Irame and Edolwais

One of my greatest joys was reconnecting with my house meri, Irame.

She was such s wonderful friend and helped me in so may ways. Not only helping me around the house, but understanding the unique culture of Ukarumpa and the relationships we can have with the nationals in the area.

Edolwais, her daughter, was 8 years old when we left. She is now employed by SIL in the finance office.

It was great to reconnect with the two of them.

Whtiney in Ukarumpa - May 2009

Sue, Whitney's mom, gave me a number of notes to give to Whitney as we journeyed through Papua New Guinea. Whitney was born in Ukarumpa. And although she was a year when she left, her life was impacted by her time here.
Here are the pictures of Whitney’s journey back to Papua New Guinea.




#1 Mapang Guest House – Port Moresby




#2 Highlands Highway



#3 Ukarumpa High School



#4 House where she lived (we think this is the one.)



#5 SIL Clinic



#6 Ukarumpa Store



"No Marshmellow Creme, mom!"

There is one more that Whitney will get when we leave Ukarumpa.

Tuesday, May 19

News from the US Embassy in Port Moresby has reached our guest house managers, Esther and Corney Goertzen: US citizens in Papua New Guinea have are being warned to stay away from large crowds and to be alert for mobs of people intent on looting and robbery.

On Saturday an incident in Kainantu, a town 10 miles from Ukarumpa, put people in the area on alert. A rock had been thrown into a store owned by a Chinese man. There were reports of looting but nothing was substantiated.

We have also heard reports that Lae and Goroka have been experiencing unrest and mobs intent on rioting, causing problems, etc....

In a third world country to disparity between the ‘have and the have not’s’ in great. When the arm of government that provides protection for its people is ineffective the possibility for unrest increases.

We have been in contact with our host, John Doa, in Goroka. John is the director of the National Performing Arts Troupe in Goroka. Todd spoke with him by phone yesterday. He confirms reports that it is tense in Goroka. But he did not say that we would be in danger if we came. We really have no choice. We are 45 miles from Goroka. We are 200 miles from Lae. Both cities are reported to be in a state of unrest.

At this point we plan to move towards Goroka. We will go straight to the performing arts center in the middle of the day which tends to be a more settled time to travel. We will be surrounded by a group of Papua New Guineans our entire time in Goroka.

It seems that this final leg of our journey will be the most integrated and immersed in the PNG culture. On Thursday we will go to a village to participate fully in a sing sing and mu mu – bilasim skin and all!

On Friday we will spend another day in the village watching the NPAT performers and perhaps be able to share our stories as well. I am extremely excited for this opportunity as I know how ready our team is to completely immerse themselves, shedding all fears and apprehension into engaging with this exciting and different culture.

But first we have to get through today.

Basically we have the morning off.

Jessie Sarver is going on a village clinic that I arranged. During my time here years ago I participated in village clinics on a fairly regular basis. Jessie is very excited. She is going alone, meaning, no one else from our group is going with her. I volunteered but if you know Jessie, you know how independent she is.
I am meeting Whitney at 10 am for our walkabout tour so I can give her the notes from her parents.

Then at noon I’ll meet up with Edelweiss and get a pictures of Irame and her and myself.

At 1:30 pm we meet up as a group for devotions that I am leading.
Then we drive out to Aiyura National High School were we could be performing for over 600 high school age Papua New Guineans. The plan is to do the entire set of dramas and then have a talk back session. We plan to be very evangelical as Wendy Bailey has encouraged us to be so.

If you are reading this please be in prayer for our team. Here are the specific points for prayer:

1.Discernment for Rhett, Todd and I as we continue on the rest of the journey.

2.Prayer for our vehicle: good brakes, tires, etc….

3.Prayer for Todd as he drives the bus!!!!!!!!!

4.Prayer for peace for the team.

5.Good health – Stephan has been sick. If he isn’t markedly better this morning JereAnn is taking him to the clinic.

6.Prayer for protection and good favor for our time in Goroka.

7.Prayer for your return trip to Lae on Saturday. It’s a LONG one down the very scary Markham road and Kassam Pass. VERY SCARY!!!!!!!

Since we may not have internet connection after leaving Ukarumpa, this prayer list includes our return trip to Lae.

I’ll post more as the day goes along.

Whitney and I had a wonderful walkabout ending at the store where Stephen, fully recovered from his mysterious illness, and Jordan were hanging around. We had a wonderful time with them.

At lunch Edolwais, Irame’s daughter, came by to see me. What a beautiful young lady she is! I was so impressed. We had a short chat before she headed back to work at the finance office.

At 1:30 pm we all gathered at the guest house for devotions. The three points that I covered, as I believe led by the Holy Spirit, was the love that we all had for each other, and the way we were living out Phil. 2: 1-5. Secondly, because of this love that we had for each other, this love would be the evidence that others would see, plain as day, in a supernatural way, and the explanation for this love is Jesus. Thirdly, because of this love that others would see, Satan would want nothing more than to discourage, destroy and cause us to fall. So we needed to be prepared spiritually and with the armor that God gives – Ephesians 6.

With that and our prayers we headed out to Aiyura National High School: unsure of what lay ahead and a bit weary.

We arrived to the auditorium unsure if even 10 people would attend. Communication with the administration had been limited. We started in by setting up the stage.
Finally one of the administrators arrived and spoke with Rhett and Todd. We found out that the principal had taken ill and was not able to attend.
Before long a few people started to come into the auditorium and sit down. Tony came in, a teacher, and assured us that people would start arriving at around 2:45 pm. Was this PNG time?

Wendy Bailey, who works with the youth of the valley, not Ukarumpa youth, had been encouraging us all week that God had something special for us at ANHS.
Why did we not believe?

At 2:50 pm the entire auditorium was full to capacity and overflowing.
Throughout the performance, their rapt attention and appreciative response goes down as being the best audience so far, in my opinion.

The performances went off without a hitch, with Rhett speaking, explaining each drama in between. He did an excellent job.

At the conclusion of the performance, Tony spoke a brief, uncharacteristic of our other hosts, thank you as the team gathered their props and came into the audience to say hello.

Typically, Stephen immediately had a swarm of people around him. Next, Jordan sat down on the floor and was surrounded by 30 or so men. Nicole immediately gathered among the women and began to talk. Whitney too was swarmed and went outside with her ladies.

The others more slowly began to engage with the group. I was watching everyone’s bags and belongings so felt a little tied down to one spot. Finally Emily came over producing two things: One, people began talking with her and her presence allowed me to roam around, get pictures (and they are wonderful) and have conversations of my own.

Questions varied from person to person. At our debriefing we were able to capture them all:
• What is GFU like?
• What is happening in America with the economy?
• What do you think of Obama?
• For me, I was asked since I had been in PNG before, what was my impression of it now?
• What is Arnold Swartzenegger like?
• Jordan was asked a lot about school and Hollywood.
• Many were asked about their faith.
• Many wanted rumors confirmed about micro chips being implanted in everyone in America by December 2009.
• Education
• Global weather patterns
• Why d0 we think that the people of Ukarumpa ignore them

These and more amazing questions.

We talked with the students for an hour and a half. More bilums arrived as gifts, names and addresses exchanged before leaving after 5 pm.

We had two reactions from the Ukarumpa community: why did we even go to Aiyura HS and why did we stay so long.

After returning I walked to the Walkers house with Cyndi and Jessie and I had been invited to dinner. The Walkers were friend when we were here before. I wasn’t looking forward to dinner conversation based on what the girls had told me. The attitudes and comments made by the Walkers was consistent with the attitudes here at the guest house and what we were finding throughout the Ukarumpa community: how would I respond?

Well, God, faithful as always, gave me the gift of gab for a reason, and we had a lovely volley of conversation reconnecting, touching base about others we knew in common, listening to a song called “The Boob Fairy Didn’t Come For Me.”
At 8 pm Todd picked us up in the van for our debriefing.
Another awesome time together ending in prayer and the distribution of our hostess gifts.

Reports from Goroka seem more stable and we have hired to security guards to ride along with us.

This will be my last posting for a while, unless I have internet access at the guest house in Goroka.

My computer is acting strange too (the LCD screen that was just replaced in intermittently buggered up)!

I would say that we all are ready to leave Ukarumpa. We have such an exciting time planned in Goroka with the National Performing Arts Troupe – real theatre exchange, village visits, a mumu and sing sing!

Sunday Walkabout at Ukarumpa

The first house we lived in when we first arrived in PNG in 1988. They have added a porch and built on the far side.


There is now a leash law for missionary dogs. (Funny term.) But not for the national's dogs. Here's one I ran into on my walk.




Nipa House - where Jesse was conceived. (Sorry Jess.)


Ruth house where we spent our first Christmas.

Monday, May 18

Watching the different performances is interesting. While I watch the same drama performed, the audience changes. The team responds to each audience differently. Although each performance is given with great effort, and passion, surely the audience comes into play at some point.

Last night was the first time “Midas” was performed in front of an English speaking audience. Laughter was heard where we would expect. Sighs and awes were uttered appropriately as well.

The non-reverent side of me laughs with the Papua New Guineans when Karith and Cyndi fight during ‘The Weave.’ The MK’s at their gathering last night did not laugh at this conflict.

The impact is powerful without the laughter.

‘The Weave’ depicts God giving two human being two different gifts. These gifts are in the form of a scarf. Karith’s scarf loves to dance and twirl around in circles.
Cyndi’s scarf loves to jump up and down into the air.

When the two discover each other’s gifts, they are jealous. They take the other person’s scarf but neither can make it work just right.

After returning the scarf’s to the proper owners, they marvel at their ‘gifts’ for a moment before being distracted again and a fight ensues for the other person’s scarf. This is when people laugh. It is funny watching Karith and Cyndi go at each other. But the wonder of the story is what happens next.

God sees the two people lying still, dead on the ground. God finds Jesus and gives him a more beautiful scarf and teaches him to use it.

Jesus then, at God’s urging, releases the two from their tangled, mangled scarves and revives them. Jesus then shows the two beings how to weave their scarves together with his to make a braid.

It’s a lovely picture of unity.

But the fight scene is funny, especially when other people are laughing.
So our time with the MK’s was brief but good. They are looking forward: Big Day is next weekend and then the next weekend is graduation.

At 6:45 am several of us met at the guest house and went together to the market. It is much bigger produce wise, and has lots of PNG crafts. Many bilums and a lot of bows and arrow sets. Carvings of all kinds and jewelry. I bought Jesse his Goroka hat. Two of them, in fact. The first one I bought wouldn’t fit about his head, but I didn’t realize that till I bought it. But I found one I liked better.

While hanging around waiting I spoke with a man from England. He gave me some very helpful information about getting stuff through Australia. We had a good laugh about how harsh they are. He suggested that we tell them that all of our wood carvings had been in a freezer for a week.

We also learned that the Australian government won’t let people in the country with things made of kus kus hair. It was suggested that we send those items home. Good stuff to know! We already have a black mark on our name in Australia for all the crackers we accidently smuggled into the country. God forbid we do the same with kus kus fir.

This morning the team gathered for a thoughtful devotion lead by Nicole. She encouraged us to live in the moment.

After prayer, the team headed over to the primary school for chapel and then a day of workshops. I went to Marsha Jones’ house for tea and a lovely conversation. Marsha and Larry Jones lived here for a year in 1971. They then returned after they both retired from teaching. They are here for a 2 year term. Their son Jared and his wife, Jody, lived in the house in Newberg where Wade and I lived when we first came to Newberg in 1979. Rhett and his wife are good friends with Jared and Jodi. Marsha’s niece, Analiese Van Brocklin, is a friend of mine (in person and on Facebook) and a graduate of GFU. Do you hear the song ‘It’s a small world?’
Jordan and Stephen are staying with Marsha and Larry. Rhett, Todd and I are going to their house for dinner tonight.

After leaving Marsha’s house I went to the clinic to confirm Jessie’s participation at a village clinic on Tuesday. I went to the entrance that I knew about and spoke with the receptionist. After getting more information I turned to go and a voice calls out my name, “Jere?” It is Betty Kenea. I had gone to the Pigin Service yesterday to see if she and John were there. I didn’t see her but as we talked I found out she was there. She had seem me talking to someone and didn’t want to interrupt.

So we had a nice chat, catching up: Michael is actually living in Canada and going to Bible College there and living with some Wycliffe missionaries.
Then, they have three daughters: one at the University of PNG, another a senior at Aiyura National High School and the youngest daughter is a freshman at Ukarumpa High School.

John still works at the print shop and Betty works in the library. I hope I can connect with them before I leave.

I then went to the post office and mailed Jesse his package.
Then I went to the store and waited for Sara to arrive to help me carry the lunch for the team to the primary school.

Yesterday I had talked to Irame about getting together with her and Edelweiss after lunch today. Miscommunication – Edelweiss came at lunch. But I went ahead and sat down with Irame, gave her the gifts and showed her pictures of the kids.

Hopefully Edelweiss can come tomorrow.

Then she brought me a beautiful bilum. I really love it! And I am very picky!

This afternoon I will catch up with the team at 3:15 pm at the Kai Bar at the store for ice cream.

Several want to get things at the store too.
And then, as I mentioned, we have dinner with the Jones’.

One more full day in Ukarumpa. The only thing the team has to do tomorrow is perform at Aiyura National High School. I am glad everyone agreed to do that performance.

Later in the evening:
Todd, Rhett and I had a lovely dinner with the Jones’. Spaghetti dinner with delicious homemade French bread and berry cobbler for dessert.

We had a lovely conversation. They are really wonderful people. They are also good friends with the Scorza’s. Funny, Larry could pass for a relative of Dave’s.

The team is at the guest house watching “Sister Act 2.” I am going to plan devotions for the morning and hit the hay.

Good night.

Sunday, May 17 - Ukarumpa

Have you each reached a point in a trip where you weren’t sure if you wanted time to speed up or slow down? Part of my dilemma comes from the fact that I am very anxious to spend a week in Australia with the Davidson’s.

The time here seems to be going very fast, so fast that it seems every day is getting shorter and shorter.

My Sunday morning started with another interesting breakfast conversation.
I haven’t really said much about our fellow guests at the guest house here in Ukarumpa. There is an audit team here. Small worlds collide. They are from Houghton. The man and woman heading the team live in Houghton and she teaches a may term accounting course. The other three students are accounting majors who are working with the couple on the audit. The older couple could not be more opposite that Todd, Rhett or I. Their perspective on just about everything could create an interesting dialog should we allow it. I know I have had to keep my tongue about me. It’s been interesting for sure.

Small world: the older couple are friends with a couple that I met (from Houghton) that were at Equinoxe in Nouackchott.

The two church services this morning were rather good. I enjoyed both of them immensely .

I ran into Bonnie Moeckle, who was quite friendly. I also talked with Jeff and Sissie DeJernes, who were cordial.

I had a lovely conversation with the center doctor and his pharmacist wife. We talked about the veterinary situation and shared my lovely dog stories with them. They arrived when the Hauschildt’s were here. They go on a village clinic on Tuesday so we may be able to work it out for Jessie to go with them.

Irame made a delicious lunch to go along with our long conversation. I am working on listening rather than responding.

The students are now rehearsing. I am going on a walkabout.

Later, that afternoon: the walkabout was great! I ran into a couple, the Rearick’s. They know the Scorza’s. We talked for a long time. I believe we would be friends with them.

The Ruth house has changed a lot. It is no longer the entrance to the horse world of Ukarumpa. They have fenced the house (as well as MANY others on the center) and made a drive way to the perimeter fence that now keeps the rascals out of the center. At least that is the purpose of the fence.

Exhausted from the climb up the hill, I sat on the side of the grassy hill right below the Ruth’s old house and took in the scenery. A guard with an umbrella walked by, waved and then sauntered on. I missed getting a picture because my camera was not turned on. Rats.

After resting and drinking half of the water bottle I continued on my way to Nipa House – where Jesse was conceived.

More familiar territory as I made my way past the field that Honda stayed in and the road where I learned to ride a motorcycle. Remember that Wade? Remember how once I got going I took off and you yelled “I didn’t teach you how to stop!” Or something like that.

What amazes me most is how my memory has faded. I remember well the places where we spent most of our time. The rest is like a misty fog; I can see through it at times but the view to my memory is dimmed by the mist of old age.

Tonight we connect with the teens at ‘Soul Purpose’ - their youth gathering on Sunday night.

The ‘quiet hour’ just ended and noise around the valley is picking up. Two young men just passed my window pulling a wagon behind them with a large piece of plywood wedged inside. I thought they were hauling a lawnmower behind them.
Sounds of children laughing, parents walking with their kids, birds singing, the putt-putt of a motor bike fills the air.

I swear I just so Luke and Kurt going down the hill at break neck speed on a wagon.

Saturday, May 16 - Ukarumpa

What a refreshing morning: it was cool, crisp and the air smelled so good!

After our debriefing last night I wasn’t sure how today would be met. Jessie gave an encouraging devotion and our prayer time was sweet.

Our first stop was at 9:30 am at the new primary school. It had a great auditorium where our team would work with middle and high school students to create stories.
This would be the first time I would see Rhett in action teaching. With great anticipation I sat myself in the audience ready to take it all in.

Our group of MK’s ended up being pretty much middle schoolers. And they were a lively bunch. When Rhett got up to teach he became so animated! It was really something to see.

First Rhett took the group through theatre exercises and a game. Tempest. After that the entire group, both GFU team and middle schoolers, were divided into 3 groups. Their assignment? To create a still picture of: Hope.

It was amazing watching the creation of this story. I had never seen anything like it before.

When each group performed it’s picture, Rhett led us through a discussion to explain what the picture was saying. I apologize but I cannot fully describe what I witnessed. My words would fall flat and perhaps you would draw false conclusions. You will just have to trust me. The finished product was inspiring.
For the final picture Rhett asked the groups to create a picture that tells a story about their community. I can hardly tell this story without crying.

I took notes for these pictures. Group number showed a circle of people doing various things: whispering, pointing, sneering, laughing & playing. One person was on the outside of the group hiding behind a chair with a pencil pointing at them.
This group was trying to show the routine of life at Ukarumpa which in part includes gossip, having fun, conflicts, but trust even in light of the negative things that go on. The person outside the group is a ‘rascal’ threatening with a spear.

Next, Rhett asked the group to resolve the picture. They changed the essence of the picture to reach out drawing the ‘rascal’ in and depicting a more caring community.
Group number 2 had Jesus standing on a chair reaching out to the audience. Behind Jesus was a group of people obviously worshiping. Then a one person reaching out to Jesus but also with her hand on a young man clearly depressed. Then sitting on alone was a girl who was clearly lonely but no one was reaching out to her.

The resolution was to bring Jesus down from the chair, amongst the people and everyone giving concern to those who were hurting.

Group number 3 – well, this one got to me. Two different groups with one person sitting in the middle, looking as if she was praying but also looking sad. One group was obviously happy to be together but two of them were pointing to the other group with a mocking kind of smile. The other group had a person shielding them from the other group, sneering. This picture told the story about the tension at Ukarumpa between the adults and the teenagers.

The resolution was to have one side reach out to the other in love and understanding.
Basically, it was amazing. To watch these two groups work together to produce such deep and meaningful stories in two hours of time astounded me.

We all left rather suddenly as our time ran over what we expected. We scurried back to have lunch at the guest house while the students either fixed a sandwich from the food I had bought at the store, at a sack lunch from their host family or ran back to their host family for a quick lunch before meeting at 1:20 to meet Wendy and John Bailey. The Bailey’s are amazing people.

They are Irish. They are ‘tent makers’ and working with the PNG government to improve agricultural and conservation of water and resources. They used to live off center, but due to an unfortunate situation (not of their making) they moved to SIL housing. What a privilege it was for us to work with them this afternoon. They are exactly the kind of people we needed to see here.

They have coordinated a drop in center at the old primary school site. Although the buildings and property now belong to the district of Aiyura, they allow the Bailey’s to control the old auditorium (where we held a dance back in the day). Each Saturday they take a few people out to minister to the children and teenagers of the valley. Wendy especially has such a deep love and passion for the people of Papua New Guinea. Our team performed Wantok (and they loved it) and the Weave. We then created picture stories. Most of the kids flocked to Stephen and Jordan, as usual. But each of the groups were pretty amazing.

However wonderful it was to watch the dramas that were created, everyone was stunned by the two deaf young men who came. Although Emily speaks American Sign Language and these two men were taught English Sign Language, the image of their encounter will stay with us all. I hope my pictures turn out to give you a glimpse into what we saw. Emily said they learned from each other. She’s so precious and loving. I am sure these two young men will never forget Emily. We were so blessed to be able to witness such an encounter.

So I have been doing a lot of thinking today. My emotions have run deep.
While things are familiar in the sights of Ukarumpa the essence of our time in PNG is no longer here: our friends, the students that we came to know and love.

The things that I didn’t like about Ukarumpa remain and in some way are accentuated by the perimeter fencing and Guard Dog Security. I know that SIL must protect the people here especially if they intend to draw workers to complete the task. But I have some serious concerns that haunt me, reminding me of the times when I was ‘in trouble’ for interacting with the Nationals that went contrary to popular opinion here.

The work that SIL does here is the entire purpose of Ukarumpa. I can’t lose sight of that. My short time here does not give me permission to cast judgment. I wish all of humanity could just get along.

As I anticipated out debriefing was long and meaningful. I so enjoy listening to the perspective of each team member. Their words are so inspiring: their perspective refreshing and heartfelt.

As a talker, listening to them has been such a great exercise. I am grateful beyond words for this experience. I am learning so much from Rhett, in the way he leads discussions, drawing out the thoughts, words and emotions from each of the team.

Our group scattered to the winds at 6 pm. After a nice dinner we dealt with internet issues and then electricity outages. My outlets don’t work but neither do some in the main part of the house. At least we have lights and water. And it is almost bed time. Sunday will be here soon enough.