Ethel Arek relates that Paulus Arek was teaching at Sogeri High School when the Director of Education called him down to go to Baluan Island. She describes that she went to stay with the Groves in Port Moresby to test her 'suitability' for marriage to Paulus Arek when she was 19.
Ethel Arek relates that the Education Department had problems with the schools at Manus Island and so transferred Paulus Arek there in 1954. She describes the fighting between the mission schools and the government schools and the problems attracting teachers.