From Switzerland to PNG ...

How does a Swiss come to work for an organisation that only exists in a country at the other end of the world and is run mainly by Australians?

Back home… As an electronics engineer, working in the development of hardware and software for wearable and medical devices, I thought I could probably be of no use in a country like PNG. I had been thinking about a practical short term missionary service before, but all I could think of being required in this country were people who were able to build houses, repair cars or work in a hospital. None of them applied to me, so I thought PNG is for sure the wrong place for me. At a mission conference in my local church, a missionary asked for somebody to go to PNG to repair radios and computers. That hit me at once, because I was looking for something like this, but had no clue, what and where? (I had been talking with an elder of my church months before about an opportunity to serve the Lord.) This elder came to me right after the service and told me: “I just thought about you, when he mentioned the need for an electronics technician!” – “So did I”, I replied, and from that moment I knew, this was what I was looking for.

Due to a heavy work load, it was impossible to get an unpaid holiday from the company I work for. There were just four engineers, and we could not afford it to have one away for three months. So I had been waiting for more than six months when my boss told me during a lunch break, that I could have a three months break in October or November. I had to finish my two projects before I left. One of them was a miniature GPS datalogger that would fit to a dove’s back and record a whole track while the dove was flying.

…on the way to PNG

 Finally, in November, I started the journey to PNG. I experienced the taste of this country before I even reached it – in Singapore my Air Niugini flight was cancelled for some reason. So I had to wait for two days until I could fly into PNG. …work at CRMF Even though I did similar jobs as back home, the work was challenging every day. If an electronic component is not available in stock, you go to the cellar where there are plenty of old radios, monitors and computers piled up as spare parts. I was amazed how much I could find there! Norm gave me special jobs, for which he had no time. One of them was to design a soft start for a very old film projector – to increase the life expectancy of the bulb, which is very expensive and hard to get in such a country. Open Bible Mission uses that film projector to show the Jesus film. Another project was to build a power detector that raises an alarm as soon as the main power is back in case of a blackout. Blackouts can occur several times a week. The generator hours can be minimized this way. In Switzerland you would bring faulty electronics to a dedicated service center for repair – if you didn’t throw it away. Here, at once, you find yourself to be the service center for all kinds of electronic stuff that are not working anymore! Though challenging, this makes it interesting. For me it was a chance to work on things that I hadn’t opened before. Like a monitor that could be fixed by just altering a resistor value (I was glad having Norm to help me on that job)!

…travelling around PNG

Travelling was a special experience too. When I wanted to return from a holiday on the coast, Airlink had shifted me to an earlier flight, even though I had my flight confirmed for about three times! My original flight was full, but then, after some discussions, they told me to stand on the scale with all my luggage. “Ok, we’ll mount another seat for you!” they replied, and I could fly back along with a dog and a cat in the plane. Indeed, I learned a lot during these three months – including Australian and Canadian accent, which I’m still struggling with;- besides a little Pidgin. For sure it is a great experience for my lifetime.

Andy Daetwyler