Mactuawe Gware-Stafford

84yo Mactuawe goes back in time

Her black curls are now snowy white, and while she has given up on her pastime of riding bicycles, her wit is still as sharp as when she was a school girl at the Dregerhafen Education Centre in Finschhafen.

Her older brother, former paramount chief and PNG’s first national newspaper journalist, the Late Muttu Gware, was peers with the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, while Abung Mactu joined them a year later at Dregerhafen, which is now known as the Dregerhafen Technical Secondary School.

Grand chief’s schoolmates share story

Morobe’s heavyweights; Sir Jerry Nalau, Anong Ahi, Mactuawe Gware-Stafford and Labo Nalau studied at the Dregerhafen Education Centre with Sir Michael.

They showed up to pay their respects in the final part of the residents’ two-day haus sore.

Guided by their relatives, they slowly but steadily made their way to the centre of the arena, where the late Grand Chief’s portrait was.