The Crawling Eye

In the morning there was this patch of mist that was moving along the river devouring everything in its path. Which would have been fine if we did not have to cross the river to get back home and if I had not watched the crawling eye. :) Thanks Dad.

pre-moth

Just another example of crazy bugs here. I really liked the hairy back tuffs. What an amazing creator.

Speaking of Bugs

This one found a nice spot to hide out from the morning mist. We tried to do the same thing under a tarp and were relatively succesful. I am not sure what that bug was. It looked a lot like a mosquito but it wasn't. Whenever I leave my house, I feel like I am discovering new species everywhere I look. It is great.

The forest

Once we were in the trees, it reminded me a lot of the forests back home. Except the underbrush was filled with passion fruit vines, giant ferns, bread fruit trees, lots of types of grass and millions of spiders. We also saw really cool lightning bugs that looked just like little L.E.D.'s.

Lone Tree

Our destination was the hill they call "Lone Tree." That was 40 years ago when there was only one tree on it. Now there is a forest. It was planted by villagers to have firewood and the trees grew faster than they could cut them down.

Out of Ukarumpa

In an attempt to better give you a feel for where Ukarumpa is, I took a short hike Friday night to the top of one of the nearby hills. I spent the night with Mike and Ian Patrick and Daniel. They all grew up in PNG and we had a great time sharing stories around the fire that night. As we were leaving the center, one of the guys who mows lawns on center offered to be our guide as far as his house in the village just off center. He was very helpful to show us the most shallow part of the river we had to cross that was waste deep and moving swiftly. From then we just followed the path through the grass that has been hiked for hundreds of years. Lighting was crashing on several of the surrounding hills but we were in the sunshine. It was beautiful.

This is for you Eugene and David

Thanks for the comment Eugene. I will say Hi to Bev tomorrow when I see him. He is still flying helicopters and I have really appreciated getting to know him. David, your folks have been awesome. They have had us over twice for dinner and a movie. I keep begging for a ride in the King Air. It looks like we might get one on the flight out of here with him. Also, Eugene, say hi to Emily Cline at school if you know her.

Buy and Sell

Here is Leslie buying some bell peppers, and no, those tomatoes in the foreground are not stacked very well. This market t is different from almost any market I have ever shopped at. All of the prices are fixed and there is no negotiating. In fact, there is virtually no conversation at all. Look at the product offer your money, take your food and say thank you. Even so, highlanders are very relational and it is important to never criticize their food and they really appreciate complements.

Produce

Here is another isle of the market. In all there are probably 60 or 70 people that show up three times a week to sell their goods. Some of them walk for miles.

Strawberry Stacking Competition

They were evenly matched and the competition was stiff. Any moment now, one would emerge as the winner. Actually, this is the market and just like home, all produce must be stacked geometrically. Whenever you buy something, they rearrange the remaining fruit or vegetable back into an even geometric pattern.

Dog in the way

Dogs can be very helpful here. They are great for guarding the house and many of the nationals use them for hunting. Sometimes, they can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This dog wondered out in front of the king air right as it was powering up to take off. After a few seconds of sizing up the noisy airplane, the dog yielded and ran off the runway. Good decision.

Roadside Scenery

I thought I would also point out that this is a beautiful place. Another interesting piece of trivia is that most of the now green highlands looked like this just a few hundred years ago – very few trees. From what we have been told, only recently with coffee and other light sensitive crops have people began to plant trees to provide shade. It has become a massive reforestation project.

Truck Full

The main way of getting around in PNG is to catch a PMV – public motorized vehicle. Some are vans, others are well, vehicles. As long as it has a blue license plate, climb aboard. Here in PNG the motto is: “There is always room for one more.”

C-Shop

On the way home we saw even more great stuff. Roadside stores are no exception to Papua New Guinea. This is one such store. If you look close, you will see the Coca Cola logo and next to that…nope this is not a Coffee Shop, this is a Coffin Shop. I was confused too, nevertheless you can still order a single tall.

Pictures

We mentioned the significance of taking a picture earlier. Here was one such excited gathering after a roll of film was developed. They were having a blast seeing the pictures they had taken, especially the ones with them in it.

Goroka Crowd

We traveled to Goroka accompanying Stephanie Campbell and another clinic staff member for a medical meeting. While they were meeting we checked out the local shopping. Here’s main street. Just like 5th Ave. The shopping was considerably better, and safer than Kianantu, and only 2 hours further awa., Goroka is known for its annual Highlands Sing Sing. It is sometimes referred to as the Goroka show, where many villagers from around the highlands gather to sing, dance and show off their traditional ways of celebration.

Long Road

It was a long road to Goroka. We traveled there today with the Campbells and a few other people from Ukarumpa. The road is one of the longest in the country and can be treacherous due to the rascals as well as the potholes. We were very grateful for a safe trip both ways.

New Edition

You can see in the background the new edition to our fleet here at SIL aviation. Just kidding. That plane belongs to the government and only visits our small dirt strip for unique medical evacuations that we can’t perform and to transfer money to various banks around the country. The roads either don’t exist or are not nearly safe enough. It was sure something to see a jet like that both land and takeoff from our airstrip, although they did have to do a go around.

Time to Go

Then it was time to leave. It was hard to say goodbye to our new friends. The word we used is Koneo. It means I am sorry. They us it for hello too, in the sense "I am sorry that life is so hard." Often the old women great the other people in the village with a short phrase that means "I am dying..." in a rehtorical sense of "do you care?" Life is hard in the jungle, but we could tell as we left that this next chapter for the Folopa people could be very different. I am anxious to see what the people do with the word of God. It never returns void. By reading it they can now know just how much God does care about them and that He loves them very much.

The Mumu

Up next was the Mumu. The next day, at dawn, the air was filled with the sound of pigs and other animals being led down to the promise stakes. Before the feast, families brought stakes down to the center of the village representing an animal that they would contribute to the feast. All the animals were tied up to the stakes in a long line and then... I will spare you the details. It was really something to see and hear. We had to leave before the eating happened. Which turned out to be a good thing because everyone got sick after the feast. There have also been reports of animals with a virus similar to anthrax in the area. While it is not fatal to humans, it has made a lot of people very sick.

There I am

I found out towards the end of our time that it was a great honor to have your picture taken. I think I made a lot of people happy that week. They also tell me it is a big status symbol to be able to take a picture, probably because it is so hard for them to get a camera, much less get a picture developed. They absolutely loved seeing themselves in my camera.

Peanut Gallery

The rest of the day we spent wandering about the village as they rejoiced in the days events. I enjoyed seeing the peoples reactions to all that had happened. I wish I could have spoken their language to even better understand what all it meant to them.

Pastor Paul

After the box was opened. Pastor Paul presented the gift to the people representing food, light and direction that was finally accessible to them.

Bibles in a Box

After about five hours of speakers and celebration, the Bibles were finally brought out to great fanfair.

Airplanes

This was symbolizing the first missionary airplane's the people saw flying overhead. They made these models long before an airplane ever landed at their village complete with propellers. The first airplanes they saw was a squadron of bombers flying low during the war. The people fled to the hills and valleys believing that their ancestors had returned and the world was ending. They sacrificed all their animals and it was a time of great terror.

First Missionary

This was the first missionary to the Folopa people. He came as part of a survey team and instructed the Folopa to pray for translators to come. Two and half years later the Andersons arrived.

Watching

This is part of the crowd that turned out to watch the dedication.

All The Planes

This is a rare sight. 5 airplanes at a mountain strip. This was the day of the dedication and all these airplanes participated in bringing in guests. It really demonstrates the importance of aviation in the work that is being done.

Here comes the rest

I am going to post some of the last pictures of the dedication with minimal explanation. We have had a very busy week and we have been trying hard to carve out the time to get the rest of these pictures up. It is amazing how long things take to get done here. Especially dial up. So without further delay, here they are. Email us with questions if you want more details.

Picture review

The little kids have little inhibition crowding in for a picture, and even less for reviewing the picture on the backside of the camera (hang onto your camera!). The older kids and grownups are delighted to be in a picture if you ask them, but then will stand still anxiously awaiting an invitation to see themselves (a rare view as we did not see any mirrors in the village). These three teenaged girls were such a pretty picture standing together in their colors with their hair done all up. I ended up liking this picture better of their review.

School

School is held in these buildings off a side peninsula of the ridge. The children learn Folopa, then Pidgin, then English, if they stay thru high school. I wish my school had had such a view. – L

Morning Fog

We walked to the top of the village and he snapped this shot along the way. All morning fog had poured over the ridge next ours and had slowly filled up the valley below to the brim. Now it was pouring over the village’s ridge and into the next valley like cascading fog. It was mystifying…

(…that was for you, Dad.) - L

Morning Walk

The morning of the dedication Ian and I went out for a walk, though I think it was Ian’s second or third walk of the day – that man would disappear for hours with his camera. He had sunburn on his forearms after the first day from holding the camera to his face all day. You should see his watch tan. – L

Pretty in Pink

My turn to write now (says Leslie). This is my friend, Anna (the one in pink). The kidos in the village were either as cute as buttons or had green snot running out of their noses 24/7. Luckily, this one decided to be my friend (though if a snotty one had, it wouldn’t have mattered as I was prepared with lots of Kleenex ). Anna is probably six, and spoke some pidgin. As I only spoke three words of pidgin, we didn’t converse much, but that didn’t hinder our friendship – that little girl followed me up and down the village for a good number of miles. She would take my hand when I would offer it and I would often find her hanging around the house when I’d come out. She would just beam when I would recognize her and say hello. Such a sweetie. – L