25 April 2006
Kimasu’s story – working for the company
Temporary camp for boundary markers
© Greenpeace/ Prout
When we arrived at the Cassowary clan area in the northern part of Lake Murray, we spent an afternoon preparing our new camp. Only the frame of the house was there when we arrived. Quickly the local guys fixed the floor for us and we put up the tarps for rain cover. Since we needed this camp for only a few days, it didn’t make sense to do a typical roof out of sago leafs.
The spot where we set up camp used to be a logging camp for Concord Pacific. It is situated at the end of one of the feeder roads that was built for transporting logs to the lake. From here the barges would take the logs further.
One of the local fellows used to work for the company. His name is Kimasu, and like everybody else on the lake he is really friendly and willing to answer all the questions that I put to him.
Kimasu worked first as a cook and then helped with transportation of the logs. Altogether, he was employed for six years. The pay he got wasn’t much – 80 Kina for two weeks of work (roughly 25 Euros). The big profits were taken by the logging company.
Today, Kimasu is working for himself and his community together with us to start up the eco-forestry project in his clan’s area. Once the trees are felled and milled into eco-timber the profits will remain here. This money ensures education and health care for the community.
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