Home Blog Page 1297

Not ready yet?

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
-
0
Munda Internationa airstrip runway

Munda airport under the spotlight on compliance with international

By Alfred Sasako

WESTERN Province’s Munda Airport, destined to become the nation’s second international Airport, may have failed the prescribed operational requirements under the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rules, it was revealed on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela this week highlighted the importance of Munda Airport, which he said was critical to the growth of the tourism industry and the nation’s economy as a whole.

But sources told Island Sun the Airport has many issues in terms of compliance with international requirements.

“The aerodrome, built with New Zealand funding, does not even have an emergency plan, nor does it have an Air Traffic Control Tower,” sources told Island Sun yesterday.

“Among other things the emergency plan must have appropriate level of fire fighting service, the number of hospital emergency standby beds and an effective Air Traffic Control Management regime,” one source said.

“Air Traffic Control Management is the body that would coordinate these different functions to ensure safe operations of aircraft in and out of the Airport. Unfortunately, this body does not even exist today,” the source said.

The source said Munda Airport runway is 1, 950metres long – the same in terms of length of Nausori Airport in Suva, Fiji. To comply with international requirements, Munda Airport should have two fire-fighting units.

“The number of fire fighting units to be stationed at Munda Airport is determined by the type of aircraft and the fuselage of such aircraft that would be using the Airport.

“For example, if a Boeing 737-800 is the type of aircraft that would be using the Airfield, there must be two fire fighting units. The nearby hospital too must always have an x-number of standby beds for emergency,” the sources said.

The source said this is part of a safety management system, which is critical to the issue of safety.

The source said the absence of an Air Traffic Control Management body has increased the vulnerability of the Airport.

“It must be addressed immediately before Munda is qualified as a designated international Airport,” the source said.

Asked whether it was government to blame for this, the source said the government was not responsible.

“The problem lies with the fact that non-technical people are put in charge of Ministries responsible for coordinating safety compliance measures required by ICAO. As a result, the government is ill-advised about safety compliance requirements,” the source said.

Archers undergoes first day of competition

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
-
0
Solomon Islands national archery team.

BY ROMULUS HUTA

MEMBERS of the Solomon Islands archery team to the Oceania Archery Championship currently underway in New Caledonia have begun their competition yesterday.

The total of six archers have been given 144 arrows to shoot from different distances namely 90m, 70m, 50m and 30m.

The archers would be aiming toward a total possible score of 1440.

The competition is being conducted on match plays for individuals and teams.

Reports gathered by SunSPORTS from Noumea indicated that the team is very excited to be competing against other regional countries.

Competition time for Solomon Islands.

“Australia and New Zealand have fielded large teams and we will learn a lot from watching them.

“SI is the largest team from Pacific countries.

“David Craig had been helping the team to train since October last year and they have made great progress and will benefit enormously from their competing in the Oceania Games.

“Helen Craig has come on board to assist in the management of the team while in New Caledonia.”

The six archers representing Solomon Islands are Andrew Lano, Piper Soper, Kelly Baedonga, Janet Siru, Nancy Pize and Doris Laula.

The six archers were selected from last month’s national archery championship sponsored by C & I Distributors.

Solomon Islands national archery team.

The national championship was held at the Town Ground Rugby Stadium and attracted up to 20 competitors.

The Oceania Archery Championship is expected to bring together archers from 12 Oceania countries namely Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Following the completion of the championship, the Oceania Archery Congress will also be convened for top officials as well as a Level Two Olympic Solidarity Coaching Course from July 16 to 24 to be conducted by Pascal Colmaire of World Archery.

Solomon Islands will be represented in the coaching course by Lano and Laula while Archery Federation President Nihal Seneviratne will represent the country in the Oceania Congress.

A national archer takes an aim for the bulls eye.

World Championship next up for Wini

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
-
0
Jenlyn Wini will leave for overseas next month to prepare for this year’s World Championship taking place in November in Turkmenistan.

BY ROMULUS HUTA

AFTER successfully defending her Oceania title in the women’s 58kg class last month in New Caledonia, national weightlifting icon Jenly Wini is eyeing a shot at the upcoming World Championship happening toward the end of the year.

The 2018 World Weightlifting Championship will be held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and will run from November 1 to 10.

Ashgabat is no strange place for Wini having competed there last year to represent the country at the Asian Indoor Games.

Being a bronze medallist at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast held in April, Wini is expected to take on familiar faces in the world championship.

“I will go to Noumea probably next month to train for the World Championship.

“The plan is to atleast spend two months training at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute before leaving to compete in the world championship,” Wini told SunSPORTS yesterday.

During the Oceania Championship last month, Wini successfully lifted 82kg in snatch and 110 kg in clean and jerk, making it a total of 192kg and four kilograms short of her personal best of 196kg.

Kids league to kick off July 28

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
-
0

BY ROMULUS HUTA

A soccer league for children aged between seven and 14 year olds will commence on July 28.

The competition is organized by Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF).

Called the SIFF Kid’s League, it’s a grassroots league featuring children between 7 to 14-year-old in two categories of Under-14 and Under-10.

According to a statement issued by the national governing football body, SIFF Technical Director, Felipe Vega-Arango said the primary objectives of the league is to develop grassroots football, kids must play, and they are the future of the game and at the same time develop the coaches and the referees.

“We need to start playing the kids now because if we want to see football in this nation improved, we need to start with the current generation,” he said.

“It will be amazing football festival because parents could come out to have fun with their children”.

The structure of the league will see 13, 12, 11 year-old mix teams boys and girls playing in the U-14 league with 14 players in each team.

In the U-10 category, children range from 10-7 year-old will play in teams of boys and girls. In this age group they will play 5-a-side in a field size of a futsal court with 10 players in a team.

Meanwhile, SIFF through its Just Play department is opening up registration for interested clubs, community teams and registration closes on Friday 27th July.

Timely support for kid’s league

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
-
0
SIFF rep, Gabriel Riotarau receives the donation from BSP staff in Honiara.
SIFF rep, Gabriel Riotarau receives the donation from BSP staff in Honiara.

THE Bank of South Pacific (BSP) has jump on board to sponsor the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) kid’s league set to kick-off end of this month.

An official handover of a cheque of two thousand five hundred dollars, training wears and caps was held yesterday at BSP headquarter, in Honiara.

BSP Manager retail sales and customer services, Joyce Nukumuna said BSP is proud to support the kid’s league.

“On behalf of BSP, we are happy to support the Solomon Islands Football Federation and support football in the country” she said.

“As we all know football is the biggest sport in our country so we’re excited to help our kids enjoy and make the full use of our kind donation”.

Kid’s league coordinator, Gabriel Riotarau lauds BSP for its well-timed sponsorship.

“As the league’s coordinator, I would like to acknowledge BSP for helping us to start the first ever kid’s league,” he said.

“I believe this donation will help us in a big way to organize the competition.

“We will send in return a report of the event to show our appreciation towards BSP.”

Gov’t aims strong & vibrant western province  

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
-
0
Premier of Western province, David Gina

BY ALFRED PAGEPITU
GIZO

Newly elected Premier of Western province, David Gina

WESTERN Province Premier David Gina says his government is eager to build a strong and vibrant Western province.

Gina echoed this statement in his 40th Independence Anniversary speech on Friday held at the JF Kennedy Stadium with this year’s theme “Redirecting our Journey at 40” on Friday.

He said that on the pillars of “democracy, unity, good governance and faith in the living God”.

The People of the Western province firmly believes, that the way forward, would be achieved by providing good policies conducive to create favorable environment and situation in the Province.

Gina said people are empowered to raise themselves in the new era, where they would engage in beneficial activities and businesses so that our people of the Western Province would live a simple but acceptable standard of living, which reflects their dignity”.

“Our new WPG policy statement, Translation and Implementation documents will set out the directions and guidelines which our Provincial Government will progress the destiny of this Province in the years to come. It will focus on the major strategic areas of development to create a Peaceful, Progress and prosperous Western province”.

“This represents a significant redirection and brings to bear a new mission and vision in the roadmap for the future of the Western Province. The role and the Mission of my provincial Government are to make sure and ensure that all legislations, policies, and regulatory requirements and mechanisms are duly exercised in a manner benefiting our sovereignty and the mandate to govern and to develop our beloved Western Province,” said Gina.

He said WPG believes that equitable and sustainable development can only be achieved through strategically focused rural development policies which ensure economic growth in our Province.

Gina believes that in the fostering a greater senses of National Unity and Identity among our diverseness and in that, the Provincial Government that he leading will make and sure that Resources and logistics are shifted to focus on socio – economic infrastructural development, to ensure economic growth and rural advancement in the rural areas.

Taiwan culture encounters transformation

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
-
0
Girls from the Amis tribe wearin a colorful costume meaning a single girls. Photo by Lynton Aaron Filia

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

 

Amis tribe, and the costume is a reflection of a married woman.

OTHER people occupying Taiwan are transforming its culture and tradition, according to the Director General for Indigenous People Cultural Development Centre, Council of Indigenous People in Taiwan.

Mr Tseng Chih Yung said their culture has changed.

He said, “The indigenous people living in Taiwan throughout the years other people came and occupied Taiwan and have transformed their culture a lot.

“Especially the ritual we used to do was forbidden, some of the festival not allowed and the clothing have changed.

“They started to learn how to write and read instead of writing songs and tattoos, and yes our culture been lost that’s why we try to bring it back to younger generations.”

With the plight of this transition, Yung said the Taiwan government has helped a lot in trying to revive their culture which was lost.

“Over the past 10 or 20 years, our government has helped us a lot to restore our culture and tradition working together with the villager.”

This is a costume reflecting the Paiwan tribe.

Meanwhile, the costume Naru Wan dancing group are wearing comes from the Paiwan tribe, people living on the mountains and Amis tribe, people live on the coastal area.

Some their activities are similar to Solomon Islands indigenous.

However, for the Paiwan tribe its costumes are designed with bit of colorful design which has been existed for many years and it has been passing down to generations.

The costume shows status of a person particularly chief and only chief can wear such, and the ordinary people their costume is not fancy but very simple.

Chief can only wear the costume only during festivals and each design on the costume presenting a traditional story.

Amis tribe—mostly is people live by coastal and its colorful red and decorated linen reflects their traditions.

The design with blue means a married woman and red colored designed means single woman.

Girls from the Amis tribe wearin a colorful costume meaning a single girls. Photo by Lynton Aaron Filia

Natural hazards amplified by climate change

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
-
0

BY ELLISON VAHI

SOLOMON Islands is building resilience at the community level through the Community Resilience to Climate and Disaster Risk in Solomon Islands Project (CRISP) project.

The project, which is carried out through the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology, focuses on bringing climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction into government policies and operations, setting up early warning systems and investing in vulnerable communities in the provinces.

As a small Island State Country, the Solomon Islands is highly prone to natural hazards such as tropical cyclones, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, floods and droughts and is ranked among the 10 countries with the greatest exposure and vulnerability to natural disasters.

Seven major disasters have been triggered by natural hazards over the past three decades, causing loss of life and having a severe and adverse economic impact.

Climate change also have threatens to increase the frequency and severity of natural disasters in the Solomon Islands.

Notably, in 2014, flash flooding in Guadalcanal Province was estimated to have displaced 10,000 people and caused damages and losses equivalent to 9 percent of the country’s GDP.

Modelling predicts, natural hazards and climate change will lead to an average direct loss of US$20.5 million or 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) annually for the next 50 years.

Other low lying atolls too have also faced the threat of coastal erosion as a result of sea level rise while their food supply has been affected by changing climatic patterns.

The growing intensity of natural hazards and climate change have made life especially low lying atolls in the Solomon Islands difficult for instance, where community’s struggle for water, brought on by the destruction of the village’s water supply system in major cyclones.

The project is supported by the EU-funded ACP-EU Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Program, managed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, and the Global Environment Facility’s Least Development Country Fund.

Father happy with daughters in MACFest

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
-
0
L-R: Martha. N, Chrislyn. N, Iris. N and Lince.N

BY ELLISON VAHI

L-R: Martha. N, Chrislyn. N, Iris. N and Lince.N

THE participation of the 4 during the MACFEST was a proud for me as a father, said Mr Chris Neo.

Mr Chris Neo is a proud and happy father, especially with the recent MACFest 2018.

He has four of his daughters directly involved in the MACFest acivities.

Neo said, “culture is the lifeblood of a vibrant society, expressed in the many ways we tell our stories, celebrate, remember the past, entertain ourselves, and imagine the future as well our creative expression helps define who we are, and helps us see the world through the eyes of others.

In addition to its intrinsic value, culture provides important social and economic benefits. With improved learning and health, increased tolerance, and opportunities to come together with others, culture enhances our quality of life and increases overall well-being for both individuals and communities.

Whilst, while highlighting about the importance of culture, Mr Chris encourages all parents as well young youths to take part in such programmes, as this was one way for youths to get rid of involving in any social problems or criminal activities.

“Participating in culture can benefit individuals in many different ways, some of which are deeply personal. They are a source of delight and wonder, and can provide emotionally and intellectually moving experiences, whether pleasurable or unsettling, that encourage celebration or contemplation.

Culture is also a means of expressing creativity, forging an individual identity, and enhancing or preserving a community’s sense of place,” he said.

In the meantime, he said that being so proud of his daughters, has stated that as such participation, though representing the IPYF cultural group but at the same time is a pride for the family, community as well the country as a whole, as they see and value culture importantly.

Amazing Israel – Part Two

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
-
0
Pacific media practitioners at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem.

By Mike Puia

SOLOMON Islanders don’t need visa to enter Israel. I did not mention this during the first part of this series which was published last Wednesday.

So, our first day in Israel was 17th June 2018.

We woke up to a bright Sunday morning in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the most populated city in Israel. It’s one of the oldest cities in the world considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions- Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

This city keeps renovate every day. Old structures are seen demolished and new ones going up.

Sunday is the first working day of the week which means every businesses and offices opened for business.

In our schedule, our first visit was to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Israeli Ambassador to the pacific, Ambassador Tibor Shalev Schlosser.

As soon as all of us, media practitioners from the pacific who were invited to Israel by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are all set at the lobby we boarded our bus that was waiting outside the Leonardo Plaza hotel, our accommodation in Jerusalem for the next two days.

Our guide was Rony Geven. Geven was the person we were introduced to on arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport.

Jerusalem is so calm in the morning. Flowers bloom everywhere, outside the hotel and along the street. It almost looks like fake flowers but they are real. Flowers are colourful and pruned in order everywhere you turn to.

On arrival at the Ministry, we went through security check before we proceed to our meeting with the Director General of the Ministry, Ambassador Yuval Rotem.

Ambassador Rotem talks about many things including Israel’s history and commitment to the pacific. He took questions after.

Pacific media practitioners at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem.

After the informative session with Ambassador Rotem, we moved to another room within the Ministry where we had sessions with Mrs Sarit Young of the Centre for policy research and Ambassador Gil Haskel, head of MASHAV- Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mrs Young talked about the threat posed by Iran while Ambassador Haskel talked about the Israel’s aid program and areas Israel can be of helpful to pacific nations.

After lunch we visited the Yad Vashem, the world’s holocaust remembrance centre on the western slope of Mount Herzl. Yad Vashem is Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the dead.

Important visiting dignitaries to Israel are given a tour to this site.

The centre honor Jews who fought against their Nazi oppressors and gentiles who aided Jews in need and researching the phenomenon of the Holocaust in particular and genocide in general with the aim of avoiding such events in the future.

Pacific media practitioners at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem.

Yad Vashem, which was established in 1953, is known as the Mount of Remembrance, sitting in a height in western Jerusalem.

The memorial consists of a 180-dunam complex containing the Holocaust History Museum, memorial sites such as the Children’s Memorial and the Hall of Remembrance, the Museum of Holocaust art, sculptures and outdoor commemorative sites such as the Valley of the Communities, a synagogue, a research institute with archives, a library, a publishing house and an educational center, the International Institute for Holocaust Studies.

Young recruits to the Israeli army also come through Holocaust Studies.

Those recognized by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations are honored in a section of Yad Vashem known as the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations.

Yad Vashem is the second most visited site in Israel after the Western Wall with around one million visitors each year.

Pacific media practitioners at Yad Vashem.

The museum offers a window to what the Jews people experience 79 years ago. One can see family photos retrieved from bodies of Jews who were murdered still intact and are now displayed in the museum. There is a section in the museum where a huge pile of shoes of people who were killed in concentration camps is kept.

In the evening after a tiring and emotional first day, we had dinner with Israeli Ambassador to the pacific, Ambassador Tibor Shalev Schlosser, who talks about the importance of education and culture and elaborate on Israel’s trainings programs and expertise pacific nations can take advantage of.

Ambassador Schlosser said people from across the globe should consider visiting Israel without fear as their people are their brothers and sisters.

He added they hope to receive more professionals from the pacific be to study in their learning institutes or to gain practical knowledge in any field.

Pacific media practitioners at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem.
Flowers bloom everywhere in Jerusalem.

1...1,2961,2971,298...1,665Page 1,297 of 1,665