The way
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
we were
Once hailed as the best provincial capital in Papua New Guinea, Arawa was the toast of all Bougainvilleans. Located on the south eastern coast of Bougainville, the North Solomon capital was protected on the west by the densely forested Crown Prince mountain range and on the east by the Pacific ocean.
Former mine employee Michael Titus recalls the nation’s capital, Port Moresby, was “hell compared to Arawa”. It was a beautiful town.”.
“There was a 108-bed government hos pital there,” he said pointing to the burnt out structure facing Arawa Care Centre.
Titus pointed north and said it pained him to see the Bougainville Copper Limited-sponsored hospital in ruins.
“Why did they have to do this,” he asked.
The provincial office was understandable but the hospital, no.”
The government hospital was located close to the mining company’s executive single quarters. Neither government sym pathisers nor revolutionary supporters remember who the responsible party was. The town once bustling with activity was now in ruins. Fire-ravaged walls of the mining hospital were the only reminder left standing of what used to be the best hospital in the country.
Arawa High School and the technical training college were abandoned and deteriorating from the six years of isola tion. The two important facilities would take millions of dollars to reestablish,Titus said.
Three of the five primary schools oper ated according to the Papua New Guinea system while the other two followed the Australian system. “The mine had to do something to attract specialists and to do this they had to provide the same type of services that were available in Australia. Of these none is still standing.
Then there were two high schools which catered for the townsfolk, those working the Panguna Copper Mine and the people of Bougainville. Buildings at Arawa High School, the venue of the cur rent peace conference, are in usable con dition but have been idle and overgrown because of six years of neglect. The Public Library has all but gone. The only sign of its past is its broken down signposts nes tled between chicken-wire fences of Arawa Care Centre.
Electricity and water have been restored in some areas but all form of telecommu nication with the outside world have been severed.