During a recent visit to Long Island, villagers took the opportunity to air their grievances of living on the Island with 33 years of no proper established government services.
The plight of the islanders is widespread in most remote villages within the country.
Long Island is situated in the far-flung island of Rai Coast District under Saidor Local Level Government (LLG). The estimated population is about 5, 000 who come under three (3) wards, under Saidor LLG, which are wards 32, 33 and 34.
According to the islanders, to date, they have had no formal education and basic health services established in those three wards since 1990. This has affected the population and generations of them lack basic knowledge of reading, writing, counting and speaking English. At the same time, health woes continue to escalate with no one having to do anything about it.
Community leader and ward councilor for ward 32, Morit Samkoi said the island community has been lacking basic government services for many years and this has resulted in infant mortality, mothers dying, babies dying due to natural illness and accidents amongst other.
“Some of the younger kids on our island survived because their mother passed away during child birth, however, they had to be looked after by their step mother again because their father remarried,” said the councilor.
Women representative on the island, Loreta Liko who shared similar sentiments said the only thing the village had to do during a complicated labor is to have devotions and ask everyone in the village to perform the customary act of forgiveness, (wanbel – to say sorry if they have grudges against each other), in order for the woman to have a safe delivery.
“We also pray for her soul and the unborn infant (preparing them for the afterlife) if the labor does not work well. This is a struggle where we have to consider traditional herbs and pray for miracles when women go through labor in Long Island,” Liko said.
She said the schools have been left abandoned for 30 years and the generation between then and now have not even been taught how to read and write, to know the alphabet, counting money properly (mathematics) when going into Madang to sell or even selling things in the village.
Liko states that the island has suffered long enough now and calls for the Government to look into the responsible service providers to at least provide them with basic health and education services to them, so that they can also have a better life.
Long Island is amongst one of the many human inhabited Islands in Madang that include the Manam, Karkar and Bagabag Islands which stretches out into the Bismarck Sea.
Based on the ward recorders of the island, they have an estimated population of almost 5,000 that mostly depend on fishing and agriculture products such as cocoa, copra and betelnut.
Most of the islanders never seen Madang Town to this date because of the unpredictable boat schedules running to and from the Island, the hefty boat fee of K70, sea piracy, continuous bad weather situations and the continuous law and order issues of Madang Town.