DIOCESE OF AITAPE CHURCH BUILDING PROGRAM

	News report No.18 September 2003 Diocese of Aitape PO Box 179 Aitape Sandaun Province Papua New Guinea Ph +675 8572046 Fax +675 8572056
Aitape Haus Lotu Projects

Introduction: Welcome to the ninth report for 2003. This is the sixteenth report in the Church Building program for the month of September 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 year we collected gravel for Arop1, Arop2, and Pou and began work at Arop1. At Amu this month, we continued work erecting the church frames, at Arop collected the cut timber, and prepared to start work at Pou with the walkabout saw.

Photo 1 Amu church, with all of the steel post frames lifted into place. In the photo, all of the frames with steel posts are lifted into position. There are four inside frames with steel posts, and two outside frames with timber posts. The steel post frames were lifted first, and then connected to each other with the steel struts at five points: apex, at the 6m posts, and at the 3.5m outside posts. Between the two middle frames, we connected the bracing rods, and squared up the frames.

Photo 2 Lifting up the last outside frame, at the final stage, hoisting it up with the car.	Photo 3 Lifting up the frames with manpower, at the early stages, lifting and propping.

Photo 4 Welding crew on a site visit with the carpentry crew. (Amu)	Photo 5 At Arop 1, the tractor brings planks to the church site, ready to be sorted and stacked.

At Amu, the frame lifting stage was completed and the purlins were started by the time of the parish feast of St. Micheal on September 28th. The parish priest Fr. Chinua gave first Holy Communion to six Amu children on their feast day. After the Mass at the old church, there was a small function and light luncheon. The feast of St. Micheal the Archangel is also the patron feast for the whole of Papua New Guinea. September is also the month of PNG Independence. The Amu parishioners now have some idea of the size and shape of the new church. With only manpower on site, it is a time consuming job, straightening the frames and attaching the purlins. Everything needs to be lifted by hand. Scaffolds have been erected from the cut timber, however it is a high climb to work near the apex at 8.5 metres above the ground. Once the purlins are in place, then work will begin on the roofing.

At Arop1, the timber cutting operation is now complete, and the cut timber planks need to be transported to the church site. Because of the swampy nature of the ground, and the quantity of timber involved we brought in the Diocese tractor to help transport the planks. When the ground dried out a little, the tractor made its way into the bush, and the local helpers loaded the timber onto the tractor's trailer. After off loading at the church site (see photo5), the timber planks were sorted into their respective sections and strapped up ready for use.

At Pou, on the last day of the month we brought in the walkabout saw to start cutting timber. Together with a Works representative, we traveled the repaired road to Barapu, to plan a new track to go up to Olbrum (Sissano) and Wuipom. This requires the works dozer.