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Buena Kwiai
Entry 11 of 16 | show all | print this entry |
Buena Kwiai...or...Good Afternoon!
What a trip! I hope you have all had an amazing week! This has been one crazy 7 days for me! After my last update I left on Friday for Kiriwina or...the Trobriand Islands. All the interns and Marcus were supposed to fly out there on Friday and then another man from the USA was supposed to fly straight from the USA to the islands. Well, in case I have not mentioned this, I will do so now...NOTHING that you plan to do in PNG happens like you planned it!
Since Bethany and Rachel have been sick for the past two weeks, they decided on Friday morning to wait and come on the Monday flight so they could recover a little bit more. Marcus, Luke, Daniel and I left on Friday and our local friends that also went to the islands left Alotau on the boat (the boat took 30 hours to get there...the flight took 45 min to get
there) on Friday. Our flight was only about 1.5 hours late, so we thought we were doing well. Our plane had 37 seats and by the time we got in the air...we were coming back down! It was a great flight and I learned that when they say, "Do you want white coffee?" they mean, "Do you want coffee with cream in it?" Having just landed on a runway that had not been paved since WWII, we were greeted by about 200 people staring at us through a chain-link fence...Come to find out, several of the people running for office on the island were also on the flight and most of the people were waiting for them. Henry Kydoga and Lydia (not sure what her last name is) met us on the runway because the flight was going on to Port Moresby and the "airport workers" just threw our stuff out of the plane so that the plane could get going again. Many of the natives are still not used to white people or "dim-dims." As we were walking through the crowd of people, many of them would grab my hand or arm and then laugh or run away. None of it was done to be mean; they are just really curious as to what dim-dims' skin feels like!
We were supposed to go to Henry's village that night, but because he is a government officer and there are elections going on, he was busy, so we got to stay at an older resort hotel! It was awesome! I had my own room in what used to be a bar in the big room and the guys were all in one big room off of the big room. We had popo (papaya) and CRAB, taro, ibica greens and rice for lunch! It was down right amazing! For that much crab in the states it would have cost us at least $50, but here a live crab is only 10 kina...or about $3.50! Daniel had never eaten crab so it was fun showing him how to eat it. They cooked it with curry...all I can say is WOW! We sat there for about 2 hours enjoying it and talking.
There is a fresh water cave right behind the hotel and we got to go swimming in it. Marcus went to give out invitations for our program and we finished swimming and got situated. It got dark and there is no electricity at the hotel, so we ate by lamp light and then sat there in the dark and scared each other to death telling ghost stories!
The next morning Marcus was getting sick and our friends that were coming on the boat were supposed to arrive at 10am, but because of bad weather, did not get there til about 3pm.
We moved out to the village (Ibwella was the name of the village... it means "I love you").
On the island they do not build one big house, they build many small houses. Our friends on the boat were 5 women and one baby, so we all had one house, Luke and Daniel had a house and Marcus slept in the tent.
Sunday morning we had a service at the village and gave out invitations to come to a "cultural exchange" that night. When we were walking through the different villages, a little girl gave me a head band made of flowers and it smelled SO good! That afternoon Marcus had a Bible study on the front lawn area and there were several people there. Kevin, the head guy in the village where we stayed, was very interested and asked a lot of questions. Marcus was getting sick and apparently so was his family and the Williams's back in Alotau. That night he went to bed while Daniel, Luke and I stayed up to do the "cultural exchange," but no one came because they thought that it was the Bible study that Marcus had done earlier that day!
Monday morning we decided that either Marcus had to go to the doctor or call Diane to send medicine with the girls that were coming on the flight...or he had to go home on the flight the girls were coming in on. He decided to go to the doctor and we got Diane to send more food and his medicine. Thankfully we got a ride into the town which is 20 minutes away by car but is a two hour walk one way! Morris, the guy that drives the PMV (public motor vehicle), gave us about 8 pomillos. They are kind of like grapefruit, but not as tart, and that is what we ate all day since we left the village at 7am and there was no food cooked.
The girls came in on the flight with Scott (a guy that came from the states to be here for two weeks) and we bought more crabs to cook that night! YAY! On the island they have almost all the same kind of taro...except...purple taro! It tastes sooo good to me, but everyone else in my group thinks I'm crazy! (no comments please! ) The best way to describe a taro is kind of like a potato...but it's not ...it's kind of just a thick mass of starch, but it tastes really good!
We went with Marcus to a devotional in another village and Mabel, one of the ladies that came from Alotau with us, bought some baskets. On the way back from the devotional we all practiced balancing them on our heads. Mabel comes from another island where they don't balance things on their heads, so it was a lot of fun to try! It is SO much harder than it looks! Marcus did another Bible study that night after dinner and there were several people there.
On Tuesday we: Daniel, Bethany, Doreen (from Alotau), Wendi and baby Marcus (named for the missionary...also from Alotau), Roland (from Trobriand Island...our bodyguard) and I walked to town to do some survey work for a report. WELL...I don't know if you remember how far I said that walk was but let me remind you....FOUR hours total! The island is coral therefore the road is VERY rocky...It was very sunny and windy, but we did get a lot of information from the locals about Kiriwina. We had baby Marcus with us who does not like white people, but since he slept a lot of the way, we all took turns carrying him. Roland told me that several people in town and lots of the kids that were following us were saying that they appreciated us wearing skirts instead of trousers. Apparently when tourists come they wear trousers and that is offensive to the people of this part of PNG. I don't remember if I have mentioned this, but here in PNG pants are called trousers and underwear is called pants...so you have to be careful to use the right word!
There were a TON of big spiders all over the place there. Bethany and Rachel hate spiders! It got to be pretty funny since the spiders decided that the outhouse was a good place to live. Rachel and Bethany would get Luke or Daniel to go kill all the spiders before they would go in there!
Wednesday morning we worked with a bunch of the kids that were doing the World Bible School booklets and that was a lot of fun! We also went swimming in the cave again and Daniel and I worked on questions to ask a missionary about living in PNG. We are doing a report on the island for anyone who might want to come here as a missionary. It is just going to have basic info for them and hopefully it will help. Marcus did a Bible study on magic that night, but not many people were there since there was an elections meeting at the same time. Magic is a very big deal here. It is a part of everything they do. They have magic words for their gardens and the weather and sickness and evil spirits and just about everything else.
On Thursday morning, while Rachel, Luke and a bunch of the people that came with us from Alotau worked with the World Bible School stuff; Daniel, Bethany and I went to interview several people, who are not originally from the island, about living here. We only found one, but he is a missionary from some other religious group. He was very nice and answered all of our questions. It was very interesting! After we got back to the village; Daniel, Marcus and I went to find Kevin so that he could take us to the Paramount Chief's home! The three of us went ahead of the rest and had to go up to where an election was being held. I didn't know this until later, but it is dangerous to do that. Thankfully Daniel, Kevin and Marcus were all there and it was no big deal at all. We went to the Chief's home where Marcus talked to him about new religions coming to the area. He said he was really open to any new religions coming because he knows that the people need God, but that he does not get involved in religion personally.
That night we said our good-byes to the people, since we had to go to the airport at 6am the next morning. I thought about staying and having my ticket moved to Monday's flight, or going back on the boat, but I decided that I needed to get back to help finish setting up for the camp we were going to hold the next week.
Friday morning came and after a few more good-byes we were off. Marcus got a PMV to come pick us up, which was REALLY nice since it would have been an hour long walk to get to the airport! We were the first ones there...we were only about 45 min. early for the flight, but out there you can take anything onto the plane and they don't really care! Luke was really excited because he could, and did, take his big knife onto the plane with him! We waited...and bought a few souvenirs...and waited...and bought some crabs for taking back with us on the flight....and waited....and forgot to put sunscreen on as we waited for five hours in the sun...and THEN we found out that this guy that has appointed himself the "airline consultant" of the island canceled our flight because we did not call him to confirm our flight!!! There are several problems with the idea of calling to confirm the flight...one: NO ONE EXCEPT HIS LODGE AND THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING HAS A PHONE...two: Who in the world would walk two hours one way to confirm a flight in this country?...three: We saw him on Tuesday in town and asked if we could interview him since we were leaving on Friday on the flight...good grief!!!! THEN, he has the nerve to blame us for messing up the flight schedule...never mind that the flight is already five hours late...that is completely beside the point I guess! Anyway...the flight landed and the pilots decided that they would go to Alotau since there was our group and about 10 other people waiting for the flight to Alotau ...As you can tell, flight plans are not exactly set in stone!
When we got back, Leslie, Logan and a group that had arrived that morning from California, left for the north coast. The group is a church youth group that is doing dramas all over PNG for the next 2 weeks I think. We cooked the crabs and Luke and I shelled and ate them. They were great! It was Maserina night, the place where we go out to eat every other Friday night, so that was really nice to be able to just chill out!
Sunday morning came bright and early. Rachel, Luke and I went to Gama church with Marcus. When we were driving down the road that leads to the church, we got stuck! I am always amazed that we make it at all...the trenches for the tires are almost as deep as the truck can drive over and they are usually filled with water! Marcus did not see this HUGE log lying in the middle of the track and jammed the truck up onto it! We tried pushing it, but to no avail! We walked the rest of the way to church and after service a bunch of the guys came and got us out. I was really surprised that it did not damage the truck, but it is still going!
Well, I guess that is all I have for this week! I really ask for all of your prayers! We are all getting tired and, not that we don't love being here, but we are ready to be done. We are close enough to the end that everything is slowing down and so are we! Thank you for all the prayers in the past, please continue to pray for all of us!
God bless!
Latest Comments (1)
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I'm ready to have you back too! (reply)
Jul 14, 2007 20:30 EST by shannon
It's sounds like you are having an amazing time there! You are going to have so many stories to tell! I known God is using you there, but I'm sure he'll use you when you get back, just telling people about what happened there. I'm sure you must be getting to the point where you're ready to come home and see your family (and maybe a few friends...), but hang in there! Enjoy you time there, and ... show all
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