DIOCESE OF AITAPE CHURCH BUILDING PROGRAM

	News report No. 9 December 2002 Diocese of Aitape P O Box 179 Aitape Sandaun Province Papua New Guinea Ph +675 8572046 fax +675 8572056
Aitape Haus Lotu Projects

Introduction:

This is the ninth report from the Diocese of Aitape for the month of December about the project to build eleven new permanent churches to replace those destroyed by the Aitape Tsunami disaster of July 1998. Our previous eight reports have site visit photos and information about all the sub parishes in Malol, Arop, Sissano and Barupu areas, the July 17 anniversary of the Tsunami disaster, and a description of the walkabout saw, and site works at Amu. This report covers work during the month of December 2002.

Site works progressing at Amu:

Foundations now well underway		Delivery of steel posts, and a trial fit on the concrete pads. This is one of the 6m inner posts.		Middle ground beams completed

During December work for the Amu Church continued: on the foundations, the welding of the posts and delivery to site, and cutting timber. December was quite dry, so we took the opportunity to transport loads of materials to the Amu site while the road was in good repair.
By the end of the month, half of the foundation work was complete. The inner ground beams and pads were all finished. We obtained more gravel this month to use for backfill up to the level of the concrete floor. Unfortunately the contractor’s front-end loader broke down before we could spread the gravel around the foundations. We will do this job later by hand. We had also hoped to supply other churches with gravel, but this was not possible due the condition of the machines. We will try again later next year.

Amu Church timber stockpile:

There were 50 cubic metres of timber milled before Christmas. This was transported by hand to the church by the various parish groups. Others at the stockpile site were sorting, stacking and strapping the timber into bundles. The top two photos show the timber stacks at the stockpile. To the left is Emil, one of the walkabout saw supervisors holding the chainsaw above one of the Taun logs. This log will be cut for 150x50 roof purlins.

Local Assistance at the Amu Site:

There were sixteen different Amu workers helping with the walkabout saw, fifteen workers from one clan group helping the foundations, seven different parish groups involved in carrying timber, two workers sorting and strapping at the stockpile, and youth groups helping to unload materials off the trucks from Aitape.
The walkabout saw was shifted to various sites around Amu to obtain the required size and species of logs. The work of co-ordinating the timber owners and work groups was ably done by Greg the catechist, one of the church leaders at Amu. Members of the parish council also assisted him. The helpers and foundation workers were rostered on a two-week rotation basis, to allow as many as possible to have the opportunity to contribute, and gain some employment and work skills.

Other Sites:

A visit was made to the Barupu church site this month. Site survey work was done so that drains could be cut to help drain the wet ground. Work will resume next year on 20 January.