DIOCESE OF AITAPE CHURCH BUILDING PROGRAM

	News report No. 2 May 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 second report from the Diocese of Aitape about the project to build eleven new permanent churches to replace those destroyed by the Aitape Tsunami disaster of July 1998. Our first report looked at three sub-Parishes in the Malol area, this report looks at another Malol sub-Parish and three communities in the Arop area.

1. After Sunday Mass at Arop1		2. Method of transport for Arop2

New Church Sites:
After the communities were relocated onto new inland sites away from the coast, all of the new amenities had to be built up from scratch. These sites are located in difficult inaccessible areas. This presents many challenges for the construction of the new churches. When the schools and houses were built, this required the building of new access roads through swampy low-lying areas. Some areas (like Arop2) are still without access roads. Access is by canoe or speedboat from the coast and then through the lagoon waterways (see photo 2 above) or by foot over muddy tracks through swamps and rivers on split-log walkways.

Planning for new Churches:
The new churches need to take account of all of these difficulties by using materials that are available near to the construction sites (this includes logs that can be sawn into planks, and gravels for concrete floors). Many other materials will still need to be transported on site, and due to the remoteness this will add to the costs.
It is important to involve the local people as much as possible. By keeping the design simple, then many of the more skilled local people themselves will be able to assist in the construction. Last month three site visits were made to Ainrin, Aipokon, and Teles/Lampu, and this month visits were made to Amu, Arop1, Arop2 and Pou.

Amu Church

1,2,3,4. Site for the new church; views of the land within the school boundary given for the church

Arop1 Church

1. Parishioners after Mass		2,3. Existing church two views which is the site of the proposed new church

Arop2 Church

1,2. Existing Parish building that will be in front of the proposed new church				3. Ex. Church entrance

Pou Church

1. New church site		2. New church site		3. Pou sub parish after Mass

At Amu the congregation size ranges between 330 up to 450 on big feast days.
At Arop1 there were 310 present for Sunday Mass, and Arop2 there were 349 at mass for the feast of Pentecost. At Pou, which is a smaller community there were 101 present for the Mass on the day of the site visit. All sub-parishes are willing to donate land, logs and gravel for use in building the new churches.

More Site visits:
Visits to the other communities of: Wuipom, Olbrum, Barupu, in the Barupu-Sissano region are planned for the near future.