Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Thinking about taking a short term NGO job Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Papua New Guinea
gaijinjoe 23:05 UTC 18 Jun 2009 | I have a chance to take a short term NGO job somewhere around Lae or that area. May be inland a bit from there too. The people were not too specific. Am writing to ask to get opinions if PNG would work out for me. I love to camp but I mean drive up and pull the tent out of the car. Do a lot of travel in the developed world but I like going to the boonies of these places. Recently branched out to Peru and Malaysia. Not hot on the places but I was ok in each. Can handle heat when I sleep and a bit of noise. I live in an area that has a lot of cicadeas so am used to that. Not used to sleeping without AC though. Can handle no shower or indoor plumbing no problem. Can eat anything vegetable or seafood. Not so good with under cooked meat. Get a little guilty with seeing poverty and wish I could do more to help the people. Any thoughts if I would be OK going to PNG ? |
misskiri 02:52 UTC 19 Jun 2009 | I guess the most important question is probably not 'would you be okay' - because you will more than likely be fine (although probably a little out of your comfort zone) If I were you, I would be thinking more about what exactly the job is, who you would be working with, what the organisations reputation/experience in the community is? How will you skills and experience fit with the project you are working on? How long are you going for? If its a short time, how are you going to learn the language or build relationships in the community in order to be effective in whatever it is you are doing? I would be entirely suspicious of someone who has offered you a job 'somewhere near Lae' without giving much more detail than that... Good luck! | 1
gaijinjoe 10:52 UTC 19 Jun 2009 | Thanks for the info. Had to be a vague on details but here are more details on this. There is a group of us going for two weeks and the organization is very reputable in the US. The coordinator in the US did not know where the project was going to be happening in PNG. I | 2
ozziegiraffe 11:13 UTC 19 Jun 2009 | If it is a group, you are likely to be well looked after. However, you won't have air conditioning. You are very unlikely to get undercooked meat - either little meat at all, or overcooked. Melanesians cook everything. most likely you will get rice and tinned fish or corned beef, and maybe kumara (sweet potato). You will be very unlikely to get tents - most likely thatched houses or wood, with iron rooves, which are much hotter. You could find yourself walking everywhere, or riding in the backs of trucks. Medically, the most important thing will be taking malaria prophylaxis. | 3
pago 13:35 UTC 19 Jun 2009 | Do you have to pay anything to this organization? | 4
gaijinjoe 11:29 UTC 20 Jun 2009 | The people I interviewed with mentioned no electricity so I figured no A/C. Sounds like huts with tin roofs is the acommondations. Are they pretty hot to sleep in ? Most of my camping is done in moderated weather 70-80 F. Am OK with rice and tinned goods. I assumed sweet potato and taro would be everything. Guess my main concern is bugs, with the associated malaria threat and sleeping when it is hot out. Think I can deal with the bugs with nets and bug spray. Thought just a regular mosquito net would be OK but I'll have to look into impregnating it with bug spray. Prevention says to cover up with clothes but how is that possible when you are sweating like mad. Sleep is another matter don't want to turn into a cranky zombie after 3 days. I should think about water too but there are so many purifying techniques that water should not be a problem. | 5
the_gang_of_1 23:42 UTC 05 Jul 2009 | If these factors are all so serious for you, are you sure you should even be considering a job in an environment like Papua New Guinea in the first place? I mean, by the tone of your post you seem more concerned with the level of creature comforts than the work or the experience. | 6