Showing Appreciation by Bishop Peter Fox.
Princess Anne’s visit to Port Moresby last week was an opportunity to recognise the service given to Papua New Guinea and the Commonwealth by so many people. During the day Her Royal Highness visited the Anglicare Centre where people living with HIV and AIDS are helped and supported, the Cheshire Home where handicapped people are cared for, the Family Support Centre at Port Moresby General Hospital where the victims of domestic violence are given assistance and refuge and Koki Development Centre where many are given new hope through training in useful skills. The Princess’s busy day concluded with the ceremony at which the first awards were presented under the new Logohu honours system.
The priority that Princess Anne gave to such caring agency, and to the marking of achievements in service to others was a reminder to all of us that it is important to acknowledge those who have given faithful service to the Nation.
For me, the most moving part of the day was its beginning at Bomana War Cemetery. I sat with some of the Papua New Guinea veterans of World War Two, people whose friends were amongst those buried beneath that hallowed soil. Despite her very demanding schedule Princess Anne gave time to each of them. She made it very clear that she valued them for the sacrifices they had made.
When I thought of what those people had gone through in the service of this country, the suffering they had endured, the dangers they had faced, it sent a chill down my spine. As I looked at row upon row of white tombstones --- each marking the grave of someone’s son, someone’s brother, I was reminded that the freedom we enjoy and for which so many gave their lives was very precious. Those people died for us.
I am glad Princess Anne acknowledged that fact because we can so easily forget.
It is for each of us, in remembering and honouring those who have served Papua New Guinea in the past, to ask what we can do for her in the present. As John F. Kennedy advised his own American people, we should “ask not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country.”
+Peter Fox.
Bishop of Port Moresby.
