vl - the basics

One of the hardest things about telling how village living went is knowing where to start!  I guess I'll just jump right in. 

The village I was in is about five kilometers on a very bumpy and somewhat accessible road from the highway that runs along the north coast.  It's a pretty fair sized village and you can get to the closest town by vehicle in about 1-1 1/2 hours.  There is a local school through grade 8 and several kids are able to continue education by going to another school and boarding there; coming home on holidays. 

The view from the local church we attended with our host family.

Inside the church.  These benches are 1 by 4 planks set about three inches off the ground and close together.  My knees were in my face for most of the hours that we sat there!

There are several churches in the area, but they are all in Tok Pisin.  The only Bible available for the language group is in Tok Pisin, which for many of them is not their first language.  However, in this village many of the kids are being taught Tok Pisin from a very young age so it is natural for them, in the older generations it is not the default language.  This is not the same as in many parts of the country where Tok Pisin is not used as much. 

The view from the local market where people gather on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to sell greens and food they've made.

A sunset over an open section of the village where the young people gather in the afternoons to play sports.

We were in the mountains, but not very high up.  Many of the local people commented that their grandparents or great-grandparents had come to this area from "the deep bush" farther inland in order to be closer to education, churches, etc.  One of the nice things about being up a bit in elevation was that the temperature was not too hot, it even would get down to mid-70's F at night!  However, it also meant that all water sources were downhill . . . sometimes quite a ways. 

The family that my teammate and I lived with for five weeks has nine kids, most of which are still at home.  Much of their extended family lives right down the "road" or bush trail and one family was actually living with our host family while rebuilding their house.  At any given meal (morning and evening) you could expect 20-30 people to be eating.  As part of the culture, if anyone is visiting near a meal time, they are included in the meal so the number of people was never predictable and on many occasions, I witnessed our host mama dishing up a few extra plates, just in case. 

Our family primarily eats food grown in their gardens and their houses are made from bush materials including, but not limited to, palm trees and bamboo.  Clothes, dishes and people are washed in near by water sources where the water is funneled through a leaf or a pipe, and drinking water is fetched from a water fall about a twenty-minute walk away.  A lot of your day revolves around going to and from the water. 

The pipe along the rocks at the closest water source, Talis.

One of the views you see while at Talis.

Scrubbing pots under the water from the pipe, this is Gloria, my village sister's sister-in-law.  These leaves "lip masong" have prickles which act like steel wool in scrubbing gunk or fire stains off your pots.  Even if you are going to use the same pot later that day, it's important to scrub the fire marks off.