Stories by David Wall

The readers of Sepik Blu Longpela Muruk will remember that Ernest was recovering from quintuple heart bypass surgery and was still at Findhorn. In his search for physical well-being, he was exploring body harmony, energy medicine and meditation.

Yesterday I received a letter from him enclosing photos of part of his Sepik collection of artifacts. He apologized for the poor quality of the snaps but he just wanted to remind me that the Sepik remained for ever an important part of his life.

Well to make a long story short it appears that he had a complete recovery from his surgery and reengaged fully with his New-Age incarnational spirituality and lecturing on non-physicial entities. Also he developed a herbal remedy that proved to be a great curative antidote to many modern aliments. With his herbal treatments he attracted many people from all classes of society. One of his patients, a member of the Royal Family, was completely cured of deep depression and suicidal tendencies and restored to excellent health. In appreciation of this Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II created him Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire (KBE). In honour of his investiture his old school, Charterhouse, had a celebratory dinner for him at the School.

Ernest wanted to be remembered to all his old friends from PNG. He did hint to me of some romantic association with a “dear friend”. 

Rachael and Andrew Mason resided in an inner city Sydney suburb and to all intents and purposes lived in matrimonal bliss to the wonderment of Rachael’s many friends.

Rachael was at the forefront of most progressive social issues from saving the Aborigines to saving the whales. Andrew on the other hand spent most of his time, since retirement from paid employment, in front of his computer or walking around the house muttering about: “the spirituality of indigenous” and the “power of Islam”. To the superficial observer this might be interpreted to mean that Andrew in some ways identified with Aborigines and Muslims in Australian society. An impression that would be contradictory, to say the least. Andrew’s only real exposure to Aborigines had been to inner city types mainly around Redfern. For the most part he considered these to be anything but spiritual. The only hunters and gatherers among them that he could see were those lurking around Redfern Station intent on snatching bags from unsuspecting passersby or poor ravished individuals begging for “spare change”. As regards Muslims he did not know too many apart from the young Lebanese Australians he saw misbehaving on the trains. On a philosophical level he considered Islam a rather misinformed theological and spiritual way of life that if unchecked could undermine Western Christian values. Of things historical and political he whole heartily agreed with George MacDonald Fraser that the British Empire was “the greatest thing that ever happened to an undeserving world”.

Rachael practically gave up on trying to change Andrew’s views, however, she did point out to him the family values of Aboriginal people and the beauty of Islamic art but this was only occasionally as it lead to futile arguments. Instead she got on with her life of involvement, fighting for various causes. Her social action in the fields of indigenous and multicultural affairs and in battles for social justice in general were recognized by the Australian Government with the award of the Order of Australia Medal.

Rachael and Andrew remained practising Catholics. In later life Andrew still attended Mass on Sundays and kept to most of the rules. He often asked himself if he still believed in it all. Certainly questions of transubstantiation became meaningless for him in later life but he still occasionally went to confession and usually confessed sins of illicit sexual desire, not of action, as there no longer remained much physical sexual ability in him. He did often say that Catholicism had ruined his sex life. For the last years of his married life to Rachael the marriage bed had been given up. They both seemed content enough with this. Andrew liked to say that in his own bed he could fart with impunity. Rachael’s religious practice did not put much faith in doctrine but she strongly related a love of God to a love of humankind.

In his seventies Andrew developed a chronic heart condition. His health became so bad that he was rushed to hospital for bypass surgery. Unfortunately he expired on the operating table.

Rachael was quite devasted with Andrew’s sudden death but she was cheered up with the provisions of Andrew’s will: Andrew had left the bulk of his estate to her but he had also left money so that the services of an Aboriginal elder and an Islamic iman could be employed at his funeral. He said he wanted the Aboriginal elder to perform a smoking ceremony and the iman to read Muslim prayers for the dead.

Rachael found that she had no trouble getting an elder but it proved impossible to get an iman. Apparently, “in the Quran, God prohibits all believers from offering pryers for disbelievers or idol worshippers regardless of whether they are dead or alive.” She suspected that Andrew would have known this and his request would have appealed to his sense of humour.

Rachael arranged a traditional Catholic funeral with the smoking ceremony and to replace the Muslim prayers she insisted that only sausages, mash and green peas with sao biscuits and tea be served at the wake. Andrew, she thought, would have liked this as food had always been a bone of contention in their marriage. She always liked exotic garlic and ginger laced food while Andrew’s liking was for tradional Aussie/English food.

In a sense the last laugh was with Rachael and Andrew would have liked that!

Bob McDonald was perhaps the most famous of the rivercombers at Angoram, and his story could fill the chronicles of any post-war history of the Sepik District. His father was a distinguished South Australian barrister, a King’s Counsel prominent in Adelaide’s legal circles in the twenties and thirties. Bob attended St Peter’s College, an elite independent Church of England school, and left just before his final year. He volunteered for the army at the outbreak of the Second World War. This caused a bit of a stir at home, but his father finally gave permission. Not that he could have done much about it as Bob was eighteen years old, and anyhow he was somewhat proud that Bob had answered the call to arms. 

During the war Bob served with the 6^th Division AIF in Greece, Crete, North Africa, Papua and New Guinea. In telling James Ward about his war experiences, he was proud of possessing the Africa Star, a campaign medal. But one of the highlights of his war was a romantic interlude with a Greek woman within sight of the Parthenon.

He told James Ward the story: “We had a bit of leave in Athens and I intended to make the most of it. I was having a few drinks in a café and I saw this girl in the corner giving me the eye and I figured that this was a bit of luck and I gave her a nod and over she comes. I buy her a drink and indicate that I could be very generous. She didn’t have much English but we understood each other. While this was going on a mate of mine, Smithy, a corporal with transport came in, and said that he had the use of a truck for the next couple of hours and he would take me and the girl for a small tour.

“The girl agreed, and off we went. I said to Smithy that he could leave the girl and me on a track that led up to the Parthenon, and we would walk from there. He did this.  By this time it was getting pretty dark, and the girl and I were getting on famously. I indicated that there was a spot near a cluster of trees just down from the Parthenon that was fairly private, where we could cement Greek-Australian relations. I slipped her a pocket full of drachmais and she was happy with this.

“Well, away we went and I can tell you she was worth every penny of it. The best of it was that just before I came to the ‘vinegar stroke’ I could just make out that old Greek ruin and it seemed to give meaning to all those classes at St Peter’s on Classical Greece, this was really the Alpha and when I came, I could think of no better Omega.

“When the 6^th Division returned from Africa, the troops were given a short leave prior to being sent to Papua and New Guinea. Bob took his leave in Sydney and while there got married. Before the war ended the marriage was virtually on the rocks. Bob said: “When I came back from New Guinea I found another bull in the paddock.”

Excerpt from Sepik Blu longpela Muruk

Dunstan McMillan, near the bar in the club, was talking to Ron Watson and a tall young woman. Ron was a regular visitor to Angoram and was often accompanied by a woman assistant but rarely the same one. Ron came from Denver, Colorado and over the years he had done quite well shipping Sepik carvings to the States, where he had a ready market.

He was a healthy man in his early forties and an inveterate patroller in pursuing rare pieces of carved art. Ron was in many ways your typical enterprising Yank, but he was also socially charming and on occasions the life of the party.

He had some contacts with the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Department of Cultural Anthropology. This is where he recruited his assistants from, who were good-looking, young, educated women. The current one was Susan Flynn, a graduate student in her late twenties and at least a runner up in any beauty contest you may think of. Their duties included cataloguing, classifying and documenting the collected pieces. In the course of these duties all seemed happy enough to share Ron’s bed. 

Ron had a wife in Denver but this did not seem to inhibit his trips to PNG with his various assistants. Ron’s personal life had all the hallmarks, in Bill Clayton’s words, of “a freewheeling situation.” Bill once asked Ron how he managed to get all these good-looking women to come to PNG with him.

Ron was quite ready to explain: “Well Bill, I’ll tell you. I put a notice up in the Department of Anthropology, Colorado University alone these lines:

 A collector of significant cultural and anthropological artifacts in the Sepik District of New Guinea, an area made famous by the work of Dr Margaret Mead, seeks the assistance of a student or graduate of anthropology to classify and document acquired items. This would be for a period of two months. Interested applicants please leave your name with Dr Edward Glover.        Ron Watson 

“Ed is an old friend and a lecturer in anthropology. He helps with the culling of the applicants, and you would be surprised at how many apply. First of all, the men are eliminated, then the innocent and unattractive. We end up with three or four likely ones and I take each out for a meal and if I particularly get on with one of them, she gets the job.” 

Susan and Ron were staying with Bill Clayton prior to going on a collecting trip up the Karawari River.

Ron Watson continued his artifact buying trips to the Sepik, though perhaps not as regularly as in his younger years. On the trips that he did make more often than not he was accompanied by his wife, Barbara. The bevy of young women, who were his companions of the past, faded away.

Susan Flynn became a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Primitive Art in New York.

Excerpt from Sepik Blu Longpela Muruk

One of those waiting to meet the plane was Fr Michael Casey, a member of the Society of the Divine Word or an SVD, initials that Michael described as “smoke we don’t but drink we do.” This stemmed from the Order’s ban on smoking for its members. Needless to say, Michael did a bit of both, with more than a bit of the latter. A singular character in many ways, he had arrived in the Territory shortly after World War II. A Bostonian of Irish descent whose grandfather had immigrated to the States to escape the Irish famine, Michael was proud of his “bog Irish” heritage. His grandfather laboured on the Boston wharves and gave his five sons a good education, with two becoming lawyers and the others going into business. Michael’s father ran a successful furniture business, and liked to say: “Our origins, unlike the Kennedys’, are bog Irish rather than lace curtain Irish.” Michael himself combined the charm and suppression of violence of the Irish with the urbanity of an educated American.

As well as his priestly qualifications, Michael also had a law degree from the University of Chicago, which helped in dealing with government officials and defending his parishioners from time to time in the local courts. In theology, he was strictly pre-Vatican II and saw his sacramental duties as the raison d’être for missionary activity. Though he admired the humanity of Pope John XXIII, history, he contended, would see the Pope as a “clerical fool”.

 For the small expatriate group in Dreikikir, Fr Michael Casey was effectively the church, in spite of the fact that the Sub-District was overwhelmingly Protestant. 

Meanwhile the plane had landed, and passengers and cargo had been attended to. Fr William McAuley, the pilot, who had just alighted, was in close conversation with Fr Michael Casey. Michael was making his confession. He saw this as an essential spiritual exercise that he would be deprived of if the priest pilots stopped flying into Dreikikir. His sins, one suspects, were the more robust kind, of overindulgence in alcohol and displays of temper. Once this encounter was finished, Father McAuley checked that the few passengers in the plane were secure and, with a last wave to Jock and Michael, climbed into the pilot’s seat.

One could be forgiven for imagining that Fr Casey and Mr MacGregor would be as compatible as fire and water. However, their common interest in good booze was a wonderful equaliser, and outstation life was considerably enriched by the contribution of these two personalities.

 Annie’s presence in Jock’s house was a bone of contention between him and Fr Casey. A young woman of obvious mixed-race antecedents and few apparent domestic skills, Annie was a quiet, obliging and easy-going person. Her father was said to be an Angau officer stationed in Dreikikir near the end of the war, and who now served as a high-ranking officer in the Administration. Whatever Annie’s domestic capabilities, Michael Casey felt that her presence in Jock’s house compromised Jock’s impartiality. Of course, Casey assumed that MacGregor’s interest in Annie went beyond the merely domestic. When the subject of Annie was brought up, MacGregor told Casey to mind his own business and let him run the station as he saw fit.

 This situation had on occasions led to discussions that were as lively as they were ill-informed 

The conversation quickly turned to what was happening in Maprik. At this time, the United Nations Mission, under the leadership of Sir Hugh Foot, was visiting Maprik. None realised how significant this was for the Territory. Casey maintained: “This UN group don’t understand the uniqueness of Papua New Guinea.”

 MacGregor bellyached about “bloody socialists”. It seems that he had met Sir Hugh’s brother, Michael, at some function at Glasgow University, and was not impressed with his political views. Jack Murphy said: “The United Nations’ money could be better spent on health activities.” George Smith had heard a rumour about a supposedly glamorous-looking Brazilian, who was said to be travelling with the Mission as a secretary, and said he would like “to check her out.” Ward had spent a little time travelling in Africa, and realised that dramatic changes happened to colonies. He had just managed to get out of the former Belgian Congo before it fell apart. 

The group would have had little sympathy with the Mission’s subsequent recommendations to establish a university, and move towards self-government with an elected house of assembly, as a matter of urgency. The group’s prevailing mood was to get on with the drinking, which they all did, except Ward. After they had reached a high degree of intoxication, Annie served a meal of curry and rice, following which they returned to their respective houses. 

Casey had come by motorbike, and much to his credit, he managed to leave by the same means, though he did find cranking the motor by foot a daunting challenge. The farewells were heard in the night air. Ward said: “Good night Father, watch the downhill slope of the airstrip.” This was his track home.

Excerpt from Sepik Blu Longpela Muruk  

Jock was unsure what to expect, as the only report of trouble had come from Fr Shultz’s brief message. He knew of the existence of a cargo cult, but until now this had not concerned him much. If anything, he thought it encouraged development as its leader, Kitahi, had got the villagers to plant extensive gardens.

 Fr Shultz’s note had said only that there had been trouble with Kitahi, and Bongos village was very unsettled. 

 “Mr MacGregor, for the last few months I’ve been very worried about the general situation in the village. A number of my regular Mass-goers have not been turning up for services in the church. The practice of confession has completely fallen away, and Kitahi has been holding large village meetings where mission workers have been religiously, please excuse the pun, kept away.” 

  “The other evening at about 6:30 pm I was returning to my house, after talking to a group of catechists. When I got inside the front door, there was Kitahi and he came at me with a bush knife. His first swing got me on my arm. At first I was taken completely by surprise. He gave me a substantial cut on my arm and blood was flowing. However, I quickly regained my composure and I realised that this was a life and death struggle. Kitahi was intent on killing me.” 

 Kitahi was a tall man for a Melanesian, standing about 5 feet 10 inches and built like an ox. He was also a good 15 years younger than Karl, though he did not have Karl’s expertise in unarmed combat, learned in his German Army days. Kitahi’s line of attack mainly consisted of him swinging and thrusting the bush knife at Karl, and expending a lot of energy yelling. Karl demonstrated some brilliant maneuvering, and eventually closed with Kitahi, disarming him by putting him flat on his face with his arm twisted behind his back.  Karl then called for assistance from the group of catechists who were just outside his house, having come in response to all the noise emanating from the Father’s house. Together they took Kitahi, after binding his hands, to a nearby shed, where he had been kept under guard. Since the fight, he had been remarkably docile, and had given no trouble. Karl had been able to talk to him and find out more about what had been going on. 

 In the morning, the village leaders came to see MacGregor. MacGregor had already decided that his activities would be confined to an investigation, as the nature of Kitahi’s offences went beyond his jurisdiction. He intended to send him under guard to the Sub-District Office at Maprik, where the Assistant District Commissioner could decide if he had the jurisdiction to hear the case, or if he would refer it on to District level, where it could be heard by a visiting judge.

The following account, which Jock pieced together in investigating the witnesses, formed the basis of his report to the Assistant District Commissioner.  The Catholic Mission Station had been in Bongos for twelve years. Whatever Fr Shultz thought, in Jock’s opinion it had had very little influence on the people. Kitahi, in the early days of the mission, had been quite enthusiastic and was baptised a Catholic. Jock thought that he had never been much more than a ‘rice Christian’. His view was confirmed when Kitahi talked about the teachings of the mission as the rot bilong kago (the way to get goods). A number of years previously, Kitahi had become increasingly disillusioned with Catholicism, as the cargo did not seem to be coming, in spite of the fact that the teachings of the church said that all men were equal.  This, he felt, was rubbish as the whites obviously had so much more than everyone else. He did not reject the teaching as such, for he believed that Jesus wanted all men to be equal. So he could only conclude that Jesus’s intentions to distribute all goods equally were being thwarted by someone or something.

With this in mind, Kitahi decided to try the Protestant Mission.   The nearest Protestant Mission was not far away. He was given an enthusiastic welcome by Miss Helga Schwartz, a forceful German woman in charge of the South Seas Evangelical Mission. Miss Schwartz was very eager for converts, and was only too happy to save Kitahi from “Roman entrapment”. Kitahi was accommodated at the Mission Station, and Miss Schwartz gave him personal instruction in the Evangelical version of the reformed faith.

Everything appeared to be going well for about six months, but Kitahi was still confronted with what he considered a fundamental problem with the Christian message: the idea of the equality of all and the blatant inequality, in terms of possessions, between the blacks and the whites. Even in Miss Schwartz’s community of believers, the whites had it all. The blacks were left with very little. Kitahi still believed that Jesus wanted a fairer society, and the ancestral spirits, he considered, supported Jesus in also wanting this. 

  Kitahi considered that the abundance of the natural world depended on supernatural goodwill, and in his limited knowledge manufactured goods also depended on supernatural benevolence. After all, the goods, as far as he knew, came from nowhere in ships to Wewak and in planes to outstations. His thought processes increasingly became more and more anti-white. He had no sympathy with the concept of whites as ancestors, an idea advanced by some of the elders.

 In Jock’s opinion, these ideas were all very well if they stayed an inward-looking cult idea, but when interpreted as a philosophy of action leading to violence, they were quite unacceptable. Jock saw it as his clear duty to bring Kitahi to justice for his attempt on Karl Shultz’s life, and to do what he could to discourage the cult. 

  James had detected increasing disillusionment in Bill with the political goings-on in Moresby. In Bill’s words: “You have to associate with some real ratbags in the House of Assembly. That Peter Kitahi from the Dreikikir area is one of them. You know of him from your Dreikikir days, James. Jock, I think it was you who put him in the kalabus (gaol) for cargo cult activities, and attacking a Catholic priest.” 

  Peter Kitahi was knighted and was recognised as the father of the House of Assembly because of his years of service as a member. However, he lost his seat in the early 2000s and left politics under a cloud. There was a scandal about the granting of timber leases to a Malaysian company and accusations that Kitahi had been given money to facilitate this. He was not charged but strong suspicions remained that he was guilty. 

Excerpts from Sepik Blu Longpela Muruk

Bill Clayton thought to impress Yuriko Kamae with his knowledge of Japan and he was voicing ideas he had got from reading Ruth Benedict’s Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture. Yuriko was not impressed and said to Bill: “Ruth Benedict does not speak Japanese and she did no field work in Japan. Her book is full of circumstantial evidence.” Yuriko’s highly intellectual approach did not quite fit Bill’s ideas of female oriental submissiveness and her attraction for him somewhat diminished.

This gave James a chance to charm the fair Yuriko but he proved equally unable to attract her or so he thought. After a month in the bush, collecting and researching, the group returned to Angoram. They arranged a “thank you” celebration on board the houseboat they had hired from Bill Clayton, and the drink flowed. James Ward managed to arrange a very intimate tête-à-tête with Yuriko and they were getting on famously. Unfortunately, James was too far gone, alcoholically speaking, to realise how well he was doing and when one of the local maidens arrived, he switched his attention to her, and dropped Yuriko.

The next morning, Bill Clayton told James what an idiot he had been. “James, a trip to Japan sounds like a good idea,” he said.  “How about coming with me? Don’t worry about the money. If you are short, I can lend it to you. We wouldn’t spend too much time with the old Professor. But Masanori Sato intimated that there was a good time to be had in Kyoto and other places. He said he has his contacts, and you never know your luck. Yuriko might be pleased to see you again. Jun Kato told us that Kyoto would be our city if we came. Anyhow, think about it.”

 The lure of the East was a compelling attraction for our two travellers. One would not go so far as to describe them as amateur anthropologists, but Dr Yuriko Kamae had certainly aroused their interest. Masanori Sato’s description of the Pontocho District in Kyoto with the cafes, pubs and love hotels was certainly of anthropological interest and a motivating factor in their decision to go to Japan. 

The dinner went off very well and all the group who had been in Angoram was there except for Yuriko. She was feeling unwell and sent her apologies with a message that she hoped to meet up with James and Bill as soon as she was better. 

While Bill was meeting the bank official, James called into the university in the hope of seeing Yuriko. At the university desk, he was told that Dr Yuriko Kamae was in her office and would be pleased to see him. He was directed to her office on the door of which he saw written: Dr Y. Kamae, Department of Anthropology, in English and Japanese. James knocked on the door and Yuriko opened it. She held James’s hands and said: “Oh, James, it’s nice to see you again.” James enquired about her health and she informed him that she was now quite well. “Come in, James, and sit down. First I want to say how happy we are all to see you and Bill again. Professor Akagi is most grateful for the help you gave our party in New Guinea.” “Yuriko, it was our pleasure,” replied James. “We were only sorry you could not stay longer.” Yuriko was dressed in western clothes. She wore a miniskirt. The miniskirt was very popular in Japan after the model Twiggy visited Japan in 1967. James could not help thinking how self-assured and confident Yuriko looked. She went on to talk about the New Guinea trip.

“The university is most happy with the collection we made on the Sepik River. Professor Akagi mentioned you and Bill to the Vice-Chancellor and how helpful you both were.” James said this was very kind of him. Yuriko went on to say:

“We were very fortunate to have Akira as the leader of our group. I don’t know if you know, but as well as his Japanese qualifications, he has degrees from Oxford and Yale. At the outbreak of war, he was conscripted into the army and eventually attained the rank of colonel serving in infantry and intelligence units. He was with the Japanese army in China and the Philippines. He is one of the most liberal-minded and intelligent men I have ever met. He has told me privately that right from the start of the war, he was against it. Apart from seeing little justification for it, he realised that Japan would have no chance of winning. 

“The trouble was, he said, that most Japanese leaders did not understand the British and American people. Even at the very start, he did not believe that the Germans could defeat the British. Japanese people misjudged the British and criticised them as empire builders who were all hated by their subjugated peoples. They often talked of Gandhi and how he was supposed to hate the British. To Akira the survival of Gandhi said a lot for the magnanimity of British rule. He wondered how someone like Gandhi would have fared in our colony of Korea. “There’s something else I want to tell you about Akira. He is, in many ways, a very sad man and unlike many Japanese, he is conscience stricken by many things he was forced to do during the war. You know what happened in Timbunki during the war. Well, when we got there, he asked to see the village officials. I don’t know exactly what was said, as he had a private meeting with them, but from what I heard, he apologised for the unforgivable part the Japanese army took in the massacre. He said his apology was as a human being and he regretted that he could not make an official apology. Out of his own private funds, he arranged to purchase an outboard motor for the village.” James said that he always knew that the Professor was a gentleman. Yuriko then said: “James, there’s something more personal I want to talk to you about. Early in our stay in Angoram, I told Akira that I liked you. He was not worried about this but he did advise me to be cautious and discreet. He considered that we were visitors in New Guinea and we should be careful not to upset anyone, but on the other hand, he intimated that he was happy to see nature take its course. With you, James, I must say it’s very hard to read the signs of nature. Every time I sent out messages that I liked you, you seemed to step back, so I could only conclude that you did not want to develop a relationship with me.” 

James was quite abashed by what Yuriko had said. He could only offer a weak explanation. “I’m sorry Yuriko, but I’m basically shy and sometimes I fail to act when I really want to.” 

“James, there is a saying in English, to strike while the iron is hot, but that’s all in the past.” Yuriko was charming and delightful but naturally, she was still somewhat aggrieved at what she perceived as a rejection by James. He was now to experience something of the reaction of a woman scorned.

“James, I hear that you paid a visit to the Pontocho District. I hope you enjoyed yourself, and I’m sure you’re not always shy.”

Yuriko achieved what she wanted as James was now totally embarrassed. But she softened the blow by pointing out to him that Japanese women knew the ways of men. James wondered how she knew about the Pontocho visit. He was thinking: “Masanori must have told her. Maybe he fancies her himself and he wants to ruin my chances.”

They parted on good terms with Yuriko promising to attend a farewell dinner that Professor Akagi had arranged next week for Bill and James.

Bill and James left Japan not long after Professor Akagi’s farewell dinner for them, with everyone swearing undying friendship for each other and promising to meet up again.

Yuriko said goodbye to James with a plaintive look in her eyes.  Both concluded that the trip had been enjoyable and worthwhile. Bill had some assurances from potential investors but his greatest joy was the prospect of Rie coming to Angoram. James was sad that things had not worked out with Yuriko but he realised that she required high standards of the men in her life. He suspected that her admiration for Professor Akagi’s qualities was a measure she used in evaluating other men.

 “After our experience with Yuriko, you should have known that not all Japanese women are like that,” James told Bill. .

Dr Yuriko Kamae joined the United Nations, eventually becoming the special assistant to the Under-Secretary-General in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). She was the author of a report presented to the General Assembly on gender-based violence in Africa. At the time of writing she was serving as the Chief Humanitarian Coordinator for Africa, stationed in Khartoum, Sudan. Yuriko dedicated her life to her work and to date had not married.

Bill Clayton treasured a letter he received from Yuriko shortly after James disappeared. Yuriko wrote that she had fond memories of the time she spent in New Guinea and that she would never forget James. “Dear James’s loss has left me quite heartbroken.”  Bill was to wonder years after if there was more than a dedication to work that had prevented Yuriko from marrying. 

Excerpts from Sepik Blu Longpela Muruk