Rabaul Vendor

Rabaul sunshine getting too hot for handicraft

ANTHONY ToUraliu, 75, from Rababat village in the Livuan Reimber Local Level Government in Gazelle district braves the sun to sell handicraft to tourists.
He and other handicraft vendors and producers hope that the authorities will build a proper craft market in Rabaul.
ToUraliu said the number of handicraft sellers had been increasing as the town and province begin to take notice of the tourism dollar flowing into the province.
They line up on both sides of the road outside the wharf in Rabaul selling their handicraft when cruise ships arrive.
ToUraliu sells carvings he makes out of what he finds in the jungle which probably belonged to Germans who were there in World War II.
He was there at the wharf again last Friday and Sunday selling to tourists who arrived on the cruise ships Sea Princess and Crystal Serenity to East New Britain.
Elly Rokasi, who lives in Kokopo, helps her husband to make a living by selling bilums and handicraft.
“But when cruise ships arrive, we are sitting in the sun and rain and breathing in dust from the road,” she said.
“Dust cover our products which is unfair. We want the government to assist us by building a proper market where we can comfortably sit and sell.”
Michael Waigoga, from Matupit island, sells jewellery and paintings and commended the initiative by the private sector through the Rabaul Discovery Tours to set up a temporary market for sellers.
The East New Britain Tourism Authority says the provincial government plans to build the Rabaul Craft market which has been allocated funding but a piece of land is yet to be identified.