Papua New Guinea - Land of the unexpected

you this is one of the last places to be discovered by the white man goes to which civilization has come - the gene every day brings something new images that cannot plan anything for tomorrow every day but that is why the first missionaries from the very beginning called this the land of the unexpected there were five Capuchin missionaries it came 1955 and began the mission and virtually were amongst first outsiders here in Papua New Guinea in the islands they didn't know what to expect but they came with a very adventurous and very generous heart and before they started putting up structures and buildings and things like that they spent time living with the people in their villages just to get around and move around and establish little trust with the people it took a little bit of time because even when I go into the deep Bush now there are children who are afraid because you know they say white man white man and start running away because it's it's a it's it's something so different and so you know fearful I suppose to them you know so different when that first contact takes place and a level of trust is established then things were able to grow from their giddy when the missionaries began their work here the nuns came people did not know how to approach them to Buddha just get here in the mountains the men have traditionally taken all the decisions in the village it was impossible for a woman to stand up and say something or Java or expressive II would there was a little game and I saw this man's coming with his big round things and with long clothes and all this and I was really wondering who they were are they a man or a woman were they I was curious to know who they were and I used to go under the legs look to see who they were what they were they burl had a human being saw and they must as an excuse me teacher what these people have said they're sisters they're man's ok then I asked OSB husband Jesus ok so I said Jesus we'll go into their house so I normally went and said by the door but I never saw him going in after a couple of months I said excuse me teacher that man never went into the house how does he look like said oh no he's a spirit man a spirit and normally that the evil spirit was the devil so as you feel instead of the devil and he said no he's a very good man he loves everybody hey and one day I said teacher can I be one of those woman oh yes you can be you can be a nun do everything you can to please God that's how he loves the Nance so that's why this lady said yes this is the same here here live among the people be with the listen to them help them so that the people can live happily peacefully jessica's are going to talk about papua as a unitary country it seemed a traditional beliefs the way they dress traditionally the mentality each group is different we call this the one talk system the one talk system comes down to people having the same culture speaking the same language there are over 700 languages here in Papua it can be a few villages or a dozen villages it can be a group of people three four thousand strata to come from the same clan life is built around the community people stick together they're responsible for each other but only within a particular community if someone does something wrong steals raped someone that kills someone the community protects him today the community is willing to pay so-called compensation for what somebody did you might there isn't this sense of the individual that I'm responsible for my life but I've in the framework of this one talk system you must also help others even if the matter does not concern you directly you belong to a clan and so when the time comes to pay compensation you have to support the community an awful life in bizarre stops or life in the bush that's very different from life in a city but saying we are very happy that we are where we are because this is our home and this is our land so Houseman blend in awesome my house it's not a typical house built from materials bought in a store that they ultimately have to cut trees and grass and clear a space for the house in the bush is out every man is capable of building such a house inside in there is a room in which the family sleep it is a good place to live in when they awesome house there is a fire in the middle of the room on which all the males are cooked work men women children everyone has a job to do daughter's help in the garden and with looking after the children and care for the pig herd while the sons help their fathers clear a space in the bush for the garden they worked together in the bush me know me blunder what money me black we do not have money garden over there we live from what we grow if there is no garden weed I mean I cannot steal from other people's gardens me believe I believe in God and in what is written in the Bible stealing is forbidden they're the first missionaries preached the good news and so we decided to change some of the practices that we had adopted from our ancestors the good news has done a lot of good tribal infighting has practically ceased when the tribal wars occurred to this day and everything has to tally always if someone dies someone from the other tribe has to die here before any peace talks can begin it doesn't matter whether you live locally or work in a plantation in another region if you belong to this tribe you have to be careful Christ my tribe my life is a life of fighting many lost their lives in the fight at once out there many were killed fight them tribal conflicts were formally fought a fight with bows and arrows and Spears now unfortunately they are fought with guns that is our daily I have often seen people die during the fights my own eyes we were fighting within ten years and from my side yeah it's about 25 30 died we can 40-hour pelo give me a cigarette to a lady this lady died relative of this lady decided that you were pushing this lady that's how we start on fine our sister sir came to us they say that no no from now on we will not fight more so they came here to stop us and then from there get fish now that is their ok but the ones who lost their beloved ones like a husband's or the sons lost their father so they were still filled with a trait we call them a penance group and give them classes to accept each other and bring them back to church the sisters come from different clans and different areas of the different cultures and sometimes there's a clash after all we say ok let's understand each other's culture now whenever we teach them we tell them look we are from different places but we accept each other and we become one body because we are the body of Christ living yeah they do listen to us they're good they can listen and sometimes they pretend that they are listening and go back and they do the same thing a kid you know we go to the people will be with them sisters they deliver babies and they walk in the hospital where they treat the patients we show them how to walk the ladies and the children we showed them how to wash their clothes before the people looked really mile average now that's a very big change no they couldn't wash you could see their deaths and he was married from far away but now they're clean they're healthy we have clinics we work with people who are have different struggles and problems and you know we do all of that you know it's not just a matter of preaching spirituality which is which is the basis but you know the churches they're also meeting people's physical and moral and other kinds of needs as well thirteen years of the area is huge because people live in small communities but you have to reach these communities caution which people must build a church if they have the money they will build a big beautiful church they don't have the money theirs will be a small Funai house similar to the other houses we have over 300 such churches so we need over 300 pieces we are 32 33 together with the bishop nero Mukesh I'm not particularly physically fit I was always excused from physical education whether it was in the seminary secondary or primary school and then you come here for example you have to do a 15-kilometer wall our missionaries come with what they have experienced in their own countries here they have to open themselves to a completely different mentality so a completely different way of being and way of life you need to be prepared for misunderstandings you also have to be prepared to face loneliness let just being alone with oneself was the most difficult to bear when people leave the church when they go to their homes you are left alone we should wish that you must also be prepared for failures there was a beautiful station in a land where wars were prevalent the government gave the Mission lab and a station was built there very nice station then a conflict erupted and everything was burned the bishop sent a priest who rebuilt everything he did a great job new school a new church new home for the priest a new home for the sisters sent a pastoral center then another war came is there good theory and once again nothing survived you think chosen you know should be added the priest could not handle it you he left look at sometimes one has days when one sits down and asks oneself is it worth it you for example hear that a village has been burned that a house has been burned down somewhere and fear overwhelms you might it not happen here the parish priest always says no not in my parish my parish is best because my people are completely different that this city is different this country is different but these people are the same Curtis Mendoza each of the missionaries must overcome himself I have never driven a motorcycle I've never sat behind a wheel a former missionary gave me half an hour of his time and showed me the gears are here accelerate over here you sit here and off you go I have one such station that I really care about there are many vocations there it was Christmas it began to rain during Mass on my return journey after five falls I stopped counting after that I fell again I threw the motorcycle and said Lord if you want me to I can sleep here you know that there is one more Midnight Mass to be celebrated at the main station I caught up and as I picked up the motorcycle the motor died on me I'm not a mechanic it turned out that the chain had fallen off I did not have a single spanner I said to God okay so I will walk but then I told myself to try again the chain reengaged miraculously and I arrived on time saying something disease you showing me today you got sample I believe you looking sample a house Christ our sample our problem sample up Jesus shows us today that when dangers come we have a safe haven that Haven is Jesus Christ in by celebrating family law mr. negly La Migra Jesus tells us no matter what your problems and concerns with me you can win everything our next team to help you any laptop that they really need a priest above all to have Jesus by their side Chavez will celebrate Mass for them to hear the confession but above everything else for the sacraments if they're hungry for the sacraments sometimes I hear people's confessions for an hour and a half two hours are they really here and believe that their sins are forgiven the sacraments they receive really change them to change their lives but above all else they strengthen them on us to only think about what was earlier fighting their opponents and needing to find something to eat presently there was something more for a search for something more a time has come here to Papua New Guinea just a time of change some are ill prepared to face that change watch them especially the young especially children you were growing up in something that their ancestors know nothing about I guess we could call it it really a society and rapid transition if not upheaval when our first missionaries came they found people who were in the Stone Age they were using stone instruments to to cut wood and to chop trees and to dig the gardens and things like that and so they were living truly in the Stone Age and now 60 years later the people really have been drawn have been pulled have been forced into 21st century paths in list of what I didn't and now him we lived reasonably comfortably in the past when in one meeting I'm unlike presently life has changed kind of him laboum an orphan Momo is a traditional dish which one formerly could not buy we used to prepare it solely for the family now people presently want to profit from world that is not good the meal was intended for the family not for sale the woman who looks after the pig from the time he is a little piglet very often treats it like a member of the family when the pig grows up and is ready for slaughter to prepare the mum or the woman often cries now people raise the pigs to sell in the market they then make the dish to maximize their profit tomorrow William garden local oyster goods from the garden are also treated as income of the market young people do not bring the money home do not buy anything for their family they do with it whatever they want a lot of the people are caught in between and they can't go back to the traditional times and they are not quite there with modern tea so it's a big group of people in the middle we skip so many steps civilization modality it's just 50 years and all of a sudden you have you know laptops you have mobile phones you have these big companies coming and you have all the technologies coming in now in this country we have and in fact in this province now we have this big LNG project and we have companies right across Papua New Guinea gold oil copper nickel it's a good thing that we have these companies because we need money we need develop the human life and develop the society and raise the standard of the people but also at the same time it comes with its social negative aspects when this company began operation a lot of the schools were closed because the teachers went looking for jobs in these companies because they offered better pay and even so the kids they weren't looking for jobs because they have so much money they don't know what to do it and so they they spend it on alcohol on brutal prostitution and so we are seeing increasing number of cases with veneral diseases and hiv/aids and Muniz are like too much really go to town I don't like going into the city come out now several year I go to the church and that's enough for me to be happy in the city there is a lot of talk about killings assaults thefts and again they curse and there are a lot of drunks nobody touch it effects young people most of all and they probably most often feel lost their elders sometimes talk about how they've lost touch with the young what the young are like like the young everywhere fascinated by all that's new I'm not always able to resist Waja Luigi the Steinberg started however the city is the only place where young educated people can find work yes now if a young person does not find work then he has to live from something including theft or robbery subtle awesome in a good how we saw some on campus or now walking for some lily or some Bush ideas about city life are often mistaken in people from all over Papua New Guinea with building makeshift houses and settling the slums it is not a safe place it's a rascally model who said no walk money no stardom bata City bandits often gather in groups stop group now there was called rascals attack anything they do not work anyways on the wall and earn money in this way services horse and come on enable providing more whoever's villages do not have the amenities they can be found in a city in establish such as schools hospitals roads electricity and no one could buy something or in Apple team no no but no clicking import to or sorry not picking go blow parents worried about that children come here now to better school here teachers over the sudden stop what's an ordinate in establish city so one that is one many people are abandoning village life Santos family me looking awesome all all occurred is Anton Tina or get a cam law city near Laguna saying the opportunities available in the city I decided to bring my children here awesome so that they could study which would assure them a better future here mixie moorefamily gun down now and press laughing Iranian and had we stayed in the village my son would not have been educated as well and would not have begun to study at one of the best universities he finished his secondary school and now attends the u p ng w do not along with university she delayed me and me hugglemas life in the capital is not easy it all boils down to money a situation is such that if times become hard we could always go back to our family homes you also me we do not listen wet bone to wear on my church my diocese family relatives friends i can go back there and be with them that is something that you know people in a tribal culture for example in a clan based culture can teach us you know the importance of community the importance of you know working together in communion with one another and that that humility that you need to be a part of a community in the service and the and the identity that comes from that the church and the faith that the church comes to preach is a stabilizing factor it's something that can bring meaning is something that can bring stability something that can bring wisdom something that can bring grace into the lives of people who have been kind of torn this way and torn that way our faith in Jesus who is the same yesterday today and tomorrow is something that I think can can can help kind of the people find their identity again in the midst of all of the difficulties and changes and upheavals of this postmodern world and I think that's a great gift really that the church can bring to people in this kind of a situation I came to Papua New Guinea you know thinking I was going to be the great missionary that I was going to be the one who was going to do all this for Jesus and I was going to you know give up all of this things my family my culture my food my everything I thought you know I was coming here to carry the cross and and I was very quickly discovered that God brought me here to bless me and all that I thought I was going to be doing for God God has done so much more for me in in the simplicity of the people sometimes I have to swallow very hard they had to stop myself from choking up when I am inspired by the faith of the people the simplicity of the people the the love of the the people for the church for their priests for the sisters I would like to go back telling people making people feel sorry for me that I am giving up all of these things and I've come into such hardship but it would be a lie I wouldn't want to be anywhere else and I don't consider this a hardship I consider this an incredible blessing that I could never pay God back for in a million years you

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Length: 29min 26sec (1766 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 21 2016