Work, Work, Work

While we were in the village of Igoi, we met a lady who suggested that we should go to her house and take a picture of her with her house... so we did. When we got to her house, it had the most beautiful view!

 We sat down and storied a little (as the interns worked more on their language skills). At one point, we discussed different housing in the USA, floods, and homelessness. Anyway, one of the interns wanted to look through her garden (since it was so close to her house) and get a kind of vocabulary lesson of what plant is what. Thus, I attempted to communicate this. (*Please keep in mind that Pidgin is a language with a limited vocabulary so often you must talk around things to get your point across.) So I asked her if she could show us around her garden so we could see what different vegetation there is. She replied that the sun was high and it might cook (or burn) our skin. I explained that we had on something that made our skin strong (sun screen... which we called "strong skin" for the rest of the summer) and so she grabbed a stick and led the way.

 I soon realized that what I thought I'd communicated and what she interpreted were two different things. She put us to work finding and hauling kaukau (a kind of potato/rooted veggie). She got the guys big sticks to put down into the ground and push up the kaukau as we women put bilums (bags) on our heads and would catch and carry the kaukau from whomever found it. "Yu noken sanap na noken sindaun. Yu mas wok tasol." In other words, "you can't stand straight up or sit down. Just work." Even when the bilums were giving us headaches and I tried to tell her we were done, she explained that there was still plenty of room in the bilums.

Never had I ever met a Papua New Guinean like this woman. Usually people were very delicate with us, and even some that acted like we could break if they gave us too much to do. Not this woman. She was more strict with us, but I kind of respected her for that too. And still, after we brought this kaukau back to the house, I opened my mouth again and said that we had some time and could help peel them when she asked. She got out her one knife and we took turns peeling the kaukau. Everything I did in how I peeled it was wrong. I gave the knife to Bre (who held the knife the exact same way, and cut it the exact same way) and the lady praised her for doing it right.

Who knows, but when we were leaving and we gave her our thanks, she hugged all of us (even the guys). Once again, PNG people don't usually hug like this. She was unique, spirited, and a person that I don't think I can ever forget. She was a character and made an impression on all of us. I wonder what impression I leave with others... or am I forgettable? Whatever the case, I am "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps. 139:14) and so are you.