Papua New Guineans find themselves stuck between a rock (village) and a hard place (town). Compassion, integrity and strength – inherent qualities of the traditional tribal leader – have been replaced with greed, jealousy and cowardice. Trusted leaders are but a figment of peoples imagination. PNG as a country and a people desperately needs to re-invent itself… or perish.
And if more religion and more bible held the answers – then PNG would surely have emerged as a super-power by now!
For better or for worse, this country is on already on course and it’s path in history firmly set. May God have mercy on those responsible.
Hi Robert,
All the pictures and some of the faces on your photo collections of Kau Basis are my close relatives.My home, my people, my dream away from home. It just brought back daunting memories of home. I do admit shamelessly that I’ve been away from home for many years. The beautiful land scape, people with huge hearts who treat their visitors like royalties and give things freely even though there is no material to give, all they have is their big hearts and the bountiful blessings of the land . There is a lot of sharing and caring in our communities that you dont find anywhere on earth. It also gives me great pleasure and admiration for you to be part of our tradition and our people. You truly captured our rural setting, our way of life and the great work of humanity that you have done by bravely bridging a gap between the west and less developed world through this experience. I take my hat to you. Other Volunteers who have lived and worked in PNG, well and truly share the same passion and treasured their experiences deep inside them and many hope to return when there is opportunity. The sad fact is our people are not given enough opportunities to help themselves in many ways. We have the land, the resources, we have the produces. Mobility, skills and financing are practical tools with basic infrastructures which will make them better people. other wise our people will be like this for many more years. I hope the proceeds from the LNG boom will make some difference in our economy.
Nana
Hi Nana,
Your response and comments are very much appreciated. Only those that have experienced PNG and its people will ever really understand what we are on about. It’s a shame that the world is standing back and allowing places like this to be systematically decimated. If we ever meet I will embrace you like family and a fellow clan member.
Warmest of regards,
Robert