Em normal tasol ia

07 NOVEMBER 2020

MICHAEL DOM

Bikpela sik Covid-19 pandemic em inapim olgeta kantri long graun na bagarapim laip bilong ol man meri long wanwan dei, em nau World Helt Ogenisesen i givim toksave we Papua Niugini (PNG) gavman tu i laik kamapim ‘niupela nomal’ bilong ol sitisen.

Tasol long ol planti thousand poor pipol istap arere long ol siti, na pilim hevi bilong ekonomi, dispela wok ol polis i mekim long banisim helt em ino niupela, emi nomal pasin.

Long Nine Mile namel long Okuk Haiwei autsait long bikpela bisinis ples Lae Siti, ol maket mama i karim gaden kaikai bilong ol ikam na salim arere tru long bikpela rot.

Dispela ol haiwei maket ibin kirap long mun Mei, em bipo long gavman i givim toksave long pinis bilong lockdown long June 2. Maketim kaikai emi wanpela wokmoni tasol bilong ol hauslain istap long liklik moni mak olsem Euro 2000 long wanwan yia.

Nine Mile Maket emi wanpela tasol bilong ol planti kain maket i stap olsem infomal bisnis ples long dispela haiwei igo long Lae. Ol kain maket i save stap seven dei tasol ol gavman ibin pasim ol dispela maket long April igo inap Jun taim Covid-19 lockdown ikamap, long wanem wanpela overseas wokman ibin kisim dispela sik taim emi silip long wanpela hotel long Ten Mile.

Ples we pastaim maket isave kamap bipo emi long hapsait olgeta long ples we nau emi kamap arere long bikpela rot. Tasol dispela hap graun igat planti tok birua namel long ol papa graun, ol man meri bilong Nine Mile na tu wanpela bikpela kakaruk bisnis.

Maket ples emi sindaun long wanpela hap graun istap nating we ol mama maket isave putim kaikai antap tasol long ol didiman bag na plastik, aninit long ambrala o wanpela kain shed klot.

Infomal maket emi nambawan rot we bikpela hap namba bilong ol pipol isave kisim moni long en, long wanem liklik namba olsem 15% tasol bilong kantri isave mekim sampela fomal wok moni.

Tasol ol local level gavman ino save givim luksave long ol infomal maket long putim helt sevis olsem klinpela wara bilong wasim han na haus toilet.

Olgeta infomal maket wankain olsem long Nine Mile isave stap insait long ol komuniti na ol man meri iet isave toktok wantaim ol papa graun tasol nogat gutpela helpim ikam long local gavman.

Emi luk olsem ol local lida ino save tingting olsem ol igat wok sambai long helt bilong ol komuniti.

Ol mama maket stap olsem tasol na tingting strong olsem ol polis inoken ikam bagarapim sindaun na maket kaikai bilong ol, wankain olsem ol polis ibin mekim long ol mama maket long Pot Mosbi.

Dispela kain nomal em ino niupela.

(Man raitim i tanim Tok Pisin)

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Michael Dom

Michael Theophilus Dom, born in 1977, is a poet and scientist, graduated from University of Adelaide (PhD in animal

science) and University of Papua New Guinea (BSc in chemistry), and working at the Papua New Guinea National Agriculture Research Institute. Dom is doing science & technology research for developing Papua New Guinea’s smallholder agriculture and livestock sector. In 2012, Dom won the Poetry Award of PNG’s national literary competition, The Crocodile Prize, for his sonnet “I met a pig farmer the other day”. His first collection of poetry, “At another Crossroads”, was published by the UPNG Press in 2013. Michael’s second collection, “The Musing of an Assistant Pig Keeper”, and two chapbooks, “O Arise!” and “Send words as gifts”, were published on the CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform in 2015 and 2016 respectively. His most recent publications are “Dried grass over rough-cut logs” and “26 sonnets”, by PNG independent publishers late Francis Nii and Jordan Dean, respectively.

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This article first appeared on 31.08.2020 in the LCB Diplomatique – The Literary Colloquium Berlin’s alternative news portal International literary correspondents report on political aspects of their everyday lives in texts and images at https://lcb.de/diplomatique/the-covid-19-new-normal/?en.