DIOCESE OF AITAPE CHURCH BUILDING PROGRAM

	News report No. 11 February 2003 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 second report for 2003. This is the eleventh report in the Church Building program for the month of February 2003. Progress throughout 2002 established agreements with all of the sub parishes, and saw work started at Amu, and plans in progress for the other nine buildings to be built. This month we report on: finishing the foundations at Amu, and preparations to start work at the next churches. We are now in the wet season, so there are restrictions to travel.

Progress at Amu

By the end of February, the foundation works and the backfill of the gravel were complete, and the steel posts were delivered to site. In the photo below, you can see the delivery of steel posts at Amu alongside the car loaded with the walkabout saw. The saw is being shifted to a new site in Amu to finish the cutting of the timber.

Steel posts delivered to site. Car loaded with the walkabout saw is alongside.		Compacting the backfill		Prior to the backfill

The longer posts are 6.1 metres long and are made from 100mm galvanized pipe. These are to be placed on the internal concrete footings that can be seen in the next two photos. The shorter posts are 3.6m long and are made from 80mm galvanized pipes, and will be placed on the outer concrete footings. The arms on the top of both pipes have the same profile. These pipes will support the large Kwila rafters for the church that hold up the roof. There are also steel struts that connect all of the steel posts together. The rafters are still being cut. A large order of bolts and some electrical tools and a small generator has been placed with a company in Australia. The bolts will join the rafters to the steel posts, and the generator will power the drill to make the holes and the skill saw to trim the rafters. We are expecting these goods to arrive early next month.

As mentioned in the January report, the backfill of the foundations was done manually with teams of parishioners providing the labour. They carried the stone from the nearby stockpile and placed it around the ground beams. Photo 3 shows some of the progress and the compaction of the stone around the line of inner concrete pads. In this photo, there were still some of the foundations left to finish. In photo 2 above, the compaction is all but complete. A vibrating plate compactor was borrowed from the Global roading contractor now stationed in Aitape for work on the upgrading for the Aitape roads. They kindly loaned their machine to the Haus Lotu Project for the day so that we could do the final packing of the stone in readiness for the next stage. A lot of stone was needed to be placed and compacted. This stone replaced the soft topsoil that was removed, and built up the floor to level above the adjacent slope of the site. The stone will provide a solid base for the concrete floor of the church, and raise it above the surrounding ground, so that it remains dry during heavy rains. In photo 2, Abel and Jack take turns at operating the plate compactor machine.

Other Sites and other news: As mentioned last month, design work has begun on other churches due to be built in future stages. We have begun negotiations with an alternative contractor to provide gravel for the Arop1, Arop2 and Pou churches. We are hoping to start work on the Arop1 church next month, after we have the gravel stockpiled at the church site. The wet season has brought with it many flash floods, which has made travel to Amu and Arop very uncertain during the month of February. During this month saw one of the biggest gatherings in Aitape for the ordination of the first national Spiritan priest Fr Michael Watae.