Glimpsing Tribal Life

Howdy from Nakui village, here in the upper reaches of the Sepik River. We arrived here about a week and a half ago after a two and a half hour hike through the jungle (Noah walked the whole way). We found out when we stepped off the plane that Greg, the missionary who normally lives here, was unable to come because his water tank had sprung a leak. If this does not sound like a crisis to you, it is probably because you are able to flush, wash, drink, and use water that comes from a reliable city plant. With the closest source of water about 1/3 of a mile away, hiking five gallon buckets of river water for household use can be a real problem (Greg and Heidi have six kids – none big enough to do the carrying).

Anyway, we made it here, followed at intervals by our groceries – tied with jungle vines and carried on the heads of different Nakui folks. We were a little concerned about our frozen food, but it came through alright. At least our groceries fared better than Greg and Heidi’s… some enterprising young men decided to take a canoe up to the airstrip (capacity:150 kilograms) and bring back a bunch of their food stuff. It was a great idea except that the canoe over turned on the way down the river and (although all of the boxes were caught) the 50 kilos of flour that was in the canoe was a bit soaked.

There have been other things that we have been introduced to here – like bathing in the river to save water for more important things, conserving power because we only have a quart of gas left for the generator, and sleeping under mosquito nets (trust me there are bugs small enough to get through any opening). We have been having a great time through it all, spending time with folks, working on our pigin, and learning so much about the people here through daily contact.

 

Here are a couple of instances where we found ourselves floundering in communication this week:

-          There was the time that Nate was offered some cooked breadfruit – about the size of a walnut – he went and shoved the thing in his mouth, not understanding that the hard fibrous husk must be removed before it can be eaten. The guys sitting around waited a few minutes for effect and then gave a few choruses of body shaking laughter at his ignorance.

-          There was also the time that Elizabeth promised to buy a grass skirt from an older lady and, not knowing which one she promised to buy, bought one from another lady. (big OOPS) Now we are the proud owners of TWO grass skirts.

-          There was the time that Nate offered to sharpen the machete of a friend only to find out that it is not OK to observe that a man’s machete is not sharp. (big OOPS – kinda like calling a guy a real loser)

-          There was the time that Nate told an old man that he would like to buy a bow and some arrows – there has been a steady stream of salesmen here since.

 

Oh there are plenty of other things that we could write about, like the piles of papaya and bananas that we have on our porch, the incredible beauty of the place here, the size and number of the spiders, the great fellowship that we have with the believers here, the exciting outreach that is going on right now to a neighboring village, the somewhat different view of modesty that is held here, watching village court (many are about conflict between men’s two wives), month-old babies with pneumonia – refused treatment at the village clinic because the medic doesn’t think they will make it and doesn’t want the responsibility of death, and many others.

 

Please pray for us while we are here – that we are a blessing and that we follow hard after God, seeking His strength and wisdom daily. Please pray too for the church here, they are new believers and have much to be excited about and much to learn as well. Pray too for the Greenlaws, we are short handed here on the field, their partners have been called to a school ministry for a year, and they are soon to be moving out of the tribe to fill in as administrators and orientators for a while. All the while there is still much to do here. Pray for more people to come and fill in the gaps so that bush missionaries like Greg and Heidi can continue their vital ministry with the new believers in places like Nakui.

Thanks,

Nate for the Claasens