21 children from the Alotau General Hospital Paediatric Ward were gifted with goodie bags and ice cream from the Paradise Foods Limited team and RokRok biscuit mascot. Nurse in Charge, Sister Judith Deuko said that this is a first-of-its-kind initiative by a local food company, and they are thankful to the team for visiting their ward, and lifting their spirits with these gifts. Paradise Foods Limited Sponsorships and Promotions Manager Nicola Ani who was on ground said that they are always aligning what they do with their Company Mission, Values and Vision and they strive to do this through their community donations, activations and putting smiles on the faces of those in their communities. The visit to the Alotau General Hospital prompted the Milne Bay Community Association (MBCA) and the Huhu-Tulau womens group to begin plans to fundraise to purchase a Lipid Analyser for the At-40 clinic. The Milne Community Association will be hosting 2 major fundraisers this year - Kapole Fest in June and a Kapole Stringband Night in December. In 2019, funds from the Milne Bay Night which was organised by the Association assisted the Huh-Tulau Women’s group to procure an eye scanner (Keratometer) for the At40 Clinic all the way from Calabasas in the United States. The purchase of the machine was made possible through a donation from the Milne Bay Community group in Brisbane.

The Milne Bay Community Association (MBCA) recently commenced its community activation program in Milne Bay with a first-of its-kind visit to Lelehoa Primary School, in Ahioma Ward of Alotau district, in collaboration with the Huhu-Tulau Women’s group and Paradise Foods Limited. The team organised a Fun-Day event at the school with a donation of boxes of Gala ice cream, Em Nau, Oro and chocolate cream biscuit and Gold Nuggets courtesy of Paradise Foods Limited. School Head Teacher, Ms. Didi Israel, she said that over 400 children attended the school from the nearby wards Ahioma and Nigila, and expressed her gratitude to the Milne Bay Community Association Inc. for choosing the Lelehoa Primary School to conduct this community activation. In addition to the donations, the students had their first experience playing in a bouncy castle set-up by the Paradise Foods Limited team. The visit also involved a performance by two (2) members from the Extracts of Alotau (band) – Derek Dotaona and Jeremiah Araea, who entertained the children with a few of their songs and positive messages during assembly. The team then proceeded on Middletown were they visited the Alotau General Hospital Paediatrics ward after lunch the same day.

Family, friends, acquaintances and fans alike gathered at the Sir John Guise Indoor Complex on Friday in a moving funeral service, dubbed "The Final Showcase", to pay their last respects to PNG music icon, the Late Bradley 'Twinkle Fingers' Ralewa, better known as B-Rad. Mereani Mesani, Derol Wange Jnr and Johnny Yawari were among members of the PNG music industry who were in attended at the service and were given the opportunity to share their experiences in tribute to their late friend and colleague during the service. Along with friends and relatives, all present for the service were allow to view and bid their final goodbyes to the late Ralewa. Among the pallbearers was one of late B-Rad's oldest and closest friend, Webstar Do'o, who in his tribute shared sentiments of the two having grown up together and the late Bradley's musical talents from an early age. "When I first saw you at Gordon International playing the keyboard, I knew then and there that you were going to be a great musician," recalled Do'o in his tribute. "Your talent was meant to be shared not only by us, but by the country and the world." "It would have been selfish to keep you to ourselves." "You have changed local music and have set a standard that generations will follow." The body of the Late Bradley Isaac Ralewa is yet to depart Port Moresby for Popondetta, Northern, where he is to be finally laid to rest.

Governor General of Papua New Guinea, has expressed profound sadness and grief at the news of the passing of the nation’s Founding Father Rt. Hon. Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. The Governor General was informed of the passing of Rt. Hon. Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare by his doctor at midnight on Friday night. “It is with a heavy heart that I learnt of the passing of our Founding Father at the early hours of Friday morning." "It is a very sad day for Papua New Guinea. We have lost our national treasure, our national icon in Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare." "He was one of a kind unique not only to our nation but to the world as well." "His footsteps and legacy those of us who have come after him will never be able to fulfill." "We as a nation owe so much to Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare." "His dream and vision for an independent and united Papua New Guinea has brought us to where we are now." "He led a group of likeminded patriotic Papua New Guineans and brought our nation to self governance and independence without war and bloodshed." "That on its own is a significant milestone to achieve at such a young age of 39 more than 45 years ago.” “Grand Chief Sir Michael devoted his life and service to our nation up until his untimely passing." "In this time of grief and sorrow, may we also honour and celebrate Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare and inspire our children and generations to come the legacy of our Founding Father." "Lady Emeline joins me in conveying to Lady Veronica, Arthur, Bertha, Sana, Dulciana and Junior and grandchildren and great grandchild of Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare our deepest condolences we pray that the Almighty comfort and keep you during this difficult time.” “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall, give me at that day…” 2 Timothy 4:7 (KJV)”

I was sad to hear about the death of the Founding Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. It is also very humbling to recall that he called me 'Siti' while the late Ratu Sir Penaia called me 'Buka', and the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara was more formal and called me 'Colonel', 'Commander' then 'Prime Minister. I requested the PNG High Commissioner in Suva yesterday to convey my message to Port Moresby; Your Excellency. Please convey to His Excellency the Governor General, The Honourable The Prime Minister, Her Majesty's Government of Papua New Guinea, The Honourable Leader of the Opposition and all Members of Parliament, the Chiefs and the people of Papua New Guinea, my sincere condolences on the passing of the former and Founding Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Somare. Sir Michael was one of the most prominent figures in the struggle of the newly Independent States of the Pacific Region, for recognition by the International Community, in the wake of the withdrawal of the Colonial Powers following the end of World War 2 and the subsequent waves of Independence Conferences and struggles in the Pacific, Far East, Caribbean and African former colonies. He was a fervent advocate for Independence for Papua New Guinea and became its first Prime Minister at Independence in 1975. He had multiple Terms as Prime Minister and was a strong advocate for Pacific Regionalism, being instrumental in the formation and the early years of the Pacific Islands Forum and the subregional organisation, the Melanesian Spearhead Group. Sir Michael along with other prominent Pacific Islands Leaders also contributed greatly in the formation and discussions with African, Caribbean and Pacific Leaders to form a Marketing Bloc to negotiate favourable Trading Conditions and Prices for commodities traded in the competitive Markets of the West like the EEC (later EU). He was a great friend of Fiji, and forged that friendship with Fiji's own Founding Prime Minister, the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, who sent a strong Fiji Government Team to help with the preparations and celebrations of PNG Independence in 1975. Vale, great son of the Pacific and Grand Chief of the loving people of Papua New Guinea. Farewell 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord..'

PNG Fashion & Design Week has received a sponsorship of K10, 000 from the Sesago Healthcare Ltd for its inaugural Virtual Runway 2021. Founder & Director of PNG Fashion & Design Week, Mrs Janet Sios sincerely thanked Sesago as its first Corporate Sponsor and partner towards the annual fashion show. “The PNGFDW has taken a creative approach with the fashion show arranged virtually in compliance with the COVID-19 national measures.” She further added that the PNG Fashion & Design Week runs two main programs annually, the capacity building program which focuses on training in the design fashion areas, financial skills and marketing and branding. “The second program is the fashion Runways where our designers are given the opportunity to showcase their designs on the runway for greater recognition.” Mrs Sios said that these comprehensive training has been supported by PNG-Australia Partnership for the last three years and has been very successful. “We have trained more than 800 locals including 76 Persons with Disabilities in the last five years.” Meanwhile Sesago Health care Marketing Manager, Mr Pradeep Panda said that it is a privilege for Sesago Health Care to partner with PNGFDW and we are part to support them and come on board. “After a meeting with Mrs Sios and her team, we have understood the good and great work that they have done for the skill enhancement and human capital development in this country.” He added on saying that he was surprised to see that PNGFDW have trained 862 people and out of those, 72 are people living with disabilities and they have trained them in Graphics, Designing and a lot of other aspects.

Papua New Guinea reported 47 new cases of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Friday 26 February, increasing the country’s total cases to 1,275.  The latest cases were reported in West Sepik, West New Britain, East New Britain, Central, East Sepik and in the National Capital District.  In NCD, of the 26 case reported, 17 are males and 8 females with ages ranging from one to 66 years old. At the time of testing, 21 cases were showing symptoms of COVID-19 whilst five were asymptomatic. Four of the 26 positive case came into contact with previous positive cases. Twelve cases were reported in West Sepik of which six are males and six are females with ages ranging from 22 to 70 years old. Three cases were showing symptoms of COVID-19 whilst nine were asymptomatic at the time of testing. Ten out of the 12 cases reported, came into contact with previous positive cases. Four cases were reported in East Sepik. One male and three females with the oldest being a 68 year old have been tested positive. One case was showing symptoms of COVID-19 whilst the other three were asymptomatic at the time of testing. Three new cases have been reported in East New Britain. Two cases are male and one Is a female with ages ranging from 28 to 42 years. Both West New Britain and Central province reported a case each in the last 24 hours.  A 33 year old male is the latest to be confirmed positive in West New Britain.  He was showing symptoms of COVID-19 at the time of testing. In Central province, a 50 year old female health worker has been tested positive. She was experiencing sore throat, cough and muscle aches at the time of testing. The country's COVID-19 stands at 1,275 with 12 known deaths.  Seventeen provinces including the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) have reported cases. The distribution of the cases is as follows: Provinces Confirmed Cases NCD 468 Western Province 323 West New Britain 196 West Sepik 126 East New Britain 38 Madang 35 New Ireland 23 Eastern Highlands 13 Western Highlands 13 Central 13 Morobe 9 East Sepik 9 Enga 3 Milne Bay 2 AROB 2 Hela Province 1 SHP  1 TOTAL 1,275 Globally, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 has reached 12,209,815 including 421,407 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. The death toll is 2,490,776 of which 10,508 were reported in the last 24 hours.

People of remote village ammuSamura & Kuranumbura in Obura wonenara district (Eastern Highlands Province) remembering our late Papa blo Country Sir Michael Thomas Somare in their own cultural way of mourning. Somare is a true Nationalist, His death shakes the nation. #Brukimtulait Bethuel Isaiah on the passing of late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare – Story taken from Facebook showing PNG mourning: Source Elizah Palme

This just in, another 47 new COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours. The latest cases were reported in West Sepik, West New Britain, East New Britain, Central, East Sepik and in the National Capital District.  This now brings the total number of COVID-19 cases for PNG to 1275 confirmed cases. Continue to practice COVID-19 safety protocols and keep listening to the news on this station & follow our news website: pnghausbung.com for more on this story.

ExxonMobil PNG’s management and staff join the people of Papua New Guinea to mourn the passing of the founding father of the nation, the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare. The late Grand Chief was a visionary leader that helped lay the foundation for an independent PNG. Throughout his life he was focused on improving living standards and generating opportunities for all Papua New Guineans, and set the standard by which all other leaders in PNG are measured. As the signatory to the PNG LNG Project’s Gas Agreement in 2008, his leadership was instrumental to the Project moving from concept to construction, resulting in the largest ever business investment in PNG and now a key contributor to the nation’s economy. Grand Chief Sir Michael's vision has seen PNG take a place on the global stage as a reliable provider of LNG to the world. ExxonMobil PNG (EMPNG) Managing Director, Mr. Andrew Barry, offers his deepest condolences to the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare’s family and the people of Papua New Guinea. “On behalf of the management and staff of ExxonMobil PNG and the PNG LNG Project, we remain inspired and humbled by his leadership, commitment and compassion." "We at EMPNG thank the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare for believing in ExxonMobil and we remain committed to playing our role in supporting his vision of a better future for all Papua New Guineans. How he lived his life is an inspiration to us all.”

Bank South Pacific as the leading Bank in the Pacific joins the rest of PNG as it mourns the loss of the country’s founding father and first Prime Minister, the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare. “It is with sadness that we hear of the passing of our Founding Father of the nation, the Late Grand Chief, Sir Michael Somare in the early hours of this morning, Friday 26th February 2021, at the age of 84, after succumbing to cancer.” That is from the BSP Group CEO Robin Fleming. “As the country comes to realisation of the loss of the Father of the Nation, all our BSP Branches in PNG have lowered the PNG Flag to half-mast in respect of this great Papua New Guinean, as we join the country to mourn the loss of this special and celebrated Papua New Guinean.” The BSP Group CEO along with BSP Board of Directors and Executives while attending the First 2021 BSP Board of Directors meet in Lae, Morobe Province, said; “BSP is about people and we join the rest of PNG and the Business Community in showing respect at the loss of PNG’s first Prime Minister and three-time Prime Minister, the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare.” “We share in the grieving of the late Grand Chief together with everyone throughout the country. We extend our sincere condolence to the immediate members of the Somare family. May his soul rest in eternal Peace.”  

Charisma! Michael Thomas Somare had it by the canoe load. Papua New Guinea’s Father of the Nation, the Grand Chief, who has just died of pancreatic cancer, has left an enduring legacy. He lived to the age of 84 – an extraordinary innings in a country where the average life expectancy is 20 years short of that at 64. But he achieved so much he could have been 104. In the general history of Papua New Guinea that I authored – last updated in the year 2000 and covering PNG’s first quarter-century of independence – Somare is mentioned on no fewer than 62 pages. It simply reflects his dominance of the political scene in those years. I have a bank full of memories of Sir Michael and I am pleased to say that we became good friends. Naturally, there was the odd disagreement or two. For example, he deported me in 1984! More on that later. The first time we ever spoke I left a little ashamed. It was very early in my time in Papua New Guinea. I had arrived in PNG 1974, the year before independence, as a young journalist working on secondment from the ABC to the then newly created National Broadcasting Commission of PNG. Somare was Chief Minister and the NBC News Editor sent me along to a Somare news conference. At the time, there were five full-time Australian Foreign Correspondents in PNG and I was in awe of them as much as I was of Sir Michael. I recorded the news conference but did not say a word. At the end, Somare, who had been a broadcast journalist himself at Radio East Sepik, smiled at me and said, “Young man, what do you think news conferences are for? You can ask questions!” In my subsequent career I must have asked him hundreds. I also had the distinct pleasure in 1976 when I captained the Papua New Guinea Rugby League representative team, the Kumuls, of introducing Sir Michael to each of my fellow Kumuls just before the match we played against a visiting New South Wales Country side. Somare first won a seat in the pre-independence House of Assembly of PNG in 1968. He stood for the Pangu Party - the Papua and New Guinea United Party! PANGU had been formed the year before by Somare and other members of what they called the “bully beef club” at the Administrative College in Port Moresby. He became Opposition Leader. The Australian Minister responsible for Papua New Guinea at the time was Charles Edward Barnes who firmly believed that PNG was totally unprepared for independence and he predicted independence would not be achieved before the end of the 20th Century! And he was in no mood to hurry things up. Although Barnes held Australian ministerial responsibility for PNG for a crucial eight years it is instructive that the authoritative Encyclopaedia of Papua and New Guinea, published in 1972, devoted just six lines to Barnes – six lines in its three volumes covering 1231 pages. Those six lines simply record that he was the Country Party Member for MacPherson in Queensland, that he became minister in 1963 and that his portfolio’s name was changed to External Territories in 1968. Perhaps he should be given credit for inadvertently advancing the independence cause because he became an object of ridicule amongst young, politically aware Papua New Guineans like Michael Thomas Somare. My wife, Pauline, who retains her PNG citizenship distinctly remembers Sir Michael’s response when he was once asked if PNG got its independence too early. He said the country may not have been well prepared but he and those who supported him did it for their dignity and the dignity of their people. Somare was a natural leader who resolutely believed in consensus and compromise. In a country like PNG where the people speak at least 860 distinctly different languages his style of leadership, especially in the early years, was exactly what was required. Putting together multi-party coalitions in PNG is no simple task.One of the international issues he had to deal with early on was how to handle PNG’s relationship with its giant next-door neighbour, Indonesia, especially since the indigenous people living in the western half of the main island of New Guinea are ethnically similar to his own people. The Free West Papua cause has enormous sympathy in the rest of Melanesia and countries like Vanuatu - without the complication of PNG’s 850 km land border with Indonesia - can loudly espouse independence for West Papua. Which brings us back to Somare deporting me. It was 1984 and an Indonesian military sweep against the military wing of the Free West Papua movement, the OPM, led to 10,000 refugees fleeing across the border into PNG’s West Sepik Province. I went to the border and reported extensively on this which prompted the ABCs Four Corners program to send a team up to do a story. I put the reporter, Alan Hogan, in touch with contacts of mine along the border who arranged for Hogan to get an interview with the OPM Rebel Commander, James Nyaro. When that went to air, PNG’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs was furious. We were accused of either entering Indonesia illegally to obtain the interview or enticing an illegal immigrant to cross the border. Somare was Prime Minister and I was ordered to leave. We had two children and Pauline had to accept being thrown out of her own country to keep the family together. I was allowed back in 1987 and then spent another 12 years as the ABCs PNG Correspondent during which time Somare awarded me an MBE. I am feeling particularly sad for Sir Michael’s family. I got to know his son, Arthur, reasonably well but I know his two daughters, Bertha and Dulciana, a little better and I know they would be grieving. Pauline and I used to play social tennis with Bertha and one of Sir Michael’s speechwriters, Michael Ekin-Smyth. While Dulciana spent some time working in the ABC office in Port Moresby as Radio Australia’s PNG journalist. That was after I had completed my term there. But we worked together when I was sent up to Port Moresby on a short-term relief assignment. The Grand Chief served as PNG’s Prime Minister on three separate occasions. He became a major statesman in the Pacific region and was hugely admired throughout the rest of the Pacific Islands. But of all his achievements the one that impressed me the most was his gracious acceptance of defeat. In 1980, five years after Somare led PNG to independence, Sir Julius Chan, his former Deputy Prime Minister, mounted a challenge and Sir Michael was defeated on the floor of Parliament in a Vote of No Confidence. There were those around Sir Michael at the time who were urging him to declare a State Of Emergency and to hold on to the top job. However, Somare told them he would abide by the Constitution he had done so much to put in place and he accepted going into Opposition. That has set the standard for PNG ever since. Despite the volatility of the country in so many other respects there have now been numerous peaceful changes of government. Somebody like Donald Trump could have learnt a thing or two about being a gracious loser from the Grand Chief Michael Somare. Long time ABC journo Sean Dorney on the passing of late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare – Story taken from Facebook showing the region mourning