Broken People

Broken people everywhere.

Tinny beat, stuck in your ear, sends you deaf.

Song by song, sends you death.

Lost lives wasted that could have been much more.

Moments lost from lives, that add up year on year.

Remembered dreams, forgotten futures, and a now that seems unclear.

 

Silly systems created by ignorant peasants to control,

giving up control to the system.

The machine says: "Go", you go;

says: "Stop", you stop;

or pay the penalty.

Too fast, too slow, you stayed, you go.

Whatever, doesn't matter, the system says: "You fail".

Comrade No. 1 is just doing his job,

the system says it is so.

 

Neanderthal youth, barely able to speak,

shouts out in a guttural, foreign tongue.

To the tunnels! Hide from the sun.

Humanity is lost, and with it, God.

Greens promote things most unnatural, in the name of nature.

The Guttural Youth laughs and swears with glee -

not of joy, but of something more primitive.

 

Deaths' victory draws near.

But with its' win he dies too!

Who wins when Death has died?

Broken People, put together the pieces of your battered past.

Break open the last breath.

 

 

[Sean Donovan from Scattered Notes and Lost Pages]

 

Youth and Social Justice

Macarthur Social Justice Network presents Graham West, Chief Executive Officer of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society in NSW to speak about "Youth and Social Justice!".

 

St Thomas More Parish Hall
43 Acacia Avenue, Ruse
Saturday April 9th
starting at 2.30pm

 

Graham West is well known to residents of Macarthur as the state member for Campbelltown from 2001 to 2010 and more widely in his ministerial roles including that of Minister for Juvenile Justice, Volunteering and Youth.

Now the CEO of the St Vincent de Paul Society in NSW, Graham West is in an ideal position to talk about this topic.

"As I have got more involved in juvenile justice I have seen the many young people who have so much more to offer society, when given the right support. The voices of these young people and their communities are seldom heard - it is we who must be that voice."

In this talk Graham West will discuss "Youth and Social Justice" and expand on what he sees as the key issues for the St Vincent de Paul Society in the coming years.

 

Contact Michael on 46206047 or secretary@msjn.org

 

SOCAY Training Institute

I visited the SOCAY training institute over the last couple of days.

 

Initially I went over to see them about their entry in Annals magazine, but found they had some computer problems to sort out. These I have not been able to fix on-site and have brought two machines back to 2 Mile for further work. The power at Hohola seems to be highly variable and I think this is a cause of their main problems. Their UPS is a Non-PS, so they really need a new one of those, plus cables, before they totally fry their computers. The other issue is dust. Their newer computer, in particular, was thick with dirt both inside the chassis and in the power supply.

 

While there, they showed me the classroom that was rebuilt with assistance from the Mission Office after a fire, and talked about their plans for the future. These include business training, including IT skills, and home economics. These ideas are yet to be quantified and funded. I passed along information about how the Mission Office can assist with disadvantaged youth programs and also some of the project request forms.

 

Apparently they were donated some old computers, which I didn't see, for the business program. Someone else had looked at those and found that they weren't functioning.

 

Anyway, I shall use the equipment to be repaired plus some others that I am already working on for a computer repair and troubleshooting "master class" today. When we return the computers I will give a brief talk to the SOCAY students.

 

Attached is a photo from SOCAY. The building at the far end is the one repaired with Mission Office assistance.

 

Peace,

Sean

 

Annals

I have spent some time over the past week completing the edition of Annals in Cassy's absence. You will be pleased to hear I am taking it to the printer tomorrow (Wednesday) following approval by the Board today.

 

Distribution is another matter, but we'll cross that bridge after the printing is in train. The distribution quote from Post Courier was roughly twice the cost of printing. So we won't be taking them up on that. One idea that we will work on is asking through the MSC network if there are businesses shipping goods around who we can piggy-back onto. Tropicana in Rabaul had apparently previously offered to do this a couple of years back.

 

Anyway I'm sure we will work it out.

 

Happy Annals reading!

 

Peace,

Sean

 

Greetings from PNG

Last Friday I travelled to Rabaul and was kept busy fixing computers and doing training, taking photo's of Br James' 50th Anniversary celebration, taking photo's of trucks and buildings at Vunapau to support funding requests, and of course photo's of water tanks. I passed on the information about MSC Mission Office funding for water, AIDS, and disadvantaged youth together with the other funding options that you suggested on your visit. I enclose copies of a few including Mission Office tanks at FMI sisters, Vunapope, and Matupit Island.

 

Brief details of Br James Uratrip MSC - 50 years a MSC

Date of Birth:     14/07/1936

Place of Birth:    Ratongor

Home Parish:     St Anscar, Ratongor Parish

Province:            East New Britain Province

Citizen:              Papua New Guinea

Novitiate:            Douglas Park

1st Profession:    26/02/1961

Final Profession: 26/02/1967

Currently:           At Chevalier Centre, Kininigunan (Kokopo-East New Britain Province)

 

The celebration of his Golden Jubilee of religious profession was held at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Vunapope, on 26th February 2011.

 

Peace,

Sean

 

Around Port Moresby

The past week has been spent trundling around Port Moresby with the Mission Office Director, helping out in various places, attending meetings, etc. While not a lot was completed, many things were started, continued, or moved along.

 

During the week we had a big shindig of MSC's from all over Moresby. An opportunity for the extended group to get together in one place, share a beer or three, and generally catch up and unwind. I was unexpectedly called on to speak. "Unaccustomed as I am ...." - not.

 

All of the offices have now been cabled and residence wireless networked in the 2 Mile main building. We have been gradually getting there over the past month and fixing computers as we go. Four totally dead machines have been resurrected, a further two upgraded, and a number of virus eliminated. Cabling of the Provincial residence should soon follow.

 

More training and web development also continued as we define and refine the sub-sites.

 

An interesting diversion on Saturday was a local traditional style PNG wedding ceremony. Albeit the bride and groom looked a little uncomfortable, indeed unhappy, in their regalia. However everyone else seemed in fine fettle.

 

Tonight we had another big party to farewell the Indonesian government official who resides next door. Another chance to share a beer, wine, etc. I spent some time speaking with him at length about the best places to see in Indonesia.

 

A busy week ahead beckons followed by a flight to Rabaul on Friday.

 

 

Some Random Musings on a Slow Day in Response to an Email I Received

Thomas Merton once wrote: "Whan Lax and I were walking down Sixth Avenue, one night in the Spring, the street was all torn up and trenched and banked high with dirt and marked out with red lanterns where they were digging the subway, and we picked our way along the fronts of the dark little stores, going downtown to Greenwich Village."
 
I think this is something we can ALL learn from, or not.
 
Yesterday, somewhere in the world, somebody did something. But I don't know because I wasn't there. Or to put that another way, I wasn't there because I don't know but.
 
I went shopping in Boroko this morning. Little black children were prodding me because I am white. If they prod me a lot, I may turn brown. Then they will stop prodding me, and I will turn white again.
 
If you toast white bread it turns brown, but if you toast brown bread it doesn't turn white. How do you know if brown bread is toasted? When you leave bread out, it becomes crispy, like French Bread. If you toast it, it seems like fresh toasted bread. So toasted white bread is the same whether you use fresh bread or stale bread. But stale brown bread is just like toasted brown bread.
 
A man walked into a bar ... he should wear glasses.
 
A man wearing glasses walked into a bar ... he must be drunk.
 
A man, using glasses, serves at the bar. A horse walks up to the bar. The barman looks at him and says: "So, why the long face?"
 
The Bible says: " Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law"! Well, duuuuurrr. This must be where mother-in-law jokes started.
 
Did you know that there are more different types of leaf in PNG that there are cans of beer in Australia on any given day? Well, neither do I. I just made it up. But there you have it, the facts don't lie! Or do they, like statistics? I don't like statistics particularly. Statistics like I particularly don't. Yoda would be proud.
 
Use the force, or the farce.
 
There is a hammering in the pipes. Actually it is on the pipes. It is the plumber, plumbing. Or just hammering on the pipes. Remember Danny Boy .. the pipes, the pipes are calling. How do pipes call? By phone I expect. Or maybe a house call. I'm not sure how you hold a house up to your ear to make a call, but there you are.
 
And here I am. But I must be going.
 
Sorry, what was your question again?