Getting Rid of the Rubbish
Our life in Telefomin is not all glamorously saving lives, doing Medical Evacuations, although Ryan does do those regularly. We also have normal chores to complete which can often be a little more complicated compared to back in the UK or Canada, or even when compared to our colleagues living in Mt Hagen, where MAF’s HQ is based.
Taking out the trash is one such chore which just has to be done, so this time I (Shiv) got rid of it all with the help of some local friends.
We have no “bin men”or any kind of refuse collection in Telefomin. Normally, taking the rubbish bins from our house, the 3 empty pilot houses, and the base, is Ryan’s job. We drive the bins 10 mins out of town and drop the rubbish over a ravine, where many other people dispose of their rubbish. It’s not very environmentally friendly, but it’s the best situation we’ve come up with here.
As Ryan has been feeling the pressure at work and fighting a cold since we’ve been back, I thought I’d ask my friends, who work for MAF, cleaning the houses and maintaining the gardens of the empty pilot houses, to help me drop off the rubbish that had obviously been piling up since we’ve been away. There have been a lot of visitors staying in the empty pilot houses whilst we were away, and the MAF staff based in Telefomin don’t have driving licenses, so they can’t drive the MAF truck to take the rubbish to the tip.
Personally, we try to reduce our waste by washing and reusing plastic bags and seal-able containers and bottles, like peanut butter and orange juice. When we don’t have a use for these containers any more, we give them away to local friends who keep using them as long as possible. We also burn thin plastics, paper & cardboard, and we compost all kitchen waste. However, in the end, the remaining rubbish just needs to be disposed of…
Click on the video, right, to see how we do it…
The hard working ladies…
Now we carry it to the ravine. :-(
