ROTARY CLUBS OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA District 9600
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The Trip to Gaba Gaba by Philip Naru of the Port Moresby International School Interact Club The day started pretty slow for me.  Mum had to get me out of bed and into the car and we left the place at around 7.15am.  Once at the school it took a while for everyone to get ready for the trip. By 9:00am most of the team had assembled and we were ready to move out.  We had to split ourselves into 3 vehicles.  I hopped on with Mr Melville in the bus and we were off. The drive to Gaba Gaba took about an hour and a half.  We passed numerous other villages as we journeyed.   We finally arrived at the village of Gaba Gaba around 11.00am and were greeted on the road by some of the school children who performed a welcoming dance for us (Valleviana, one of the girls, was so excited and stood up through the sun roof to get a better view of the children which I thought it was quite funny). We then made our way into the school where we were greeted by the whole school.  There, the students performed musical and dance items for us and then we handed over the books.  Speeches were given by the president and vice-president of the club and the Head Mistress of the school.  Both emphasised the importance of education and reading.. After the speeches were over we were asked to make our way over to a classroom where a feast had been done in our honour.  I felt a bit guilty when serving myself because these villagers had done a lot for us. We then all camped under a tree at a corner of the oval and ate our food.  After lunch some of the students put up the volley ball net and then the games began.  I watched for a while admiring the talent these children had.  It is just like the pro's - dig (from the previous spike), set, spike; dig, set, spike.  It wasn't long before they approached me and asked for a game, which I accepted after a bit of hesitation. Whilst our game was on, some of the girls went on a tour around the village to the beach.  Edward Linsley and I then found ourselves following some of the boys from the school down to the river.  The water was shallow and cool.  We just talked to them about their lives in their villages, where they would go to after finishing primary and their dreams and goals.  These young boys were very mature about their answers and therefore earned my respect.  We skimmed pebbles on the river to see who could get the most numbers of bounces and played in the river.  All us boys didn't have a watch, but somehow we knew he had to get back.  We followed the river back down and then back into the village, where the rest of the team had being waiting.  We shook hands with the students a last time promising that we would definitely come back. The time now was 2.00pm so we drove back.  We arrived back at about 3.30pm with cargoes of food from the village.  Nobody knew what to do with it, so we split it up amongst some of us and the rest went to Mr Melville. Overall I really enjoyed seeing the faces of the students whom were so excited about the books.  It gave me a good feeling inside.  Everyone (the Interact Club students, the Gaba Gaba Village students and other special guests) appreciated it and enjoyed it very much.