Magdaline Kepo

4th year geology student at University of Papua New Guinea

Magdaline joined us on the 1st Expedition, January 26- February 15. She has lived and traveled in many parts of Papua New Guinea as well as spent some time working in the bush in the highlands.

Denise: Magdaline, where are you from originally?
Magdaline: I'm from the Highlands, well my dad is from Western Highlands Province, and my mom is from the neighboring province, Simbu. They both ended up working in (Port) Moresby and that's how they met. I was born in Moresby. Unfortunately, I've never actually lived in the highlands. It was always over the Christmas break we'd go and then come back. But I've never lived there, I've lived in the coastal region most of my life. But I've traveled with my father a lot and have visited all but four provinces.

Denise: What is your favorite area in Papua New Guinea?
Magdaline: I would say the best is New Ireland province. It's just beautiful. It's mountainous as you go towards the center of the island, and along the coast it is basically flat, but it's beautiful, lovely beach and the people are friendly, very nice.

Denise: What were some of the things that attracted you to studying geology?
Magdaline: Simbu province, where my mom comes from, is just a place where you have massive limestone everywhere, and when I was little I was really interested in those, and I would stand looking at them and really think about how they got there. I think it (geology) is a very good field because I'm not much of an eight-four o'clock person; just sitting in the office and working, I don't think that would suit me. I like to do outdoor activities.

Denise: You are a fourth year geology student at the University of Papua New Guinea, and do you know yet what you hope to do after you graduate?
Magdaline: I'd like to go and work as an exploration geologist. Prior to coming here I did an industrial training through our program with an exploration company called Highland Pacific and it was really good. We went around doing mapping and camping in the bush. I found it to be very exciting.

Denise: How much time did you spend with them and where specifically were you located?
Magdaline: I left early September last year, so I stayed a little over four months with the company. I was based at the project site, which is at Kainantu. It is the first district or town, I'd like to say it's the gateway to the highlands region.

Denise: When you were in Kainantu, would you travel out to the bush with a group and stay for a while or were you primarily living in the bush and traveling and exploring the whole time?
Magdaline: We'd be in the bush for like a week or two, and then come back to the supply camp. What made the area I went to really interesting, was that it was at the border of three different provinces, Madang, Morobe and Eastern Highland. Kainantu is in Eastern Highland. Just walk over some meters you are in another province, so we were right on the border.

Denise: How many people would go in this group and what was a normal day like for you when you would go out from your camp?
Magdaline: We would start walking around 0600 in the morning, or earlier, 0530 and, when we would camp in the bush, we would take less than 20 men. I was the only female there! We would have three or four geologists and the rest would be assistants. They would carry the equipment and all the camping gear. We were doing final mapping and testing on the prospect, the mine plans to open in 2005.

Denise: Here we are taking cores from the sea floor with the box core for example, did you have an instrument that you used to take sediment samples there?
Magdaline: Yes we'd set up drill sites. Sometimes you'd set a target and drill down, sometimes as far as 400 or 500 meters. All the way down and bring the core up in different core sizes. The deeper you go in, the smaller the core size. As soon as they'd bring the core up, we'd start logging the core, that's the basic job of the geologist.

Denise: Similar to what you are doing here.
Magdaline: Yes.

Denise: When you were out in the bush, did you have any experiences or run-ins with people who didn't want you or the mine there?
Magdaline: Oh yeah, there were heaps of them! Most of the mines around PNG are in areas so isolated that most of these people are not really conscious of what goes on around them and they are happy with whatever you give them. The mines have bought some of the land very cheaply from the people. But the difference with Kainantu is that it is right next to the highway and most of the people are educated to the standard where they know exactly what's going on and they know exactly how much they should be getting and you cannot fool them or mess around with them.

Some local people came into camp and demanded food, they even chased us with axes one time. They just didn't understand what we were trying to do; there are a lot of people who live outside the village, and don't go into the village often so it's difficult to communicate what is happening with the explorations.

Denise: When you were out there did you see a lot of animals local to the area?
Magdaline: Yeah, I get so terrified of snakes, I can't get near them, I won't even stand ten meters close to them and I run. When I went to the bush there was no choice, there were some that were just lying there and I'd have to go around them, so it was really scary. There were a lot of snakes, and wild pigs and cassowary.

Denise: Cassowary, what is that?
Magdaline: It's kind of like an emu, a large, flightless bird. (A cassowary is from Australia and New Guinea, it is the second-biggest bird in the world, after the ostrich. The cassowary can live to be 40-50 years old and may grow to 2 m or 6.5 feet and weigh 130 pounds.)

Denise: Did you have a favorite meal in the bush; was the cook good?
Magdaline: Yeah, he was good. Sometimes we'd come (back from work) and he'd be just turning the chicken over the fire. Sometimes the guys would go out to the river and get fish so we'd have fish and there were heaps of eggs that we would have from wild ducks. At one point I almost ate snake! There was this group of local people there and they cooked some snake and they brought it over. We had to eat it because it wouldn't be nice if we said no. Some of the guys, they had it. I didn't touch it, I felt like eating it, but then the thought of snake is like - ugh!

Denise: Especially when you don't like snakes!
Magdaline: Yeah!

Denise: Is most of your family, or your tribe, still living in the Highlands, and are there any special holiday traditions when you go back to visit?
Magdaline: Yes. When we go back for Christmas, people in the village (my dad's is Lumusa and my mum's village is Gembagol in their language it means "red soil" because there is a lot of red soil there) they invite us back and they slaughter pigs sometimes 7 or even 10 pigs, and we make very big mu mu. You dig big pits and put hot stones in the pit and meat - pork, and sweet potatoes and taro and other vegetables and cover it with banana leaves and with more hot stones and then cover up the pit with earth. It cooks for several hours then you take it out.

Denise: What has been your most enjoyable experience either here at sea or in the bush?
Magdaline: I would say my most enjoyable experience is here on this ship. It is really good, not only that we are learning about the science bit of it, but it is also that you interact with people from another place and it is quite good because most of us don't get that exposure to other cultures.

Denise: Well I have really enjoyed the opportunity to meet and talk with you. Thank you!