My next newsletter is finally here, if you would like to be added to the mailing list please let me know. Matt’s Nov 09-Feb 09 Newsletter

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1. Would be quite a combination

Several weeks ago on a Friday afternoon, myself and a few others stayed back on overtime to get some aircraft serviceable for Saturday and Monday. It was around 1830 and came to leave, I quickly ordered pizza for some of us from a hotel within town (oh how I miss Pizza Hut). We travelled into town and dropped a few people off on the way. As we were approaching our compounds, there was a large crowd gathered above the football fields near the Hagen club with a strong police presence. There had been at the time a lot of tension, due to the recount of the election. We were to be more careful and aware than normal during this period.

My colleague and myself dropped off our last passenger across the road from our compound, and then to travel to the hotel to pickup our pizza. As we approached the corner a van came round quickly with the driver pointing to us to go back the way we had came. I questioned why he was being so serious and as we turned the corner down the street. We see a mass crowd running in our direction and with grenades going off across the horizon in front of us, which were tear gas grenades. It was absolute madness, something out of a movie. We quickly turned around and returned to our compound.

2. I don’t have any photo’s of the event or police with M-16’s, but here is an example of tear gas grenades

At this time I am hungry and tired and thinking how my pizza is going cold at the hotel. But after about ten minutes we return out of the compound to head to the hotel. As we come out of the compound there are still a few people walking away, but now the place is very quiet. But the people still retreating were lighting anything they could on fire, bushes or rubbish. So there are little spot fires all over the place, again something like out of a movie. We picked up one of our national colleagues at the same corner and drive past the football field. As we do there are the police sweeping the field in a long single line formation with their M-16’s in hand. We make it to the hotel in the end, but the pizza is made really badly (like if it was made by a four year old). So we have to wait another thirty minutes for new ones and eventually get home and have a late dinner.

In the end my sources told me that there had been a fight between two different tribes from the settlement. This had resulted in the police breaking it up with tear gas and searching for someone. The general expat thinking is that it is not safe here. I don’t agree with that. Obviously security is an issuie here, but anything can happen here as it could anywhere else. But then things happen here in PNG, becasue it’s PNG. But the nationals look out for us and you just have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for something to happen. Fortunately we closely avioded being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. (Plus home made pizza’s are so much nicer and quicker to make than in this experience)

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This video was originally put together quickly as an update video for my home church. It has been finally tided up a bit. I guess this shows an example of what the MAF ministry team gets up to, normally on a Friday or Saturday night. Unfortunately some really good action footage did not turn out, but all the same I hope this gives you a glimpse of ministry here in PNG. In this video we attend the village called Pontus, where there had been four years of tribal fighting with their neighboring village and about twenty people killed. We drive out in the middle of nowhere to spend the night at this remote village after a big week in the hanger to minster to these people.

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