Speaking as someone (happily) submerged in a world of nappies and broken sleep, it’s good to see there are still a few of my ilk cranking it up. I look forward to seeing a shot from the session on an album sometime soon. And more to the point, giving it a listen. Nice work, fellas!

The video looks at maternal health in rural Cambodia and the varied experiences of mother-of-three Srey Pov. Many thanks to her as well as to Save the Children, Khun Chanpha, Nim Sinin and my wife Grace for doing the voice over.

The first set covers a sod-turning ceremony for an aged care facility in Redfern with two federal ministers: Tanya Plibersek, Human Services and Social Inclusion, and Mark Butler, Mental Health and Ageing. Tanya Plibersek is also the local MP. It’s not often I say this about politicians but she strikes me as someone with real heart, intelligence and integrity (and not just because on arrival she had a lengthy chat with a fellow photographer and I about babies and sleepless nights).

The later images are shots of clients and carers at Charles Chambers Court aged care facility in Surry Hills. It’s a place with a superb location and a very warm, friendly atmosphere.

Keep up the good work Mission Australia!

Once the official bit was out of the way a splendidly adorned ute (pick-up truck) lead a raucous procession around the temple complex. It was nice to see the local falang dignitaries let their hair down, wave their hands around and pose for snaps with exotically attired transexuals.

But no beer! It must be something to do with licensing laws but it’s a damn shame since the amber nectar is such a strong common bond between the cultures (along with utes). Both un-Lao and un-Australian. Speaking personally I miss the ‘sober to staggering in ten minutes’ principle  of Lao party drinking – it’s just not quite the done thing at dinner parties. But mai pen lai – such is the Lao appetite for fun that, booze or no booze, a rollicking good time was had by all!

PNG has problems as daunting as its immensely rugged landscape. In the rapidly swelling towns, unemployment is a blight that inevitably feeds into crime, violence and alcohol and drug abuse. Clan loyalties, arguably a force for social cohesion in a village setting, become cause for misunderstanding and conflict. In Goroka, a highland market town until recently tranquil, reports of violent crime are now common. Madang, to many visitors a tropical idyll, has settlements as trouble-prone as any in the capital. It was there I interviewed and photographed a reformed ‘raskol’, who described how he and his friends would regularly indulge in gang-rape. His former friends still do.

But I met so many inspiring people. The staff of Poro Sapot, an Port Moreby-based NGO of sex workers promoting safe sex practices among their colleagues, struck me as remarkably strong, passionate and effective. Everywhere I went I met people who were committed to making a difference. A man in the highland district of Asaro saw how unschooled children were drifting into crime so he used his own meagre resources to set up a small but thriving school. In remote villages and tough settlements I met people who were eloquent and well-informed about the issues facing their communities.

For a visitor, PNG isn’t an easy place to travel. It’s not cheap, not always safe and it’s thin on infrastructure. So I feel privileged to have had this opportunity to see – or rather glimpse – so much of the county. I can’t wait to get back there.

PS A big thanks to Oxfam NZ for making it possible!

To the uninitiated, a throat singing performance may conjure images of an evening spent listening to someone gargle Listerine. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is entrancing, mesmerising and not a little psychedelic. Not surprisingly perhaps it was first developed, in northeast Asia at least, by shamans, and later taken up as part of the vibrant Mongolian musical culture.

Bukhu, a student and Sydney resident, is also a master on the horse fiddle, which (to a musical knucklehead like myself) sounds somewhere between a violin and a cello. There was an ode to Genghis Khan (apparently a more complex and nuanced figure than he’s made out to be in the West) and a lovely rendition of Waltzing Matilda that brought a tear to good few Aussie eyes. Some tunes haunted, other bore the gallop of hooves across the Steppe.

Bukhu is a modest yet charismatic fellow. After one delightful number he apologised for it being “boring”. If that was the case he can bore me anytime.

This blog is dedicated my personal/editorial/international development/commercial work. If you’d like to see the other things I do, namely wedding photography and family portraiture, please take a look.

So, enough talk, let’s get on with it…