The flight from Goroka to Simbai was only 40 minutes long but it was absolutely beautiful! The plane was built for 6 but it was just myself and the pilot flying so I was the co-pilot for the flight. I'm not kidding when I say that either..not that I did any actual flying but there was a secondary steering wheel(whatever it's called in a plane) right in front of me and all of buttons and whatnot that were used during the flight. I also got to wear these big head phones with a mouth piece that was used to talk to the different airports on our way. I had to crawl over the pilots seat to get to mine and all of the passenger seats behind us, had been removed and the luggage was strapped down instead. Needless to say I did not have to go through airport security and the bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse was not confiscated. It was a great day for flying so I get an awesome view of all the land and mountains on our way.
Getting ready to touch down in Simbai I look down at the "runway" which is a dirt path marked off with some lights...and I though Goroka's aiport was ghetto. They don't even bother to pretend this is an airport. So we touch down and I am happy to have a few familiar faces awaiting my arrival. Rob and Amy Wagner and their daughter Abby(16) are the family I will be staying with. Their oldest daughter Hope just went to the states for her freshman year of college. They are actually from Bellefonte and are HUGE Penn State fans so it was nice to feel close to home while being on the other side of the world. Along with them I meet Bill and Deb Tobias(a couple in their early 60's) and Mel Shustack(35) who one of the few if not the only single missionary in PNG, along with her mother who happened to be here visiting. So we load up everything and take off in the kaboda. Not to far from the airport we arrive at the Wagner's house. They have three hours of electricity a day but the rest of the day everything is battery powered. The roof od their house is mostly sunlights which actually makes it very bright during the day. I am sleeping in Hope's room and see I will be sleeping in a bunk bed that's about 10 feet from the floor. Now I am spoiled with a king sized bed at home and am a little worried I will fall out of this in the middle of the night. The Wagner's home is seperate from the other three missionary homes located in Simbai. They're only a few hundred yards away but the other home are all built right beside each other along with a workshop they use to build/store things and that property is fenced in.
The Simbai team is much different than the Goroka teams in various ways. Since they are so isolated from the rest of the world they rely on each other to stay sane so unity is very important for them. Bill and Deb are an older couple that are still young at heart. Especially Bill, Deb needs a hip replacement so she is pretty limited at the moment. Mel(who reminds me of my sister Kim mixed with Kelli Shaw) is the comedian on the group and is always cracking jokes. We have dinner together every night so I get to know them pretty well. The Wagner's just got back from their furlough(which is the extended period of time they spend back home in the states) but Mel is beginning hers the same time I head back to Goroka and Bill and Deb are going on furlough right after thanksgiving.
Most of my time in Simbai is spent relaxing and just hanging out with everyone. Sunday morning we have church service(in the church right behing the Wagners house) and I find out it's a special day for them because they are organizing their church. So the people will officially become members. After the service we head down for the mumu! Now a mumu is a big deal to them they have them on special occasions and after funerals. It's really just a big feast of different foods. They will kill a pig or two and then cook that along with all sorts of banana pumpkin squash etc in a big hole they dig in the ground. They typically start cooking in the middle of the night before the mumu is to take place. In the bottom on the hole they put a layer of hot rocks, followed by some food. On top of that more hot rocks followed by food and so on. I am not interested in any of the food so I have a little pork and rice then head over to play with some baby pigs nearby. I almost fed the one some of my pork then realized that wasn't the best of ideas.
Monday, the day before I head back to Goroka, was one of my favorite days of my entire trip to PNG. Rob, Bill, Abby and myself all pile onto the four wheelers, Rob driving with Abby and I sitting on the back, and Bill driving seperately. First we head down to the airstrip and once we make sure no planes are coming in, we race down the airstrip which is pretty cool. We then start down the "road" that takes us through the mountains. It's very narrow and bumpy and not at all safe in any way but it was a ton of fun. We drive for about 30 minutes and then come to the end of the road. It wasn;t always the end but an avalanche made it impossible to go any further. That doesn't matter to me though because to our left are a bunch of waterfalls. Abby and I jump off the four wheeler and start climbing up the mountain to get to the higher ones. Okay, this was challenging to do to begin with but I am in an ankle length skirt! I keep stepping on the bottom of my skirt and tripping over myself I have no idea how I am going to make it to the top. Apparently the path Abby had gone up before was overgrown so we were attempting to find our way up when two little boys come walking up. So we start climbing(more like crawling) up the side of the mountain and you have to grab onto roots and plants and pull your way up because it is so steep you cant walk..except for these boys who have no problem whatsoever doing this. So we're climbing higher and higher and all of the sudden BANG..terrental downpour! So this is how it rains in the middle of the jungle. So anyway I am thinking we're just going to go back down because it's all dirt where we're climbing and that has now turned to mud..but no we keep going. I am absolutely soaked and covered in mud and am trying to crawl up the steepest part of the mountain but it's not happening. I crawl up and slide right back down before I can grab onto anything. Abby's reaching out for my hand but mine is covered in mud and slips right out of hers. After a few minutes of this I am laughing so hard at myself it makes it even more challenging but i FINALLY make it. The rest of the climb is easy after that and it's amazing how pretty the waterfall is and especially the view from the top! So we climb(I slid of my butt most of the way) back down and get ready to head back. It's been puring the entire time we were climbing and has yet to let up but that makes the ride home even more fun! I'm in the middle of the jungle, on the back of a four wheeler, in the pouring rain. I felt like a little kid, I was smiling ear to ear the entire trip back, and the entire time we're passing all of the people huddled under umberellas trees branches to keep dry I know they have to be thinking white people are crazy.
The next day Mel, her mom, and I fly back to Goroka. I'm sad to be leaving so soon but happy to get back to everyone in Goroka..also beginning to get anxious to head back home to the states! I was relieved to hear that the ambulance driver(Curry) is safe despite another attempted attack on him Sunday night. To give you a better understanding of how everyone in this situation is related-Leena and Sonne are both aunties that work at Bill and Lori's house. Leena is married to Curry(ambulance driver accused of killing Lalow). Sonne is Lalow's sister(her brothers are the men accusing Curry of murdering their brother). Sonne has sided with Leena and Curry because she knows he did nothing to harm Lalow so her brothers have now disowned her. There is supposed to be a meeting Saturday to sort everything out between the brothers and Curry so I'll keep you updated.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Mobile Clinic
Wednesday was my first mobile clinic. We left the house around 7:30 and traveled about 30 minutes to another village. Half way into the drive we come to this huge river, with no road leading across. Now this thing had a really strong current, you'd get swept away if you tried to walk or swim across. Now this is completely normal for anyone living here but I am new to this so I found it to be pretty entertaining when Bill drives through it and the water is coming up the side of my door. The rest of the drive is absolutely beautiful I still cannot get over the mountains here! When we arrive there are 300-400 people awaiting our arrival. Some of the men had come in the ambulance, earlier that morning to get everything set up. We had one big tent that Lori used as an examination room and there were a few canopys set up for other purposes. Upon our arrival Bill had all of the people who needed to see Lori form a line so he could distribute numbers to each of these people. He soon realized there were more than had been expected and only gave numbers to the 200 that were in line, anyone coming later in the day wouldn'nt be able to see her. One of the pastors gave a short message before we started seeing any patients. There were about 10 people that would meet with each of the patients afterwards for a one on one ministry. Since I can't speak Pidgin I was given the fun job of treating sores! Yummy. There were a ton of people with sores and scabies and such, that myself along with one of the clinic nurses help treat. We pretty much just sprayed them with a type of antibotic and cleaned the area then put neosporn and a bandaid on. There were some pretty nasty looking infections coming through, especially with the poor little kids. Alot of them had scabies all over their bodies. After an hour of that we got through the majority of the people but Lori was only at patient number 40 out of 200...we had some time to kill. We ate lunch in the ambulance and then played some volleyball and finally at about 4 in the afternoon started packing things up. Long day but I got a nice tan!
As I headed out to the kitchen for breakfast yesterday morning, I could tell something was wrong. Bill and Lori were there talking and I could hear the worry in their voices. As I sat down at the kitchen table with my cup of coffee, Bill filled me in. Lalow's death, is still stirring up problems with the people here. Bear with me as I try to explain this because it's really confusing to put into words: A witch came to the village this morning in search of Lalow's spirit so he could tell her who killed him. She claims the murderer is the ambulance driver, who looked in the mirror while driving Lalow to the hospital and did sorcery on him. Now I've spent a great deal of time with this man lately and feel awful when I hear this because he is such a sweet guy. The witch was paid by Lalow's brothers to come find the killer and have said before that they suspected the ambulance driver so it's no surprise that's who she said was responsible. They are now demanding 10,000 kena(5,000 american dollars) and two pigs or they will kill him. The biggest thing that shocked me was that most of the people here believe(or are questioning) that he is responsible. And I'm talking about the christian guys and even the pastors! They have grown up believing that these so called witches NEVER lie about this, so it is hard for them to change their way of thinking.
It's Friday morning and I'm about to leave for Simbai. The power went out last night when I was trying to finish up this blog post so I have to hurry and write the rest, so sorry it is very rushed and probably confusing. But Lori just came and told me that some of the men came to village last night and tried to attack the ambulance driver in his sleep. Luckily alot of the christian men were sleeping outside of his home and all stuck together to stop the attackers. It's hard to imagine this is happening a few hundred yards away from where I had been sleeping. Anyway I am headed to Simbai in a 6 passenger plane, which should be fun. There are no roads leading in or out of Simbai so this is the only way to get there. They only have 3 hours of electricity a day and have no internet or phones. The only way of communicating with the outside world is through walkie talkies, which Bill contacts them with every Monday Wednesday and Friday to make sure they are okay. If they don't answer for 3 days he has to send out a search party for them, lets hope that doesn't happen while I'm there! Thank you all for your prayers and please continue praying for everyone here and the hardships they are facing!
As I headed out to the kitchen for breakfast yesterday morning, I could tell something was wrong. Bill and Lori were there talking and I could hear the worry in their voices. As I sat down at the kitchen table with my cup of coffee, Bill filled me in. Lalow's death, is still stirring up problems with the people here. Bear with me as I try to explain this because it's really confusing to put into words: A witch came to the village this morning in search of Lalow's spirit so he could tell her who killed him. She claims the murderer is the ambulance driver, who looked in the mirror while driving Lalow to the hospital and did sorcery on him. Now I've spent a great deal of time with this man lately and feel awful when I hear this because he is such a sweet guy. The witch was paid by Lalow's brothers to come find the killer and have said before that they suspected the ambulance driver so it's no surprise that's who she said was responsible. They are now demanding 10,000 kena(5,000 american dollars) and two pigs or they will kill him. The biggest thing that shocked me was that most of the people here believe(or are questioning) that he is responsible. And I'm talking about the christian guys and even the pastors! They have grown up believing that these so called witches NEVER lie about this, so it is hard for them to change their way of thinking.
It's Friday morning and I'm about to leave for Simbai. The power went out last night when I was trying to finish up this blog post so I have to hurry and write the rest, so sorry it is very rushed and probably confusing. But Lori just came and told me that some of the men came to village last night and tried to attack the ambulance driver in his sleep. Luckily alot of the christian men were sleeping outside of his home and all stuck together to stop the attackers. It's hard to imagine this is happening a few hundred yards away from where I had been sleeping. Anyway I am headed to Simbai in a 6 passenger plane, which should be fun. There are no roads leading in or out of Simbai so this is the only way to get there. They only have 3 hours of electricity a day and have no internet or phones. The only way of communicating with the outside world is through walkie talkies, which Bill contacts them with every Monday Wednesday and Friday to make sure they are okay. If they don't answer for 3 days he has to send out a search party for them, lets hope that doesn't happen while I'm there! Thank you all for your prayers and please continue praying for everyone here and the hardships they are facing!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
creeper alert-i need some mace
Sunday morning we headed up to the Kokinaga church for the last time(for me at least-next sunday i will be in simbai and the following ill be on my way home). Ruthie and I did the lesson for the kids, then played a few games and we gave them prizes I had brought from home. They were excited about this because most of these kids have nothing so punch balls and book marks were a big deal. We stayed for the entire service this week instead of just sunday school, because with Bill still being in Medang it was too hard for all of us to go to the other church as well. There were at least 4 women breast feeding in the middle of the service, not worrying about covering themselves up, thats just how it is here.(hahah can't even imagine the reaction we would have if someone did this in america)I look around at everyone, sitting there in the dirt, intent on what the pastor. At the end of the service the pastor explains to the congregration that it will be my last week at their church before i go back to america and he tells me how thankful he and the congregation are of my church back home who all gave money to them to help buy the land that the church is built on. They will officially own the land November 27th and wants me to let everyone at home know that. They then present me with a belim as a token of their apprecation, I'm a very sentimental person and was almost in tears at this point. Back at home, we all sit in church while the missionary offering is being taken, with no idea of what the money will be used for. And today I am standing here, seeing with my own eyes, how great of an impact we have on these people; how much of a difference we make; how much these people appreciate us. They have nothing; they sit on the dirt for hours every sunday morning to hear God's word. We have everything, and yet we find the most frivolous things to complain about and completely forget what church is all about. I truly love and admire these people.
Tuesday(today)- Bill and I went to town to run some errands. before picking Amo up from school. First stop was at the local hospital. That was...different, nothing like I've ever seen. For us, hospital and sanitation go hand and hand; that's not the case in PNG. I would best describe it as an insanse asylum you would see in a horror movie. Run down and dirty but at least it had electricity. So after the tour of the hospital we headed to the airport to pick up the Wagner's car. The Wagners are another missionary couple, who, along with their youngest daughter Abby (16), live in Simbai. Bill and I are actually going to stay with them Friday-Monday. Simbai is what they call "the bush", meaning it's in the middle of nowhere; they dont have internet, cell service, anything really. They get electricity three hours a day and their only ways of transportation are motorcycles and four wheelers.(super excited for this trip!) So we get to the airport and thankfully their car isn't a stick shift so I can drive it! I'm really excited about this since I have yet to drive here and everyone drives on the left side of the road so it's much different than what I know. So Bill is acting all nervous and is standing over me as I'm getting in the car making sure I know how to turn it on?? seriously hahah okay Bill this isn't my first time in a vehicle. Anyway we only had to drive for like a mile or two which wasn't bad because I was following Bill but it would've been a little scary to do alone. People are always out in the middle of the road and stopping their cars out of no where to pick people up. The roads don't even have lines dividing the two sides so it's not exactly safe. Anyway we get over to this storage unit that the car needs to be backed in to. I figured Bill would be doing this, I mean backing vehicles up into tight spaces is a man thing, but I was wrong. We had to puch the side view mirrors in to get the car to fit so you can understand how much room I had. So there were three guys standing at a fence watching us opening up the storage unit. I get into the car and start backing in and pulling ahead and backing up and so on for like 5 minutes(Bill's directions were...well let's just say I would have been better off without them). So as I'm getting flustered trying to do this without scraping the car, I notice the three guys has turned into 15..with more coming! I guess a white girl driving a car is somewhat entertaining? That or they were scheming how they were going to steal it. So I finally just ignore the directions I am being given and get it parked just fine.
We then headed to the grocery store and when we walked in there were a couple guys, probably in their mid 20's, creepily eyeing me up and down. Nothing new, this is the norm for me here so whatever, it's just starting to get old. So we keep walking around the store and I'm paranoid, as usual, about someone trying to steal my camera or wallet so I hold my belim a little closer. I'm pretty good about the way I hold my bag, so no one will try to snatch something. People here are always walking so close to me it would be easy to have something stolen. Anyway we keep walking around and I notice the guys staring and creepin on me and am starting to feel like they're seriously gonna rob me. I just act casual as I'm contemplating what I would do if they would take my camera. I'm probably overly confident in my ability to defend myself, but at least I'm not afraid. So Bill and I go down another aisle and I'm getting something off of the shelf when I look back to see these 4 guys standing at the end of the aisle about 8 feet from me just staring. These are the same guys I've noticed following us the entire time we've been shopping, they're not even trying to be discreet about it. I hold my belim tighter to me cause they are NOT going to be stealing from me today. "I think we're being followed" I say to Billand he says "yeah I know, get in front of me". So we walk forward and away from them, to the check out counter. While waiting the guys walk near us, still staring(seriously what is wrong with people here, if they're going to creepily stare they shouldn't be so obnoxiously obvious about it!), and out the exit. We spot Ruthie and Martha who happen to be here at the same time and since they're done shopping, are just going to ride with us instead of walking back home. So we get the groceries and head out the door and guess who's there? yepp the same three sleezeballs from earlier. So Bill walks to my right so he's between me and the guys and we get safely to the car. When we're leaving I ask Bill what they were trying to do..I assumed steal from me, but he said they were trying to get close to touch me, and if I had been alone would have followed me and who knows what. They were also saying some very inapproriate things about me, none of which i understood since it was in Pidgin but Bill sure did. I can imagine my mother now. "I told you to take your mace with you!"
Once back at the house the college guys are asking if I will finally teach them how to play American football. I agree to do that so Ruthie Martha and I head out to the field and a bunch of people are coming wanting to learn. Okay a dude should definitely be teaching them how to play, not me. But oh well I do my best and we just follow the basic rules of touch football. They have NO idea what they are doing. They are so used to rugby that they want to throw the ball everytime the get ahold of it. They don't understand the concept of catching and running haha so it's still a work in progress but we played until it was so dark we couldn't see anymore and they made me promise we would play again on Thursday. Guess they enjoyed it!
Tuesday(today)- Bill and I went to town to run some errands. before picking Amo up from school. First stop was at the local hospital. That was...different, nothing like I've ever seen. For us, hospital and sanitation go hand and hand; that's not the case in PNG. I would best describe it as an insanse asylum you would see in a horror movie. Run down and dirty but at least it had electricity. So after the tour of the hospital we headed to the airport to pick up the Wagner's car. The Wagners are another missionary couple, who, along with their youngest daughter Abby (16), live in Simbai. Bill and I are actually going to stay with them Friday-Monday. Simbai is what they call "the bush", meaning it's in the middle of nowhere; they dont have internet, cell service, anything really. They get electricity three hours a day and their only ways of transportation are motorcycles and four wheelers.(super excited for this trip!) So we get to the airport and thankfully their car isn't a stick shift so I can drive it! I'm really excited about this since I have yet to drive here and everyone drives on the left side of the road so it's much different than what I know. So Bill is acting all nervous and is standing over me as I'm getting in the car making sure I know how to turn it on?? seriously hahah okay Bill this isn't my first time in a vehicle. Anyway we only had to drive for like a mile or two which wasn't bad because I was following Bill but it would've been a little scary to do alone. People are always out in the middle of the road and stopping their cars out of no where to pick people up. The roads don't even have lines dividing the two sides so it's not exactly safe. Anyway we get over to this storage unit that the car needs to be backed in to. I figured Bill would be doing this, I mean backing vehicles up into tight spaces is a man thing, but I was wrong. We had to puch the side view mirrors in to get the car to fit so you can understand how much room I had. So there were three guys standing at a fence watching us opening up the storage unit. I get into the car and start backing in and pulling ahead and backing up and so on for like 5 minutes(Bill's directions were...well let's just say I would have been better off without them). So as I'm getting flustered trying to do this without scraping the car, I notice the three guys has turned into 15..with more coming! I guess a white girl driving a car is somewhat entertaining? That or they were scheming how they were going to steal it. So I finally just ignore the directions I am being given and get it parked just fine.
We then headed to the grocery store and when we walked in there were a couple guys, probably in their mid 20's, creepily eyeing me up and down. Nothing new, this is the norm for me here so whatever, it's just starting to get old. So we keep walking around the store and I'm paranoid, as usual, about someone trying to steal my camera or wallet so I hold my belim a little closer. I'm pretty good about the way I hold my bag, so no one will try to snatch something. People here are always walking so close to me it would be easy to have something stolen. Anyway we keep walking around and I notice the guys staring and creepin on me and am starting to feel like they're seriously gonna rob me. I just act casual as I'm contemplating what I would do if they would take my camera. I'm probably overly confident in my ability to defend myself, but at least I'm not afraid. So Bill and I go down another aisle and I'm getting something off of the shelf when I look back to see these 4 guys standing at the end of the aisle about 8 feet from me just staring. These are the same guys I've noticed following us the entire time we've been shopping, they're not even trying to be discreet about it. I hold my belim tighter to me cause they are NOT going to be stealing from me today. "I think we're being followed" I say to Billand he says "yeah I know, get in front of me". So we walk forward and away from them, to the check out counter. While waiting the guys walk near us, still staring(seriously what is wrong with people here, if they're going to creepily stare they shouldn't be so obnoxiously obvious about it!), and out the exit. We spot Ruthie and Martha who happen to be here at the same time and since they're done shopping, are just going to ride with us instead of walking back home. So we get the groceries and head out the door and guess who's there? yepp the same three sleezeballs from earlier. So Bill walks to my right so he's between me and the guys and we get safely to the car. When we're leaving I ask Bill what they were trying to do..I assumed steal from me, but he said they were trying to get close to touch me, and if I had been alone would have followed me and who knows what. They were also saying some very inapproriate things about me, none of which i understood since it was in Pidgin but Bill sure did. I can imagine my mother now. "I told you to take your mace with you!"
Once back at the house the college guys are asking if I will finally teach them how to play American football. I agree to do that so Ruthie Martha and I head out to the field and a bunch of people are coming wanting to learn. Okay a dude should definitely be teaching them how to play, not me. But oh well I do my best and we just follow the basic rules of touch football. They have NO idea what they are doing. They are so used to rugby that they want to throw the ball everytime the get ahold of it. They don't understand the concept of catching and running haha so it's still a work in progress but we played until it was so dark we couldn't see anymore and they made me promise we would play again on Thursday. Guess they enjoyed it!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Road Trip
Friday morning Ruthie, Martha, Uncle Ixen(one of the men who works for Bill and Lori at the house) two other men, and myself drove the ambulance up to the top of a mountain in Dalou Pass. We leave the house around 10:00 and head to town to get some snacks for the day. Along the way we pick up about 10 more people and drive them to town. This happens anytime we take a vehicle out because everyone from the village walks to town which is about 2 miles away. Soda here is a big treat to everyone, so the men get some coke and pineapple flavored fanta, along with some crackers and passion fruit(my favorite! it's a circular fruit that you break open and inside there is a gooey substance mixed with seeds that you eat...the kids here call them "snot rocks" so you get the picture). The crackers, chips, and well everything else here is much less flavorful than the packaged food we're accustomed to eating, it is also ALWAYS stale, so harder and drier as well. We leave town and drive for about 30 minutes to the bottom of the moutain, there is a village here that Ruthie's boyfriend, Terri, lives in. He and a friend of his, follow behind in Terri's truck. We make a couple stops along the way, the view getting more and more amazing the higher we climb. Once we reach the top and have looked around Ruthie, Martha, and I jump into the bed of Terri's truck for the trip down(the view out of the ambulance window wasn't the greatest). Ah this is the life. I have the perfect view and it's nice and cool the whole trip down(the ambulance was pretty stuffy). Everyone waves as we pass and when we get back to the bottom, Terri decides to show me around his village. So the ambulance follows and we stop at the stream where they wash and do their laundry...much prettier than the one we have! After that we head to a huge river where a ton of kids and adults are playing and swimming. There is a part of the river where the current is really strong and everyone was jumping in there and letting the river take them down. Somehow I ended up getting in and we went down a few times. The huge skirt I was wearing made it near impossible to get out of the river, and being shoeless didn't help. My feet are sore at this point from going without shoes lately that I can barely walk across the rocks back to the truck. We then head back home and play some soccer for the rest of the day and I get to bed early because I'm absolutely exhausted!
This morning(Saturday)Lori took Ruthie, Martha, all of the kids, and me into town to do some shopping. I can honestly say it was the most stressful shopping experience I've ever had. There are plenty of stores in town but they're all very small and, well, dumpy to put it simply. We did a little browsing inside some shops and then went out to the main strtch of town where a ton of men and women sit outside displaying the different things they've made and have for sale. The main thing they sell are belims, which are colorful purse like bags that all women and even men carry. Bill and Lori gave me one when I came but I was in search of another. The stretch of belims is probably a coupld hundred yards long with thousand of belims hung up on a the fence neighboring the sidewalk. I'm used to people staring at me anytime I'm in town but I'm not used to them flocking to me trying to sell me things! I was just trying to look at all of the different belims and all of the women selling them were jumping up pointing to their different bags giving me the prices. This was just overwhelming and stressful for me because I couldn't understand a word of what anyone was saying and I didn't even want to stop and look at the ones that I was interested in. I ended up finding one I liked and then I headed down further into town to the other things for sale. This was what I was looking forward to. There was a ton of jewelry, hand woven plates and baskets, paintings and a ton of other things all unique and different(familia tell me what you want christmas is coming up!). I bought a few things here and realized I am not cut out for this trpe of shopping. You can barter prices with the people selling their things but these poor old men looked so pitiful I couldn't bring myself to try to give them any less than what they asked me. I wanted to buy from all of them because I felt so bad for them. I decided I would come back another time to finish up my shopping because there were too many cool things there.
This morning(Saturday)Lori took Ruthie, Martha, all of the kids, and me into town to do some shopping. I can honestly say it was the most stressful shopping experience I've ever had. There are plenty of stores in town but they're all very small and, well, dumpy to put it simply. We did a little browsing inside some shops and then went out to the main strtch of town where a ton of men and women sit outside displaying the different things they've made and have for sale. The main thing they sell are belims, which are colorful purse like bags that all women and even men carry. Bill and Lori gave me one when I came but I was in search of another. The stretch of belims is probably a coupld hundred yards long with thousand of belims hung up on a the fence neighboring the sidewalk. I'm used to people staring at me anytime I'm in town but I'm not used to them flocking to me trying to sell me things! I was just trying to look at all of the different belims and all of the women selling them were jumping up pointing to their different bags giving me the prices. This was just overwhelming and stressful for me because I couldn't understand a word of what anyone was saying and I didn't even want to stop and look at the ones that I was interested in. I ended up finding one I liked and then I headed down further into town to the other things for sale. This was what I was looking forward to. There was a ton of jewelry, hand woven plates and baskets, paintings and a ton of other things all unique and different(familia tell me what you want christmas is coming up!). I bought a few things here and realized I am not cut out for this trpe of shopping. You can barter prices with the people selling their things but these poor old men looked so pitiful I couldn't bring myself to try to give them any less than what they asked me. I wanted to buy from all of them because I felt so bad for them. I decided I would come back another time to finish up my shopping because there were too many cool things there.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Back to the Norm
My first week in Papua New Guinea was not what I, or anyone else, had expected, and while I appreciate the experience, I am happy that things are back to normal...well as normal as it gets here. The village is still having some problems relating to Lalow's death(finally figured out the spelling). Another "house line"(term used for village) believes some of the people in our village did sorcery on him which caused his death, so they have marked some of the men in our village for death. One of the men marked for death happens to be Sonne's(auntie at Bill and Lori's home) husband, so she has been very upset and on edge the past few days. Because Bill is trusted here by all of the people, he has been playing middle man between the house lines so they can come to some sort of understanding. They had a meeting last night and the other village came with knives, luckily all was kept calm.
Sunday morning was spent heading back to the churches we visited my first day here. Ruthie was too tired to join us so it was just Bill, Lori, the 4 kids, and myself. The people at the first church we stopped at were happy to see me again and I am much more comfortable this week than I had been the week prior. I'm used to all the hugging and don't feel so awkward interacting with the people which makes the day much more enjoyable. I spend most of the time there taking pictures, mostly of the scenery and the children. Some of the kids are still giving me dirty looks which I find amusing now but most of them are still all smiles around me. There is one little boy who literally cries everytime I walk near him. I try to play around with him but he just runs and hides behind his dad when I am nearby, this makes all of the adults laugh and I can't help but laugh too. I ask to get a picture with a couple of the children before I leave and before I know it everyone is surrounding me wanting a picture. The men, who you wouldn't expect to care, were the ones wanting in the most and wanting to stand by me for the picture(this is now my profile pic on facebook if you hadn't noticed).
The second church we were visiting for the day was not having service due to a death and so we were heading to their house cry instead. Oh geeze not another one, is all I can think. The little old man that died had been at the service when we were there last week, and had actually just gotten that Sunday we were there, only 6 days before his death. So I spent that time entertaining the boys while Lori and Bill spoke with the people. Afterwards we headed home and dropped Lori and the kids off. Bill and I, along with 8 other people, and a coffin, then headed up the mountain to drop the coffin off at the house cry we had just left. I asked him if I could go with him because, even though I had just been there, I enjoy being out of the house and no matter how many times we go to the top of that mountain the view will always be breath taking. After we haul the coffin to the top, we start our trek back down. As were leaving there are a bunch of kids hanging out around the ambulance, which is normal cause I always seem to have a flock of kids following me around..I like to think of them as my paparazzi. So anyway we start down the mountain and the kids are chasing us, grabbing on to the back and hanging on as were driving. Now the mountain is S shaped and has seven 90 degree turns. So we get around the first turn and he stops to yell at the kids to get off. So we're driving and go around the second and are approaching the third when we see the same little kids in front of us. They had run down a straight path over the mountain and beat us since we had such an indirect path down. So they chase us again and jump on and Bill yells at them, and this literally continues until we get down the mountain and they can't keep up. I'm learning the kids here really have to make there own fun, they don't have video games to entertain them.
Monday morning I was more than happy to see all the aunties and Ruthie and Martha in the kitchen when I went out for breakfast. I was even more happy when I came in for lunch later to find all of my clothes washed, dried, and folded in my dresser drawers. Kinda creepy actually. I have three little house elves of my own(lol family joke about Julie). After lunch Ruthie and Martha took me down to the river which was like a mile hike downhill, hadn't expected it to be that far. The river is on the college's property to the entire way down there were a ton of gardens that the students and village use. There are 7 types of bananas here...7! And they all look the same i have no idea how to tell the them apart but some are just for cooking and, well, i dont even know what the other differences are. So anyway we get to the bottom and go through a fence to the river where a few women are doing laundry. Well this makes me appreciate my washer and dryer. I would never have clean clothes if this is how I had to wash my clothes. This is also where the women bathe, and the men do the same further up the river. No wonder everyone here smells awful!!
Tuesday comes and goes rather quickly. After our morning routine we go to play basketball with some kids they have been trying to minister to. We go to this old run down gym and there are a ton of people outside playing volleyball and they all come in to the gym for some bball. Looking around the gym I just laughed to myself...lone white girl trying to play basketball with a bunch of hoodelims, you can imagine how that turned out.
Wednesday(today!) was a fun day. Bill left for Madang, another city in PNG (about 200 miles away-takes 6 hours driving to get there) where he'll spend the next 5 days attending meetings. So with him gone, and Lori at the clinic, all the aunties and Ruthie, Martha, and myself slacked off a little and watched some movies. Even the men that work for Bill and Lori came to join us as we were watching High School Musical, watching grown men watch that movie is the highlight of my day. I make coffee for everyone(18 cups!-since I have arrived they've become big coffee drinkers!) and we just hang out and talk. Everyone can pretty much understand english so I can talk to them but they answer me in Pidgin so Ruthie or Martha have to interpret for me. They all find it amusing that they will be talking to me and I won't realize that it's directed towards me. Ruthie also likes to talk to me in Pidgin and they all watch and laugh as I stare at her dumbfounded. Ya know the feeling you get when you're getting your nails done by a bunch of chinese people and they're all talking(probably about you) in chinese and laughing and you're the only one who doesn't get the joke...that's me 24/7.
The students and villagers here all play volleyball every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, and I have been itching to join all week but haven't had the chance. So this afternoon I was bummed that they wouldn't be playing and decided I was going to make my own fun. I needed to get out and burn some calories anyway, so I grab a soccer ball and Aaron and head to the big field we have. Ruthie and Martha didn't seem to want to play but they ended up coming along too. As I'm leaving without any shoes on I realize that a week ago I would have never done anything athletic without sneakers, but now I am used to being barefoot 90% of the time. If I didn't love shoes so much I would seriously consider going barefoot in the states. So the three of us kick the soccer ball around for a while, while Aaron sits and watches. Soon after we start two guys come over to play, the one's name is Alex who I recall having seen a few times before, he's about 26 and the other guy is probably early 30's. A few kids, about 16 years old, stop to watch and I tell them to come play with us. Before I know it a bunch of little kids are coming to join, so we decide to split into teams and play a real game. We accumulate about 30 people and we're all just playing, running around, laughing, and enjoying ourselves. I feel like a little kid again, i must say it's rather refreshing.After an hour of playing it's time for the students to go to chapel so the girls and I head back to the house with Aaron. My feet are so sore from all the rocks and pointy twigs I ran on top of during the game and the bottoms of my feet are probably permantly stained brown. Lori is not home from work so I heat up dinner, cut a fresh pineapple, make coffee, get everyone their food, feed Isaac his dinner, go over spelling words with Amo, make sure the boys get their fruits and veggies, clean everyones mess, wash, dry, and put away the dishes, then remember I need to eat as well...so this is motherhood.
Sunday morning was spent heading back to the churches we visited my first day here. Ruthie was too tired to join us so it was just Bill, Lori, the 4 kids, and myself. The people at the first church we stopped at were happy to see me again and I am much more comfortable this week than I had been the week prior. I'm used to all the hugging and don't feel so awkward interacting with the people which makes the day much more enjoyable. I spend most of the time there taking pictures, mostly of the scenery and the children. Some of the kids are still giving me dirty looks which I find amusing now but most of them are still all smiles around me. There is one little boy who literally cries everytime I walk near him. I try to play around with him but he just runs and hides behind his dad when I am nearby, this makes all of the adults laugh and I can't help but laugh too. I ask to get a picture with a couple of the children before I leave and before I know it everyone is surrounding me wanting a picture. The men, who you wouldn't expect to care, were the ones wanting in the most and wanting to stand by me for the picture(this is now my profile pic on facebook if you hadn't noticed).
The second church we were visiting for the day was not having service due to a death and so we were heading to their house cry instead. Oh geeze not another one, is all I can think. The little old man that died had been at the service when we were there last week, and had actually just gotten that Sunday we were there, only 6 days before his death. So I spent that time entertaining the boys while Lori and Bill spoke with the people. Afterwards we headed home and dropped Lori and the kids off. Bill and I, along with 8 other people, and a coffin, then headed up the mountain to drop the coffin off at the house cry we had just left. I asked him if I could go with him because, even though I had just been there, I enjoy being out of the house and no matter how many times we go to the top of that mountain the view will always be breath taking. After we haul the coffin to the top, we start our trek back down. As were leaving there are a bunch of kids hanging out around the ambulance, which is normal cause I always seem to have a flock of kids following me around..I like to think of them as my paparazzi. So anyway we start down the mountain and the kids are chasing us, grabbing on to the back and hanging on as were driving. Now the mountain is S shaped and has seven 90 degree turns. So we get around the first turn and he stops to yell at the kids to get off. So we're driving and go around the second and are approaching the third when we see the same little kids in front of us. They had run down a straight path over the mountain and beat us since we had such an indirect path down. So they chase us again and jump on and Bill yells at them, and this literally continues until we get down the mountain and they can't keep up. I'm learning the kids here really have to make there own fun, they don't have video games to entertain them.
Monday morning I was more than happy to see all the aunties and Ruthie and Martha in the kitchen when I went out for breakfast. I was even more happy when I came in for lunch later to find all of my clothes washed, dried, and folded in my dresser drawers. Kinda creepy actually. I have three little house elves of my own(lol family joke about Julie). After lunch Ruthie and Martha took me down to the river which was like a mile hike downhill, hadn't expected it to be that far. The river is on the college's property to the entire way down there were a ton of gardens that the students and village use. There are 7 types of bananas here...7! And they all look the same i have no idea how to tell the them apart but some are just for cooking and, well, i dont even know what the other differences are. So anyway we get to the bottom and go through a fence to the river where a few women are doing laundry. Well this makes me appreciate my washer and dryer. I would never have clean clothes if this is how I had to wash my clothes. This is also where the women bathe, and the men do the same further up the river. No wonder everyone here smells awful!!
Tuesday comes and goes rather quickly. After our morning routine we go to play basketball with some kids they have been trying to minister to. We go to this old run down gym and there are a ton of people outside playing volleyball and they all come in to the gym for some bball. Looking around the gym I just laughed to myself...lone white girl trying to play basketball with a bunch of hoodelims, you can imagine how that turned out.
Wednesday(today!) was a fun day. Bill left for Madang, another city in PNG (about 200 miles away-takes 6 hours driving to get there) where he'll spend the next 5 days attending meetings. So with him gone, and Lori at the clinic, all the aunties and Ruthie, Martha, and myself slacked off a little and watched some movies. Even the men that work for Bill and Lori came to join us as we were watching High School Musical, watching grown men watch that movie is the highlight of my day. I make coffee for everyone(18 cups!-since I have arrived they've become big coffee drinkers!) and we just hang out and talk. Everyone can pretty much understand english so I can talk to them but they answer me in Pidgin so Ruthie or Martha have to interpret for me. They all find it amusing that they will be talking to me and I won't realize that it's directed towards me. Ruthie also likes to talk to me in Pidgin and they all watch and laugh as I stare at her dumbfounded. Ya know the feeling you get when you're getting your nails done by a bunch of chinese people and they're all talking(probably about you) in chinese and laughing and you're the only one who doesn't get the joke...that's me 24/7.
The students and villagers here all play volleyball every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, and I have been itching to join all week but haven't had the chance. So this afternoon I was bummed that they wouldn't be playing and decided I was going to make my own fun. I needed to get out and burn some calories anyway, so I grab a soccer ball and Aaron and head to the big field we have. Ruthie and Martha didn't seem to want to play but they ended up coming along too. As I'm leaving without any shoes on I realize that a week ago I would have never done anything athletic without sneakers, but now I am used to being barefoot 90% of the time. If I didn't love shoes so much I would seriously consider going barefoot in the states. So the three of us kick the soccer ball around for a while, while Aaron sits and watches. Soon after we start two guys come over to play, the one's name is Alex who I recall having seen a few times before, he's about 26 and the other guy is probably early 30's. A few kids, about 16 years old, stop to watch and I tell them to come play with us. Before I know it a bunch of little kids are coming to join, so we decide to split into teams and play a real game. We accumulate about 30 people and we're all just playing, running around, laughing, and enjoying ourselves. I feel like a little kid again, i must say it's rather refreshing.After an hour of playing it's time for the students to go to chapel so the girls and I head back to the house with Aaron. My feet are so sore from all the rocks and pointy twigs I ran on top of during the game and the bottoms of my feet are probably permantly stained brown. Lori is not home from work so I heat up dinner, cut a fresh pineapple, make coffee, get everyone their food, feed Isaac his dinner, go over spelling words with Amo, make sure the boys get their fruits and veggies, clean everyones mess, wash, dry, and put away the dishes, then remember I need to eat as well...so this is motherhood.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Reality Check
After 4 long days and nights of mourning it was finally time for the village to bury their loved one(if you're wondering why I don't use his name it's because I have no idea how to spell it). The people in PNG have no concept of time, they don't feel a need to rush anything or start anything at a specific time because most have no responsibilities and no where to be. So what was supposed to be a 10:00 funeral didn't start until 1:30. When we arrived in the village we sat under the same blue tarp we had a few days prior when we went to the house call. Sitting there on the dirt I was realized that in their world, it is key to embrace being dirty, there's no sense in fighting it because there's no avoiding it. There were a couple hundred people there and a few of the pastors gave a short message followed by Bill. When he finished speaking it was time for everyone to view the body. Lori gave me Gracie to hold while she went up with Bill, Amo and Aaron. I was sitting about 10 yards back from where the casket was sitting on top a small wooden table and there was a long line of people waiting to see him. Bill and Lori were the first to go through and Bill stayed up there with the rest of the pastors and Lori came back with Aaron while Amo ran off with some friends.
I wasn't exactly prepared for what happened after that, but I suppose there's really no way to be ready for something so foreign to the customs you're used to. At this point I had only heard stories of how people mourn here but now I was experiencing it first hand. Behind Bill and Lori a few men went through fighting back tears; they are the warriors they are meant to be strong. Then the women began through. All of the sudden I hear one start then another and another, crying, moaning, yelling, like I've never heard. As they progress to stand before his body, they begin throwing themselves on the ground, rolling around in the dirt and throwing it on the faces. They fall to their knees and grab the mens legs yelling and crying and pounding the ground. There's now a group of about 10 women not 10 yards from me mourning in a way impossible to imagine to someone unaccustomed to this lifestyle. While the women were doing this I looked around at the men standing nearby who were just watching. That to me was the saddest thing. Seeing in their faces the pain they were feeling but trying not to show, at least the women didn't hold anything in (Bill later told me that the men mourn in the same way as the women, but they do it in private). Some of the younger children began crying because that's what everyone else was doing, but most of the pikininis(Pidgin word for kids) just walked around like they were used to this. This went on for quite some time and I started noticing Bill having problems getting people through the line to view the body. So many women were done rolling on the ground that they were now right in front of the casket so no one could get through. Bill and the other men were trying to get them to move but they either didn't hear him or just didn't care. Bill finally tells the men to put the lid back on the casket because one of the women was under the table kicking it and he didn't want the casket to fall. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened had the body fallen out.
Finally the men carry the casket to where it will buried. Everyone rushes over so they can get close enough to see but there is not as much open space here. Baby in hand I follow Lori and we are close enough to see what is happening but not too close that we're crammed between the two houses that he will be buried behind. I can't really here much of what is being said over the cries from the women, not that I would understand it anyway. They are letting people up to the grave site to throw flowers in before they put the casket in the ground. The women at this point are just getting worse. Some are trying to jump into the grave and the men have to lock arms to hold back their own wives who are all punching and kicking and pushing them trying to get in the grave. Some of the calm women drag the others out of there and to the side of the house I am standing at where they continue wailing and throwing themselves onto the ground. I see Ruthie who has been wailing and falling to the ground just like the other women and Lori goes to calm her down. I am standing behind a good bit with the baby. I find Pat(the missionary whom I went with to help teach at the private school a couple days prior) to stand with beside one of the houses.
I'm thinking about whether or not I should head back to the house soon when I suddenly hear a crash. The people on the side of the building I'm standing at, come running around past me. Scared and unsure of what's going on I ask Pat what's happening. He says that sometimes people in mourning tend to get violent. I don't even have time to process this, when I see a pot come flying right past me. I can't see around the edge of the house but I hear a man yelling and everyone in front of me runs out of the way. Suddenly about a foot from me I see a wild looking man, shirt torn open multiple times, swinging a big stick. I instantly turn myself in his direction but with my chest to the building so I can shield the baby. I feel Pat shift to shield me. This man is so close I could reach out and touch him and he rushes past me yelling at everyone to "watch out!" as he swings the stick. The people are literally running out of his path as he walks in a circle. It was like a sheep dog herding sheep, the way they moved so quickly to avoid him. My heart is pounding but my only concern was the baby..I guess I do have some maternal instincts in me after all. A few of the men then manage to tackle him to the ground, before he can do any damage, and restrain him until he calms down. I look up to see Bill and Lori and the kids coming my way. Amo seems a little shaken up and Lori and Bill are both concerned with how I am doing after that. I'm not scared or upset at that point, truthfully I'm happy that I stayed long enough to get to see that. Lori thinks it's best for me to take the baby and Aaron home at this point to avoid anymore drama for the day. A couple hours later, the reality of it kicked in and I realize that the events of today were alot for me to take in. I was thrown into a world so unlike that which I know, it would have been impossible for me to grasp the everyday reality of these people, without experiencing it firsthand.
I wasn't exactly prepared for what happened after that, but I suppose there's really no way to be ready for something so foreign to the customs you're used to. At this point I had only heard stories of how people mourn here but now I was experiencing it first hand. Behind Bill and Lori a few men went through fighting back tears; they are the warriors they are meant to be strong. Then the women began through. All of the sudden I hear one start then another and another, crying, moaning, yelling, like I've never heard. As they progress to stand before his body, they begin throwing themselves on the ground, rolling around in the dirt and throwing it on the faces. They fall to their knees and grab the mens legs yelling and crying and pounding the ground. There's now a group of about 10 women not 10 yards from me mourning in a way impossible to imagine to someone unaccustomed to this lifestyle. While the women were doing this I looked around at the men standing nearby who were just watching. That to me was the saddest thing. Seeing in their faces the pain they were feeling but trying not to show, at least the women didn't hold anything in (Bill later told me that the men mourn in the same way as the women, but they do it in private). Some of the younger children began crying because that's what everyone else was doing, but most of the pikininis(Pidgin word for kids) just walked around like they were used to this. This went on for quite some time and I started noticing Bill having problems getting people through the line to view the body. So many women were done rolling on the ground that they were now right in front of the casket so no one could get through. Bill and the other men were trying to get them to move but they either didn't hear him or just didn't care. Bill finally tells the men to put the lid back on the casket because one of the women was under the table kicking it and he didn't want the casket to fall. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened had the body fallen out.
Finally the men carry the casket to where it will buried. Everyone rushes over so they can get close enough to see but there is not as much open space here. Baby in hand I follow Lori and we are close enough to see what is happening but not too close that we're crammed between the two houses that he will be buried behind. I can't really here much of what is being said over the cries from the women, not that I would understand it anyway. They are letting people up to the grave site to throw flowers in before they put the casket in the ground. The women at this point are just getting worse. Some are trying to jump into the grave and the men have to lock arms to hold back their own wives who are all punching and kicking and pushing them trying to get in the grave. Some of the calm women drag the others out of there and to the side of the house I am standing at where they continue wailing and throwing themselves onto the ground. I see Ruthie who has been wailing and falling to the ground just like the other women and Lori goes to calm her down. I am standing behind a good bit with the baby. I find Pat(the missionary whom I went with to help teach at the private school a couple days prior) to stand with beside one of the houses.
I'm thinking about whether or not I should head back to the house soon when I suddenly hear a crash. The people on the side of the building I'm standing at, come running around past me. Scared and unsure of what's going on I ask Pat what's happening. He says that sometimes people in mourning tend to get violent. I don't even have time to process this, when I see a pot come flying right past me. I can't see around the edge of the house but I hear a man yelling and everyone in front of me runs out of the way. Suddenly about a foot from me I see a wild looking man, shirt torn open multiple times, swinging a big stick. I instantly turn myself in his direction but with my chest to the building so I can shield the baby. I feel Pat shift to shield me. This man is so close I could reach out and touch him and he rushes past me yelling at everyone to "watch out!" as he swings the stick. The people are literally running out of his path as he walks in a circle. It was like a sheep dog herding sheep, the way they moved so quickly to avoid him. My heart is pounding but my only concern was the baby..I guess I do have some maternal instincts in me after all. A few of the men then manage to tackle him to the ground, before he can do any damage, and restrain him until he calms down. I look up to see Bill and Lori and the kids coming my way. Amo seems a little shaken up and Lori and Bill are both concerned with how I am doing after that. I'm not scared or upset at that point, truthfully I'm happy that I stayed long enough to get to see that. Lori thinks it's best for me to take the baby and Aaron home at this point to avoid anymore drama for the day. A couple hours later, the reality of it kicked in and I realize that the events of today were alot for me to take in. I was thrown into a world so unlike that which I know, it would have been impossible for me to grasp the everyday reality of these people, without experiencing it firsthand.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Animal Lover
Today was rather uneventful. I went with another missionary couple who live here on campus to a private school where they teach a class once a week. All of the students speak english and come from wealthier famililes in PNG. BIll and I then went to pick Amo up from school(the same one he graduated from) and I got to see some more of the town. I'm anxious for an opportunity to get to spend time there so I can get some good pictures! Bill, Lori, and the kids(except for Aaron) went to the house cry during which the body was brought into the village. I stayed home with Aaron and a couple of the girls who had come over from the village to play. Food here is not thrown away in normal trash cans, its either given to the dogs or used for the garden. They have two dogs here which stay in the enclosed porch just outside the kitchen. Luckily for me because I hate animals and I would rather sleep outside myself than have two huge dogs around me all the time. So the kids finish their food and have some left over which is to be given to the dogs. So my thought is, no way no how I'm going out there to be attacked by the dogs. So I call Aaron over and ask him if he wants to feed the dogs. He doesn't seem to thrilled but I give him the plate and push him out the door. Keep in mind that he's three and is really tiny, so the two dogs running at him and jumping on him to get at the food is hilarious to me, and since I am fully protected from inside and just have my head poking out from behind the door. So that was my entertainment for the day, I'm looking forward to getting some sleep!
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