Papua New Guinea
lik lik picinini in Bau- EU Primary School, Zia Tribe Welcome Ceremony
The Charity: The aim of the Peter Pan musical was to raise money for the Papua New Guinea 
Assosiation. So in March a group of us who had been involved in the musical went out to the Morobe Province of PNG. We worked with Village Developement Trust an NGO set up by guys from the tribes in the area. The work they do is incredible. They deal with the development of the villages as a whole tackling anumber of issues- environment, education, health and culture. From fighting international logging companies who are trying to get in on some of that forest to, providing malaria and AIDS education and of course performing many sing sings!
Kamiali- Spear Fisherman - They taught us about their fishing, hunting, gathering and gardening techniques and fed us like kings the whole time. (Bigpela mary no kai kai!)
Initiation to the Zia Tribe: We went with boxes of school supplies for a number of schools in 
the Province. From Lae we took a 7 hour speed boat journey to Bau (most Zia people don't have a speed boat and there are no roads, so the journey to Lae, which is the nearest city, would take about 2 weeks!). We arrived in the village at dusk the whole village was on the beach waiting for us. They had prepeared a fantastic welcome for us all by moonlight as there was obviously no electricity. We were then initiated in to the tribe becasue in order to work for the tribe we had to be part of it. I became part of the Sakia (cockatoo) Clan.
Waria Valley Kids
We worked on improving the school and building desks. Although we were there to give, I felt like we received so much more than we gave. The people's kindness was overwhelming. Even more so when
you consider that these we the poorest people we had ever met in terms of material wealth.
We spent alot of time playing with the kids, who were fantastic. They taught us about their way of life, their games and their language.
Bigpela Bye Bye- Farewell as we walked back to the boat in the Waria River
Thong Island- Huan Gulf
It's no surprise that when we had to make our leaving speeches from Bau there was not a dry eye around. We made our tearful speeches of thanks and climbed back into the boat weighed down by all the gifs bestown upon us.
Being Rescued by Robert's friedns in Kamiali
posted by Uma the Puma @ 6:17 PM
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