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Note from
Popondetta PNG
Hi Pete,
Following is the note you
requested. Sorry it took so long. Writing isn't easy for me!
As you are probably aware by now writing is not one of my strong points.
Please work with me on what else we can say. I haven't touched on that
the government should be the ones doing this but they wouldn't care if
we did. I can send lots of good pictures to add to the story including
photos of standard built Aid posts in this area mostly built by Rotary.
It all started in 2000 this is when I started spending a few weeks at a
time in Popondetta to supervise my heavy equipment workshop and Oil Palm
transport business. As I spent more time here I noticed that Black Bass
were being sold at the local supermarket continually over a three month
period all fresh not frozen. At first I though maybe there's an
opportunity for me to go bass fishing for myself on week-ends and as I
haven't heard of bass being caught in these waters I might be the first.
I asked the girl behind the counter if she could put me onto the people
who were bringing in these fish for about two months then I started to
realize that if there are this many fish around here consistently there
might be a bigger opening somewhere.
I might even be able to run a fishing lodge which had always been a
dream of mine every since I started to help guide for Dean Butler in
1994 on "Expedition Type Fishing" for Barra and Bass down the Aramia
River near the Fly.
One day I was walking to the post office in our little town and Coney
the girl from behind the fish counter at the local supermarket walked up
to me and introduced her brother Agustin and his wife Lucy. She
explained to me that she had finally got word to Augustine that there
was a white man in town who was looking for a place to set up a fishing
lodge.
Funnily enough it has always been a dream of Augustans that one day
somebody like me 'a white man" would come along and make his dream a
reality. That afternoon Agustin and Lucy came to my house and I showed
them a couple of Dean Butler CD's after which they proclaimed ''We Can
Do That!" it was like music to my ears they went on to say that at night
they throw a hand line off the beach in front of their house and catch 3
kg Kari which was place talk for Mangrove Jack. I couldn't wait to get
there and three weeks later they came to Oro Bay to pick me up. They
also took along Helen my misses and my newly arrived GM for the trucking
business Ken Snowball who by the way had spent some 5 years up here
earlier and we became good fishing buddies. They picked us up in a 23ft
fiber glass banana boat. The weather wasn't kind and I think it took 2.5
hours to get there.
Well when we arrived I've never heard such a commotion and see such
colour with so many people gathered on the beach to greet us.
The chief Philip Nigel was running up and down the beach to welcome us
with his ceremonial club in one hand and his Kundu drum in the other. It
was quite overwhelming even for me who had been living in PNG for the
past twenty years at that time. Anyway cutting to the chase now it
didn't take long after we had been presented with our adoption and
induction ceremonial beads and pigs tucks and were being paraded though
the village. You could easily see that on one hand these people had as
you and I would consider absolutely nothing when it came to material
possessions let alone anything that would resemble modern living even at
Popondetta standards which would be tined fish and rice.
They actually had been experiencing a drought for two years had nothing
much more then smoked tilapia and sago to live on for a very long time.
Here I am all of a sudden the first white saviour since independence to
promise them a rescue package of tourists to catch and release fish that
they only bothered to try and catch and struggle with when all the
easier fish had turned off.
Even for the local people the black bass is a formidable adversary. It
only took me a matter of minutes to see that these people needed help
and at the same time where prepared to help themselves. All they needed
was an opportunity to be pointed in the right direction.
Well, as you can tell by all the articles that have been published since
that day, about ''Bendoroda Wilderness Lodge'' it has become a major
success for the promotion of Sports Fishing and tourism in PNG.I have to
say though right from the start that it would have been quite easy to
get rapped up in the ore of the moment and have just been thinking how
lucky you were to be one of the first people to explore the area but
instead it was the beautiful children and grown ups along the way that
inevitably become close friends. The main thing that sticks in my mind
apart from the hospitality that was shown to me everywhere I went was
the fact that there was not a hospital, doctor, aid post or anything
else remotely like ''Help ''within at least a 24hr to 36hr paddle by
canoe from where I stood.
I have taken it upon myself to help these people and what really
surprised me was I was expecting to have to do this all by myself with
the help of my companies but as the word got around to our clients who
have visited they all showed a willingness to help which we appreciated
but because we didn't have anything formal in place it was hard for me
to ask them to just make a deposit into my account. But luckily earlier
this year an old friend of mine and well known Gold Coast fishing
personality Peter Pakula joined a group of guys who were on a revisit
from the year before. Immediately Pete took a interest in what I had and
what I was trying to do. So after Pete and I had fished together for
about 4 days in succession we had both come to the conclusion that to
get serious about helping the people we had to launch a help line on his
web site that raises money for worth while causes. 
Facts to add:
I have been here for 25yrs plus and just applied for germinate
residency. Plan on staying here in Popondetta for years to come.
Have a good relationship with the senior OZ Aid health centre co
coordinator based here in Popondetta and just resigned for another 3
year contract Philip Hawkins.
I have been an active Police Reserve Sergeant with the PING Constabulary
since 1996.
I am the current Chairman of the Oro Tourism Promotion Authority which I
instigated.
We need a aid post building made from sawn timber we have plans and
building material list included is solar power and refrigeration plus
water storage. We need a house for the aid worker which can be made from
local materials. We need radio communication, aid station boat and
motor. Medicine will come from Oz Aid, Health workers are plentiful as
most government run aid posts are run down and US.
Right from the beginning I have always said that I don't want to change
the way the people live I just want to improve the way they live and to
a certain extent I have achieved that it is definitely better for them
now then before but the most import thing which is health care on hand
has not been achieved. I can say that in my personal experiences tourism
in the area has already saved at least 3 children's and 1 adults life
just because we were there and had the basic's with us. There are still
far too many lives lost needlessly.
After I achieve this coal I have fresh water and school projects.
Dale McCarthy
usgdale@global.net.pg
http://www.pngblackbass.com/
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