Papua New Guinea is sometimes referred to as the Land of the Unexpected and occasionally, The Land of the Untrusted. In my view there’s also good reason to call it The Land of Paradoxes!
The Mini Australian Oxford defines paradox as follows:“seemingly or self-contradictory though often true statement”. In other words… the essence of contradiction.
Well… in this land called Papua New Guinea – there abounds paradoxes. Let me list 10 that I have observed in the few years I have lived, worked and interacted with the locals:
- You can trust a man with your life but not with 50 bucks.
- Lovers will not hold hands in public but good mates do.
- Order and chaos are one and the same.
- A person’s wealth is measured by what they give away rather than what they accumulate.
- There’s no such thing as PMV timetables but as a rule of thumb one does not have to wait longer than a few minutes for a passing bus.
- There’s no such thing as a free gift even though the locals give freely.
- It’s much easier to raise money for the dead than what it is for the living.
- Papua New Guineans will patiently hang around for hours but when it comes to queues they lose all sense of courtesy.
- It’s totally acceptable for a man to have close body contact with a young lass whilst riding on the back of a PMV other times it’s probably best not to have eye contact.
- There is no word for paradox in Tok Pisin!
Rita on "
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lol… the above is so tru..
how about
when asked for coins but expect to be given notes.
will say yes to what you ask but have no intention of doing it. Will never say no to yu
Spot on!
Thanks for adding your two to the list of 10.
I bet you we could come up with many many more!!
R
HAHAHA mate, right on the mark there. Especially No.2 . I went to UPNG here in Port Moresby and I’d be holding hands with the highlands brothers and all but when it came to your woman…NOOOO…you cant do that sem pasin yah??!!!
Ahhh the paradoxes, LOL
Hi, there Robert, been reading some of your stuff about PNG, but have not yet come across anything good about PNG? Looks like you are scaring our visitors away. Yeh, well we have a lot of room to complain, complain and complain. I don’t like the system here though, especially when waiting for services, it drives people up the wall. But what can we do, we are changing from kanaka to civilisation and its a long process. I am a proud PNGan.
Rellice,
I suggest you read a bit more of Rob’s posts and keep regular tabs on his blog. I’ve been following his blog for a while now and from what I’ve read, I don’t think you will find many an expatriate living in PNG who are as “in tune” to the real PNGean as Robert is.
Yes, Robert does compare and contrast with his experiences in Australia – but there is an honesty about his opinions and views. His comments and observations are void of the typical ethnocentric mentality that a lot of expatriates living in PNG entertain.
I don’t think Robert is scaring anybody away. This blog has a role in appropriately educating anybody interested in PNG as to what the real PNG is like today. And quite frankly, I would value his views anytime over those of an expatriate sitting in a posh office behind closed doors and maximum security who has little – if any, interaction with the people of PNG.
If you doubt Robert’s sincerity, ponder this: why would somebody spend four years of their life in PNG as a VOLUNTEER?
Not many people are willing to honour such a committment. You can tell by the way Robert writes about PNG in his blog that his four years in PNG have nurtured a respect, understanding, and love for of our people, the way we live, and our country.
PNG needs more people like Robert.
Regards,
Tavurvur
Hi T,
Thanks for that nice rap mate.
It’s very difficult to find that balance between that special something that exists in PNG with all the frustrations that go hand in hand with living and working here. That elusive balance tends to be reflected in the nature of how and what I share/write about.
I’ve become very aware of late that interaction with the locals comes at a price. But to live and work here and not interact would mean that I would miss out on that special-ness and I may as well pack my bags and go back to where I came from. I heard a speaker once share that there was more humanity in PNG than anywhere she had been to in the world. How true that is.
Unfortunately, I have observed that “special” something is slowly being destroyed by change and progress – the two “inevitables” that currently face PNG. I heard Dame Carol once talk about the issues facing PNG and its people and she that: “PNG’s challenge is to take the best of the two worlds (old and new) into the future. The longer I’m in PNG the more sense and logic I can see in Dame Carol’s words of wisdom.
It saddens me to see what PNG leaders are doing – obsessed to the point of blindness and at the expense of the future of a beautiful nation and people.
PNG and its people must re-invent itself or surely perish.
R