Transcript
JOHN RIBAT: He has been very true to his word that he's not looking at the traditional places where cardinals have been appointed in the past, but he's going beyond that and wanting a fairer representation of the church. He wants to say the church is for the poor, and that's how he sees it in his mind and that's how he wants to show it now in practice. Not only through the traditional places, but even to reach out to those small places.
ALEX PERROTTET: And I guess people like yourself. You're young, you will undoubtedly be electing the next Holy Father, that's for sure. But also, you've got experience in countries where people are really suffering. What do you think you've had in your experience that will really help you to fulfil this new role?
JR: I see it this way. What he's been kind of advocating is really to be prepared. We hear of this migration and war and all this, and people are kind of into a situation where they are really suffering and need their basic needs in life - food, water, clothing and shelter, all these. Now, also on the other hand, here in the Pacific we are faced with a very high risk situation and we say that it is the result of climate change, and that is the high rise sea level, and that is: islands are disappearing slowly, washing away. They realise, and they see, and they experience, [the] sea is rising. Of course they plant their food and so on in the garden and so on, but when they harvest they cannot eat this food - it is too salty for them. You see, things like this are happening and of course the islands are disappearing. People had their houses and a road before, now it's washed away - it's gone. I think, I see it this way, to see where is the church in the midst of all these things and how we are preparing ourselves to meet these challenges as they come.
AP: And this is obviously in the middle of the huge scourge of the drought that the country has been through, to say nothing of endemic corruption the country faces, the violence against women. We still have those very primitive beliefs of people believing in sorcery in some places and some tragedies that comes as a result of that. But what is your church doing to alleviate poverty in Papua New Guinea, and what difficulties do you come up against?
JR: That is really a good question. For the church in Papua New Guinea, we embarked on giving skills training to our people. The young girls, the mothers from settlements and so on. So we gather them together and we have places where we train them to prepare for themselves. To do cooking, and also to do sewing, things that will really help them. And this is something where we are saying that in ways like this, we prepare the people themselves so that they are able to do things for themselves. They are able to employ themselves in a way where they could also be training others also. We try to go out and really provide for those areas that are affected by drought and so on. The church tries to provide things for them. At the same time, in some places, for example in Port Moresby also, we try to help people to train them in the organic farming. Prepare them so that they will be able to go back again and do something that will really help them to be able to get them to try and settle back in their land and try to do something. And what we are doing here is not only for the church - those who are catholic - but for everyone, eh. Because things like this do happen and it affects all, from other churches and so on. But then we go out and we help all of them, we encourage of them to feel that we do it for them all. The help we get from Australia and New Zealand through Caritas [a Catholic aid agency], they do help us to be able to reach out also and care for those who do not, especially the children.
