People in PNG cannot accept stability it seems. Stability is something to be shunned. Again I can say that my weekend and the first day after the weekend were not what you would call uneventful. These three days happiness and sadness were fighting for supremacy.
On Friday Amlyn came to visit me. He comes from time to time to talk about life, work and do crazy stuff. He does this because he needs to go to a town from time to time. Sometimes as a volunteer you want to see whether or not the white community still is as complex as it was the last time you experienced it. So it was safe to say that the weekend started of good.
Saturday morning we walked around town and eventually went to hotel poroman. This is where Dylan and Joanna are staying. We went there because Joanna’s boyfriend would come that day and were going to form the welcoming committee. Thank god the plane landed with him on it, because I was getting tired of hearing; “55 sleeps to go, 54 sleeps to go, 53 sleeps to go”. Bull of course, if anybody deserves a break it is Joanna after the work she had to do to be allowed to stay in PNG.
We all had diner together and during the evening and night Amlyn and I decided to try if our dance moves hadn’t become rusty. So we went to the Waipa zone where we were an attraction for men. Yes, drunken PNG men find white men irresistible. Not in a sexual way, but because you’re white. And when you’re drunk you can approach white guys and hassle them. I can tell you I now know how a woman feels when a guy harasses her. Drunken men don’t understand hints. In PNG culture men dance with other men they can hang on you for a long time. But in the end I had to conclude that Amlyn and I had a pretty good time dancing. This was until we left the Waipa zone I have to say. While talking to the security guards we heard some people fighting outside the gate. We had a look and my first sight was of a woman falling down backwards and laying unconscious. Her clothes were covered in blood. That what I feared the most in the trainings I had before I went to PNG happened to me now. What do you do when you are a witness of violence to a woman and it’s almost accepted in this country? Concern and aggression building in my stomach, Amlyn and I went outside. A man took a swing at Amlyn and nearly hit him. Two security guards dragged the woman inside who was apparently someone who worked it the hotel. The other security guards where angry with Amlyn and me for going outside. So we had to look idly how one man got beaten unconscious and left for dead in a ditch. While typing this I still feel the injustice of it all roaring in my stomach. I couldn’t do anything, because if they would recognise me I could be in trouble. I now know how al these women come to the hospital with these terrible wounds. It will take a time before I’ll lose this image.
After this incident Amlyn and I stayed over at the hotel and in the morning the sun was shining and the birds were singing like nothing happened the day before. I had breakfast with Dylan and Amlyn. And afterwards we played cards while enjoying a cup of coffee. As if the horror didn’t happen the day before. I decided that I couldn’t change it and I enjoyed the rest of the day. I decided that I would fight the battle against violence towards women on my own level, for example in the hospital.
I feel this gave me the freedom to enjoy myself again.
After the coffee I saw the two kapuls the hotel has. I decided to take pictures from them. Biologists are still very interested in these species. It wasn’t long ago that some “waitmen” came to PNG to find these tame animals in the mountains and try to classify them. Until not long ago people were still finding new species.
The first one is a tree kangaroo.
It’s almost unbelievable but this animal that looks like a kangaroo can actually climb a tree. And when you give him a cucumber or a carrot he uses his “hands pretty nimble. The other one is also a kapul, although it does not look like a kangaroo. I suspect that it’s a completely other species, but tok pisin does not make a difference between the two.
He was curled up because was sleeping when I took the picture.
After this mellow morning Amlyn and I walked of towards my house and some friends intercepted us and we were invited to go to Joseph. Joseph is my kickboxing instructor if you can remember. He had named his second child after Joanna and was celebrating this with a mumu. I stuffed myself while talking and making fun. At this time I was completely in love again with PNG. This got even better when I went back to my house with all the children of Agatha and herself. I put up some PNG music and we all started dancing.
I can tell you after the late night out, all the emotions and the dancing I slept like a rose. I was well rested when I got up on Monday morning. Unfortunately I had to start a disciplinary action against one of my colleagues for stealing from the department. One of the things that provide happiness in life is when your work closely matches your capabilities. Now I feel I’m doing a great job, even as manager, but I can tell you I was sad when I told him. He’s great guy, because he helped me with tok pisin and he invited me to go to places. But he has to go. My loyalty is foremost with the department.
So now you see why the title of this page is “extremes in PNG”. So this is why I swing between enormous happiness and infinite sadness. I fear that when returning to the Netherlands, I’ll find it pretty boring.