From Port Kembla To Png Global Village
Illawarra Mercury
Tuesday March 4, 2008
Global village
Port Kembla's Helen and Gary Wolhuter are six months into a two-year volunteering stint in Wewak, Papua New Guinea. Helen is working as a physiotherapist while Gary, a personal trainer back home, is working as a logistics manager for Callan Services for Persons with a Disability.The organisation is a major provider of disability services in Papua New Guinea. Gary says Papua New Guinea turned out to be very different from what he and Helen had expected. "All the stories we heard before we came away have proved to be false - our experience has been one of meeting very friendly and helpful people," Gary says."Complete strangers will offer advice or help or they will just want to ask questions about you."At first, some can look fairly intimidating - particularly those with bright red mouths due to betel nut chewing - but even the toughest looking man has a soft and gentle voice, which can seem bizarre."In 2006, the Wolhuters made enquiries about voluntary work to Palms Australia, an independent volunteering agency, which had received requests from Callan Services for a physiotherapist and a logistics manager.Disability is a large area of need in Papua New Guinea. "Unfortunately PNG has a high proportion of disabled people and most of these are disabilities which do not occur in Australia." Gary says."Helen's role is to establish physiotherapy services in isolated rural areas; my role varies from helping Helen with logistical matters to assisting in management with the principal of a resource centre that provides assistance to teachers, parents, volunteers and people with disabilities so that disabled people can have an improved quality of life."The financial rewards of volunteering in Papua New Guinea aren't great - like many other volunteers the Wolhuters are earning less than 10 per cent of an average Australian wage.There are also many challenges involved, but Gary and Helen say there are also numerous benefits."There certainly has been a change to our lifestyle," says Gary. "We were used to being entertained either at home or by going out, but here there is one TV station only, there are no bookshops or libraries, no picture theatres or video rental shops and the shopping centre consists of one street about 200m long with shops that all sell the same things with very limited variety. "Getting around is hard as fuel is expensive, roads rough and limited and cars are a luxury item. "On the bright side it is normally very quiet and if you get books from home or other volunteers it is great to just unwind. "PNG is not well known for its surf but to my great pleasure there are some good surfing spots close by, so surfing in pristine locations with no one else in sight is magic."There are also good snorkelling and safe swimming beaches close-by. "Our work is extremely interesting and rewarding. The people we deal with are conscientious, inspiring and grateful for any assistance."For more about volunteering overseas or about making a donation go to www.palms.org.au
© 2008 Illawarra Mercury