A Slice of My Life in Papua New Guinea

Last Thursday, I invited the farm leader’s wives over for a cooking class, using the Master recipe from The New Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg.  (Completely worth the money, seriously, no kneading, and 5 minutes to make the dough! I am NOT paid for this endorsement). There were 10 people there, including 3 children and me. I made the dough the night before so it was nice and chilled like its supposed to be, but showed them how to make the dough (which really does take 5 minutes) and did the food network switch-a-roo. They thought it was totally cool. From the same batch, we made rolls, Cinnamon rolls, pizza (which we ate for lunch), and, since most don’t have ovens, Naan, which I made in a fry pan. After our demonstrations and sampling, the women discussed how they would use the one oven that they had between them. One of the women in the class came up and chatted after church on Sunday, and that was the first time in a year she has volunteered to talk to me. There is something to be said for making friends before you try to get the Word in (pun intended, haha).

Here are some pictures of the farm where we live, about 15 minutes outside of the city, and a 35 minute drive from where we work in Port Moresby.

The view from our porch on the farm, to the right.

The view of the tree right outside our apartment

A view of the farm from the road. The black building is the church and literacy training center.

In Papua New Guinea, nothing goes as planned, and by-the-seat-of-your-pants is a given.

This past Saturday, I spoke at a Unity Foursquare Church’s women’s luncheon. I arrived on time, and was told to “take a ride and come back in an hour, because we’re not ready.” The luncheon topic was “you’re precious”, so I played the song “Flawless” by MercyMe, which they plugged into the sound system but the words were completely muffled, so I interpreted them to my interpreter, and my interpreter gave it in Pisin. I spoke to them of grace and how God sees us through the eyes of the cross. I talked about how we can walk in the Spirit, and so not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, as opposed to walking in the law and trying to be good enough to be saved. Here, it is common for the women especially, to beat themselves up for not being good enough. They light up like Christmas trees when you tell them that they are wonderful, which, of course, they are!

Sunday was Graduation Day for 33 of the boys that went through at least 14 months of our farm program. They are the worst of the worst from the streets of the city and the villages. They come in with usually a grade 3 or less education, often no English, few skills, addictions, criminal histories and more. We feed them 3 meals a day, give them vocational training, literacy classes, and help them get jobs. It is a very disciplined and rigorous program, and probably only 60% make it through to the end. The graduation was part of the church service, which went from 9:30 to 12:45, and included skits by the boys, awesome worship, testimonies, and cudos to all. The boys are proud, but nervous about making it out there in the big bad world! We are working on exit strategies to make the transition easier and more successful for them.

We are blessed to have an air-conditioner in our bedroom. It makes the difference between being grumpy from tossing and turning in the humidity, and being rested and ready to go, but we would stay even without it. Our neighbors up at the farm burn everything, which seems to be a cultural norm. Pillars of smoke abound everywhere, even in the city, and I’m allergic to smoke. The air-conditioner filters some of it out, but that means it gets clogged with dust and ashes very easily, and my bedroom got coated with dust. The walls, the furniture, the drapes: everything was coated with dust. Monday, a woman from the nearby village of Tubusereia came to help me with my more physically challenging chores, like washing dust-coated windows (every room in the house has at least one full wall of slat windows, and the bedrooms have two), mopping, and washing the curtains. Everything here is very expensive, except labor. I give her a good wage of about $8/half day, about twice a month, plus I always send her home with odds and ends like food and treats for the kids, and feed her and her kids breakfast and lunch. She has no electricity in her house, no toilet in her house, no refrigerator, and cooks outside over an open fire.

Today, I came into town with Steven for my weekly Bible study at City Mission’s Haus Ruth, the women’s shelter we run. I made my photocopies at the office, and then got in the car for the 5-minute drive to the shelter.  Halfway there, we had to turn back, because the road was completely blocked by people waiting to get gas. Apparently, there is a fuel shortage due to the oil company have a dispute with the government over taxes. There is no estimate as to when the dispute will be settled, which means we may end up unable to drive back and forth to work. It is a 35-40 minute drive, each way. The electricity has gone off about 5 times already this morning, but fortunately it has come right back on again. We’re not always so lucky at the farm, so they have a generator to back it up, but it runs on GAS. No gas, no backup, maybe spoiled food? Ah well, such is life here in PNG!  We won’t starve: there is lots of food grown on the farm, and though it is usually for the boys that we serve, I’m sure they’ll share if we run out…

So, instead of teaching a class, I wrote blogs today. And that is my slice of life!

Flesh Eating Monster

I am not kidding. This really happened...
We currently have a lovely young woman from England who became interested in City Mission and Haus Ruth (our battered women's shelter) by researching coconut oil production, online. Papua New Guinea has lots of coconuts, then she saw the plight of women here, and decided to combine the two. She is now wants to import to England coconut oil produced by City Mission to benefit her business but also to benefit the women. Soooo, long story short, she is here with her new husband on a discovery trip and is interviewing on film some of our women who have been or are still at Haus Ruth.

A woman was brought back to Haus Ruth to be interviewed who was formerly a client. Her husband had left her, and she had a new "partner" who she had discovered was messing around with her daughter, so she took the daughter and left and went to Haus Ruth. (This was a few years ago.) She then found a husband for the daughter, to keep her from being further molested. Shortly after this, the woman was on a street (the wrong place at the wrong time) and a man tried abducting her. He grabbed her, and started to eat her alive. He literally bit her jaw so badly that it was hanging down and not attached. Apparently this man had previously been arrested for eating his child, but since there was no evidence but someone's testimony, they had let him out. The woman was screaming so much that some other men finally came to her rescue and beat the man and chased him away, but by then her face was so mangled that she had to walk around with a cloth wrapped around her face, and her "partner" left her because she was so ugly. Someone from World Visions heard of her plight, and paid for her to have reconstructive surgery. While in the hospital, her husband and children came and said that they wanted her back and loved her even with her disfigurement. She now works for World Visions and tells her story, working on behalf of other women and Gender Based Violence issues. When I met her, I did not notice her scars, but apparently she has some. Certainly she wasn't hideous to look at now, but what a spirit!

While this is an remarkable story, it is just one of the stories that we hear everyday. This is not a war torn nation, Christianity is the official religion of the country, and they have so many natural resources being harvested by ex-pats that the nation actually produces a LOT of money, enough that the US does not classify it as a third world country. Most of that money never gets used for the people who live here. Minimum wage is about $1.30/hr., and the cost of living has skyrocketed because of all of these companies who have come in to get oil and natural gas and gold etc., and are willing to pay anything for housing and food. The cost of living is 1.5X the cost of living in New York City, so the people set up makeshift houses on any piece of public land that they can find. They sometimes can leech electricity, and the government sometimes provides a source of water, but the whole local settlement walk down to use a single hose for their water. If someone has a job, they may find a house or apartment in town, but they must share it with multiple people who also work. It is not uncommon for a single bedroom dwelling to house 5-6 people or more.

Last week Haus Ruth began a pilot program for street children. They took their van out to where there was a group of boys helping to park cars and direct traffic for tips. They offered to feed them if they would come back to the facility, so 16 boys got in the van. At Haus Ruth, the boys, ages 7-16, were given a towel and soap and allowed a shower. We had no new clothes to give them, because most of our clothing donations end up being for women. One of the security men is also a barber, so he offered to cut their hair. They then had a lunch consisting of rice and some meat and vegetables, and afterwards they were interviewed individually. One was an orphan, the rest had parents who did not have jobs, so these boys were helping to earn money to eat and for their families. They would make about $20k per day, which is about $8, then they would go buy some food and cook it outdoors and share a meal with each other. They would then take the remaining money back to their families. Most do not even sleep at home, wherever that is. Some are in a settlement and pay 1k to be allowed to watch a movie on a TV set that someone who has electricity has set up, and to sleep on cardboard in the yard. Others have build a makeshift tree house and sleep in it. We are looking at starting a full-time children's crisis center at the farm by next year, and maybe some of these children can have a place to live, food, and an education. The 16 year-olds are eligible for our vocational program at the farm, but our quota has already been met for the time being.

It is heartbreaking to hear these stories, but also exciting and unspeakably rewarding to be able to do something small or large and make a huge difference in someone's life. Every act of kindness changes someone's day for the better. Much as there are people that I miss in the US, I cannot say that there is anything else I particularly miss. The conveniences that I was used to mean nothing when you see what these people endure daily. I am so very, very blessed. I encourage everyone who reads this to get out of your comfort zone and find someone with a need you can meet. I don't spend 24/7 living for other people, even out here in Missionary-land, but even a kind and friendly word to a stranger can change a person's day. Do what you can do. It is worth the effort.

6 Months and Counting...

Wow, what a ride this has been! We have now been in Papua New Guinea a week shy of 6 months. We must've really been ready for this, because we have had no culture shock, and we can't say that we are greatly missing anything from the U.S. Well, maybe chocolate and nuts... We can buy them, but they are very, very expensive. But we can definitely live without them. The benefits to our souls are so much more valuable to me than satisfying my chocolate fix. Of course, we miss the family, but they are all grown and going on with their busy lives, and THANK GOD for Facebook! What a lifeline it is, to be able to see everyone's face and see what they're up to and what's on their minds. I don't know how the old fashioned missionaries did it with snail mail. If God had called me back in those days, I hope that I would have said "yes" anyway, but this is really so much nicer.

I run a Process Group at the women's shelter, with definite Christian content. Those women are amazing. They have been through so much (beatings, humiliation, desertion, kidnapping, children taken away, belittling), and still they come out with sweet spirits and hope for change. I love them dearly. Tomorrow, I will be starting a literacy class for the very low level (English) boys. I have no idea what to expect or even if they will understand anything I say. I will be using McGuffey's Reader, since its free online, and I can print off a few pages at a time. These boys range from 16 to 25 or so (some don't even know how old they are or their birth dates), and we may be their last chance. I also have boys who want to learn how to play the keyboard and how to chord, but I haven't got to that yet.

On the home front, we live at the farm 18 miles outside of Port Moresby where the boys live and are taught vocational and literacy skills. It's beautiful here, and we keep an eye on everything from our second story balcony. I bake bread fairly often, and experiment with cooking with the local foods. I do all the normal stuff- laundry, cooking, housework etc. I also am helping to write and edit a book about miracles for a friend who has witnessed a boat load of them. Very inspiring. I think I may go on to write my own book when I'm through with his. Sometimes in the evening, especially when we're hot and sweaty from the humidity, we go swimming in the ocean, about a 5 minute drive from the farm. It is our oasis, cools us, calms us, and gives us energy to get on with it the next day. Not to mention my new muscles!

Snorkeling is AWESOME! Gorgeous, beautiful, awe-inspiring... if you've never done it before, put it on your bucket list. The burnt back was worth it. Steve has never seen my back with a tan, and we've been married almost 19 years now. I had a little peeling, but the rest turned a nice toasty brown.

New year, new challenges. It looks like we may get a children's crisis center going this year, so keep it in your prayers, please. Onwards and upwards, further up and further in!!!!

The Mission's a GO

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Last week we were officially invited to join City Mission in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. We have accepted, and, if all goes according to schedule, we should be there in 3-4 months. This is not a very long time to go through our stuff, sell our house and car, get our Visa's (including chest x-rays, immunizations, and background checks), and raise the extra $500/mo. support we will need to be able to travel and meet our obligations. The Mission will be providing our housing, furnishings, car, and a food allowance, so we do not have to raise nearly as much as many missionaries do. We will be hired as "volunteers", which we certainly are! Steve will be the General Manager of the Port Moresby mission, and I will assist him as well as counseling battered women and doing case management for the 100 young men that are going through the vocational program at the mission farm where we will be living.

I intent to keep everyone up to date on our activities and the progress of City Mission, complete with pictures- via this blog, which I will post on facebook.

I have been going through bags and boxes today, sorting through stuff... I think I am officially qualified to be a "hoarder", if you can go by the state of our spare rooms, lol! No pictures of this stage of the adventure, that's for sure... Whew, I will be glad to get rid of this JUNK! Well, one man's junk is another man's treasure. I hope many of you find your treasures amongst my junk. I know it must be God, when I am willing to get rid of EVERYTHING and go live in a humid tropical climate in one of the most dangerous cities on the planet. And it doesn't even feel crazy!

I just want to thank everyone for their friendship and kindnesses here in Nevada. In this new technological age, we don't have to feel like we're at the other side of the world, when we have so many ways to communicate. I know it will be our lifeline for you all to keep in touch via social media and email, etc. Steve is building a website to keep you apprised of the big strokes, while my blog will be more snapshots of life in PNG. The website address is: www.stevehighlander.com, and it will be live soon.

Again, we love you all, and are counting on your prayer support and news from home.