Tyler and Emily in PNG

Nau em I de namba 7 mi skul long Tok Pisin. (Now it is day number 7 of my Tok Pisin school.)

This past week I learned a dialogue about a garden. Gardens here are the heart and soul of everything. Well, land is actually the means of life. If you have no land, you have no life. Land gives you gardens which produces food (kaikai) which allows you to live. Land is also a status symbol in the culture. The procedure of a garden are first you mark the ground then you cut the grass or bush. You need to allow time for the grass/bush to dry then you set fire or cook the garden. There is not much worry about wild fires here as the land is very green and rich. They only cut and dry what they want to burn. Green grass will not burn. After the land or garden has been cleared and burned then you break the ground and plant. To break the ground they do not use a shovel or spade or any machinery but a strong pointed stick. This is very hard work. It is the man’s job to work the garden and the woman’s job to come behind to gather the food. There are jobs men do and jobs women do. They do not mix jobs. Men work and women cook.

This past week we had a special guest who was in full time ministry with SIL (Wycliffe) for 29 years. She immigrated to PNG from Australia and married a native PNG man. This is not common and very high risk. In the end, she became a PNG resident forgoing her Australia citizenship. She had a wonderful marriage to this man though he suffered a fatal stoke a few years back. She talked to the group here the past few days on culture and history of PNG. A few things that tickled my ears were: PNG was originally split into Papua (meaning ‘fuzzing heads’ given by the Portuguese) in the south claimed by the British and New Guinea in the north claimed by the Germans. The west part of the island was controlled by the Dutch until 1960’s when Indonesia dropped in and force the Dutch out by military force. The Dutch had 24 hours to leave the island. From a culture perspective the #1 issue facing PNGers today is greed. People here want to get rich quick and make no effort in doing so. Right now, there is a deal on the table for Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). PNG is rich with natural resources such as nickel, copper, and natural gas. This LNG project is good and bad. The business entities need land to operate and the owners of this land want compensation immediately (greed). This ties back to land being central of life. No one can buy land. Land is owned by the community or tribe residing on the land. You can lease land but never own it. You can speculate potential problems that may arise. This is one of the major huddles facing land owners (tribes and communities) with the LNG project.

Last Thursday, my roommate and I were introduced to our wasfamili (watch family). We will be having five encounters with our wasfamili during POC. This gives each of us an opportunity to learn and experience the local culture and language. On Thursday my wasfamili came to POC for dinner. We were the hosts. My family consists of papa, mama, and four children. In the culture here it is socially appropriate for men to address men and women to address women. Being our specific case, we had one speaker being papa, his name is Hogg. The first visit we had rice and beef stew with bread rolls. My first experience with limited Tok Pisin language was very rough. I quickly ran out of words and questions to ask. There was plenty time to sit, stare, and think. Hogg mentioned before they left for the night that we had no stories to tell. He said after a few more weeks we will have plenty of stories to share. I hope he is right. This coming Thursday we are preparing to go to his home as they will be the hosts. This will be my first village experience. Looking to the weeks ahead, I will spend the night with my wasfamili, another village visit, and last we will entertain the wasfamili with a meal prepared by me and my roommate.

I also want to touch a bit on my first haus kuk weekend that I talked about last post. Last weekend was our first experience at cooking on an open fire for all meals on Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, I attend a bread making class  which I made 1 loaf of half wheat and half white bread and turned the extra dough into bread sticks. It turned out well. I was proud of myself. So for the first weekend we had fresh bread. Peanut butter and bread go a long way with two single men. Bananas, peanut butter and bread make an excellent breakfast. I didn’t starve but I didn’t eat the best. I was lucky to grab leftovers from the other families such as fried bananas and fried onion rings. Since my birthday was the week prior a group of girls wanted to celebrate by making brownies. On Sunday night we used a drum oven which you place over a fire to cook with. The brownies turned out pretty good for using the drum oven for the first time. I think it took a little over 25 mins to cook. I have no idea how hot the fire was but we kept it stoked and burning the whole time. That was a one person job alone.

John tending to the drum oven

FYI: Where am I?

For the technical minded folks, here are my GPS coordinates +/- 20 feet.

S          05.09.567

E          145.45.067

Your best option would be input these coordinates into Google Earth. I am located about 1300′ above sea level and northwest of Madang.

Prayer Requests:
– Country of Papua New Guinea
(Political, Economical, Educational)
– Spiritual Warfare maintenance:
I was reminded this week that I am enrolled on the frontline of the battlefield. The enemy wants to attack my weapons (bible reading, devotion, prayer, etc.).
– Wasfamili
Courage, strength and knowledge to speak and converse with family
– Learning Tok Pisin
– Learning Culture

Praises:
Good Health
God’s Faithfulness