Bougainville nurse describes suffering

By Jim Green

WOLLONGONG -- Ruby Mirenka, deputy matron of the Arawa General Hospital in Bougainville, addressed a lively meeting here on October 12. Her visit was designed to raise awareness of the ongoing suffering of the Bougainville population and to seek donations of medicines, clothes and other materials.

Mirenka gave a vivid and emotional account of the impact of the six-year war with Papua New Guinea and the associated blockade of Bougainville, which has severely restricted the availability of essentials such as food and medicine.

The health effects of the war and blockade are many and varied, said Mirenka, and go well beyond casualties sustained by the Bougainville Revolutionary Army.

For example, civilians have been forced to move location on many occasions to stay clear of the PNG army, and then to regularly travel large distances with heavy loads to and from their food crops. This results in health problems such as infections, arthritis and hernias -- not to mention exhaustion and emotional trauma.

Lack of adequate food, clothing and housing have increased rates of dysentery, diarrhoea, malaria, pneumonia, stillbirths, infant mortality and maternal septicaemia. All this is made much worse by the shortage of medicines.

Health workers are greatly hampered by the shortage of medicines, but they are remarkably innovative and effective nonetheless. Mirenka spoke about a network of village health committees she has been involved in setting up in six villages around the island. The focus is on health education and prevention.

Committees are encouraged to deal with a range of local issues from dangerous ladders to broken bottles to village cleanliness. Villagers have learned to make soap from readily available resources, the effectiveness of applying coconut oil to ulcers, and in many other ways to maintain health in a self-sufficient manner.

The program has been taken up enthusiastically and has had tangible effect on health -- for example, the incidence of malaria has dropped noticeably in villages implementing these initiatives.

Mirenka said the immediate needs of the people are medicines and syringes, clothes, kitchen utensils, garden tools, housing materials and tents. There are also longer-term needs such as the training of health workers. The people will continue to suffer in the coming months, warned Mirenka, regardless of the outcome of negotiations with the PNG government.

The meeting, organised by the South Coast Labour Council, resolved unanimously to establish an Aid for Bougainville Committee which would help collect and transport donations to Bougainville. The point was made that it is inappropriate to channel goods through government agencies and government-sponsored “non-government organisations” because of the possibility that such goods would reach only those parts of Bougainville occupied by PNG troops.

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