Rai Coast

Five hundred students in grades nine and eleven, and teaching staff made a public oath to abstain from consuming alcohol and resorting to violence on campus. 

The event involved clergymen from various Christian church denominations in the district including pastors from various Pentecostal churches and Fr. Francis Yass from Saidor Parish. These clergymen were witnesses to the occasion.

A helicopter arrived this morning in Madang and is currently in Saidor station to airlift the team back to Madang town.
 
Madang Provincial Police Commander, Acting Superintendent Mazuc Rubiang, said he is happy that polling teams who are yet to start polling will start soon.
 
He said polling in Madang that was scheduled on the Electoral Commission calendar ended on July 18, but with some good understanding, the chopper had arrived to assist. 
 

Rai Coast District Election security operation Commander Inspector Steven Yalamu said the three were attacked earlier this week but could not be taken to the hospital quickly because the heavily armed Hetwara gang were at the airstrip after the attack.

Inspector Yalamu said during the attack, a 15-year-old girl was abducted and sexually assaulted. He said they also killed one man and destroyed properties. Villagers in Gwarawon were chased into the bush.

The K50,000 infrastructure was built by Yoo Dobo Building Contractor. It was completed in just three weeks.

Teacher-in-charge, Maringo Ilaba said the new double classroom addresses the issues of overcrowding. It will accommodate the prep and elementary one classes this academic year.

School Board Chairman Denny Gagu said the school was established in 2005. Bush materials were used then to construct classrooms.

According Madang Police Commander Acting Superintendent Mazuc Rubiang, the family was kidnapped by the Hetwara cult group and held captive for a week. They then demanded money and valuable items from the family’s relatives to release them or they will kill them.

Rubiang said police officers received a tip off on the location of the family, and on Wednesday night they rescued them. The Acting Supt said the rescue was not easy because the cult group were armed while guarding the family.

Governor Yama also announced a K2 million price subsidy for coffee, cocoa and copra to help local farmers.

The governor then visited Umboldi Village, a half day walking distance from Saidor station. In 2019 during the Kangal Festival in Rai Coast, the Governor gave them K50,000 and they used it to build a double classroom.

An impressed Governor Yama committed K100,000 again for a new double classroom and a teacher's house.

He has challenged other leaders in his province to work with him to develop the district and the province as a whole.

Chairman of Saidor Kangal Festival, Moses Dilambe, who comes from Bandit village near Saidor district headquarter  expressed this recently.

Saidor is the district headquarter of Rai Coast district in Madang Province.

Dilambe recently organized cultural groups from his area to travel by  motor boat to Madang where they showcased a unique night performance displaying tall headdresses of Rai Coast at the Madang Festival.

In Rai Coast and in some parts of Madang Province, an uncle usually accords his nephews with respect and kindness and as a tradition, sometimes passes onto them certain traditional gifts as a form of inheritance.

Last weekend, Sanga Maneu from Orinma village, located high up in the mountains of the Finistere Range, braved the rugged terrains, storm and flooding creeks to walk down to the coast to Duman village to present arrowheads to his nephew.

He claims he is a champion hunter in his tribe and wants to pass on his heritance to one of his sisters’ sons.

A first- timer or visitor to Basamuk in Rai Coast, Madang Province would be amazed on seeing local women bargaining with Chinese workers there.

“Meiyo，meiyo poloman，meiyo ”  That’s the common phrase these local women will usually say，meaning  “ no， no， friend” when disagreeing to a bargain for price with a Chinese worker。

The women also understand some gestures which the Chinese use and often argue with them。

CHW Paul Konare, who works in remote Rai Coast area in Madang, said previously men were not involved in family planning until recently when the Department of Health realized that they should be part and partial of all family planning activities because they play an important role as heads of their families.

He said that women particularly mothers go through a lot of hardships as child bearers and urged that husbands must also volunteer to turn themselves in for operations to help space children or control births.