This past week was the first full week I’ve had in PNG. Monday started with meeting Liah, the
director of the school of nursing. She
is a quiet, reserved woman, with a good sense of humor as well. I sure it will be a pleasure to work with
her. I spent most of the rest of the
week trying to figure out my teaching strategy (Lecture, power points,
worksheets and demonstrations, and group activities) and also working on a
little Pidgin. It will defiantly helping
working with Nationals to pick up on the Pidgin! It is quite a simple language to learn, as
foreign languages go, figuring out the word structure will be the most
difficult, but it is similar to Spanish in how you phrase things the opposite
of English (that is about were the similarities end!)
So all in all, a good week.
I also met some of the students when we did their physicals on
Wednesday. Only 9 of them had arrived at
this point, but that was enough to start orientation. My days at the Health Department came in
handy as the other tutors and I had to piece together BP cuffs and find
stethoscopes and alcohol swabs in order to do the physicals. It is heartbreaking to see what there is to
work with. But we did find what we
needed and it all worked out. (One of my
duties at MCHD was BP cuff maintenance, and yes, they need someone to do that
here too!) On the supplies front, for my
A&P class we have 7 text books for the 45 students, 4 of them are the same
edition, one is the older version of that edition, and 2 are completely
different versions, and most are held together with packing tape, and none were
published in the last ten years. The
students do all get a Notebook that has all pertinent info in it, it actually
could be seen as the text book for the class.
And Anatomy and physiology really doesn’t change so a current book isn’t
as important as other things. Seeing
those books reminded me of college though, and how some students would burn
their books at the end of the semester because they were no longer needed, or
couldn’t be sold back because the version had changed. If only!
The tutors here make it work, and it will again I am sure. I’m looking forward to using the reference
books that were donated to be by ISU as well, they will come in handy I am
sure!
So, enough about books! The baby shower on Saturday morning! Oh it was so fun, meeting with all the ladies
on station and getting to see new baby Miles.
He was born on 12-30-12 to the Thompson’s, a couple that is here from
Eureka, IL. Such a small world it really is, that I now live a
block over from a couple whose family lives 30 minutes from mine back
home! The shower was great as we played
games, and guess the “miles” back to their home town, (its over 8,000
btw). We then all were given a verse to
pray over Miles as we passed him around in his bilum bag (a PNG infant carrier
of sorts). It was so touching and such a
special time for all of us. (We also had
great refreshments, most inspired by Pinterest, yes, it’s influence reaches
over here too! That baby carriage made out
of a watermelon, to use as a fruit bowl, yes, its great with PNG fruit!)
After the shower, we thought we would try out shopping in
the mall here, J
the Road Bung, about a quarter mile outside the main gate. Well, it’s the PNG
version of a mall. It’s really second
hand clothes from Australia that get sent over in probably a 1,000 kilo crate
and then are bought by locals to sell at this thrift store of sorts. Basically there is a lot of clothes in piles
on tarps, you sort through and find what you want. Some things are on hangers, hanging on
basically barbed wire strung out to make dividers of sorts for each
merchant. You can get most anything
there, and some clothes are actually new too (must be where those end of season
rejects go when they don’t sell on clearance!)
Everything is really quite cheap, from 20 Toea for some shirts (10
cents) to 8-12 Kina (4-6 dollars) for a skirt.
We went shopping with Jenny, a PNGian from Hagan, who actually is a
missionary to Vanuatu, (Islands between here and New Zealand) and is back to PNG
for 3 months. Jenny can shop! And she helped me find three shirts and 2
skirts, and I spent less than $10 US, all on clothes that hadn’t been worn
before. The is also a local market, open
air produce stand, similar to the one in Hagan, just not as big or with as much
selection, but a great way to get more fresh fruits and veggies.
Sunday we went to Lotu (church) in the bush! Gina and I went with Tim and Karla, a couple
here from Seattle, and a national couple they are friends with, along with
their kids. Nolly works with Tim around
the station, and also is a pastor, so he was the guest preacher at the bush
church. We arrived a little before 10
for the service which is to start at “10”, PNG time. This means it starts when most everyone has
shown up, and as it was raining a little on this morning, it didn’t start for
awhile. The church is a one room
building with a raised platform and altar in the front, and has a cement
floor. One each side are linoleum tiled
areas with a wide aisle of non-tiled section in between. Men typically sit on one side and women on
the other. There are a few wood benches
up against the woven grass walls, mostly used by some of the older congregation
members and some of the men. Up around
the platform are some of the most gorgeous flowers you have ever seen, and I’m
sure that no one has had lessons in flower arranging but they have done better
than any arrangement I’ve seen in the states.
All the kids (pikinini) have come out to great us and are all so curious
and scared at the same time. Many have
never seen a white person more than a couple of times. Worship starts as a way to draw people in,
and it is a wonderful time. I don’t understand
as much as last week as more is in ‘tok ples’ or talk place, the native
language but the Spirit is the same.
Karla, Gina and I are sitting on the floor, and I am next to an older
women. She must be a grandma, who has
about 4 of the little girls sitting with her.
The girls keep looking at me, smiling, and then turning back to the
front. One little one gets even more
bold and starts reaching for my feet as they are the only thing exposed with my
skirt draped over my legs. She has never
touched a white person before and wants to know if it feels the same. Her eyes get all big as she is touching both
my feet and hers at the same time and seems to make the connection that they
feel the same! Worship continues and the
three of us sing a hymn and also sang a chorus in Pidgin. Karla even same a song in the tok ples with
Nolly’s family and they seem overjoyed that a white skin learned their
language. Testimony time was great, and
the three of us also shared a little of our stories with Nolly translating for us
and the congregation was so encouraging. Nolly preached from James 2 and his message
was to the point and applicable to all.
Are we doing what we say we will do?
There is no need to “beat around the bush” out here in the bush churches,
and there shouldn’t be anywhere. Then
Pastor Daniel, the actual pastor of this church had announcements, and we were
encouraged to think of this church as our home church in PNG. All were so sweet and we got many more hugs
from the adults, and little touches from the kids. We were even asked to come back in two weeks
for a wedding of one of the guitar players!
Tim later informed us that that invitation was so pictures would be
taken of the wedding! We had all
forgotten to bring cameras this time, so I found that quite humorous.
But we are up for as many cultural experiences
as we can get, and I am loving the interaction with the people. Learning more pidgin will be helpful as often
people in the bush churches don’t speak English like those in town or my
students that have completed 12th grade. So, that was the completion of my first full
week in PNG, and was just some of the highlights!
Throughout the week I worked on lesson plans, met the other
instructors, met some of the students, went to youth group, went to prayer
meeting and bible study and got to know the station and fellow workers better. I’m pretty settled in to my house and we have
a routine of sorts. God continues to
provide just what I need, from sleep, and ability to cook meals,(no fast food
here!) to fellowship, and patience and strength to face new challenges. Loving serving Him in PNG!
