As some of you might know on 3rd of December the day of the disabled person is celebrated. To my opinion it’s sad that we need a special day for something like this, because it means that in normal live people don’t think about disabilities very much. But then again, it was a nice day to experience. I took a lot of pictures. Fortunately my camera is back now.
I went a Friday to Penda. It’s in the middle of nowhere and just before it got dark I got to the village.

As you can see it’s a hollow road to the mountain. Penda is actually situated at the base of a mountain. It’s beautifully situated and I think walks in this surrounding will be very tranquil and satisfying.

Well in the evening I stayed in the house of Joshua. His wife cooked a meal of kowkow (sweet potato), kakaruk (chicken), bushkumu (a sort of edible fern) and baking banana. I really like the PNG food. It’s more pure than in the Netherlands, where a tomato tastes like water and a chicken has no taste unless you spice it. That night we sat outside talking about the health centre Joshua works in. The surrounding was absolutely magnificent. A bright moon and stars so you could see everything around you and on the side were the mountain hills. These were dark and high and full of sound.
This is how it looks by daylight in the rainy season.

But we were discussing. I’ve noticed that Joshua as other PNG man see white men as a potential form of financial gain. Joshua has had some religious training and decided to get married.
This is Joshua by the way.

Him leaving the brotherhood didn’t mean he stopped pursuing the good cause. He is a thriving force behind a centre for people who don’t have access to healthcare. He is motivated and stimulates other people to help him. Although often I think he uses his CBR-volunteer status and the fact that he knows white men to get things done. Nevertheless he gets things done.
The problem with him is that as so many PNG men, is that they need money to accomplish something. They don’t think of goals or objectives they want to reach. They just want to get some money and see where it takes them. Nothing bad, but they don’t think about the future.
So after the fifth time he tried to get money from me I told him that he should start thinking along other lines and stop with the money asking. Afterwards I heard he does it to everybody. But to put things straight, he is a fantastic guy that gets things done.
After a good nights sleep and some reading by oil lamp light e got up in the morning at started arranging some last minute things. He had invited everybody to come at 10.00am so they all came at 12.00am. PNG time and don’t you forget it. The festivities started with a bilas group. A group about 16 men of different ages all dressed up for the occasion. They stump their feet on the ground and sing really loud. I can’t explain how they sing, but I can tell you, I felt the shivers going down my spine. If these men where in a tribal fight, they would probably strike fear in the hearts of men. The singing was really giving me goose bumps.
The awe somehow dissipated when they stopped to argue about the path they where going to take. Go left of this tree or right. It took about 10 minutes to decide. Really funny, because the public also interfered with good advice in their discission making. I laughed which I better hadn’t done, because somebody asked why I as laughing. I said I was thinking of something funny to change the topic of the conversation.
After the group the ceremony started with Joshua doing some preaching,

while a youth quire danced and sang with guitar music.

During the ceremony I received my third bilum. Beautifully made. But you can’t see that here, because it’s wrapped in paper.

Afterwards the disabled children who attended the ceremony received a package of clothes and food. The villagers had made a mumu (By this time you should know what a mumu is).
Well after that it was time for the famous “white-man-sits-with-disabled-children”-picture and the ceremony was done.

This is when I was invited to go with the brothers of charity to their nearby village and this was the time when I forgot my camera. So I couldn’t take any pictures of their facilities. These facilities are really great. A classroom, a treatment room and a guesthouse. But they are not used sadly. The last VSO-volunteers set up all this to help the local children suffering from CP (cerebral palsy, a sickness caused often by meningitis and gives them rigid and tight limbs). After he left the national brother of charity did not have the capacity to keep the project going. Sad but true.

Well on Monday I went back to Hagen, where I found out that I have a pretty good idea of what I’m going to do in 2006. Mainly because I made AAP (gheghegheghe) Annual Activity Plan 2006. So I’ll be working quite hard this year. Or pretending to