cover girl

Tropicalities

The story

behind our

cover girl

PI M’s cover girl this month, Isobel Gidley, was in the limelight with the Australian media last December when her performance as ‘Jimmy Stevens’ 27th wife’ completely fooled the supposedly hard bitten and sceptical gentlemen (and ladies) of press, radio and television.

Ms Gidley’s little act was pul on as a garnish to the launching of a book by English journalist Richard Shears, The Coconut War, dealing with last year’s secessionist revolt on the Vanuatu island of Santo (re viewed PIM Feb p 44).

When the truth emerged a few days later, Isobel said in a press interview: ‘1 am not Jimmy Stevens’ wife nor ever have been. I’m married to an American entomologist and I’m an actress.’

Those last few words prob ably hold the key to Isobel’s ‘success’ at the book launching.

For she is no ordinary actress, but a highly professional one the product of three years’ training at Sydney’s Indepen dent Theatre, and with a con siderable record of stage ap pearances in Australia, England and the United States.

She also writes plays and is an accomplished make-up art ist.

In addition to these qualifications, she holds an Arts degree from the University of New South Wales.

It is strange but true that neither Isobel nor Mr Shears ever intended people to believe that ‘Ravae’, as Isobel called herself, was a wife of Jimmy Stevens. To emphasise this, they went to the trouble of adding an exclamation mark after the claim on the invitation that the book would be launched by a Stevens spouse.

Born on the island of Aoba of an English father and a New Hebridean mother, Isobel re tains a vital interest in the land of her birth.

The weekly Voice of the New Hebrides (since renamed Voice of Vanuatu ) interviewed Isobel when she was on a visit to Port- Vila last July.

The paper wrote; Isobel Gidley is keen to set up a National Performing Arts Centre. ‘lsobel sees the lifestyle of the New Hebrides as one which is continually enriched by arts which are performed as a part of daily life, both within tra ditional culture and in adap tations to it over the years. ‘ln order to provide an outlet for the many performing arts, and so they might be shared and continue to develop, she is working towards the establish ment of the centre. ‘The idea is for the per formers to travel regularly throughout the islands showing arts performed by their brothers and sisters from other islands.’

Not content with theorising, Isobel pulled together much of the talent she uncovered in a month in Port-Vila in a highly successful revue (scripted by her) which played to big houses at Le Lagon Hotel.

Called (with apologies to Robert Louis Stevenson) An Island Knight’s Entertainment, the revue, according to Voice of the New Hebrides, set out to show that ‘in all of us there is a talent for laughing at ourselves’.

The paper said the revue had ‘a theme full of magic, mystery, goonery and slapstick, with music interspersed between the four acts of skits’.

Box office proceeds went, of course, towards fulfilment of Isobel’s goal of setting up a performing arts centre in Vanuatu.

From New York

to Viviran

Fresh back from a distinguished term as his country’s ambassa dor to the United Nations, Papua New Guinea public ser vant, diplomat and author Paulias Matane has picked up

where he left off on an import ant experiment at what might be called the opposite end of the PNG social scale the build ing of a new style of government at the village level.

PNG Office of Information journalist Maclaren Hiari re ports: There is continual criti cism of provincial governments for misappropriating public funds and failing to bring essen tial services and development to the grassroots level.

But not a single community or individual has come up with an alternative form of govern ment which will suit people at the grassroots, helping them to take the lead in decision making at the village level, and giving them a sense of respons ibility, and awareness that they can influence developments.

As long ago as 1974, Mr Matane grasped this nettle.

Working with the 1000 inhabi tants of Viviran village on the Gazelle Peninsula in the East New Britain province, he held several meetings with a selected group of people judged to have better than average leadership qualities.

After the meetings it was decided to abolish the existing four laen (working groups), divide the village into seven sections headed by a kikil

(lualua na kikil), with an over all village leader known as lualua na gunan.

It was a small beginning, but Mr Matane was happy with what the kikil did in 1975-76 —| a period of experiment and learning, but with much more to do yet.

Said he; ‘People make a village. If there are no people, there can be no village. If there is a village, it must be for the people. Therefore people means village. It is vitally important that they must be proud of it, because it is theirs. Involvement in village productive activities creates pride. A good or bad village indicates what the people do there, what kind of leadership there is and whether or not it is properly organised and run. Once the people have clearly accepted that idea, we have the green light to go a step further.’

Back from the United States on leave in 1977, Mr Matane met some Viviran village leaders to find out what prog ress had been made on the project. While things had gone smoothly for a while, new prob lems had emerged. The lualua na gunan had stepped down through pressure of other work.

Some kikil leaders had run out of practical ideas; one had

Isobel Gidley (right): A project for Vanuatu.

stopped his people from co operating with other kikil leaders because he disagreed with their views about financial distribution.

In view of this internal conflict, most leaders decided to wait for Mr Matane to return to settle their disputes and to get things moving again.

Faced with these problems, Mr Matane conducted an ex tensive seminar for all leaders and prominent figures from Viviran and nearby villages in the Toma area Vunakaur, Takubar, Tamanairik, Bitakapuk, and general edu cation for the other villages.

One of his techniques was to go from what is already known and move progressively to the unknown. With that in mind, he found that most of the 70 people who attended the seminar know something vaguely about the national government, very little about the provincial govern ment, but almost nothing about community and village govern ments. ‘They saw absolutely no con nection between these govern ments. We felt that we should clear up this issue before we discussed what village govern ment should do,’ said Mr Matane. ‘During the seminar, we dis cussed the notions that people make a village, a community, a province, a nation and the vorld, while the legislature,

;xecutive and judiciary make

ip the national governments.

A/e also studied the national

Government’s eight-point plan,

)rovincial government, com nunity government and village 'overnment.’

After the discussion the roup decided that the village caders would conduct their wn seminars on their home round, exchange ideas with the eople, look for areas with hich they were familiar, and lose in which they needed irther clarification. ‘This, to me, is a very import nt part of anything we try to itroduce into the society, here is no point moving into cw areas before the people are isolulely familiar with some of ie necessary old ones. In our ise, we planned to move owly, steadily and surely,’ Mr (atane said.

After a week, the group held second seminar for 84 leaders id reviewed the main points

raised at the first seminar. They agreed to draw up a plan of action which was expected to bring good results from village government.

The plan provides for cleaner and better villages, expansion and improvement of plan tations, better and more profitable businesses, active participation in church work, pride in and development of good village culture, fewer land disputes, development of land use, better and more village roads and better health facili ties. It also provides for prevent ing lawlessness, more youth activities, more active interest in school matters and overall educational affairs for all, and development of village pride in people. ‘Leaders should not consider themselves to be big men and

women and that they know a lot.

They are servants of the people I and should learn to look to the people for advice,’ said Mr Matane.

The people must be heavily involved and everything they say must be taken into consider ation. If some things they say seem impractical, they should not be brushed aside. Clear explanations must be given as to why they are impractical. ‘I am a village man who loves living and working in the vil lage. My experience with the village people, our philosophies and ways of life indicate to me most strongly that village governments must be estab lished first before any serious thought is given to establishing community governments.’

Mr Matane believes that the Viviran village system has a lot to offer, and he has urged the authorities both at the provin cial and the national levels to consider it seriously.

Fitness test

at Emperor

‘We don’t want people dropping dead on us when they go underground,’ was the blunt assertion of Sanirusi Matalomani, industrial re lations consultant for Fiji’s Em peror Gold Mining Company.

He was explaining the rigor ous stamina test for job appli cants recently introduced by the company.

In the first stage of the test mineworkers are obliged to carry heavy weights up gradu ated slopes and are then sub jected to medical examination.

Then comes a second test in volving shovelling rocks. A

further medical examination follows.

When the weight-lifting test was first introduced on 40 mineworker hopefuls, only 19 managed to shoulder their bur dens well and were hired. One vacancy remained.

Mr Matalomani said the tests were also a good indication of the work motivation of individ uals.

The company is taking on more men because of increasing activity in production.

‘They’re off’

at Manamoui

The winner of this year’s Britannia Cup, the big event in Tonga’s horseracing calendar, was a horse called Hoosikau.

Martin Tasker, writing in The Asia Magazine, quips; That this is translated by his 1 3-year-old jockey into meaning ’a cow of a horse horsecow hoosikau see?” somehow conveys the splendid state of the sport of kings in Tonga.’

Tasker writes: ‘Despite the fact that betting is illegal, a day at the races is a popular attrac tion as evidenced by spectators shinning up trees for a better view. The very absence of the tote seems to illustrate the local premise that the spectacle itself is more important than the result.’

Horses are ridden bareback at Tonga’s Manamoui race course, but very few riders fall off.

But such dangers are part of the concerns of a new com mittee which has been set up to try to improve horseracing in the kingdom. Made up largely

Paulias Matane ... ‘I love village life.’

"Reject that fellow - his knees wobble!"

of expatriate Australians with experience of the international racing scene, the committee hopes to introduce saddles and helmets.

They are also concerned to do something about crowd safety with rails to protect the crowds.

At this year’s race. Tasker observed members of the crowd surge on to the track for a better I view of the horses pounding I straight at them down the final

I straight.

They would also like to stop I the picturesque practice of daubing horses' numbers on their flanks with whitewash.

But despite all the plans, Tasker believes there will be ’little change in the unique atmosphere of Manamoui'. • This year’s silver Britannia Cup was won by jockey Carl Willis and the German expatri ate trainer of Hoosikau, Oum Gobiel.

Gogodala

goodies

A display of cultural material by Papua New Guinea’s Gogodala people was held at the Anthropology Museum of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, late last year. It was the first exhibition of the material in Australia, and only the second in the world since the Gogodala people be gan reviving their traditional cultural skills in 1973.

Museum curator Dr Peter Lauer said the Queensland dis play was unusual in that items were for sale, the first lime in nnore than 50 years that 3ogodala cultural items had seen available.

The Gogodala people are Dased on the Aramia River, in lOulhern Papua New Guinea, tear the Fly River.

Dr Lauer told PIM that European contact and mission

ictivities had destroyed

jogodala culture early this entury, and reduced it to ’mere

nemories’. The University of

Queensland had been able to lay a significant role in the evival of their culture.

In 1914, an Australian iovernment official, A.P. -yons, who was a resident tagistrate in the area, took holographs of Gogodala eople and their cultural activi-

ties. These photographs were donated to the University of Queensland’s Fryer Library, and came into the possession of the Anthropology Museum.

When the Gogodala people began their cultural revitalisation, using the skills of their elders, they made inquir ies to the university to see if it had any early Gogodala ma terial which might provide in spiration for their work. The university has since maintained close contact with the Gogodala people, who spent two years preparing for the Brisbane dis play.

The display its contents, layout and design was pre pared by the Gogodala Cultural Centre at Balimo, in conjunc tion with the National Cultural Council of Papua New Guinea.

The 118 artifacts on display included dance masks, totem effigies, ceremonial canoes, an cestral figures, drums, weapons, smoke pipes, musical instru ments, woven material and body ornaments.

TC at work

in Suva

Teen Challenge or TC for short is alive and well in Fiji’s capital, Suva.

TC originated in America, and its aim is to lake teenagers off the streets, away from wasted lives of drugs and prosti tution, and to give them an opportunity for a new life.

Jese Sikivou, writing in The Fiji Times, reports that it was imported into Fiji by the pastor of Calvary Temple, the Rev Alipate Cakau, and was estab lished in Suva last year with the support of the Fiji Assemblies of God Church.

The Rev Jone Kata, pastor responsible for the project, said it was started with donations of everything from clothing to cutlery. Members of the church donated odd bowls or spare spoons to gel it going.

Housed in an old wooden building at the top of Suva’s Robertson Road, when Sikivou reported in February there were 20 young men involved in the project.

The one condition of entry into the TC project is that a young man had no alternative open to him.

The centre is most interested

in youths between the ages of 13 and 20.

Sikivou writes; ‘During the day the boys are put on various projects like upholstering old furniture or repairing cars.

They have been given a plot of land near Wainivula where they grow vegetables for the kitchen.

There are also a few acres in Naitasiri which were given by a man who wanted to help the boys. They go up there for two weeks at a time.’

Mr Kata said; ‘Nothing here is compulsory, not the prayers or any spiritual meetings. It is not important for the boys to be members of the Assemblies of God Church or even to be Christians.’

The boys receive no allow ance but divide up the money from contracts given to the centre.

Operating budget for Suva’s TC project is about SFIOOO a month.

The centre has appealed to the Ministry of Youth and Sport, which has given it car pentry tools, and there is a promise of $lO 000 from the Fijian Affairs Board.

There are plans to get -a similar centre underway in Lautoka.

woodhen

is saved

Australia’s success in saving the threatened Lord Howe Island woodhen species from extinc tion (PIM Aug 1980 p 42) has raised hopes in that country that it may win a top inter national ecology award.

Late last year there were only six breeding pairs of the woodhen the world’s rarest bird in existence. Under the meticulous care of scientists, by February 1981 they had hatched 13 chicks, and the threat of the bird’s disappear ance had been effectively lifted.

It is believed in Australia that the achievement puts the country in the running for the John Paul Getty Foundation’s international conservation award for 1980.

Lord Howe Island is adminis tered by the government of the State of New South Wales.

Mr T. Tumun addresses guests at the opening of the display of Gogodala cultural material at the Anthropology Museum of the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. The exhi bition was made possible by a remarkable revival of their tra ditional skills which began in 1973.