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Who Is Poor?Children who live far from school either do not go, or walk long distances 
It may be difficult to acknowledge, but there are poor people all around: men and women of all ages, living in the provinces, settlements, and towns. They are the people who eat only one meal a day, have no land to farm, and have little or no education or way to earn cash. One interviewee from Baismik village said, “In this village everyone is poor...no health services (and we are) all facing hardship.” In addition to these people, the consultations revealed an emerging group of disadvantaged people in the communities. They are
These people are called Turangi lain (Tok Pisin) and Ogogami Taudia (Motu). Both terms translate to “people who are poor or in a bad situation.” They are considered to be at the bottom of the economic ladder. Coping StrategiesTo cope with the worsening economic situation, some people have turned to relatives for help. Some reported asking local government authorities for help, but to no avail. Others have resigned themselves to the situation while a few said they tried to adjust to the new circumstances. The following coping strategies for those living in rural and urban settlements were described by those consulted. “Con Meri,” 28-Year-Old Female
“I was born in Port Moresby. I never knew my father. I didn’t go to school and cannot read or write. I grew up in the settlement and my life was very hard. My mother collected and sold scrap metal from the 6 Mile rubbish dump and helped her aunty grow some food, but we had very little land. When I was 11 or 12 years old, I joined my cousin brothers (male cousins) in stealing from people on the street. My eldest cousin and his friends raped me when I was 13. I told my mother and she bashed me up and told me not to tell lies; otherwise, we would be thrown out of the house. I continued to go around with my cousin brother’s gang and charged the boys K2 to have sex with me. “When I was 17, I had a baby girl. My mother arranged to have her adopted by a family in Gerehu. I never saw my firstborn again. When I was I had a serious sex disease and got treatment at the hospital in Port Moresby. During this time, I had another baby girl and I was allowed to keep her. My baby was weak and I needed to buy medicine and food for her. My family was unable to help. “Later, I started going to dances and discos; sometimes going home with expatriate men. Most nights I got very drunk. The men gave me money to buy medicine and food for my baby, but I often spent the money gambling on pokies. I am still a ‘disco’ or ‘con girl’ as people call me. However, I find it difficult now to find men at the clubs. I still drink and smoke a lot of pot. Sometimes I sell it to expatriate men. Often I take my young cousin sisters and friends out with me and they give me money if they go home with a man. Sometimes we take Papua New Guinean men back to Saraga and the boys there hold them up, bash them, and take their money. “I used to dream of marrying a white man who would take my daughter and myself overseas. I, however, see no real future for myself. I know that it is going to be harder and harder for me to win men and the only other way I know how to earn money is to collect scraps from the dump. I want to make sure that my daughter will have a good life, but she has not started school yet and is running wild in the settlement. There are many criminal youths in the village and it is going to be difficult for me to keep her away from crime. I feel very sorry for her.” Rural AreasWomen and children walk long distances to get water, and some boil it to make it safe. When sick, some have to stay at home to recuperate because they have no access to aid posts. More than half said they walked to town or to the traditional healer for assistance. Those surveyed said when children live far from school, half decide not to go to school and half walk; a three-hour walk is not uncommon. Some children stay with relatives in town while attending school. Many families have only one meal a day Urban Areas
Most urban settlers get their water from the tap outside their settlement or ask favors from households outside their settlement. As a certification of water connections is needed to get a power line connected, most houses in the settlement areas do not have power. Therefore, people commonly use gas lamps for light in the evenings. Most families cannot afford to buy housing materials, so they either live with their relatives or build houses using scrap materials, collected mainly from dump sites. Some settlement dwellers sell betel nut and mutrus (locally made cigarettes) to earn cash. “Breaking and entering,” selling drugs, being a “con meri,” eating only once a day, and begging and collecting food from rubbish dumps were other coping strategies mentioned.
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