A Heartfelt Moment This Christmas Season

In August, my son and I had the privilege of visiting Kulki Plantation, nestled on the Western Highlands side of the majestic Wahgi Valley. Together with officers of the PNG Agriculture Commercialisation and Diversification (PACD) Project, we met the remarkable Ken Petakin (pictured), owner of this historic plantation.

Our mission? To share his incredible story of perseverance and hope through a widely-acclaimed newspaper supplement published in The National last month.

But today, something truly special happened. Mr. Petakin called me, out of the blue, to express his heartfelt thanks. He wished my family a Merry Christmas and spoke of the impact of our work. His kind words touched me deeply—it’s moments like these that remind me why I love being a journalist.

Originally from Wabag, Enga, Mr. Petakin took over Kulki Plantation in 1980 from the late Clem Leahy. After years of challenges, his determination is finally paying off. Thanks to a K1 million boost from the PACD Project, Kulki Plantation is making a comeback! 🌱

This support will not only breathe new life into the plantation but also empower 400 coffee-growing households in the surrounding area to scale up their production. ☕️🌍

As the year comes to a close, I’m reminded of the resilience and hope that lives in the heart of Papua New Guinea’s people. Merry Christmas to you all, and may stories like these inspire us to keep pushing forward.

The Lessons from Balinese for Papua New Guinea peoples

The most Respectful, hardworking, Happy, Appreciative, smart and very Creative people I have ever seen in my life are people from BALI.( Indonesians). No wonder why Tourists all over the world Flood into Bali every single day.

You will hardly see them doing nothing and staring at the tourists. They use their skills and talents to earn to survive. Those who are employed, get paid only monthly but I just admired how they love their jobs. Even the trolley boys at the airport terminals are well dressed in their uniforms and happy to push people's luggages. PNG pride killim umi so mi no ting ol man ken dressup lo pushim troley blo ol tourists.

Bali Economy is over 80% Tourism alone. Ol make use lo bush graun, diwai, bush flawa, stone blo wara, caves, garden, maunten, wara blo ol lo kisim money.

They do not have over 1000s cultural dances/groups/tribes like us. Their fire Dance is not real like the Tolai fire dance. I've seen it. They just burn the dry grass and kick it around and the camera captured the flames but hundreds and thousands of Tourists go there to watch. Tourism alone can run PNG but we really have the worse attitude problem that makes it unsafe for the Tourists to come to PNG. 

Everyone should do your part for a safe and better PNG if we really want our country to change. We are promoting PNG Cultures, and doing our part overseas to send tourists over but people continue to ask this question " IS IT SAFE. 

Thanks for reading and have a think about it.

R.Normeng

In Papua New Guinea Dangerous Journey For Tribes ! 🇵🇬