Held up on the Highway

Firstly let me say a big thank you to everybody who contacted me after my "Some days are harder than others" post. It was great to receive so many supportive messages and encouragement. from my wonderful friends. Thank you, am feeling much better now.

This weekend I was expecting visitors. Two VSOs from Kundiawa, about two hours away, were planning to come and stay for the weekend. They phoned earlier today to cancel because of trouble on the Highlands Highway. Don't be misled by the use of the word Highway! Its an atrocious road often blocked by flood damage or landslides and a surface that puts great demands on even the most robust 4x4. People who live along the highway will occasionally "repair" the road and then demand payment from passing drivers.

The tribe from one of the villages along the highway between Kundiawa and Hagen had set up a roadblock and were forcing pmv (bus) drivers to pay a "toll". These requests being backed up with bush knives and other weapons. One pmv driver took exception to being held up in this way and he & his crew kidnapped one of the children from the offending village. Nobody knows what happened to the kidnapped child but the child's clan was so outraged that they are now stoning every pmv that drives along the Highway! It will undoubtedly get worse before it gets better - particularly if the kidnapped child has been hurt.

Since my two friends were planning to travel by PMV they decided that they didn't fancy running the gauntlet of furious, rock throwing, knife wielding tribesmen so they will wait for things to calm down - they should be here in a couple of weeks, just before I leave.

I'm afraid this is not an unusual event and is one of the reasons why travel around PNG is so difficult.