I Today we stood in front of the Parliament House and discussed PNG past, present & future with a man who set up meetings for the parliament...which happens to be Jr's nephew. After introducing ourselves & being welcomed, I asked the first question: What do you see happening in PNG that is improving the country the most? Shook his head & said, really nothing. Everything is so overwhelming and they don't have the expertise or experience to be real successful at anything: education, transportation, employment, utilizing the resources, even an accurate count of the population...probably 8 - 10 million. He said Australia gave us our independence before we asked or was ready. After a bit, he did say they'd made a deal to sell water to Australia & in return they might be able to create power from the it before it was piped under the sea. Rog asked if they were considering developing more tourist areas...creating many new jobs..which led to a discussion on security & safety and building hotels affordable for tourist...hotels now are $300+ as they are for businessmen. He talked about their poor economy...kina's depressed currency...and low wages. He ended saying "just look at where I go to sleep each night." (We'd been to his home...no elec or water & built with bits. & pieces...like so many...we understood his meaning.)
