By Patrick Nicholson “After washing in the stream, our faces
became swollen and we developed a rash,” said Veronica Pili. She
shows the red marks down her arms. The same spots cover the
children. Her village in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea sits
high up a mountain, covered in thick forest and jungle. “We went
to the local clinic, but they just told us we needed to go to
the hospital. It’s a couple of hours away and we can’t afford
the transport or the treatment even if we could reach there,”
she said. Caritas Papua New Guinea’s Director Raymond Ton leads
the way to the stream that villagers say is polluted. It’s very
murky, but what concerns him the most are the tiny bubbles he
says are not normal. Skin rashes aren’t the only problem facing
Veronica’s village in Heights 1 in Hela. She shows the stunted
Popo fruit (a kind of Papaya) hanging limply off the branches.
Their trees don’t produce any fruit anymore, their potatoes
don’t grow and recent deadly landslides scar the mountainside.
The villagers say th