Hello Friends and
Family,
Tyronza and Scot are
back in Papua New Guinea and safe. The trip over was uneventful, just
long, (St. Louis-Salt Lake-Los Angeles-Brisbane-Port Moresby-Mt.
Hagen-Kudjip). Total air time was a little over 24 hours. We left on
August 25th and arrived in Kudjip on the 27th.
We are both healthy and doing well.
PNG is much the same
as before, but in Kudjip things have really changed. The
hydro-generator is up and running and we have no more power spikes or
outages of electricity. I would say that, so far, electricity seems
as dependable as in the USA.
Surgery and
Labor/Delivery are running smoothly. We have no general surgeon, at
the current time, so there is no competition for surgical time, but I
have to do some cases that the general surgeon would ordinarily do.
So far, I have had 8 major cases in the first one and a half weeks.
Today, I would like
to talk to you about fruit bats. PNG is a tropical country and there
are many banana, pineapple, mango, papaya, sweet fruit, guava and
passion fruit growing. Because of all this fruit, there are many
fruit bats. On the coast, fruit bats often sleep in large groups in
certain trees.
It is customary, in
PNG, to store bananas out on the porch hanging from a rope. This cuts
down on fruit flies in the house. Usually, you try to cover the
bananas with a cloth to protect them from sun, insects, and bats. We
have stored our bananas this way all the other times we have been
here and never had problems with bats – until now. Our usual cover
is an old tee shirt with the neck and sleeves sowed closed. This bag
can be opened and bananas added or removed as needed. Imagine my
surprise when I went to get bananas for breakfast and found most of
them half eaten. I was not sure what the culprit was. When I asked
the locals, they said bats wouldn't come on the porch and most felt
it was likely the work of a rat. (That didn't make Tyronza too
happy!) That next night I decided to wait up and catch the thief.
Once it was dark, I heard wings and knew it was really bats!
When we showed the
pictures to Lena, our haus meri, she called then flying foxes and
wanted to know whey I was taking pictures instead of clubbing them
for her supper!
The next day, I
tried tying the bottom of the bag shut, but that night the bats just
sucked the bananas through the cloth! I am now storing my bananas in
a cardboard box on the porch. This seems to be working.
So long from this
strange and interesting place,
The Stork
