Another Visit to Wagang village

Arrived back in Lae this afternoon after another visit to Wagang-Luhu. This was my 5th visit to the village.

Highlights of this visit were as follows:

-
Arrived at the PMV stop (Rainbow Store) in Lae town at 9:00 Friday morning. I
decided to get there early hoping to catch the “earlybird” out to
Wagang. No such luck! After 6 hours of hanging around and interacting
with the street sellers and street boys we finally departed Lae at
around 3pm. One certainly ends up having to learn heavy duty patience in PNG.

- It was great to see Jethro, Amos and their
families again. I feel a special connection with the folks from Wagang
as this is where I had my 1st experience of a PNG village. Each time I go back to
Wagang I learn a few more names and a little bit more about the place.
I intend for this visit to be the last visit to Wagang before heading
down to Sydney for the xmas break.

- Had to cope with the usual village inconveniences of hard floors, a sore arse and bush toilets. The food isn't particularly exciting but one does adjust. At the end of the day and despite the hardship of village life, the simplicity of it all gets me every time.

-
Took some clothes and toys (sent to me by family back in Sydney) and
managed to do a couple of give-aways. Very much appreciated by all!

-
It so happens that soccer finals were being played in one of the
neighboring villages (“Busu”) over the weekend and I had the
opportunity on the Saturday to walk with the folks from Wagang to Busu
and be a part of this local sporting event.

- About 50 of us
left Wagang at the same time to walk to Busu, about an hour's walk from Wagang itself. The walk included a crossing over the Busu River and because it
had poured the night before, the Busu was swirling mass of rushing
waters. This situation did not deter the village folks (and therefore
me) from making it to our destination across the river.

- The crossing of the
Busu was an experience in itself. To watch the kids, women and old
people swim, paddle or waddle across the rushing waters (with cargo and
babies) was a sight to behold. Obviously these people have been
crossing the Busu River for generations and have learnt to be at “one”
with the river. Any normal person would drown and their bodies swept
away towards the ocean if they attempted this crossing. Myself, I was
taken across on a rubber tube and that was enough adrenalin rush for
one day.

- Not long after “tubing” it to the other side…  I saw a four wheel drive utility approaching from a distance. The car stopped about 100m away and a stocky looking bloke stepped out of the drivers seat. It was 100ms away so I wasn't able to get a good look at his face. He was just standing there staring at me, probably surprised to notice a white fella hanging out with the locals. This chap started walking towards the group I was with and for a split moment I thought I recognised him, we just kept staring at each other. And then… bang! It hit us both at the same time… we did know each other : “”Koix” – from Killen Technologies (Peter Paghau's Engineering firm) – doing some road work in a remote part of the Morobe Province and trying to get back to Lae but held up due to the rains from the night before.

- No PNG sporting event is complete without a fight.
Yes… a fight!! During the 2nd half of one of the games a fight broke
out at the far end of the field. Like with all public disturbances in
PNG – people took an interest in the melee and for about 10 minutes the
focus was on the fight and not on the game itself. I did manage to snap
a few photos of the fight itself. At one stage during the fight – one
of the boys came running out of the bushes wielding a long shovel – he
seemed to have every intention of hitting someone with it but
fortunately was stopped by one of his uncles. Lucky for all… in the
end no one got seriously injured.

- We had to cross the river to get back to Wagang and made it back just on dusk.

-
With no PMV's running on Sunday and needing to be back on deck at work
Monday morning – I decided to walk back to Lae and ended up leaving
Wagang at around 8:30 Sunday morning… barefoot. The soles of my feet
have toughened since coming to PNG and with the walk back to Lae being
on bush track, they're now a little harder and more “kanaka” like. The
plan was to keep walking until I come across a private vehicle heading
back to town and hitch a ride. About three hours into the walk and at
one of the river crossings a car was coming from the opposite direction. Low and behold… someone I knew. It so turns out that they were headed back to Wagang – so after deliberating for about 1.5 secs, I hopped in the back and headed back to Wagang with my lift. The longer I remain in PNG the smaller the place seems to get… I have seem to have developed a knack for running into people I know in the most unexpected places.

- Managed to snap a few photos from this trip – mainly from the river and the crossing by the village folks. In due course I will post these to the blog.

- I notice that when I return to town after a PNG village visit I seem to come back : centered, invigorated and physically stronger. I've probably had close to 24 village visits since coming to PNG and I love each one. There are things in life that money just can't buy.