals have described the dinosaur as being gold in colour, having the head of a dog, a tail like a crocodile and being about the size of a 200-litre water tank.

Ms Lapou says there is now a belief that the dinosaur can only be seen by women."

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=10790

[Peter Kranz]

Barbara - wagai wei!

Sad thing is some will probably believe it. I was in Mosbi when rumours of an approaching tsunami were spread like wildfire.

Thousands headed up to Sogeri. Roads were blocked, settlements deserted.

People ended up having a nice day out and a community picnic with a good excuse for not turning up to work, and they got some needed exercise into the bargain.

Have to be careful starting rumours in PNG. (But my Uncle has just seen a dinosaur near Kokopo.)

[Mrs Barbara Short]

Thanks Peter, you have "made my day!". Knowing how you are always supplying "the very latest", you had me fooled for a moment!
What if! Eh!

[Peter Kranz]

In news just in, the PNG Government has announced it will immediately step down to be replaced by a People's Representative Council comprised of equal numbers of women and men.

Dame Carol Kidu is to be the supervising President until a new elected leader is appointed head of state.

O'Neill and Somare have held a joint press conference dedicating their lives to the promotion of true democracy for PNG.

They also announced they are personally committing K500 million from their private funds to a national health and education scheme to take the quality of life for grassroots people beyond that of Scandanavia within five years.

All children will be offered the chance to take part in free education up to University level and health clinics and hospitals are to be opened in all communities with a population of 100 or more.

A light rail service will be implemented in Moresby, Lae and Hagan, and a network of high-tech national highways will be built to link all major population centres in the country.

SABLs have been revoked, and all mining ventutres are now required to submit 80% of all wealth generated back into local communities.

The new malaria vaccine will be provided to all babies free of charge and TB treatment is to be massively expanded by a network of cutting-edge hospitals around the country.

Major religious groups have united and expressed the belief that no one has a monopoly on the truth, and the Catholics have announced a major reform of family planning policy and the distribution of free condoms for all consenting adults.

All PNG people are invited to a free national mumu today to celebrate these outstanding developments.

From your correspondent in Port Moresby, Prima Aprilus.