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Is Poverty Really a Problem in PNG?Modernization has created the need for cash
Unfortunately, the answer is yes, according to those who participated in the consultations. It is difficult for people to admit that poverty exists in the country because the traditional social values and kin-based society focus on taking care of those in need. Those who have more have always helped those in need. But this traditional support system is breaking down. In many communities “those with more” do not have enough to share.
In modern-day PNG, life is very difficult for poor people. Poverty is robbing people of their dignity, their potential, and in some cases, their very lives. The majority of Papua New Guineans are caught at a crossroad. Some remain in their villages and depend on subsistence farming, fishing, hunting, and other traditional practices. But modernization has created the need for cash, which most people have difficulty obtaining. Most central government services do not reach rural communities, resulting in migration of people to urban areas and more stress on the resources and living space in the settlements and cities. Poverty is thus increasing in both rural and urban areas.
Settler on a Rubbish Dump, “Scavenger,” 38-Year-Old Female
“I was born in Dariau Station in the west of Gulf Province. I am the eldest of eight children. When I was four, my parents left the village and moved to Port Moresby. We lived in Baruni Village and then moved to 6 Mile (today Saraga Settlement). We were the first family to move here and we lived with the Saraga family. Back then, this place was all bush. Later on, more and more people came to settle here. Life is really no good… ia dika roho roho. “Shortly after moving here, I met my husband who was then a Fletcher Morobe apprentice. We had five children. My eldest son is dead; the police shot him at the dump site last year. My second son is a widower—his wife and child died recently. My third child completed Grade 10 but we can’t afford to keep sending her to school. My younger children are in primary school. I still miss my eldest son very much. My husband had to resign so that we could do our son's feast recently. He is now unemployed and our suffering is even worse. “We have been living off rubbish dump food. We—young men and old women—wait for the store trucks to dump ‘expired' food. The truck drivers tell us to get what we want from the truck and then throw the rest away. People laugh at us because we eat rubbish food (dumpa aniani) but we do not get sick (gorere lasi). Sometimes, I have to beg for food for my children. “Today my children did not go to school because there was no food. Life is very hard (mauri be auka herea). Candidates make promises, elections come and go, and still there is no change. People go hungry, young men go into rascal' activities and lose their lives. I would like to see changes for the better. There must be more work and lower school fees. Our life will not improve if the situation does not change.” To solve this problem, it is necessary to first understand the problem from the people’s point of view and get their recommendations.
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