Solina is passionate about ensuring her fellow Sokamin villagers remain healthy.
Solina Komokap is deeply passionate about her Community Health Worker (CHW) role in the remote village of Sokamin, nestled in the rugged terrain of West Sepik’s Telefomin district. As a frontline care provider for the village’s 400-plus residents, Solina is a lifeline in a place where the nearest government station in Telefomin is more than a day’s trek away – even for the strongest community members. Yet, despite the isolation and tough conditions, she continues to deliver essential health services, made possible through the vital support of Frieda River Limited (FRL).
Solina serves her patients in a permanent clinic built for the village by FRL. The clinic is equipped with a high-frequency radio, which allows Solina to call for emergency medical evacuations using the FRL chartered helicopter service. Together with the FRL medical staff, Solina ensures that patients in critical need can receive swift care at either the Telefomin district hospital or at Wewak’s Boram hospital. Additionally, FRL provides transportation of medical supplies – vaccines and essential medications – from the government’s Area Medical Store at Wewak to Sokamin and other villages in the Frieda River catchment, overcoming the tyranny of distance.
The isolation of Sokamin means that residents often complain of common ailments such as muscle pain, cuts, and bruises, resulting from their daily routines, as Solina explains in Tok Pisin. “Nogat rot or airstrip long Sokamin. Olsem na mipela save wokabaut longpela hap, go antap na kamdaun long ol maunten na kalapim ol wara go long Telefomin or Hotmin long karim timba, kapa, ol stua kaikai kam long ples. Bodi blong mipela save pen, na sua save kamap long lek han.” (Here in Sokamin, there are no roads or an airstrip. We walk long distances over mountains, down valleys, and across rivers carrying timber, roofing iron, and store goods to the village. Our bodies endure constant strain, aches, and sores from the tough life we lead).
However, Sokamin and its neighbours are poised for a major transformation with the proposed FRL’s multi-billion-kina Sepik Development Project (SDP). This ambitious initiative – which includes a copper-gold mine, a hydroelectric dam, which will also be an integrated waste storage facility, power grid infrastructure, and the construction of roads, air, and seaports – promises to bring profound change to the region.
Solina holds a strong conviction that FRL’s proposed method of mineral development is the most responsible and sustainable approach for harnessing one of the world’s largest undeveloped orebodies, benefiting not just the Sepik provinces but all of Papua New Guinea.
“Mipela wanbel olsem wanem samting kampani i laik wokim em bai wokim stret. Em no inap kamapim bagarap nating long wara na environment. Mipela wet longpela taim long lukim gutpela divelopmen em bai bringing sustainable senis olsem ol bikpela hausik, rot, bris, skul. Mi askim yumi olgeta Sepik komyuniti na gavman long wanbel na sapotim Frieda River projek.”
(We agree that the company will do the right thing by us. We have waited a long time to see meaningful development- the kind that brings good change like modern hospitals, roads, bridges, and schools. I urge all our Sepik communities and the government to support the Frieda River project, as it will bring sustainable, positive change we’ve longed for.)
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