Ruth’s Frequently Asked Questions
about Papua New Guinea
(note: answers reflect what we “think” we know and may turn out to be wrong J)
Q: Will you be able to drive?
A: Yes, we think so. I’ve heard that you can rent a van or vehicle of some sort. You can drive to Kainantu which is on the order of a half hour away and has some shops and I even heard a rumor there is a cafe or something there that you can go to for Sunday lunch. The coastal cities of Lae and Madang are like 3 and 5 hours away respectively.
Q: What kind of training or preparation will you get before you are stationed at your job?
A: There is a training course called POC (Pacific Orientation Course, formerly called Jungle Camp)
that sounds like an awesome experience. However, since my family and I have only committed to 12 months in Ukarumpa with Wycliffe, POC, which is between a 6 and 12 week course, was optional for us. After much prayer and consideration, not all of our family was at peace with POC and we decided to we would jump right into serving at Ukarumpa. Perhaps if the Lord calls us to stay longer, we may have the opportunity to take POC in the future.
Q: What happens when you go outside the compound?
A: The town of Ukarumpa has a fence around its perimeter and is patrolled by professional security guards and so is relatively safe. When traveling outside of Ukarumpa, we’ve been told that it’s a good
idea to have an escort from one of the nationals, or to at least only travel during the day and in groups. I’m sure we’ll learn more about that once we get there.
Q: How big is the compound you will be living in?
A: The town of Ukarumpa is something like 1 mile in diameter. You pretty much just walk everywhere and I guess there are a couple hills. So we expect that we’ll be getting some good exercise going to and fro.
Q: What are some of the activities the girls will be able to be involved in?
A: Well, we’ve heard there is a drama theater with a big show once a year. From what we’ve been able to tell, there are probably opportunities for volleyball, basketball, soccer, and maybe even a small league with competitions among neighboring towns. There are paddocks with a huge riding area for riding horses (Annakah’s really excited about that). A motocross track of sorts. A river that runs along one side of town where you can swim or float down on a tube.
The school sounds fairly rigorous as well and we’ve heard that the kids are kept busy with lots of school activities and academics. We don’t really know all that will be made available, but we are excited to find out.
Q: When are you planning on going?
A: They have year round school at Ukarumpa International School. And their school year starts July 20th 2011. We felt that it would be important for our girls to start with the school year so we plan to leave the first or second week of July. This will give us plenty of time for travel, perhaps a few days in either New Zealand or Australia to take in some sights and perhaps pick up a few items for our new home. Also, we can settle into our home and acclimate to the new climate and time zone well before the kids start school.
Q: What kind of paperwork have you had to do?
A: Tons! There seem to be three main stages of paperwork. The first is for Wycliffe. Once we were approved through them, we received a letter of invitation. Then we submitted an application for a work permit to the labor department within PNG. That took a little over 1 month before we received the approval. Then you have to wait for the immigration department to approve something, but once we got the work permit, we were able to complete our Visa application and submit that to the PNG Embassy in Washington D.C. Then there is some final paperwork and things to do in finishing up the whole process.
Q: What kind of shots and blood work was required?
A: We needed a lot of immunizations. Besides the normal like Tetanus and MMR, we were require to get Hep A, Hep B and Typhoid immunizations (shots for the little ones and oral for those of us who could swallow pills). We also needed to get G6PD screens which checks to make sure we can take malaria medicine. Oh and we all needed to be tested for AIDS. Ruth and I needed chest X-Rays and a radiologists report. Presumably to make sure we weren't suffering from TB. Anyway, there were a lot of shots and tests to be done, but we made it through without too much pain or inconvenience.
Q: What is the time difference between Pacific Northwest time and there?
A: Papua New Guinea is in the PGT Time Zone and is 18 hours ahead of the PST Time Zone.
Q: Is there a school for your kids?
A: Yes! It's called Ukarumpa International School. The majority of students are SIL dependents (70%), with 16% national employee children, 7% from missions in the country and 7% commercial students whose parents work at government/commercial offices located nearby. There are about 150 students in K-6 and 130 in grades 7-12.
Q: What will you be doing there?
A: Chad will be working for Computer Technical Services (CTS). We're not exactly sure what he'll be doing, but it will be something between fixing broken computers, and writing software (probably both and all that is in between). Ruth will take some time to settle in and then will prayerfully consider where the Lord is guiding her to serve.
Q: How close are the nearest towns? How will you get there?
A: Kainantu: 15 minutes/ 60-80 km/h. Madang: 5 hours Lae: 3.5 hours/80-100 km/h. Goroka: 1.5 hours/60-80 km/h. We can rent a vehicle from the auto-shop at Ukarumpa and drive to these places. But we have to follow the guidlines of when we can go and may need escorts depending on the rascal activity in the area.
Q: What is the climate like?
A: Ukarumpa is somewhere around 5000 feet elevation located in the Eastern Highlands Province. It's supposedly cooler in temperature than the lowlands near the coast. People who have lived there say that it's like eternal spring-time.
Q: Do you get any vacation time?
A: Yes. I don't know the specifics of the vacation allowances, but we hope to take some time during the Christmas school break to go to Cairns Australia. Also we've heard that people will take a weekend to go to Lae or Mount Hagan, or even Madang. Sounds like there are lots of places to visit and experience.
Q: What are the housing options?
A: The houses look fairly normal really. The power is 240V 50Hz, they collect rain off the rooftops for drinking water, and bring river water in for washing. . Clothes are dried in the close line. We've heard that the water is heated by black pipe on the roof. Some of the homes have fireplaces for the occasional cold night. There are 1,2,3 & 4 bedroom homes although the 4 bedroom house is fairly uncommon. As it sits right now, we are on the list for a 3 bedroom home. Perhaps in a future blog post, once we get to Ukarumpa, we'll describe our home more and what living in a Ukarumpian house is like.
Q: How many people live in Ukarumpa?
A: At one time 1000 people lived the compound. Today, the latest estimate seems to be a population of about 500. Soon to be 505 :)!
Q: How long is the flight from here to there?
| Spokane, WA | Seattle, WA | 1hr 4 mins |
| Seattle, WA | Los Angeles, CA | 2hr 40 mins |
| Los Angeles, CA | Auckland, New Zealand | 13hr |
| Auckland, New Zealand | Brisbane, Australia | 3hr 40 mins |
| Brisbane, Australia | Port Moresby, PNG | 3hr 10 mins stay overnight |
| Port Moresby, PNG | Lae, PNG | 0hr 45mins stay overnight |
| Lae, PNG | Ukarumpa, PNG | 3hr drive by 5 passenger van |
Q: What kind of country is Papua New Guinea?
Q: What languages are spoken in the compound?
Q: Is it safe there?
Q: How close will you be to the beaches?
Q: Is there a post office there? How long does it take to get mail/packages?
Q: Is there a store to buy food and stuff?
Q: What organization are you going with?
Q: How big is the school?
Q: Are there any medical services?
Q: Will you have electricity, running water, and internet?
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