Day 5 - Hike to airstrip and fly back to Telefomin
This day's schedule only involved an hour of walking, so we had time to visit a local school and aid post (where the community health worker is stationed. They are the first port of call for any health needs in the village - kind of like a bush GP).
The teachers at the school welcomed me warmly and shared some of the hardships they were facing, including the need to transport some much-needed textbooks from Telefomin. They were planning for a group of older students to walk there and back the next day, but with the plane coming that afternoon to pick us up I said I would ask if the books could be brought on that. I made it clear that I couldn't promise anything, but I would at least ask!
They also asked if I would be willing to share something inspirational with the students. So I told them the story about how God put the dream to be a pilot in my heart when I was 11 years old, and now here I was as a pilot with MAF. I said to them, if you work hard at school and trust God, He can make anything possible.
From there we walked to the river to look at the bridge that the community had been building. Word had got out that a waitmeri was walking around, so there was quite an entourage with us by this point! Unfortunately the bridge wasn't quite finished, so we weren't able to use it, but I expressed my appreciation all the same. After that there was a bit of a commotion in the water - a woman from the other side had jumped in and swam across with two bananas in her hand, which she gave to me. Again I was blown away by this act of gratitude.
From there we visited the aid post and met the community health worker, then made our way back to the village, where I made contact with the MAF base. It sounded hopeful that the books could be put on the flight, and MAF was willing to pay for the cost of the freight. We had a quick lunch, said goodbye to our hosts, and walked down another path to a shallow crossing point on the river, close to the airstrip.
Not long after we arrived at the airstrip, a crowd of people started to gather. They had heard that we had Bibles for sale (one of MAF's ministries) and had come to buy them for themselves.
After a while we heard the familiar sound of the plane. Not only was it coming to pick us up, but it also had 180 kg of school textbooks on board - not just for the school we had visited, but another one as well. It was very satisfying to be able to help them out, and save them a 14 hr round-trip walk to carry them!
Later on I found out a couple of heartwarming stories.
The first was how Vero and Joyce had stayed up until 1 am, talking with the pastor and his wife and encouraging them. The pastor's wife in particular had been very worried about hosting me, because she didn't know what to do! Joyce pointed out to her that we are all doing God's work and skin colour doesn't matter.
The second was that one of the community leaders had had a dream on the Sunday night that a waitman came to the village and went to the pastor's house to stay. In the dream God's message was, when you look at him, you are looking at Me, and whatever you give to him, you give to Me. The next day, he saw us walking down the hill and watched us go to the pastor's house. He saw it as God's blessing upon the village.
(I should also point out that it had been several years since the last white person passed through that village, and none had stayed at the pastor's house before.)
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| Dawn at the village |
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| A lady buys a Tok Pisin Bible from Vero |
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| Speaking to the students at the school |
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| (Unfinished) bridge over the Sepik River |
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| One of the community leaders, and his wife |
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| The woman who swam across the river with the bananas |
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| Some of our entourage |
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| Crossing the Sepik River on foot |
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| Feranmin airstrip |
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| Parts of an old bulldozer that had been carried from Telefomin to build the airstrip in the 1960s |
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| Kids playing soccer on the airstrip |
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| Vero talking to the crowd about Bibles |
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| Tok Pisin Bibles |
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| Some of the teachers, with their new books |
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| Aerial view of the village (the building near the centre with the red roof is the church), Sepik River, and airstrip at Feranmin |
Day 6 - Overcoming heartache
When we arrived back at Telefomin after our amazing, encouraging time in the bush, there was some bad news. The house where I was staying had been broken into and some items stolen. Thankfully all the irreplaceable items had been left behind (computer, journal, cards in my wallet). Vero and Joyce were devastated. As I walked around the house checking things, the feeling of violation grew and grew and so I accepted the offer of one of the other families to stay at their house for my final two nights in town.
The next morning I decided to talk with Vero and Joyce about how we were feeling. They had sought counsel from their pastor, who said that there was a spiritual aspect to this - the devil knew about the impact we were having on our hike and incited someone to come and do this. 'Sapos mi painim dispela stilman, mi pulim yau bilong en!' said Joyce (if I find the thief I'll pull his ear). 'Mi paitim em!' said Vero (I'll hit him). I replied, 'Mi no krosim dispela stilman. God inap mekim sampela gutpela samting kamap long dispela samting nogut.' (I'm not angry with the thief. God is able to make something good come from this bad thing.)
We went to one of the other MAF families to make a poster with pictures of some of the missing items (in particular my watch) and took it to some key places around town - the school, district office, market.
After lunch I said to Vero and Joyce that I would like to remember the good times we had and asked if they would be willing to tell the stories again while I recorded them on my phone. They agreed, and three hours later I was in possession of wonderful treasures - stories I had not heard before (like the man's dream). I said to them, if everything had been happy, we would go our separate ways and that would be that. But because this trial had come, it has made our faith stronger too.
Post script (added 25 March): A week after I got back to Mt Hagen, I received a phone call from one of the MAF ladies to say that the watch and a few other items had been returned! Although they are a little worse for wear, it is an answer to prayer and I am thankful. It turned out to be a 14 year old boy who lived locally. I pray that this episode and our response to him will lead him to true repentance and saving faith in Jesus.
Overall impressions
- I was supposed to be in Telefomin, not Ambunti! This is evidenced by the spiritual attack of someone stealing things from the house while I was away (the first time a MAF house in Telefomin has been robbed, in all the years we have had a base there)
- humbling oneself is huge in PNG culture. People commented over and over again in amazement at my willingness to carry timber, sit on the ground/floor, eat the same food, etc. I’m not sure if that’s me conforming to NZ’s egalitarian culture or behaving like I would on a camping trip (which is what it felt like). Sharing food, sitting with people, talking with them, sleeping in their house are all aspects of being part of their family. It doesn’t take much on our part to be an encouragement to people.
- God is working in people’s hearts. Whenever they prayed, Vero and Joyce personally knew who it was they were talking to.
- The story about the man who had the dream may sound fantastical, and certainly made me a little uncomfortable to think that people might have seen me as the embodiment of God come to visit them, but we need to remember that Papua New Guineans are more attuned to the spirit world than Westerners are. God knows this and He is able to guide them in His truth.
- My speaking in Tok Pisin improved immensely as a result of using it all day every day. At times I even found myself thinking in Tok Pisin. Now the challenge will be to keep it up!
