Peter S. is a constituency member and former head of NBC radio in Bougainville. He came to the radio station and I said to Maria we needed ten more minutes to set up, so Peter waited outside, smoking in the shade. I asked Robert to stop drilling the roof of the generator hut for ten minutes, and he was very smiley and agreed. Peter came upstairs and we began the interview and midway through I went downstairs to ask Steve to be quiet, but said it in such a roundabout way that he eventually said, “oh she’s asking us to shut up,” so I said, “yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
Our interviewee was initially answering questions in a roundabout way, but after a few minutes, he began giving excellent responses – clear descriptions of passing a law, of the levels of the budget, of decision making in government, with examples from health, mining, education. The best part of the interview was at the end when he was talking about the referendum, saying the Peace Agreement gives a clear blue print. He was smiley yet serious and thoughtful. I liked that.
We went into town and bought some vegetables. A few days ago, I decided to stop eating Twisties and eat more fruit, so we bought a pineapple. Back home, the heat and the banging from the hut building were making me dizzy. I went through some more of our footage, and then read a little, and did some translating. We had an early dinner and I watched a bit of the Godfather with Tom as we ate. By sundown, it had begun to rain and the temperature dropped to the extent that I put socks and a jumper on, and sat comfortably in the hammock, reading Lorrie Moore on the lit-up kindle.
Cinema Bougainville 