Village and Basketball

Several of the men accompanied me to the other end of the village where they had constructed a basketball court. None of them had ever heard of Michael Jordan, I think kick boxing is a bigger sport in their community. Nevertheless, they had to hoops and a few balls. Things like basketballs and clothes are all traded up slowly from the coast where there are a lot of Australian second hand clothing stores. I wanted to ask them how many balls that lost over the side of the cliff next to the court but I just didn’t have the words.

Men's House

I also visited a Men’s House. Most of the time the men sleep and live out at the Men’s House and go to their wives house (where the children live) only for meals. Inside the house it was dark and very smokey. They burn fires inside to keep the bugs out of the roof and generally make it difficult to breathe. I am not sure what we were talking about but it was really funny to all of them and I think I had something to do with it, probably my sudden inability to inhale. I took a few pictures and moved on.

Cassowary

We saw a Cassowary. There it is. You can check them out on wikipedia if you want to know more. They can be pretty nasty and have been known to kill men in the jungle. These were the highland type and were considerably smaller but they were still pretty mean and they were kept in cages.

Welcome to the Dedication

At the end of the hike we arrived at the center of the village and Neil and Carol’s house. All the women stayed in the Andersons house and the men slept in a temporary house built just for us. The building was later going to be used as a temporary church until the people decide when and where to build a new one that they have been planning. The rest of the day we had to wander around the village, learn some of the language, play games with the kids and see all the other Folopa filter in from the other villages.

Hey I know you

It was really great to see Pastor John and his wife Sandy as well as Frank and Margi from Spokane. I think they were happy and surprised to see familiar faces that far into the jungle as well. All in all there were 9 Spokanites together in the middle of the Jungle in PNG. That has to be some kind of new record.

Welcoming Parade

All of us fly-in guests where then corralled into the center of a long column of singing Folopa. We were led by a group of guitar players and singers, followed by warriors and surrounded on all sides by women dressed in elaborate grass dresses waving decorations and making music by beating on pvc pipes with flip flops. It was great. What was really incredible was that this village was doing this same welcoming processional for every guest that came to attend the dedication the entire day from sunrise to sundown. Over a thousand people came as guests from the surrounding Folopa villages.

Pick Me

All the kids that met us at the plane eagerly collected our bags and began the 1 mile walk down to the center of the village. The all wanted to be helpful in some way and contribute to our welcoming ceremony.

Around the plane

After we landed our airplane was surrounded by people. We were the first plane to arrive for the dedication and the Folopa people were so excited to see us. They had choreographed marches and written songs to sing for the occasion in English just to welcome us. This is a picture of the second plane to land just moments after ours which received the same treatment. The Folopa were so friendly and everyone wanted to shake your hand. We felt very welcome.

short final

As we flew in we could see some people in the village looking up at us. It looked pretty disserted. It was amazing to see all their houses from that perspective.

Runway

The airstrip itself is relatively long as mountain airstrips go at 1700 feet. It also rises over 110 feet from one end to the other. We flew in on the Islander with Captain Will. He has been flying in the country for over 28 years and is an excellent pilot.

Mt. Tawa

Welcome to the Mt. Tawa Folopa village. There are about 2700 Folopa people spread throughout several villages within a few days hike of Mt Tawa. It is a beautiful spot for a village, set along the ridge at about 3200 feet. The village stretches just over a mile along the ridge leading up to the airstrip.

Islander

We are leaving tomorrow morning for the dedication on that Islander there. We are very excited and we can’t wait to tell you all about it when we get back. We will post some of the highlight pictures and let you in on the details then. In the meantime, you can be praying for our safe travels and for the celebration.

Catercoonwheelteepeepillar thing

This is our strange bug of the week. It was a caterpillar of sorts that had constructed a house for itself that it dragged along everywhere it went. It was sort of a cocoon, fifth wheel, inverted teepee hybrid. I am not sure what that would be in Latin, but your welcome to post your ideas as well. The amazing thing was this bug was about 9 or 10 inches long. Biggest strange caterpillar I ever saw.

Data Entry

Here I am. A familiar sight really as this is what I usually do in my day, though my desk would normally be a bit more tidy. Yesterday, today and two days next week this is where I will be – auditing billing invoices for the Aviation Department. Yeehaw. But it is a few days of work for me that would take them possibly weeks, if not longer, so I am happy to be able to serve, as is the department. The Director of Aviation (da Boss Man) and the Assistant DOA (da Numba Two Boss) were just as excited, if not more, for my coming as they were Ian’s, even though I will only be there a few days. I start my “permanent” temporary position on the 22nd as, you guessed it, Office Manager & Consultant of the Finance office.

Working on Helicopters

Today was another exciting day at the airport. I spent the day on the Bell LongRanger. I have learned a lot about helicopters. I am starting to get to know the guys a little better, too. I am trying to work on my Pidgin as half of the guys in the hangar are nationals. The national guys are great to work with, and many of them have worked at the hangar for many years. I am still getting used to their personalities and relationship style. They are really hard to read and almost never smile. But once you get to know them, they are quite amiable and they know their stuff. When they do smile, it is usually at my expense.

Going Bananas

Today we met our yard man, Jenas. He seems like a neat guy and we look forward to getting to know him better over the coming weeks. He “mowed” our lawn with a machete and did a number of landscaping things with the various bushes and plants in our yard. He comes every Friday, and for lunch and a few kina he does an excellent job. He also cut this bunch of bananas from one of our banana trees in the yard. I can’t imagine how we will ever eat them all; that is a lot of smoothies and banana bread. Funny thing is there are at least three or four more bunches like it in our back yard.

Kitchen

Back at home my lovely wife is whipping up another marvelous meal. You can see we are not exactly living in a grass hut. What you can not see is all the ants, spiders, and cockroaches we do battle with on a daily basis. Oh the joys of jungle living. Please continue to pray for our safety and for that of our fellow workers here in PNG.

Brake Linings

We both started work out at the Airport today. Leslie was a huge help to the parts room guys with their computer filling system and is being recruited heavily to come and help in the aviation finance office. I think there are lots of people all over the center that would love to have her help and she is in great demand. I was thrown into the shop and given my first assignment. I spent the afternoon on the Islander checking the brakes. I found my first problem today with this worn brake lining. I ended up replacing several linings and got those breaks back in good condition. This is a good thing because we will be flying in that airplane to the dedication on Monday.

Kianantu

This morning we took a short drive with a few other people to the nearest town of Kianantu. It is accurately characterized as an unsafe place. It is also the only place around to shop for some grocery items and clothes. It would be impossible for me to explain fully or describe what this place was like. You know that town, Tortuga, from Pirates of the Caribbean. It is sort of like that only with a few second hand clothing stores. I was not 10 steps out of the car before someone tried to take my wallet. It was a short visit and we were happy to be back home when it was over.

Co-pilot

Ian got to sit right seat for our trip in the 206 from Port Moresby to Ukarumpa. I was in the back, pretty much with the cargo, but I was glad to have a good view of my hubby enjoying every second of the flight. Dave, our pilot, did an excellent job, and Ian I know learned more about this country and its flight requirements than he ever could have at home. Just one ride was worth the trip, and there is more to come.