My Experience in PNG (Part 2)

So, when it was time to go to the village for the first time, we loaded up a big truck with our stuff for the next 5 weeks- mosquito nets, food- canned goods, meats we had dehydrated, boxed milk.  We drove down PNG’s one road for about 40 minutes.  Then, we took a left onto a road that didn’t look anything like a road.  When we came to a one log bridge, about 15 Papua New Guineans were there to meet us.  They told us that they represented the house line (explain) that was going to be looking after us.  We were the first missionaries that had come to live with them like this.  (New villages every time.)  So there we were, saying good-bye to our instructors and following these people we had never met….as they carried all of our stuff to the bush house we were to live in for the next 5 weeks.  We literally looked like the circus coming to town.  Everyone was staring…they could not help it and in PNG, it is not rude to stare.

Here is a picture of the house that we lived in.  

It was completely made out of bush materials- or material that you could get from the land there in PNG.  On average, it takes about 1 year to make a house (basic).  This was considered a very nice house in PNG, so it took longer to make.  We strung up our mosquito nets, made sureall our food was safe from rats, learned where our fire pit would be for cooking and where our lik lik house would be (anyone know that that is?). A lik lik haus is an out house/bathroom in the bush.

 Funny story- diapers- it was not only our bathroom, but it was also the place to dispose of Ben’s diapers.  Well, it was rainy season, so it would rain every afternoon….by the middle of our time there, we began to realize that the new lik lik haus they had built for us was going to overflow, especially with all the diapers we were throwing in….could you imagine???  Gross!  Thankfully, our host papa (waspapa) dug a new hole for the diapers so that we weren't shamed in that way.

We also learned where we would have to bathe.  In PNG, if you live in the village, you bathe in a river.  Sometimes, you have to walk for a hour or so just to get to the river.  Thankfully, ours was closeby…but there was a trade off.  Yes, it was close, but there were other issues.  Caleb had a water place that looked like it would have been in a national geographic magazine.  Granted, I never saw his bathing area, but from the way he described it, it was niiiiice.  Think water flowing, enclosed, private, little waterfall that acted like a shower…..you get the point.  Do you know where I had to bathe?  I had to bathe just off the main road.  No joke.  4WD vehicles would drive through my bath daily.  Kids coming home from school would walk past.  There was absolutely NO privacy.  None.  And, to make it even worse, our host family was always afraid that something would happen to me when I took my bath….maybe I would fall and hit my head on a rock and bring shame on their name.  So, one of their kids was assigned to always accompany me to the bath.  Always.  Can you imagine never getting to bathe alone?  It was awful.  Granted, I wore a bathing suit, but no one else did, so I was something that everyone wanted to watch.  

One day, it was pouring….and I mean pouring.  I looked at Caleb (I was frazzled, I was tired, I needed a shower).  I got the brilliant idea of bathing in the rain.  I figured everyone would be inside.  Nope.  That poor token child had to follow me.  I told them it was ok for them to leave.  But, a group of kids stood under a banana leaf, getting absolutely soaked and watched while I bathed.  I am pretty sure that I was sobbing as I washed this time.

We also did not have readily available drinking water.  We would have to boil the water, use tablets to purify it (which made it taste awful…and the tablets were expensive) or filter it.  Our small group here in Raleigh, worked hard to mail us a filter and it got to us before we headed to the village.  Miracle!  But, this is a gravity feed filter.  Caleb attached two covered buckets together so that he would fill the bucket on top, and then, overnight, the water would slowly drip down into the bottom bucket through the filter.  I think you can see where I am going with this.  While I was thankful for the clean water, even something like that was just work and time to get.  So, one day, our wasmama thought she would surprise us by cleaning out the house.  We were visiting the school that morning….and she cleaned everything….including our water bucket.  That’s right….she used dirty water (unfiltered water) to clean the water bucket and then refilled both buckets with river water.  That meant that for the next 24+ hours, we didn’t have usable water....we had to boil our water until the filter bucket filled up again....

Needless to say, it was a long 5 weeks!   The days were long and hot.  Everything had to be cooked from scratch.  We were surrounded by people constantly.  We were learning their language, but had the barrier that that created.  Community was hard.  Our stress level was high.  Ben was sick while we were out there.  But, we learned so much about Papua New Guinean culture during this time.  It was invaluable.

So, after our 5 weeks ended, we said good-bye to our village family.  Here are some pictures from that time.  It was bittersweet.  We needed a break, but we had grown to love the people who had invested so much time and energy into us.

Ben got along with all the little kids he had to play with.  There must be a universal language when you are a kid...just like I noticed that there is a universal language between moms.  A mom is a mom no matter where you find yourself on this planet....and there was always something to talk about and relate to.  Same with kids.  Ben had so much fun here.

To help with language learning, I brought a picture book of our friends and family back in the States.  Everyone wanted to see my family and friends.  It was nice to have something to talk about in those early days while I was learning how to communicate well.

Cooking was my saving grace and stress release.  I felt like I was hosting a cooking show.  Notice how all the mamas are lined up on the other side of the banis (fence or separation).  Anyway, I felt like I was on TV sometimes.  Here I am making bread.  Later I taught some of these ladies how to make bread and banana cake and sweet popcorn.  It was so much fun....even though the look on my face in this picture above may not look like it...

Loved the cultural experience of a PNG church service.

Below is a picture with a lot of men from the village we were staying with.  He is wearing a bilum (string bag) around his neck.  Our wasmama was being funny and got in the picture with the men instead of the women.