Wewak
East Sepik Province
Papua New Guinea
1995 & 96, 2001 - 2004
Wewak is the seaside provincial capital of the
East Sepik Province. It is set in a most picturesque setting of bays and
peninsulas, beaches and palm trees, hills to the south and islands to the
north.
Wewak’s European history goes back to the early
1900s, the first European known to have settled in Wewak was SVD Brother
Gottfried Laubach in 1911 when he bought the 500 hectares of the present
Wirui Mission.
Missionary work in the Wewak area was hit hard
by both world wars with many missionaries losing their lives during World
War II. In 1946 the SVDs were able to return to Wewak and rebuild their
mission stations.
Today Wewak is the economic hub of the north-western
corner of the Papua New Guinea mainland, but don’t be surprised to see
a person walking down the main street of the town chewing bettle-nut while
conversing with someone in pidgin on their mobile phone with a laptop slung
over their shoulder.
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 The
Patricians have had a long association with Wewak since the beginning.
It was the first port of call in the Sepik before moving on to our other
locations of Aitape, Nuku, Laingim, or Lumi. (Mt Hagen was on a different
“line”.) But Wewak was also the “big smoke” where the Brothers would go
to stock up on those many things not available in their area, everything
from long-life milk to water pumps. It was also sometimes used for a bit
or R’n’R. Many Brothers would remember spending many hours on the verandah
of the Franciscan transit house reading a good book, watching people passing
by, and catching a glimpse of a large rat or two running from one room
to another. (Photo: Br Michael Vella doing some shopping in Wewak for Walamu
in 1984.)
But it wasn’t until 1995 that the Brothers attempted
to put some roots down in Wewak. This was to facilitate the training of
two newly professed Brothers at the Catholic Teachers’ College: St Benedict’s.
Prior to this teaching training had been taking place at Holy Trinity Teacher’s
College in Mt Hagen (1990 - 1994) but it was decided that St Benedict’s
would be a better option because of its proximity to the other Patrician
centers.
 So
in what used to be a convent on the St Benedict’s campus, Brothers Leonard
Blahut (Sydney), Gary Ambai, Simon Augustine, and Ben Sulamataias, established
the first Patrician community. Simon and Ben were students at the college,
Gary taught at the local primary school, and Leonard worked as the academic
registrar for Callan Services, a Christian Brothers founded organization
to help people with disabilities. (Photo: Gary Ambai)
Accommodation was a little tight, and eventually
one of the Brothers slept in a small room over at the school.
During 1995 the Brothers decided to build their
own house and sought permission from the college to build on the campus.
This house was built and ready for its occupants at the beginning of the
1996 academic year.
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1996 Community & house
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Centre: Wewak visitors 2003
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The 1996 community was made up of two Brothers
from Sydney - John Robinson and Stephen Sweetman - and Brothers Ben and
Simon from 1995 as well as Primus Eris taking Gary’s place in the primary
school. By August of that year only Stephen Sweetman remained with John
returning to Sydney, Primus moving to Aitape, and Ben and Simon deciding
to leave the Brothers. At the end of 1996 Stephen returned to Sydney. |
