The Covid surge has leveled off in PNG although they are still wearing masks in the cities. As the rest of the world is opening up, there are very few vaccines available for a third-world country like Papua New Guinea. The good news is that the vaccines are reaching the more developed countries in the region and those countries are beginning to show signs of life. Recently, Australia, PNG’s largest neighbor and the one it looks to for leadership, began accepting travel visas for religious workers. Although this does not help us get back to Hauna, we have to travel through Australia and it is the first domino that must fall. Port Moresby, the only airport and only way to enter the country is still closed to foreign travel.
So what is Hauna doing?
Recently, through the generosity of US donors, enough money was raised to buy three brand-new outboard motors. These motors are essential to almost everything in Hauna. They are used to pick up supplies in Pagwei–a full day down the river to the closest road, they are used to transport the sawmill to help build schools and churches in neighboring villages, and their use is the only way to mow the airstrip. Hauna’s outreach is limited by their outboard motors.
Because of the remote nature of the jungle, when something simple happens to one of these outboard motors, like a plugged spark-plug or a broken fuel line, it can take days to fix. Hauna was down to one spare and sometimes a dug-out canoe had to sit idle waiting on a motor. Thankfully, the money has been wired to our account in Wewak and the motors are on the way! Thank you to US donors who covered this huge need. Pictures coming in the next newsletter.
Meanwhile, the Bible School building project is continuing, educating young school children continues, and the sawmill is busy every day in outreach to other villages on the upper Sepik River.