By: Jaive Smare
Source: www.myamazingparadise.com
Link: http://www.myamazingparadise.com/?p=361&lang=en-us
On my recent visit to Panguna, I was surprised to find a coffee shop with freshly baked scones.
Seriously, a coffee shop in the middle of Panguna! ….And I mean good coffee with freshly baked scones.
I had to have a chat with the owner to ask him how he came up with the idea of the coffee shop here.
Chris Tarusi has some stories to tell. One of them is why one of his legs sets of metal detectors in airports.
His shrapnel still in it from where a mortar exploded and wounded him. He has had a lot of close calls in the Bougainville crisis. But when he recounts these incidents, he tells them all laughing at the same time, you sort of forget how serious it was for him at those times.
Chris, who is from Panguna, was a young man when the Bougainville Crisis escalated. He found himself in the frontline. Years later, he is one of the survivors starting a new life.
Chris is now a small businessman and runs a tuckerbox and the coffee shop in the heart of Panguna.
His tuckerbox is well stocked. You can find rice, tinned goods, clothing and more at the store. He gets his stock from Buka as well as all the way at Rabaul and he employs one young man to help him.
The coffee shop is connected to the tucker box. It is a nice roomy affair with a section where the coffee is made, chairs and tables, hot water urn, cups and coffee & sugar jars.
He charges 10th per cup and sells freshly baked scones which he bakes himself in a wood-fired oven converted out of an old fuel drum.
Over a cup of coffee I asked him how he made the move into becoming a small entrepreneur with a great coffee shop.
When the Bougainville crisis began to end and the peace and reconciliation processes grew stronger, Chris decided to get into other income generating activities.
He started first with scrap metal, succeeding to send a container full of scrap metal to Lae.
However, the scrap metal industry in Port Moresby is not run by the most honest people and he almost made a loss. Deciding that this was not the way to go, he ventured into gold buying.
Panguna and the hills around Arawa and Kieta are awash with gold. Alluvial mining is an important economic activity here. In fact while we were talking, his daughter was just outside the coffee shop panning for gold in the dirt. She had about a gram when we discovered what she was doing.
So Chris began buying gold. Unfortunately, there are many gold buyers in Bougainville. Chris quickly found himself locked in a price war with the other buyers. All the gold buyers were cutting their profit margins so that they could offer higher prices and attract more alluvial miners. He found profits were very small and the chance of making a loss was quite high.
With the savings he had Chris started the store in Panguna.
He worked day and night to build the store out of the ruins of the old Panguna police station/court house.
The store consisted of two rooms. One was the actual store itself and the other was living quarters for himself and sometimes, his family.
Chris then extended the living quarters and converted the area into the coffee shop.
He quickly discovered that the alluvial miners are a hungry bunch of people, especially after a day toiling in the dirt. Sometimes, all they wanted was somewhere to sit down, have a scone and take a break. His coffee shop has become a busy place.
I asked Chris what his plans for the future were.
He answered that he’ll take things slowly and see how it will go. Chris seems open to whatever the future brings him.
The more we talked into the night with his generator humming away outside, drinking cups of coffee as customers came and went from the tuckerbox and the coffee shop, the more I realized that Chris started his little ventures not to become a businessman.
He started his activities for his family so his children could participate fully in Bougainville’s new future.
His family is quite supportive of his activities, his wife especially.
Chris is like so many other entrepreneurs I met in Bougainville. When you ask them why they started their activities they say simply. “I have a family, we have kids.”
If you ever up in Panguna, or if you are in Arawa, get yourself up to Panguna and go have a cup of coffee and some freshly baked scone at Chris Tarusis’ Coffee Shop.
If you don’t know the history of Panguna, the idea of a coffee shop up there doesn’t seem like much. Please see this post I wrote earlier that could assist you to see why I was impressed.
Related posts:
Source: www.myamazingparadise.com
Link: http://www.myamazingparadise.com/?p=361&lang=en-us
On my recent visit to Panguna, I was surprised to find a coffee shop with freshly baked scones.
Chris in the Coffee Shop
I had to have a chat with the owner to ask him how he came up with the idea of the coffee shop here.
Chris Tarusi has some stories to tell. One of them is why one of his legs sets of metal detectors in airports.
His shrapnel still in it from where a mortar exploded and wounded him. He has had a lot of close calls in the Bougainville crisis. But when he recounts these incidents, he tells them all laughing at the same time, you sort of forget how serious it was for him at those times.
Chris, who is from Panguna, was a young man when the Bougainville Crisis escalated. He found himself in the frontline. Years later, he is one of the survivors starting a new life.
Chris is now a small businessman and runs a tuckerbox and the coffee shop in the heart of Panguna.
His tuckerbox is well stocked. You can find rice, tinned goods, clothing and more at the store. He gets his stock from Buka as well as all the way at Rabaul and he employs one young man to help him.
The coffee shop is connected to the tucker box. It is a nice roomy affair with a section where the coffee is made, chairs and tables, hot water urn, cups and coffee & sugar jars.
He charges 10th per cup and sells freshly baked scones which he bakes himself in a wood-fired oven converted out of an old fuel drum.
Over a cup of coffee I asked him how he made the move into becoming a small entrepreneur with a great coffee shop.
When the Bougainville crisis began to end and the peace and reconciliation processes grew stronger, Chris decided to get into other income generating activities.
He started first with scrap metal, succeeding to send a container full of scrap metal to Lae.
However, the scrap metal industry in Port Moresby is not run by the most honest people and he almost made a loss. Deciding that this was not the way to go, he ventured into gold buying.
Panguna and the hills around Arawa and Kieta are awash with gold. Alluvial mining is an important economic activity here. In fact while we were talking, his daughter was just outside the coffee shop panning for gold in the dirt. She had about a gram when we discovered what she was doing.
So Chris began buying gold. Unfortunately, there are many gold buyers in Bougainville. Chris quickly found himself locked in a price war with the other buyers. All the gold buyers were cutting their profit margins so that they could offer higher prices and attract more alluvial miners. He found profits were very small and the chance of making a loss was quite high.
With the savings he had Chris started the store in Panguna.
He worked day and night to build the store out of the ruins of the old Panguna police station/court house.
The store consisted of two rooms. One was the actual store itself and the other was living quarters for himself and sometimes, his family.
Chris then extended the living quarters and converted the area into the coffee shop.
He quickly discovered that the alluvial miners are a hungry bunch of people, especially after a day toiling in the dirt. Sometimes, all they wanted was somewhere to sit down, have a scone and take a break. His coffee shop has become a busy place.
I asked Chris what his plans for the future were.
He answered that he’ll take things slowly and see how it will go. Chris seems open to whatever the future brings him.
The more we talked into the night with his generator humming away outside, drinking cups of coffee as customers came and went from the tuckerbox and the coffee shop, the more I realized that Chris started his little ventures not to become a businessman.
He started his activities for his family so his children could participate fully in Bougainville’s new future.
His family is quite supportive of his activities, his wife especially.
Chris is like so many other entrepreneurs I met in Bougainville. When you ask them why they started their activities they say simply. “I have a family, we have kids.”
If you ever up in Panguna, or if you are in Arawa, get yourself up to Panguna and go have a cup of coffee and some freshly baked scone at Chris Tarusis’ Coffee Shop.
If you don’t know the history of Panguna, the idea of a coffee shop up there doesn’t seem like much. Please see this post I wrote earlier that could assist you to see why I was impressed.
Chris at the Tuckerbox at night
His daughter pans for gold just outside the doorway. You can see it.
Chris Tomato Garden
Chris' employee at the well stocked tradestore.
- Jared’s Unique ‘Custom’ Store at Panguna
- The Panguna Mine Experience…part 2
- THE PANGUNA MINE EXPERIENCE…part 1
- ARAWA, Bougainville; Images of the Revival from Ruins
- Arawa Market – Reflects Bougainville’s Blessings
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