A Circle and Stick
A noise we commonly hear around our house is the bang of sheet metal. I you were new to our home, you would think someone threw a rock at our fence, or maybe a bird ran into the gate. Quite the contrary, you would be surprised to find that it from the wayward “circle” hit by a stick in a neighborhood kid’s game. Should you want to play this amazing game, you will need just three things: The energy of a grade schooler, one old foam flip-flop with a circle cut out of it, and a stick or branch. Our neighborhood kids will typically form two teams with varying players on each side. They...
Read MoreFried Bananas and Rain
In God’s kindness, he blessed Papua New Guinea with a ton of bananas. There are kukim bananas (to cook), like plantains, and there are mau bananas for just eating. Some are no longer than 2 inches, while others are over a foot in length. The variety does not stop there. The skin of one variety will be green, another will be yellow, and yet another will be red and purple. The banana is a huge part of regular eating in PNG. Regardless of how they look or taste, they are all bananas, and they are all edible! About two weeks ago, some of our friends gave us two hands of bananas. A hand of...
Read MoreThe generator made it!
The long awaited generator arrives! Monday was the day. A truck, packed to the gills with market produce, rolled up to the house in the early morning with a special surprise. The generator arrived. There it was, snugly tucked away, under a barrage of cabbage, onions, pineapples, and other tasty market produce. We had been anticipating it’s arrival, but it was that much sweeter to see this day in person. Using a local transport company in Madang turned out to be unfruitful. Unfortunatly, they were not able to help us with picking up the unit in Goroka. However, on Friday last...
Read More3 weeks in Madang
Who would have thought three weeks could go so fast! I am tired to say the least as I write this email. I think Lorie would say the same thing about herself. It has been a busy three weeks in Madang. Moving just seems to come with it’s difficulties as well as it’s joys. We have run the gamut of various tasks. The home was the most strenuous. We have been unpacking and organizing the home for the whole three weeks. Praise the Lord, we are finally feeling more settled, and regular patterns of life from before are starting to emerge. Homeschool Lorie started homeschooling the kids on...
Read MoreThe Generator (Genset)
It became apparent after 6 months in PNG that having a generator at our, “Base of Operations” would be prudent. At that time, some dear friends committed support towards a small generator. We used it whenever the power was off in Madang. No joke, town power was off for around 900 hours in just 2 years time. That little generator labored for us and keeps emergency items online whenever town power is off. It’s only disadvantage is the limited power it can generate (around 5000 watts). A larger generator has been on the list of things to find for the last year. We recently found a much larger,...
Read MoreThe Askim of PNG culture
Culture shock ya’ll. Let’s Imagine you are working on you house. There you are, swinging your hammer, driving finishing nails into a some wood trim. Suddenly, a friend of yours walks over to shoot the breeze and see you. You acknowledge your friend and say hello. After a few minutes of talking, he asks you if he can have your hammer, not to borrow, he just wants it. How do you respond? That is a common occurrence in PNG culture and it is called an, “askim.” I can remember countless requests from people, asking me to give them something. The requests are always random, a phone, 5 Kina, my...
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