A cool story and some photos

A few days into the survey we've just returned from, Sara and I went to interview a pastor just up the road from where we'd dropped off the other two girls. We hadn't unpacked the things from the back of the pickup but I didn't think this would be a problem as normally we can see it from wherever we stop. However this pastor's house was over a small hill from the road. I asked the local man who came with us whether it was safe to leave our things in the back, covered by a tarp and tied down with rope, but not really secure. Em bai sef was his answer ('It'll be safe.') After a couple of hours we got back to the car and drove to where we were going to sleep that night. I went to get my bag from the back. I lifted up the tarpaulin and there was, well, quite a bit of free space. We had had two large backpacks and two smaller ones stolen.

Now, I don't tell you this story for any other reason than to show how amazing Papua New Guinean communities are when the people work together. We told our host village what had happened, the community leaders got together, discussed, talked with other village residents, found out who had been near the car and within 30 minutes we had one of the small bags back. Even though it was late afternoon when we realised the bags were stolen, that same day we got back both of the small bags and one large one. It took a few days get my large bag back because the guy who stole it was from a different village to our host village. But we got them all back. Although the contents of the bags had been shared out, some were found in different bags and some not found at all, most of the possessions were there, or trickled back during the next 2 days. The money, however, was not (about 100 pounds to be used for fuel and other survey-related expenses). That not all the money was retrieved is a shame and shows the limits to the community leaders' authority...times are changing and the strength of the community group is, in many areas, diminishing. However, it was absolutely amazing to be able to observe how this problem was dealt with by our hosts. They showed the utmost concern for our safety and spent hours finding the thieves and retrieving all the possessions they could. The most humbling part was when in front of the whole community the parents of two of the thieves (the ones who did not return everything) came to us to apologise, expressed their shame, said they did all they could to get our possessions back from their sons and offered us money out of their own pocket to cover some of what their sons had not returned. It was humbling: a lesson in hospitality, friendship and how to treat strangers.

Quality photography...about to depart from Ukarumpa

The Benabena language area - beautiful

After the first interview we did with a pastorA Benabena boy with diving goggles (useful when trying to spear fish)

Before noticing the camera......and afterA sports tournament in one village included volleyballThere has been a lot of fighting in this area. A homemade gun.

Old men. I like old men. Can't wait to be one, one day, and sit around and frown.A Benabena boy - an orphan now looked after by his grandparents