Keru Ventured into the Woods

Firewood has been one of the main source of fuel for residents in Port Moresby. It’s also cheap and a substitute for those in the city during black outs, when gas for cooking runs out and even when residents in the city can’t recharge their easy pay power to cook with. When Tolukuma Gold Mine was shut a few years back, Victor Keru was unemployed and has not decided to look for a job elsewhere, he decided to do something else making a living in Port Moresby. He was an underground miner for almost 10 years at the now defunct Tolukuma mine. Fortunately, he bought a block of land at Gerega up Magi Highway while he was still employed by the mine. For now, with the down turn in the economy, Keru has ventured into doing what he does best and that is selling dry fire woods. He has being doing this for the last eight months. “For those who are in the informal sector, buai (betel nut) ban is affecting all the sellers. I decided to sell firewood to make a decent living in the city,” Keru hinted. All of his firewood is chopped from the trees from his block of land at Gerega. Keru is from Kosipe village in Woitape LLG, Goilala district in Central province. He transports the firewood by hiring vehicles to the busy Manu auto port market in Port Moresby. Like the others in other businesses, he too faced stiff competition from competitors, rainy days even gave him hard time to sell and the price ranges from K5 to K10 only. He makes about K50 to K70 everyday depending on the number of customers. On ordinary weekends and special days such as Christmas, New Year, Mother’s day, Easter or graduation days Keru’s earns K200 to K300 per day. “Most of what I earn from selling is to cater for basic needs like food, clothes and car hire. I save K20 to K30 a day in the bank depending on how much I earn and even pay for school fees, and worst still unplanned family commitments and other social gatherings,” Keru explained. “With the upcoming 2018 PNG APEC Summit the National Capital District Commission has warned all firewood sellers to look elsewhere or market their produce out of the main city. My only concern is can the city authority build a bigger better market here or a place where we sellers of firewood can sell,” he commented.