“Madang Province beckoned with unparalleled natural beauty, from pristine beaches and turquoise waters to volcanoes and high mountains”
Days in the villages typically involved working with the local community to set up medical clinics and services. Martijn and Fleur’s optometry clinic was a crucial part of these efforts, with Martijn conducting vision checks, taking eye measurements and dispensing many sets of glasses while Fleur helped by registering patients and providing eye-care education. She and some other volunteers also organised community activities such as children’s games. A favourite was ‘What’s
the time, Mr Wolf?’, the children screaming the question as loud as they could, then taking nervous steps closer each time the wolf (one of the volunteers) replied with a number up to 12. “Each time we asked it would get a little more exciting because at one point of course the wolf replies, ‘it’s dinner time!’ and everyone has to run for their lives to not get caught. There were so many laughs and screams of joy by the kids. It was truly one of the best games we played.” The volunteers also
Martijn’s drone camera captures the Madang coast and Kranget Island near Madang Resort where the couple sometimes relaxed on the weekend
with unparalleled natural beauty, from pristine beaches and turquoise waters to volcanoes and high mountains. While PNG is known for its linguistic diversity, in Madang alone there are roughly 200 languages. During their time in Madang, the couple lived in a volunteers’ house with other short- and long-term
missionaries. During the week they travelled by truck or bus into the lesser-reached villages along the coast. Some they visited for just a day, which was the case with Bilbil, but for more remote villages, they would stay for one, two or three nights, often sleeping on the floor of the church as was the case with Bogia and Korak.
VOLUME 40 2024
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