Category: Uncategorized

A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to return to Bougainville, the place Caitlin and I will soon call home.

Our office in Buka had very little to no internet. Essentially no communications. For a team trying to start up operations in one of the most remote corners of the world, that’s not just an inconvenience, it’s a mission stopper. Under my current role it is my responsibility to ensure adequate systems for our staff, so I packed my bags, all sorts of equipment to try and solve the problem, put a plan in place to fix it and jumped on a plane.

The plan was simple enough. Ship an unused satellite dish from our Goroka office in mainland PNG a week before I land. Ample time, you’d think. Express shipping, domestic route, one week head start.

I should know by now that PNG is the land of the unexpected. Very rarely does anything go to plan, flight delays, bad weather, forgotten manifests, no power, someone not getting paid, so many things you don’t think of can go wrong.

Two weeks away from home, away from Caitlin, is about my limit. After that, homesickness kicks in hard and I miss her dearly. But the chance to put my skills to real use, in a place I love, doing work that has direct impact on people’s quality of life? I locked in four weeks without hesitation. Surely that would be enough time.

The dish didn’t arrive in four days as promised. Or that week. Or the week after.

For a while I sat with that frustration. I had come to fix something and I couldn’t. Thankfully we found a few limited workarounds, bringing in multiple 4G signals to try and make use of the rare moments they were available. But still, hours, days at a time there would be no usable connection. Maybe you could get emails in one moment, maybe a video call, but for weeks I could hardly even call back home to talk to Caitlin. All of that builds up into frustration and a longing for home. There was literally nothing we could do with local internet options. Until the satellite dish arrived, I had to just slow down. Not able to keep up with an overflowing inbox or missed meetings, I was feeling very stressed, at least at the start.

And honestly? It was exactly what I needed. Other than not being able to talk to Caitlin.

That forced stillness became one of the most valuable things about the trip. With no connectivity pulling at me I had to stop, look around, and actually feel what it’s like to operate in this environment every single day. Our staff here, and in all of our remote programmes, aren’t dealing with slow internet. They’re dealing with nothing at times. The feeling of isolation when this happens is real, not because you can’t watch YouTube or browse Facebook. How often do you pick up the phone to message your partner, mum or friend? Little conversations, or the times you really need to talk, all of a sudden are no longer possible.

I also had time to really dig into the technical side of high latency and packet loss connections, getting the most out of what little connectivity exists in places like this. But that’s not something you want to read about here. Trust me.

When the dish finally arrived we got to work. The team came together and mounted it three stories up on the roof of our main building. All installed within a day. Problem solved, connection restored, mission back on track.

Nope.

Days of alignment attempts followed. Early mornings and late nights, the only times it was cool enough to be on that roof, and still no signal. Then a local installer reached out and came over with a big smile, laughing: “Yeah, Buka is the hardest place to get a connection, so many people give up.” Feeling a little validated after all my failed attempts. He got to work and said it would be done by end of day. I’ll spare you the rest of the details but it took an additional three weeks before we had a connection. By then I’d already had to leave Bougainville, feeling utterly defeated. I had come with a purpose, to connect this team, to help them, and I hadn’t been able to finish the job. I’m so grateful for Joel who stuck at it for weeks after I left to get it across the line.

But all was not lost.

The fact that I was there when I was put me in Buka at exactly the right moment. The MAF Technologies team, Nasson, Noah and the crew, were preparing for one of their solar and HF radio installation trips. A full install at one of the most remote health clinics in all of Bougainville. I had hoped that during my time here I might get to tag along for a day, just to get a feel for what the work involves. This was more than that. This was the real thing.

I didn’t think twice.

But that story, 112 kilometres of open ocean, a maternity ward without power, and a community that hadn’t been forgotten after all, that deserves its own post.

Next up: Han Island.

From day one at MAF, I’ve watched the MAF Tech team do incredible work across Papua New Guinea. Bryan (head of MAF Technologies) became a wonderful friend and mentor. While I loved my IT management role, my heart was always pulled toward MAF Tech’s direct impact—using technology skills to transform lives. When whispers started about MAF returning to Bougainville, something jumped in my soul. Bryan would tell me about the people there, the opportunities to serve isolated communities. I couldn’t shake it.

As plans shifted from ideas to actions, one question consumed me, could I really be part of this? Then John and Corine Woodberry came through the Cairns office early this year, and my excitement kicked into overdrive. This power couple, passionate, skilled and fired up for the Lord, had been called to launch MAF’s operations in Bougainville. Within months, they accomplished what seemed impossible, establishing MAF’s presence, making contacts, finding housing. Watching them work was nothing short of miraculous.

Shortly after John and Corine landed in Buka and set up initial operations, I got the call: “Come help set up our IT infrastructure.” I packed every inch of my luggage allowance with IT equipment, routers, cables, laptops and network gear. Then I packed more! There was no room to forget anything, no backup plan, no “I’ll order that online.” Everything we’d need had to fit in those suitcases.

The moment I stepped off the aircraft, I was hooked. The humid, stormy air, which I love. The impossibly green landscape. And the ocean, oh, that ocean. Walking towards the Airport with my travel companion Steve we spotted John waving joyfully at our arrival. We packed ourselves in the tiny terminal and waited for what seemed like a lifetime, packed in like sardines. I was a bit nervous as Air Niugini has a habit of ‘missing’ your luggage, and I had a lot of it. Waiting and waiting, the room slowly thinned but still nothing of my precious IT cargo. Finally, on the last tractor driven trolley were our bags and boxes, success, we made it!

Every day was an adventure in problem-solving. Simple tasks became mission impossible. Need a cable? Walk every store in Buka searching for what would be an everyday item back home. Installing equipment? Try working in sweltering ceiling spaces—I won’t forget that anytime soon. Mounting the satellite dish? Dodge tropical storms and pray the crumbling wooden walls hold. And every piece of equipment I’d packed? I prayed none of it was damaged on the flight because there was no Plan B, no Amazon next-day delivery. I loved every second of it.

I left Buka feeling bittersweet. I knew this was where God wanted me, but how could I leave my current role? My IT team? We’ve been through so much together. With all the pressure the department faces, the guilt was crushing. But God had prepared me for this moment. Years ago, He taught me a hard truth: “You are not that important, Karlos.” Those words still resonate. Not because God doesn’t love me, but because His mission is bigger than me. If I don’t go, He’ll send someone else. If I leave my team, God will provide and most likely with someone who does even greater things than I could. The question isn’t whether my team can survive without me. It’s whether I’ll say yes when God opens the door.

This is my new journey. God has been preparing me for it for years I just didn’t know it yet. From grandad’s shed building planes, to the struggles that led me to faith, to landing at MAF, to every skill I’ve learned, it was all pointing here. To Bougainville. To Buka. To using technology to bring light to communities living in darkness. The seed God planted years ago? I can see how it all comes together now.