Yummm!!!

On the way back from the meeting mentioned in the previous post I decided to check in on a good friend of mine, Janet.  I found her in her garden tending her sweet potato (kaukau) and corn and decided to stay and get my hands dirty, too.  They get a good kick out of our feable attempts to garden so I thought I'd amuse Janet for a bit. 

She had dug up a few "tapiok" (cassava root, where tapioca comes from) and wanted to show me how to make tapiok cake. 

The tapiok tree.

We peeled the tapiok (it peels off like bark) and she set me to work grating it into mush.   

A pretty ingenious invention...nails punched through a piece of tin.  This worked way better than any grater I've ever owned (minus the rust).

Pat the tapiok into the bottom of an oil-lined pot. 

Cover it with pieces of banana leaf. 



 Heat rocks over the fire and, using homemade bamboo tongs, place them on top of the banana leaves, then cover with more leaves.

Life in a hut: dark and smokey.  The Highlanders generally sleep in a different hut than they cook in, but Janet & Heti only have the one hut.

The tapiok is then placed over the fire to cook.   

The end result....sooooo good.  I'm not the biggest fan of tapiok so I had my doubts about this, but it was moist and chewy and, with a bit of salt, I didn't want to stop eating. 

Lights in Bena Land

Myself and some co-workers had the privelege this week of sitting in on one of the chronological lessons being taught in a nearby village (one of many in the huge Bena Bena area).  It was exciting to see how God is drawing this small group of believers together to meet and learn about God's Word in their own heart language (tok ples).  It took me a while to focus with this cutie sitting in front of me.  

Most of those attending are believers, but not all.  It's been interesting to see who all decides to make an appearance each time.

Kokore reads a portion of the Bible as part of the lesson.  When I sit at home and am refreshed, challenged and encouraged by reading the Bible, I think of those, like these Bena, who only have portions of Scripture so far in their heart language.  

Heti is the main teacher.  To his left are some of the Chronological pictures they're using in the teaching.  "Chronological" means they start at the very beginning of the Bible and teach through to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This way the listeners see all the pieces of the Bible fit together and are anticipating the need of a Saviour before they even know about Jesus. 

Johnson is another one of the Bena believers.

Me and several of the ladies and their kids attending the lessons.

Afterwards we went into a nearby hut to visit with this old lady, who we call Mama Wiye.  It was too cold for her to sit outside so she stayed inside and listened to what was being taught.  Her eyesight is failing and she can't do much but sit, but she still hears well and we're hoping that she's understanding clearly what's being said. 

Every friday night all the staff get together (rain or shine) and cook supper at the campfire.  This night it happened to be raining so some of us headed to the workshop and improvised. 

Freedom at Last!

As women in Papua New Guinea, freedom is something we really value.  There's safety in numbers here and we don't often get the chance to go outside the gates of our compound by ourselves.  Everywhere we go we always have others with us (usually men)...whether it's shopping in town, spending time in the village, or just going for a walk.    

    Sometimes it's hard always having to find someone to go places with us. My co-worker, Lesley, and I decided we needed a bit of freedom one day so we ditched the men and took off on her 4-wheeler to visit a good friend of ours in the village.  Weeeeee!!!! :0)

Esta (in the white hat at left) and her mom, who we call Mama Wiye (sitting between Lesley & myself), live in this hut.  Esta had been sick and we were able to bring her some antibiotics.  You can see the coffee drying on the right.  The villagers don't like to see guests getting dirty so they usually bring us something to sit on - a coffee sack, a leaf...whatever they can find.  As I was sitting there a corner of my foot happened to be hanging off the plastic that I was sitting on, and as I was deep in conversation with Esta, Mama Wiye started tugging desperately at the plastic and trying to move my foot to make sure I was all clean.  It was pretty cute. 

Just watching us "white skins," as they call us, is pretty good entertainment for the children and we usually have a crowd of them wherever we end up sitting. 

Esta & myself.