The Scenic Route

 There are two ways to get to the city of Goroka from our campus...both involve lots of potholes, ditches, bumps and dirt (that's including the paved sections).  We normally just stick to one route, though, and after four years of living here and never having travelled the other way, I knew it was time to explore.  Not being able to drive here, I began dropping hints to the guys on campus (our "chauffeurs") and one day I finally got my chance.  We'd been in town doing some errands, and not being in a rush to get back home we decided to take the scenic route back.  There really isn't an un-scenic route around here but having never been on this road before it held some adventure for me (and sometimes you just need to see your every day life from a different perspective). 

 There's a set of tree-less hills that we can see from our campus that always (except for in burning season) look lush and green, and I'd often looked longingly in their direction (humming "The hills are alive..." and picturing myself bounding through their grass).  The back road takes us right behind these hills so we, of course, had to stop.

 The only leaping and bounding we did was over these ditches.

Interface is right in the center of this picture (you can see several white and green rooves).

 

This is a view of the hills (at far right during burning season) from our campus.

 We had a clear, almost 360 degree view of the valley where you can see the town of Goroka in the distance.

The "Sori"

 

Several weeks ago I got news that an elderly lady in the village had passed away.  "Mamma Wie," (Wee-eh) as we called her, was a tiny little lady that only spoke the tribal language, so our limited communication was either through a family member's translation or a lot of smiles and handshakes.  She was surprisingly "with it," for her age, although the rigorous life that people lead here tends to add years onto their appearance making it almost impossible to guess anyone's age.  Below is one of my favorite pictures of Mamma Wie.  I had already made plans to be in town that day but on the way in we stopped off to show our respects to Mamma Wie's family at her "sori" (sorry) - an extended time of mourning the deceased and burying them. When we arrived, Esta (Mamma Wie's daughter, with me above) and many others in the hut were covered in mud, a common sign of mourning. 

 

  

 It may be a little bold to post a picture like this, but life is bold here.  It was so uncomfortable being in this room!  There are no funeral parlors here to make death "presentable," but in their own way they made Mamma Wie beautiful with their flowers and blankets.   Everyone was thrilled for us to be there and take some final pictures to remember Mamma Wie by. 
 

 
When we came back from town later that afternoon we were flagged down by a group of people still sitting around after Mamma Wie's funeral.  It's customary to make a huge mumu (food steam cooked underground) at times like this, and we were given a bag of leftovers to bring home.  We got a mix of pork, chicken and lamb, and graciously took the gift. Mumu food really is delicious, but we just couldn't get over that hairy piece of pork!
 

 The next day when I had more time to visit I went back with a co-worker to see Esta and Piku (Mamma Wie's other daughter).  There's always lots of kids smiling and giggling along the road.

 We were taken to where Mamma Wie was buried the day before.  No fancy tombstone...just a simple cross to remember her by.  The Bible teaching that had been taking place in the village was being done right outside of Mamma Wie's house, and although she never officially attended the teaching we often hoped that she would have heard and understood as she sat by the fire in her hut. 

After a long time of sitting and reminiscing about her mom, Esta walked us home.  Esta has been a God-send to me in PNG, and she's never short of a smile, even in circumstances like these! 

The Big Day

A big event just happened in our community last week with the loooooong awaited re-opening of a school close by.  I wasn't able to be there at opening day or at any of the other celebrations but it's been exciting to read about it and see pictures from co-workers.  Check out Drew & Bobbi Scholl's blog here if you want to see what gets us excited about school!

Memory Lane

 Fifteen years ago (!!!) I was a high schooler here in PNG at Numonohi Christian Academy (NCA), nervously getting ready to attend the biggest banquet of the year.  Who would ask me?!  How would I do my hair?!  What in the world would I wear?!  Now it's my turn to watch each year as another generation of NCAers prep for the exciting event.  Thankfully this time I'm not worrying about hair or makeup, but about flowers.  For three years now I've gotten to help with making corsages and boutonnieres for banquet and I LOVE it. 

 

 This year, unlike last, there were beautiful flowers blooming all over the base so the kids had lots to choose from.

 

Last year was a zoo since I didn't do a lot of prep work beforehand, making the day of banquet crazy.  So this year I got smart with my prepping, and the day of ended up being a lot of fun instead of a lot of stress.  One hour on Thursday, five hours on Friday, and seven hours on Saturday for a total of seventeen corsages and fifteen boutonnieres.  Phew!

 

Thank goodness for my good friend, Gail, who's let me use her house and been a huge help for the past two years.  Go team!

 Some of the end results...

 

 Picture time!  This is always my favorite part.  Josh and Lucy strike a pose before heading off to banquet.

 

All glammed up. Their night is just starting, but I'm ready to go home and crash! 

If the torrential amounts of rain this time of year don't give away that it's rainy season, the increase of falling trees does.  "Malomalo" trees aren't native to Papua New Guinea, but were brought here years ago as shade trees for growing coffee.  They're mammoth trees which grow fast, making their root systems really weak.  A good rain softens the ground just enough to make them rip out of the ground so we often hear huge cracks and thuds as they fall around campus and out in the village.  Thankfully no one has gotten hurt by a falling tree, other than the day this one fell and one of our interns accidentally got a machete in his leg while trying to chop up the tree.  Ouch.  A hospital trip and a few stitches later and he was back in business with a good story to tell.    

A Pineapple Kind of Christmas

The New Year is here and one more "Hepi Krismas" ("Merry Christmas" in Melanesian Pidgin) has come and gone so quickly.  As much as I miss my family back home at this time of year (ok, at ALL times of the year!), there's just something about PNG Christmases that I love.  Maybe it's the lack of commercialism that keeps things simple, or the packages that come bringing smells and tastes of home.  Or maybe it's the gift of green onions and bananas that a friend in the village brings when the December drought has made garden food tough to come by and you realize what that symbolizes.  PNG may not be where I was born and raised or where my family is, but it's home.

 

 Each monday morning throughout the year the village ladies bring their fruit and veggies onto campus to market for us.  This is a great source of income for them, and obviously a huge help for us.  Each year at Christmas these ladies collect a huge pile of food that they present to us as a "thank you" for buying from them.  What a special gift, especially when it hadn't rained in so long and we knew they were struggling with their gardens. 

 The men chatting it up before they make several "thank you" speeches.

 

 Each year I look forward to heading out to the SIL (Wycliffe) base about 1 1/2 hours away to check out their Christmas Bazaar.  The drive is far from enjoyable with all the potholes and caved in sections of road, but the scenery helps to make up for that. 

 

 We have to laugh each time we pass this school...not sure I'd be too eager to attend an elementary school with a motto of "No Pain No Gain" and who has to clarify that it's "Child Friendly."

 

 Along with all the other booths of arts and crafts at the Bazaar, PNG citizens sell their usual string bags, paintings, carvings, etc.  But this year I was surprised to see wreaths!  I couldn't pass this up and still haven't had the heart to throw mine out.   

 

 On the way home we stopped off at the Kainantu Pottery Factory to check out what they had in stock.  This area is known for its beautiful pottery, and if you pick out the pieces with a slight crack or scratch you can usually come away with some pretty good deals. 

 

 An employee of the factory works wool into strips for weaving into rugs.

 

 What's Christmas without some cookie decorating, right?

Nikki gets cranking on the dough while her daughter, Sierra, and I start on the frosting.

 

Many hands make light work...and lots of cookies.  From L to R: Thomas, Jephunneh, Sierra, Nikki, Matthias, Brooke, Anna, Me, Edgard

 

December is watermelon season around here, and Janet came by wanting me to try out her first crop.  After cutting them open first, Janet realized they weren't ripe yet and was happy to take them back home and re-use the seeds.  Try doing that at a grocery store back home!

This restuarant in town really knew how to decorate for the holidays.

Us ladies get pretty excited about shopping days in town, especially around the holidays when all sorts of fun new things show up in stores.  Totes stacked up top, ladies crammed inside and we're ready to go. 

 

Christmas in Goroka.  I was actually pretty impressed with this little display. 

 

One of our favorite places to eat in town is The Mandarin for a decent plate of Chinese food.  Pete (and Lesley Doerksen) was the unfortunate driver who had to chauffeur us around all day.

The excitement of the holidays this year also brought some sadness in a great friend and co-worker leaving Interface.  Janie (2nd from left) moved back to the States in December to help fill a huge need for Interface Stateside (after serving 13 years in PNG).  To say she is missed is an understatement, but we were all excited to see God leading and working out all the details for this change in ministry. 

At Janie's going away party, all the staff daughters decided they wanted to be waitresses.

A couple days later and Janie was on a plane flying home.  Bye, Janie!!!

Outside the airport a man tries to sell dried flowers and garlic. 

We love holidays here.  It's a great excuse for us to get together and eat lots of food, play lots of games, and do a lot of relaxing...all day!  The Interface kids help us transform the dining hall into our party headquarters.

No Christmas tree?  No problem.  This poor banana stalk got all decked out instead.

Christmas Eve sports. 

 

At market one week my friend, Julie, (we call each other "Apa" which means "namesake" in the tribal language) gave me a Christmas gift of onions and bananas.  There's something about a gift like this that beats a storebought gift hands down.

 

Home Sweet Home.  My parents' Christmas package was delivered on Christmas morning!

For Christmas Day I invited our three German interns (Matthias, Thomas & Edgard) and Anna (who's helping at ITF for 6 months) for brunch and games. 

None of them had gotten packages from home so I had fun putting together some Christmas "stockings" for them.

 

I don't make a habit of dressing up my dog, but I couldn't resist making Wyatt try on this sweater I found 2nd handing in town. 

 

The week after Christmas I went for a walk in the village with Anna and noticed our campus gate doubling as garbage pick up.  Don't want to find a place to dump your compost?  Just hang it on the gate and someone will be happy to take it home to their pigs.

 

These women are ridiculously strong...if I was carrying that load I'd make it about five steps before passing out.  It's nothing for ladies like Roda, though, who regularly carry loads much heavier than this. 

 

New Year's Eve was, of course, an excuse for another party.  I amazed myself by actually making it till midnight this year.  With no fireworks to celebrate with, we went with second best - a barrell of fire and some aerosol cans (below). 

Kara and I took a muddy walk home after the "fireworks."

I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions (I never keep them) and I don't spend a lot of time pondering what might happen in each new year (things change too fast), but there's something about this "change over" that makes me reflect on my life more than usual.  Over the years there's been a lot of joy and too many amazing memories to count, but that came hand in hand with many broken plans, un-realized dreams, and difficult situations that I never thought I'd get through.  In it all, I am so deeply thankful for the anchor that I've had in Christ, which Hebrews 6 talks about so beautifully.  Christ has redeemed me by His blood, and because of that I have a hope "as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast..."  What an awesome picture of Him holding onto His children as He works out His purposes in our lives and brings glory to Himself.  I'm excited to be going into 2013 completely unsure of what this year will bring, but resting in the perfect steadfastness of Christ.

Happy New Year!