PAY MERI

On the way home from the beach today we were stopped in the middle of the road by a mob of people parading through the streets. They were carrying money to a family near by. The money that you can see joined by the 2 large poles is to buy a wife. I was shocked to hear that this actually happens. It's called a pay meri. 

The friends and family of the groom to be, parade around the streets shouting, singing and squirting baby powder at each other (hence the white faces). When they get to the bride's house they will present the money along with a pig or two to her father. The reason for this is because the girl is a valuable asset to her father, she works long hours in his garden and if she gets married the father will need some money for his loss. The husband pays him compensation.  I think a lot of dads would like this to catch on back home. 

There's a video on my facebook page if you fancy a better look.

Love Emma x

WALINDI ISLAND

These are just a few photos from my trip to Walindi island today. It is a beautiful tropical island about 30 mins off the coastline. It was a scorcher of a day with temps reaching around 40 degrees. Sun tans all round.

As soon as we reached the island we went snorkeling around the reefs. It was absolutely beautiful swimming in the warm water of the lagoons. I saw clown fish (nemo's), angel fish and lots of other weird and interesting tropical creatures. I also came face to face with a 4 foot barracuda. He was only about a meter away from my face, I swam like the clappers to get away before he got any ideas of an early lunch. I really wish i had an underwater camera because my words really don't do it justice. The reef at Walindi is by far the most spectacular i've seen so far. 

Hope you're not too jealous.

Love, Emma x

KNOCKANI TRIBE - GALILO

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Knockani tribe in Galilo. It's about a 40 minute drive into the bush from where I live. I love just going and seeing the people in their homes and chatting to them (in the limited Pigeon i know). 

Two missionary families have just moved into this tribe about a month ago so it is a very new work. There is a picture of one of their newly built houses at the bottom. It is such a contrast to the housing of the tribal people. Sometimes I think it's a little bit unfair that the "white man" comes in and builds a huge house on their land with all his fancy gadgets, but I was reminded today that this house is not only their home but a school for their children, an office for a pastor, a clinic for the tribe and a 24/7 drop-in centre.  

The Knockani people were very welcoming and wanted their pictures taken at every opportunity. It was a great day and I look forward to hearing about the new independant church plant there in the next few years. Pray for the two missionary families as they now start language study and adjust culturally to this new setting.

Love,

Emma x

HAUS WIN

Sorry that I haven’t been updating the blog as much as usual, I just have trouble getting round to it sometimes. Things are still going well. It’s getting very near the due date for the submission of Map 4/5 (my class) novels. As some of you know I have been “teaching” 13 – 17 year olds how to write a novel. It’s going well considering the last time I took an English class was 2003 and have never written a novel before. What I’m not looking forward to is the 70 pages per student that has to be individually marked come April. Anybody willing to help with this just let me know and I’ll gladly send some your direction.

Some of you have been asking where the pics below are from. They are from a tribe just next door to my house. We went for a little walk through their village, they were so happy to see us. Jumping in front of the camera shouting to get our attention. It’s eye opening to see the difference on the other side of the fence. Literally. There is a wire fence that almost touches my back door and it is what separates this mini America from the real PNG. Sometimes walking through that little tribe I felt very embarrassed as I was so aware that they knew what kind of house I was going back to. The “work meri” that comes to my house to do laundry and that kind of thing comes from this village. Her name is Daileen, she is so lovely. When she heard that we went for a walk in her village she was so excited and has invited us for tea some night. She was on skype the other day with some of my friends from home, she couldn’t get over how you could see their faces on the computer. She kept saying “The faces on the box? sheeeeeee!”. Then when I told her they could see her too she said “Ahhh next time I fix my hair”. She loved it.

Across the road from the base are a few little “haus wins”, they are small stalls that people come and sell their produce at. Lots of the missionaries go and buy the food there, It’s nice to get real carrots instead of the tinned rubbish all the time. The other week there was a bit of a commotion right next to the stalls. During the night one of the haus wins belonging to a lady from the tribe next door had been chopped down. There were just a few remains left. Another lady who had just recently been widowed had come to sell her last little piece of cow-cow (sweet potato) and had set it on what was left of the stall. This was all she had to make a little money. You see when your husband dies here, you are left on your own for a while, no one really looks after you until after the “grieving process” , however long that may be. We heard shouting outside so we went to see what was going on. The lady that owned the stall was throwing everything everywhere and the widow was so upset as she had just lost her last hope of some money. The widow got so angry that she went to get a knife and came back threatening the stall owner. It all got a bit crazy with death threats flying about all over the place. Eventually it calmed down and the haus win got rebuilt (as you can see from the pic below) but it really opened my eyes as to how things are dealt with here. No one calls the police, there’s no point. Every tribe just fends for themselves. The people of PNG are a violent people. More so in the highlands which puts my mind at rest a little considering I’m in the islands region.

It is almost time for spring break here so next week I get off for about 10 days. I will hopefully be flying up to the highlands with Annika and Nya for a few days, it will be nice to see a little more of PNG. When I come back to Hoskins I hope to go into a tribal work for a few days as well. Just to live amongst the people and really see what God is doing will be a great experience.

After break I will be almost halfway through my time here. Time is flying so I better make the most of it. Keep praying for me as I go about my daily routine here and I will try my best to keep you updated on what’s happening.

Love,

Emma x

TRIPLE H // CHELSEA (SCUM) // LEVIS // PNG

HEROS AND SHEROS

So as you can imagine there's not a huge amount to do at night here on base. Usually we watch movies or play games, but once you've done that 3 or 4 nights in a row it tends to get a little repetitive. Sometimes the youth leaders here organise something a little bit different to do at weekends. Tonight we had a heros and sheros night. Each of the adults was supposed to dress up as a hero or shero and choose either to be a sitter, runner or hider. If you chose to be a runner your job was to run away from the kids all night trying not to let them catch you. If you were a hider or a sitter your job was to do exactly what it says on the tin, either sit or hide. Once the kids caught you they got points for their team and the winner was announced at the end of the night. It was good fun and and just something a little bit different. Just in case you were wondering, Martina dressed up as a geek and was a sitter with Annika. Simon and I were running ninja's. I wasn't very successful, all my points were given out in the first 15 minutes.

Everything else is going good. I've settled back into a routine after my parents left and am "enjoying" teaching.  On monday we all head to the local hotel to watch the superbowl (not that i even know what that is, but I'm going anyway). 

Love,

Emma x

LUKIM YU

Today I had to say lukim yu (bye bye) to my parents who are heading back to the bright lights of Derry city after visiting PNG for a month. They won't arrive home until wednesday your time, which will be Thursday here but at least they're on their way. It was lovely to have them here and it definitely helped me to settle in a lot easier. I know that they found it hard leaving us (especially Nya) as they may not see Simon and Annika for another 4 years. 

Please remember to pray for me as I try to settle into a routine now that they are gone and for them as they adjust to life back home. 

For me it's 1 month down and 5 more to go.

Emma x