Village Living: Cash Economies

Young boy climbing a buai palm

One afternoon our wasbrata (brother) came home from school and asked for money for the school picnic. Cash is not something that the family keeps much of but the solution was straightforward. Our brother and sister went down the hill to the family buai (betel nut) plantation. He climbed the thin palm trees, threw bunches of buai down to his sister and she put them in bags to take to market the next day.

People and buai loaded onto a PMV

The following day we went with our was susa (sister) to the market. We piled onto the PMV (Public Motor Vehicle) with all the others bound for the market plus their produce. It was cramped. Before we even got off the PMV at the market, the bargaining had begun. Teams of men had come down from the Highlands to buy bulk buai to take home and resell. Although the Highlanders are bigger and fiercer than the coastal people, our sister was taking no nonsense from them and bargained hard. As the men bought the bunches of buai they would gather, strip the nuts from the branches, put them into sacks and sew them shut once full. Once all our sister’s buai was sold, we caught another PMV into town to buy store goods (rice, tinned meat, milk powder and a cream bun) then back home with the rest of the cash to give our brother for his school picnic.

Loaded PMV going to market

Buai, or betel nut, is a mild stimulant when chewed with lime and ‘mustard’ (not what we think of as mustard in Aus). These three combine to a red paste which people then spit out, resulting in bright red spatters on the ground and a high incidence of mouth cancer in the country. It only grows at lower altitudes and the trade with the highlands was the primary income for the family we lived with. Other cash crops were cocoa and coffee…feeding the stimulating addictions of the west rather than their own addiction.

Selling bulk buai at the market

It saddens me that the cash economies of this country seem to be tied to addiction. Sugar, tobacco and natural gas are other exports, each of which is addictive in its own way. Most of it is feeding the addictions of the culture I am from. Yet this is the cash which families put into education or into nutrition (the protein of tinned meat, not the cream bun!). A big LNG project is driving the economy and enabling the government to promise free education, better roads and better healthcare. Surely these are good things, but at what cost? There is no simple answer, but it is interesting to be observing  the grassroots level of production and cash return. It is good to ask the questions, even if I do not have answers. 

Village Living: Family

Our was femili (host family)

At the end of five weeks in the village, it was sad to say goodbye to the people who had become our family. For over a month these people had been our guides, our teachers, our encouragers, our security and our friends. They had built our house for us and provided for us, given generously of their lives and experience. To leave  with no knowledge of when we shall meet again, is difficult. Although communication by sms and mobile phone is possible, my ability to communicate by these means in Tok Pisin is quite limited.

Our other was femili next door

Our immediate wasfemili was Papa and Mama plus their six children, two grandchildren and grandfather. The extended family included Papa’s three brothers who lived nearby and their wives and children. One of these families in particular were very much part of our lives as they lived next door. At least one of Papa’s sisters lived along the road as did Mamas brothers, all of whom became our family…although in five weeks I never quite got all the names, faces and relationships sorted!

We did everything with our family. We helped in the garden, we went to market and town, we sat in the shade and made bilums, we shared stories, we laughed, we cried, we ate, we waited for the birth of the newest grandchild and celebrated when she was born safely. Sometimes we went on ‘tourist’ outings; to Heem to see the view over the Gogol valley and to explore a cave and to Omoru to see the bat cave and tour the coconut, coffee and cocoa plantation. Some days doing everything with family was tiring, but once we left I missed them.

Looking down the bat cave

Family is the glue of PNG society. It defines the structure of villages and there are responsibilities that go with those relationships. For awhile in the village we were surprised at how many women worked at one particular business in town, until we found out that a ‘liklik papa’ (uncle) owned the business. Then it made sense for all the family to be employed there.

The night before we left we shared in a feast. Everyone brought food to share and we sat and ate together for the last time. We were given gifts of bilums and necklaces. We shared stories and songs. As I looked around me I was touched by the closeness of family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, all sharing life together. I wouldn’t recognise some of my first cousins, let alone my second cousins. People who here they call ‘sister’ (daughter of father’s brother) are strangers to me in my own family.

Looking across the Gogol River

I hope to visit my wasfemili again sometime, to continue the relationship that was started. In the meantime, I live distant to my wasfemili and distant to my genetic family, yet enjoy the company of my POC family and build relationships with my new Ukarumpa family. Although single, I am rarely alone.

POC: Village living (before)

Teachers go on ‘prac’, pastors have vicarage and POCers go on a five week village living stay. This is our practical time where all our previous learning comes together and takes on a new depth. We are off to Amele area on the other side of Madang, to a series of villages where we each have a new wasfemili and a house set aside just for us. I am going to Auron Ples with Michelle (Tennessee) and Inga  (Germany), the other single women at this POC.

Village living is a time of learning, even though we have assignments to work on. The purpose of these assignments is to get us asking questions and reflecting on the life which 85% of PNGns live. That’s over 5 million people, includes most of our co-workers in translation, literacy and support work. Even for those in the cities, this is the life they have usually come from, still have family in, send money back to and return to when they can. Village life is the heart of PNG life.

We’ve been planning and packing in the week leading up to our departure. Food has been purchased, sorted into weekly rations, packed and labelled. We are going through our personal things to decide what to take and what to store here at POC. I’m trying to catch up on emails, blog, business etc before I go. There is a last minute shopping trip.

Once we are in the village, we will be looked after by our wasfemili, but do most of the cooking ourselves. Conversation with villagers will be in Tok Pisin. Sometimes we may go to the garden with people, other times we may be on our own. Reports of village living from previous POCers are positive, but so varied. Some people got bored with how quiet life was. Others were overwhelmed by the constant presence, hospitality and generosity of their wasfemili. I am going with plenty of books and other things in the hope we are on the quiet end of the scale. Should I find myself crowded by people I’ll have to make a much more concerted effort to have time to myself.

I am looking forward to this village stay as a chance for time to be, rather than a time to do. In a relationships oriented culture just being together is the important thing. Coming from a task oriented culture, I struggle to not have something to do. I hope to be able to spend this time building good relationships with my wasfemili and my colleagues and as well as deepening my relationship with God. Five weeks of being, not doing, is a gift to be celebrated and enjoyed.

See you on the other side!

POC: Wasfemili

Our wasmama

Another part of POC is having a local wasfemili (host family) who we spend time with about weekly building relationships, learning about PNG life and practicing Tok Pisin. The first time we met was here at POC, as they all came for a meal with us. For many it was an awkward meal, as our Tok Pisin was not yet very good, the relationship new and we weren’t sure what to talk about. Our wasmama was great. She has been a wasmama a few times before and kept the conversation rolling when we ran out of words.

Betip village

Next visit it was time to go to their place instead of them coming to ours. We headed off before sunset, about a 20 min walk, with dinner to share in hand. We sat, we chatted, we ate, we started to learn to make billums (local string bags that carry everything) and we relaxed into a forming friendship. Our Tok Pisin had improved and so had our comfort levels with these people who were no longer strangers.

Wasmama outside her house

The visit after was an overnight stay, then once again a dinner visit from us before it was time for our wasfemili to come back to POC. That time we entertained them in our haus kuks, showing our skills at cooking on the campfire, but still learning plenty from them as to how to get the fire just right for the tea and just how sweet the tea should be. By this time we were having fun hanging out together. Sometimes we chatted and at other times the silence was comfortable.

The final wasfemili event completed the circle as we gathered together in the meeting hall as a group once again. It was a time of saying thank you for sharing their lives with us over the last while. We exchanged gifts, as that is an important part of expressing relationships here. Michelle and I now have matching bilums which many have ‘eye greased’ (envied) and our wasfemili has some new towels, a meri blouse and laplap I sewed and some earrings from Michelle. Our bilums have decorative tassels on one side. When worn facing outwards it means we are happy with life and all is well with relationships. When the plain side is worn outwards, it means a relationship is broken and I am giving my back to your village… facebook posts, bilum style.

Mi amamas. Laip bilong mi em I gutpela sindaun

Yumi gat bikpela hevi. Mi givim bek long ples bilong yu. 

Sharing life with a local family has been a precious thing. They have welcomed us, taught us, encouraged us and become our friends. I feel for my wasmama as she lives with chronic pain from a childhood injury, family history of arthritis and a life of hiking mountains, gardening and carrying heavy loads. I feel for my was susa (sister) as she prepares for her exams, exams which were delayed a week or two because the papers have not yet arrived from Port Moresby. I hope to visit them again sometime, to bring my own sister here when she visits, as we are all family now.

POC: Outdoors

Our group ready to depart

PNG life is mostly outdoors as people work their gardens, travel about on foot and spend time storying  on village verandas. To get us fit for life here as well as to give us an appreciation for PNG life, we’ve spent a lot of time outdoors during POC. This has mostly taken the form of weekly hikes and swims. The hikes recently culminated in a three day hike around the area where POC is based.

About to descend from the mountain

Ugal leading the way

Resting by a beautiful creek

Wading upriver

Following the creek

Survived!

The hikes started small, first just on the mountain top, then down the mountain, then down and up again…each hike a bit further and a bit harder. Finally was the three day hike. We went as two groups, each with a pair of national guides, a guy and a girl. Day one we went all the way down into the valley (POC is at 365m elevation), lunched by a river and then went on a little way to the village where we were staying in for the night. Our waspapa (host father) met us, showed us around and let us rest awhile before we chatted into the evening. The village was very quiet as most people had gone to the funeral of a three year old girl who had died of malaria. Death of children is always sad, but when it is of something largely preventable and treatable and the difficulty is in access to care, it is sad indeed.

Day two was the best day of the hike as we went over many ridges and stopped for a rest at a few creeks and waterholes. It was a day to appreciate the stunning beauty of this country. Ridges and valleys have different ecosystems. One ridge will be different to the next ridge. As we stop quietly by a waterhole butterflies and dragonflies flit about and land on us. A poisonous snake crossed the path but then wisely hid from us, for our guide with a bush knife was waiting for him to return. On the second night we chatted late into the night, an encouraging sign our Tok Pisin has improved as well as a reflection of local hospitality and welcome.

Day three was a long day of wading in rivers and getting back to our mountain top POC home. We started the day following a river, moved on to following a creek (slippery!), occasionally took steep ‘short cuts’ across ridges and finally faced the long, constant and at times very steep uphill back to POC. Yet again, we were surrounded by stunning beauty. After three days hiking my pack was a familiar presence and the weight did not bother me. After three days hiking I was running out of energy and the final uphill was a battle of will. One step at a time I made it to the top, drenched with sweat, but glad to have made it.

Although when hiking uphill I feel incredibly unfit, when we go swimming I feel the opposite. Each week we have gone to a nearby inlet, stretched a 100m rope out in the water and swum laps of it for fitness. The goal we were encouraged to reach was 1 mile (8 laps). I made that the first week and soon after made my ‘real’ mile (nautical) of 9 laps. All those years of swimming lessons paid off. While swimming I would lap people, while hiking I would be the slowest in the group… evidence I really am a coastal person and not a mountain person!

POC: Medical

Life in another land has many challenges, including staying healthy. The bugs are different to at home, cleanliness is thought of in a different way and access to health care is different. To help us stay healthy and remain in PNG, we’ve been having a series of medical lectures. Much of it boils down to being diligent in caring for ourselves and staying hydrated with clean water. At POC we’ve had our share of bugs, as people arrive stressed by major life changes and adjust to living together in a new place. The longer we are here, the more we adjust and the healthier we are.

Medical approaches across cultures are very different. Illness in PNG is often attributed to broken relationships, for the spiritual and the physical are seen to be directly related. Maintaining healthy relationships equates to maintaining the health of a community. Although the US and Australia are both ‘western’ they too have different medical approaches. I am used to using dettol or just clean water for cleaning wounds. My US friends bleach everything. As for a response to choking, they teach the Heimlich manoeuvre, which first aid training in Australia told me never to use. Lateral chest thrusts, a fancy phrase for a good thumping on the back or side, is taught instead.

As an ex-pat in this country I have health advantages. The organisation I am with has its own health centre and a doctor on call 24-7. By phone (or radio) I can always get medical advice. I am sent to the village with medications for a range of conditions that the doctor can then remotely prescribe for me to use, a situation I am familiar with from life at sea. There too, we had a locked cabinet of prescription medication and a doctor at the end of the radio or satellite. The organisation I am with also has an aviation department, to get people to and from remote villages. They also do Med-Evacs when necessary, including to Australia for more significant help. Although I pray I never need such an evacuation, there is comfort in knowing the safety net is there and that it even delivers me to my home country! Knowing insurance will pay for it is also comforting, but I’d prefer to stay fit and healthy.

POC: Cultural Awareness

Increasing our cultural awareness is a significant part of POC. This is not just making us aware of PNG culture, but aware of our own cultures and how they shape our judgements and reactions. I have found this last part the more significant as I live and work with people from across the globe. Each nation has its cultural norms, but within that is still a great range of expressions and experiences.

To increase our PNG cultural awareness we have had a series of lectures on PNG life and culture. They have covered topics such as kinship, the spiritual and the physical and the relationship of the two, the significance of gift giving, the community based nature of decisions and life as well as the value of relationships over tasks. It has been good to get a range of pointers for what to look for and questions to ask. This has been much more helpful than being given all the answers, as PNG has such a plethora of cultural expressions that there is no such thing as one PNG culture.

Before coming to PNG, I was warned that the biggest conflicts are often between co-workers, not with nationals. It can be the small cultural differences that chafe the most and, as we all know, chafe is the enemy. Our sessions on multi-cultural teamwork have been aimed at reducing this chafe by introducing understanding. The model we’ve been working within has two main scales; the hierarchical to the non-hierarchical culture as well as the strong to the weak community. PNG has a very strong sense of community, the US a weak sense of community. Australia is somewhere in between. This makes for PNG a communal culture and the USA an individualistic culture. Each has its strengths as well as its weaknesses, as well as its conflicts with the other.

In reflecting on where I fit in these scales, I am constantly evaluating my responses and expectations. This allows me to understand both myself and the people around me. I can better see why I find some people greedy and selfish; they are living out their individualistic culture. The same people often have a great self confidence, which can appear as arrogance, as their individualistic culture has given them a valuable sense of their self worth. Meanwhile, I can find myself struggling with my own self-worth, as the communal culture knocks tall poppies down. Yet, on the communal end of the scale I value the sharing and care that occurs, that PNG people are very good at including people. Where greed is the sin of the weak community, envy is the sin of the strong community as that which is yours is, or at least should be, mine, so I may as well take it to even things up. The individualist points and says ‘thief’ while the communalist indirectly agrees with their peers that the other person is selfish and greedy. Name-calling rarely helps. Understanding and adjusting our behaviour is more helpful.

Learning traditional roofing

Cross cultural child care

 I find that years at sea have taught me to function well within a hierarchy, yet on land I lean towards weak structure and consensus. PNG, Australian and North American cultures all function within a low hierarchy. Our European and Asian colleagues are more comfortable with the rules and social order of a more hierarchical culture. Many at POC struggle with the set schedule, doing activities they do not like and living to rules they would write differently, as they are from the low hierarchy culture. Life here is less ordered than at sea, so I fit into it easily enough for the time we are here.

We’ve talked about many more things like this, including the different cultural values and divisions of personal and private, clean and dirty, what constitutes a ‘proper’ home, good and bad, the causes of sickness and conflict and much more. Learning basics for reflecting on culture has been an important part of POC. Many things I’ve learnt before, but encountering them again while I am in another land and surrounded by people from a variety of cultures and places has meant I’ve had to constantly be putting them into practise, which is the best way to learn. Hopefully now I not only survive, but thrive within a multinational organisation in PNG as  I continue to live and learn. -->