Journey to the Sinking Lands
A witness to the world's first evacuation of an entire people due to climate changeWorld Service
A version of the Journey of a Lifetime doco has been broadcast on the BBC World Service. I missed it (though with any luck some of the those I met in Papua New Guinea did not), but you can catch it here.
Sounds of the islands
I’ve gone through the recordings I made while living on the Carterets islands and picked out a few to listen to here. They say the pictures are better on radio, and I agree:
In church, on Sunday morning
Walking through the food gardens with John Sailik and Ruth Marcella
Talking to Selina Bill
A procession to celebrate the Virgin Mary
Big in Shrewsbury
This is it, the big time. I’ve been interviewed by BBC Radio Shropshire about the Carterets and the broadcast is going out tonight. All of you within the county borders and in search of a little entertainment this evening, expect it anytime before six pm tonight.
Seriously, it’s a privilege to be able to talk about the Carterets to any and every audience. The first of the two talks I’m giving to the Royal Geographical Society went well this week – or at least they haven’t said I can’t come back to give the second one. I was also asked to speak at the Shropshire Wildlife Trust AGM last night.
Also, great news, a version of the Journey of a Lifetime doco for BBC Radio 4 has been edited down for broadcast on the World Service. Not only an honour but a chance for those people out in Papua New Guinea to hear it. No broadcast date as yet, but watch this space…
An argument
I’m pulling together a talk I’m due to give to the Royal Geographical Society about the Carterets journey. I’m speaking twice, firstly to the Society’s City branch on October 6 and secondly at the RGS itself, on December 14.
It’s proven to be a good opportunity to finally tie together some of the loose ideas I’ve been thinking about since before I left for the islands in April. At the time, I remember thinking there was something there, but couldn’t quite form it as a finished idea in my mind.
My basic thinking goes link this (I hope to come back with more scientific data to back all this up):
This year is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth. He was born in Shrewsbury, where I live. I even went to the birthday party held for him in town, where lots of people got dressed up in old-fashioned clothes and ate cake.
It is also the 300th anniversary of the first use of coke (a form of coal) to smelt iron. The site of this discovery, now called Ironbridge is described as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. I grew up in Ironbridge.
Ironbridge and Shrewsbury are just 12 miles apart. I cycle or drive that road constantly. Before I left for the Carterets, I couldn’t shake the feeling there was something that linked Darwin, Ironbridge and the islands, but I couldn’t work out what it was.
Now, I think it is this:
“Dan risked life and limb…”
Is Dan vain enough to put the reviews for his radio programme up on this blog?
Yes he is…
Mary blong me
This is Nel, my wife.
If you look closely around her neck, you can just see the two strings of shell money sent out to me by the Carteret Islanders for our wedding. The shell money was a completely unexpected gift, from the people of Group 4 on Han island, where I lived for a couple of weeks (the islands have a very democratic social system, with the people divided up into groups, each with a set of responsible elders). Having left PNG and arrived home, I got a phone call from one of the islanders out of the blue saying they had made the shell money and needed to get it to me in time for the wedding – they wanted me to be able to pay bride-price on the big day.
Journey of a Lifetime
East, Dan, east. The Carteret Islands are in the east of Papua New Guinea. Not, as you said three times in the course of the programme, the west. Idiot boy.
That apart, I really enjoyed listening to the programme (which can be downloaded here), maybe more than anyone else who did. I could remember every moment; the heat, the music, the taste of the fish eyes…
Simon Elmes at the BBC did a great job stitching it all together and I’m really proud to have worked with him on it. The programme has also been made the Radio 4 ‘podcast of the week’. My Aunty Sue says they should give me a badge.
Latest news: This just in from the Carteret Islands…
On air – tomorrow
I had no idea when I started this journey just how long it would take, nor how much of my life it would fill, nor how much I would get from it.
For those who want to hear me take some of those steps, the broadcast of the radio programme about the journey to ad life on the islands will be broadcast tomorrow, Friday September 4, at 11am on Radio 4. I haven’t heard it yet, so will be one of those listening – along with my mum.
But there’s more…
Talcum? powder
Another letter, and a second shell money, arrives from Buka, with this instruction on the first page:
“Please don’t read the letter or not first do put this powder inside onto your face.
then you can read.
Just a sign of happiness to you.”
OK.
A distinct and unusual honour
I’ve just got back from the BBC studios in Birmingham, where I was recording a last few bits of speech for Simon to edit in to the recordings in PNG to hold the programme together. I like working with Simon, he has the happy habit of telling you that everything you do is wonderful, so you end up walking home feeling ten foot tall (he’s also very good at his job as these programmes, evidence of which can be heard here).
But in among the mutual backslapping he said something that really stuck in my mind – he was dead pleased with the recordings I made in PNG, so pleased in fact that he plans on sending them all to the BBC Sound Effects library where they will be preserved – and available to access – for the future. It’s a great testament to the moment in time that I was fortunate enough to record, and to the people I met. I feel very pleased.
