GO - THE LAST MAN STANDING

 

'love near the mangroves' part 2

 

TOP: George and his wife Mary.

MIDDLE: George (left); his nephew Richard and his late sister Mambusa.

Bottom: The Obara clan of Yule Island celebrating George's graduation from University of PNG with Mary.

By BIG PAT

 

Badihagwa, built in 1967, is a very famous high school in Port Moresby.

From its celebrated halls came many learned Papuans who were to help develop the future capital city of PNG built on their own Motu-Koita land.

The school was to accommodate the education needs of the Motu Koitabu children and the Kerema settlers of Ranuguri.

In motu, 'hagwa' means mangroves and the shoreline from Hanuabada as far as Baruni and around motukea was richly covered in the sturdy trees, keeping the shoreline intact and diverse in marine life.

The name emerged from ‘Hagwa Badina’, translated in motu as ‘near the mangroves’. The mangrove is the emblem of that school to this day.

In 1971, a young George Obara arrived at Badihagwa. He was tall, energetic, handsome and likeable. As one of the first Papuan sons to graduate from the University of Papua New Guinea, his motu koita relatives looked upon him with great respect.

George had just passed out from UPNG with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. His fellow foundation graduates were Hanuabada man Loa Reva, Sir Mekere Morauta from Kukipi, Gulf, Elison Kaivovo from Rabaul, East New Britain, Leo Morgan from Bougainville, Idau Tau from Tubusereia, Central, Martin Buluna from Milne Bay, Ekeroma Age from Hula, Central and Moeka Helai from Porebada, Central.

As we all know now, they are all gone except GO - the last man standing!

Unlike the others, George was pursuing a second degree in Bachelor of Arts in Education, and the practical requirements of this paper had brought him to Badihagwa.

It was here among the mangroves, that George added the most important degree in his life - in the matters of the heart - love.

We are sitting under another 'neem' tree outside GO's nephew Richard's bungalow at Tokarara, in a tent aptly named Koicy's Bar!

They say that the 'neem' tree has great medicinal value. Might be true, maybe added pugnacious value to George's long 77 years on planet earth.

We are reminiscing about the past with thoughts about the future. Our 'orange juice' is slowly evaporating. That orchy vodka joke Mekere and Bart Philemon pulled on George has grown wings.

These days Gentle George loves a six packs of SP and the occasional shot of JW Black labels!

George has that faraway look at the mention of his favourite word 'voluptuous'.

It means 'sensual, spicy sensuality' and it sparks a starry twinkle in his eyes. I can feel the lovetricity. The tension, the electricity!

It was so long ago, he says with a wink. "She was cute, I was doing my practical at Badihagwa, when I met her, Mary Fenel. Voluptuous indeed.

"She was Irish Catholic, emigrated to Australia. I guess I can say I was Yule island Catholic. She was also doing her practical to teach in the Territory of PNG. I was doing the same to complete the units needed for my second degree."

George did complete his second degree to become the first Papua New Guinea foundation student to graduate with double degrees.

George's Kairuku family were gregarious. They welcomed Mary, a graduate of the University of New England in Armidale, with open arms. But 1970s Papua & New Guinea was an Australian Territory.

Black people and white folks did not quite see eye to eye in some quarters and on many issues. One of this was cross cultural marriages. Racism was a raging blind disease divided by colour and stereotyped by inhumanity.

Many parts of PNG were just being discovered and opened up by kiaps and wandering nomadic tribes like the Sialu of the Biami in the Western district were just being contacted.

White rule was being challenged by George's educated elite mates out of Adcol while in the countryside, more so in the Islands, the fires of were burning.

Colonial administrator Jack Emmanuel had been killed in Rabaul. In September 1971, it was front page news. The Mataungan uprising was intense.

In Nambucca Heads, New South Wales, news of Mary's engagement to a 'wild man of New Guinea' was received with mixed reactions, spinning heads in disbelief.

George recalls that his father in-law, a respected Irish doctor, welcomed the news. But Mary's grandmother was all 'thunder and lightning'.

George remembers: "Grandma said to Mary in her most Irish catholic accent 'but Mary, these New Guineans, they are natives, savages, they eat people' and my poor humble angel, Mary, she cried defending me."

But George and Mary were unperturbed. They planned to wed during the UPNG Students rugby tour of Australia in October 1971.

George tied the knot with Mary at Nambucca Heads. His best man was his rugby vice captain Ekeroma Age. Team members were billeted in the homes of Nambucca Heads residents.

The rugby tour had been a stunning success, and its members were to have a profound effect on the Nambucca Heads community.

"That day, I can remember was the best day in the life of my new wife," George, his tearful voice breaking, tells me.

"On that day, the indignity of racism was rolled back in Nambucca Heads when the PNG boys rose to speak with pride and joy.

"The guests at the wedding stood up and clapped wildly when the 'wild men of New Guinea' spoke of their dreams and aspiration in perfect virtuoso English.

"When they heard Barungke Kaman from Chimbu and Tony Siaguru from Sepik converse flawlessly, all these talk and thoughts of the 'wild savages' vanished."

George and Mary spent their honeymoon on the Gold Coast. George handed over the captaincy of the tour to Ekeroma Age. They played the last tour match against Queensland Uni and won. Having defeated Canberra Uni, George brought back the intervarsity rugby challenge cup to UPNG with his victorious team.

Back in Port Moresby, the Central Districts Rugby Association finals was at its finals stage.

Undefeated all season, Uni was the favourite against Army, and the Post-Courier's Graeme Boyd boldly proclaimed: 'University should take the grand final of Central Districts Rugby tomorrow.

Army brass were ticked off by Boyd but the Piggies rolled the soldiers on the field winning 25-3 in a whitewash.

George and Mary settled into the public service routine. Home was a little flat in Tokarara and proud Mary took her PNG side of life quite seriously.

Natives and expats were surprised on Saturday mornings to see a white 'missis' selling mangoes at Koki market - it was Mary accompanied by her mother in-law!

The world was moving and the Education boss Sir Alkan Tololo decided George should spend the next three months at the Economic Development Institute in Washington.

Mary, by now an expectant mother to be, went south to Nambucca Heads to prepare for motherhood.

After 3 months of being Americanised, the institute sent George to the Central American Republic of El Salvador on a World Bank project. It was while in the US that George got the call telling him it was a boy!

The notice posted in the newspaper boasted: BIRTH, to Mary and George, a son, Edward Nicholas Koae, April 18, 1975.

As Papua & New Guinea wound down the clock to unity as a new nation, George remembers: " I was in charge of a country and my son was like that country to me. I was very proud of my son. I named him Edward Thomas Obara. Edward for the king, Thomas for his maternal grandpa and Koae for his paternal grandpa!

Where the name Nicholas appeared from in that birth notice, is probably only known to the person who placed the ad!

When George flew back, his first stop was Nambucca Heads, to see his newborn son. He greeted his in-laws and proudly told Mary's grandma, 'hey grandma, the wild man of New Guinea is back from the US!' An impressed grandma, according to George, smiled the Irish sigh of relief, and wished her Mary all the best in life.

George recalls: "She welcomed me quite warmly, her racism, I turned it around, she changed her views about us Papua New Guineans."

Son Eddie, a musician and fisherman lives in Darwin, Australia, and visits his old man once in a while.

Sogeri National High School students will remember Mary Fennel as their English teacher of the seventies. Sadly Mary was lost in a tragic car accident in Australia.

When you sit down with a 77 year old person, remember you are in a time capsule, you are sitting next to history, the best thing to do is lend your ear, listen and learn.