The wooden ‘boat’ in the picture is called a manapa. When you beat it with the heavy stick its’ reverberating boom can be heard from a long ways off and it’s usually used to signal community gatherings. This one is located by the Literacy school and we would bang it about ten minutes before school every morning. You can rattle the stick around on the inside or bang on the outside to create the ‘boom’.
Yesterday we took a trip to the dentist. The last time we had visited a dentist was when we were state-side, over two years ago. New Tribes has a very nice dental clinic at one of their centers here in country but sadly they have not had anyone to staff this dental clinic for the past two years. So if you’re a dentist (or dental hygienist), or know a dentist (or a dental hygienist), New Tribes Mission would love to have someone come and re-open the clinic here. Alrighty, now that I got that plug in, back to my story. So, SIL (Wycliffe) has a dentist on their center but their place is a good distance away – as we found out yesterday. Our appointment was for 8:30am and we loaded up at 6:30am and left the New Tribes Center where we’re currently staying. The highway was pleasant for about ten minutes before it turned to gravel (not continuously, but frequently) and was filled with potholes. There was beautiful scenery as we left the Goroka valley and traveled through the mountains. We tend to think of Papua New Guinea as a hot, humid, tropical, jungle-filled country but much of the country is quite mountainous and not overly hot. However, with the beautiful mountain scenery came winding mountain roads and a little while later Maisie was puking in the backseat. But, after getting that cleaned up, and listening to Bailey cry while winding our way to Kainantu, and zero bathroom stops (a serious miracle), we arrived at our destination – 45 minutes late. We asked Cole to lend his shirt to Maisie (as hers was covered with rejected breakfast), for it’s much more acceptable for him to go around shirtless than his sister. Our visit to the dentist was a successful one. All our kids were brave and cooperative, and we only needed 3 cavities filled between the five of us (Bailey was excused from visiting the dentist this time). After the dentist was through with us we went and checked out the store on the center and we saw some things we hadn’t seen in a long time, like pretzels! It was hard not to buy everything we were salivating over but after purchasing a few near-necessities we courageously exited and made the long drive back.
We’re here near Goroka (on a New Tribes center) for a few more days and then we head back to Pal. Enjoy your Thanksgiving!!!