Labu Tale in Morobe Province is at least 30 minutes away from Lae city.
In spite of that, the Wampar LLG community – which is the largest of the three Labu villages – has no health workers nor teachers.
Wampar LLG’s ward six councilor, Aron Aima, said they have been commuting to Lae to access health services because there is no health worker at Labu Tale.
He outlined the especially desperate situation that pregnant women face during bad weather.
“Taim nogut, si raf, em mipla nogat wei. Sampla taim ol mama save mekim wok lo ol, i orait, sampla taim, ol lusim laif blo ol. Planti i lusim laif. (We have no way in bad weather, when the sea is rough. Sometimes, other women assist them and things go well. Other times, they lose their lives. Many have died.)
“Na mipla gat haus sik stap pinis. Mipla gat aid post orderly haus i stap pinis tasol wokman lo kam mekim wok wantem marasin, i nogat.” (We have a health facility here. We have an aid post orderly house but we do not have trained medical workers here.)
The Wampar LLG community is facing similar issues where there are no teachers to teach in the makeshift classrooms. Students there have not been to school for over a month.
Labu Tale recently opened their first-ever water project, courtesy of the National Fisheries Authority under its corporate social responsibility pillar. The water project was initiated following a letter of request from councilor Aima.
Aima said being a small community, everyone was involved with the piping of water from the mountain down to their newly installed water tanks, hence the issue of education took a back seat.
(Wampar LLG’s ward six councilor, Aron Aima)