DIOCESE OF AITAPE CHURCH BUILDING PROGRAM

	News report No. 5 August 2002 Diocese of Aitape P O Box 179 Aitape Sandaun Province Papua New Guinea Ph +675 857 2046 fax +675 857 2056
Aitape Haus Lotu Projects

Introduction:
This is the fifth report from the Diocese of Aitape for the month of August about the project to build eleven new permanent churches to replace those destroyed by the Aitape Tsunami disaster of July 1998. Our previous four reports have site visit photos and information about all the sub parishes in Malol, Arop, Sissano and Barupu areas, and the commemoration ceremony held on July 17, the anniversary of the Tsunami disaster. This report covers work during the month of August and takes a look at some of the equipment needed to obtain materials for the new churches.

Cement Bags arriving at Teles		Clearing the land at Amu		New shed at Amu

Planning and progress for the first new Churches:
There is one cargo boat each month to Aitape, and so materials need to be ordered well in advance. The access to each site is over unsealed dirt roads, so the materials are held in readiness for the dry season when the roads can be negotiated by the Diocesan trucks. Many of the materials and tools for use in the new churches have arrived in Aitape. We have stored the 82 tonnes of cement near to the wharf in readiness to transport them to the three churches to be built at Teles Lampu, Amu and Arop1. There is also mesh steel stored in the same compound. Night security is employed to keep watch on these materials at the stockpile. Other materials are stored in a lockable compound on the mission grounds.
The first load of cement bags and steel mesh to the new church sites was moved out this month to the Teles Lampu church site, by the trucks engaged to do the gravel extraction (see first photo). We moved out 340 bags of cement and 35 sheets of steel mesh. We had planned to collect gravel for three churches in the area, but the operation had to be aborted soon after it started when a dispute developed over the gravel.

Visits to the Amu and Arop1 church sites were made to organise the building of temporary shelters for the cement bags, tool sheds, and dig wells for the water supply. Clearing and landscaping of the land at each location has begun (see photos 2&3).

The Walkabout saw

The walkabout saw was purchased to cut the timber logs into planks for use in the church structures. There are many strong local varieties of hardwood timber suitable for structural elements in the new churches. Also there are many beautiful timber species that can be used for wall panels to clad and decorate the interior of the churches, and to make church furniture.
The saw can be transported from one church site to another in a 4WD utility. It has a 25 hp engine and moves across two parallel six-metre aluminium rails. The walkabout saw is set up over a felled log, and the log is then milled plank by plank, by a series of forward vertical cuts and horizontal back cuts until all of the log is sawn through. The next log is then rolled into position and the process is repeated. The walkabout saw engine has two wheels that can be attached to the underside of the frame so it can be "walked about" from one set up to the next.
The saw is firstly undergoing a trial run close to Aitape itself. We are cutting timber for an extension to the priest's house at the Aitape mission. The trial enables us to make sure the saw is running well, and that we have all of the supplies and spare parts that we need before we venture out to the remote sites where the churches are to be built.
The advantages of this kind of saw are that it does not cause a lot of environmental damage. Trees are individually selected, then cut and milled close to where they fall.
There is no need for access roads, large log stockpile areas or lots of expensive heavy machinery. This is a small-scale operation using the locally available logs to build each church and using local labour to assist. The saw-millers camp out near to where they are working, and local parish groups assist by carrying the cut planks by hand to the site of the new church. It provides some employment for the local people and teaches them some forestry skills as well. The walkabout saw also saves the project money, as it is cheaper than bringing outside sawn timber from other areas.

Other Sites:
The agreements signed between the bishop and the local owners for the land, the gravel and the trees to be used in the church projects, are now largely complete. Some letters were written to the Arop2 and Wuipom parishes about the transport of gravel to these remote locations. The gravel for these churches needs to be carried in by hand so we needed to evaluate carefully the different design options for each.
More materials were ordered, including steel posts, bolts for the first three churches. Design work is on going, and the steel fabrication plans for the Teles Lampu church were completed during this month.