experience

Yesterday was a an interesting day. Sadly a co-worker and new friend here in PNG passed away on 25-February of cancer. She had worked with us since September 2009 until January 2010 before taking a few weeks off due to illness. As it turns out that illness was cancer and she left us in February. As her co-workers ee were graciously invited to her funeral and around twenty of us were able to leave work early and attend. We caught a bus from the project office in downtown Port Moresby and drove nearly an hour east to her village where the service was. After twisting and turning through the hills and bouncing on the pot holed roads we turned up a dirt road that lead towards the coast. Up and over another hill and we entered the village. Amelia's village is like one of those ones I've shown pictures of with the houses on stilts at the water's edge, and while the part we spent our time was on land it was apparent how close their connection to the sea and tides were. We passed some houses that were built in the middle of mangroves up on 2 meter high stilts that when we drove by were no where near any water. But the ground was muddy due to the tides. A tall walkway in mid-air to access the house was there to show us how high the tides get. The main part of the village we visited was on regular ground though and the church where the service was held was central to the community. There have been a lot of christian missionaries in this part of the world in the last couple hundred years, likely fairly similar to other countries many more hundreds of years ago. For this reason a lot of Papua New Guineans are of a christian background and churches are common place.

When we first stepped out of the bus it was apparent the whole village was involved in the process of laying Amelia to rest. There was a tented area where the main gathering outside the church was located. It was here where her family surrounded her coffin for what was essentially the viewing portion of the funeral. But as I said, the whole village was there for it. While most likely only knew her by name or her family they were still there, and the literally hundreds of kids around made the atmosphere very communal even though it was a solemn day. The village made room for us on benches near her coffin to pay our respects and basically sit there and take in the moment before the church portion of the day went ahead. All was calm until an elderly lady started to sing. I'm sure the song was a traditional funeral song in their language as when she was only two or three words into it when the entire gathering joined her in an awe inspiring choir. The moment was not lost on us and it began to set in how much family and community mean to Papua New Guineans.

Shortly after the service moved inside with the pall bearers carrying Amelia inside the church followed by everyone else. Again the villagers' hospitality was nearly too much as they directed us to the front, even though others in attendance would surely have known her much longer. Of course being the humble Canadian and not wanting to impose on the ceremony and to sit in the back I was at first uncomfortable being ushered to the front thinking that others would deserve to be closer given their relationship with Amelia. But as we learned afterward the village and Amelia's family were truly thankful that we attended and they were showing the hospitality that they would to any visitor no matter what the occasion.

The church portion of the service progressed much as any western funeral with various friends and family taking the podium to speak in between the priest reciting scripture and conducting prayers. After listening to Amelia's friends and family talk about her life and her accomplishments I get the sense that people from this island celebrate a person's contributions to the village, to their family, and to their nation equally. While some spoke of her involvement in the church and community others spoke at length about her professional accomplishments as well. It seemed that these were viewed as much as a testament to her intelligence and contribution to companies as much as they were contributions to the village and even Papua New Guinea as a whole. As a cultural experience this has allowed me to view this island nation in a different light. While Papua New Guinea is a beautiful place and one of the most undeveloped places in the world the sense of the people and their collective desire to succeed as a nation shines through in unexpected moments.

Throughout the service in the church there were a couple hymns or songs that I think are from christian roots even though they were sung in Amelia's language. But the most moving and what I'll remember are the traditional songs where one person would begin to sing and the entire congregation would join in behind them. Maybe because it was in a native language and a completely new experience to me it made the day more special to me, I don't know. What ever the case it was a day I won't soon forget for a couple reasons. Firstly it *was* a cultural experience and something truly from Papua New Guinea. And second because Amelia was a special person who in the short time we knew her touched us all and showed us how Papua New Guineans care for each other and the visitors to their island.