Manus Island - 23 years ago

Posted by Ken Taylor 
on Apr 17, 2015
 
Could it be only 23 years ago? David Benn, Colin Butt, Rick Priest, John Smith, Ken Cook and Jack Morgan of Kooringal Rotary about to go to Manus Island.
David Benn introduced Ken Cook, Rick Priest & John Smith and their journey, taken along with Colin Butt and Jack Morgan of Kooringal Rotary, twenty-three years ago. They went to Manus Island to complete a school building which had been started by other Rotarians and required the fimal securing of the building to act as a girls' dormitory. Their voyage was from another era almost; fireworks in baggage and photo's of a group of younger men who struck a similarity with those we know but who seemed in some cases only half the men we know now.
The villagers on the island had little of what we consider necessary; the school was to be an important part of development and education. In the process the team also repaired water supply and did other work in the area for the groups they were assisting. They had guided tours around Moresby, unsafe as it was, with military assistance due to their connections with locals who had been in Wagga and befriended there. On Manus, a quite remote and hard-to-get-to place, they were greeted as friends and received as they gave. The gratitude of the people was humbling and the work of our group was all the more important for it.
They had trips into the forest, seeing all manner of jungle exotica. They also came across some of the many war relics; Benny still has a Japanese memento he picked from the ground against the advice of his guides, who scattered when he strated prising something from the earth. They were certainly more wary of war relics and their propensity to do harm, but Benny got his souvenier.
The journey itself was a big part of their story and their memories; the issues with power and water at the village merely side-lines to the bigger picture of helping a community with little to offer but their own generous hospitality.
All the photo's of this story, plus some more, appear on the website under the photo albums section.