DIOCESE OF AITAPE CHURCH BUILDING PROGRAM

	News report No. 29 August 2004 Diocese of Aitape P O Box 179 Aitape Sandaun Province Papua New Guinea Ph +675 8572046 fax +675 8572056
Aitape Haus Lotu Projects

Introduction:

Welcome to the eighth report for 2004.
This is the twenty ninth report on the Church Building program for the month of August.
In 2002, we established agreements with all of the sub parishes, and started work at Amu.
In 2003, we collected gravel for Arop1, Arop2 and Pou; began site work at Arop1 and Pou, and the welding of the steel frames for Arop2; at Amu we completed the roof and the concrete floor; at Barapu completed the ground works; and began the design of Barapu and Sissano.

Photo 1 shows the cladding attached to the outside walls of the Amu church.
Photos 2 and 3 show the view to the rear of the priest flat and garage, and the inside sanctuary wall cladding that is well underway. The concrete altar was started.

Photos 2 and 3 Amu rear view, and inside the view of the sanctuary wall.

Photos 4. The Olbrum church at Sissano, taken from the top level, looking over the site of the new church. The excavation work is by hand. The gravel collection started in July and continued into August. 1000, 40kg bags were filled at Wuipom, loaded into speed boats, and transported to the base of the Olbrum mountain, where the women loaded gravel into baskets and carried it up the hill to the church site on their heads. The operation took 7 weeks, 6x200 litre drums of fuel, 97 women carried gravel in groups of 10 for two weeks at a time. The total cost was close to K13,000.

Arop2 road bridge (left). A start was made on the log bridge this month. The logs were hauled by sports groups through swamp and overland on rollers by local sports groups, then hauled across the river. Two more logs need to be put in place before the bridge planks can be attached, and materials moved through to Arop 2.

Photo 5. Log bridge started over the Wauroin River on the way to Arop 2.