…Our second week in PNG

We’ve made it through two weeks, so far so good. I think it’s a good sign that we haven’t asked for the Air Niugini phone number. Don’t laugh, there have been more than a few missionaries who have gotten over here only to fly right back home after a few days. I even heard about one that never left the airport…

We’ve spent most of our week going through various departmental orientations, learning our way around campus, and trying to match up faces with names. Connor and Jonas have settled in nicely at Malango school. They will be studying with fellow MKs (missionary kids), Nationals from the nearby village, and the children of a few Expats in town. The curriculum has been designed to best meet the needs of the many European children here, but with a low student to teacher ration no one gets left out. The Headmaster and faculty have really impressed us. Each teacher is a missionary with NTM, and recognizes the vital role they play in helping reach the tribes of PNG. While many are career missionaries with years of experience, some are Associates who have given a year or two of their lives to help here in the Islands Region. By the way, if you happen to know of any teachers who would be willing to spend a year surrounded by swaying palm trees and sandy beaches, let me know.

Part of our New Arrivals’ Orientation is a trip into town to get a drivers license. This was quite a cultural experience. As we piled into the van the first thing I saw was the spidered glass of the front windshield. When I asked about it I was told, rather nonchalantly, that some people like to throw stones at passing cars. In fact, I noticed most of the vehicles we saw that day had steel mesh welded in front of their windows. Our driver said that it wasn’t uncommon for people walking along the road to drag their machete down the side of your van as you pass, and that we shouldn’t worry about it. He added that it wouldn’t be a good idea to stop and talk to them about it either. No problem there!

He said we should keep a few Kina (PNG Dollars) on hand in the car, because you never know when you might run into a road block. This happens in one of two ways. Occasionally a storm will knock a tree down across the road, and a group of men will come along and clear it from the road with their machetes. For this example of community spirit and can do attitude you’re expected to shell out a few Kina if you happen to be driving by at the time. Of course, the slower you work at clearing the road the more likely your chances of people happening by. However, because most trees are fully content to stay right where they are, the more enterprising young men will take the initiative and insure that a tree comes down right where they need one. Preferably not too far from a shady spot to spend the day. But since both groups of men are armed with winning smiles and 3ft. bush knives, it pays to pay.

For us the trip to town was thankfully uneventful. And the ride back found us with official PNG driver’s licenses in our pockets. But we’ll be making the trip again in a week or two, that’s when we were told that the broken camera at the license bureau will be fixed, which is funny because our driver was told the same thing 6 months ago.