Bits and Bites....

Yesterday and the day before, scores of people, Papuans, came into our area to bring money or pigs to help pay the fine of 200 million rupiah. The official payment day had been Friday, but some pigs that had been promised couldn't come until Saturday so they graciously moved the payment up a day. So kind.... Thankfully everything went very peacefully, especially considering the amount of people that had gathered, and it seems they may have had a roast pig feast as well to seal the deal. Lots of the people that came are obviously not used to seeing Westerners so we were quite the side show for them... Gotta love that...
Speaking of side shows... I went shopping on Saturday at the big grocery store in the mall. It's about half the size of Superstore. Anyways, I loaded up my cart and went to the cashier. There was a small group of people behind me and some of them went past me so that they could see the cashiers screen as she scanned in items (yes, this particular store is rather modern in that it actually has scanners...) and when the total came up, the number was passed on to those not privileged to be able to view the screen... ugghh... I kind of know what celebrities go through now....
Speaking of the mall (I'm really doing well on the segues today...); I saw a booth selling buttons and badges so I went up to take a look as I'm always on the lookout for a Papua pin for my father-in-laws special retirement hat. Well, every single pin had either Bob Marley, a cannabis leaf, or the Jamaican flag on it... Apparently the Rastafarian movement isn't dead...
So (no possible segue here) there's still no margarine in town... Just wondering if Australia has a beef with Indonesia and there using margarine as a bargaining chip and Indonesia just hasn't caved yet...??? You folks in Australia still able to buy Meadowlea?

Bits and Bites....

I have a bunch of different thoughts in my head that don't necessarily connect to each other and since I'm not much of a segue girl, here they are in no particular order:

*Today there was a meeting called by Ice's dad and everyone attending was asked to bring some money so they can start getting funds together to pay the 200 million rupiah fine.... I'm not too hopeful that they will be successful in accumulating this amount of fundage before the 29th... I just hope they are or I might have to hide Ice somewhere to keep her safe.

*The other day I asked Ritha and Ice if they knew how conception occurs. They had no idea. Can you imagine??? Ritha has had a baby and had no idea... So I explained how the 2 cells merge and form a baby etc... Can you imagine living in such ignorance? I can't....

*A friend of ours spends some time interior; in fact lived interior for a number of years. He has a lot of stories to tell about people he has met and the history he has learned. One of the men in the village they used to live in told them that he knew what the tastiest part of a human was... He assured them that he had never personally tried it (ya right...) but the palm of the hand is supposedly the best.... There are some who feel that cannibalism is still happening in some areas here..... I try not to think about that...

*Hugo has installed the third traffic avoidance system leaving just one left to install. I'm not sure if we'll be getting one for our new Kodiak plane (which will arrive Lord willing next month) or not.

These photos represent just a sliver of life in the tropics. First you have our red lights that tell us if the city electricity is turned on or not. You'll notice that one of them is broken... They do occasionally explode.... When the lights are on the power is on and when the lights are off, the power is off or we've blown our main circuit breaker which happens fairly regularly...

The next photo is of one of our lovely pineapple bushes in front actually bearing fruit... and man it was tasty...

The last photo is of a "little" guy we found wandering around our kitchen... he doesn't bite... really....

In other news...

It's been a while since I posted a post regarding us personally. The other news is just so much more interesting albeit sad and disturbing...
Hugo has been puttering along in the hangar. He has been installing the new traffic avoidance systems in our caravans along with some other electrical work on one of the caravans. At the same time he has been doing some teaching of the national guy who works with him. This guy has had no formal airplane electrical training so he lacks the background that comes with that.
The kids are enjoying their "summer" holidays. We make many trips to the pool and the school... The weather has been rather warm as well.
We've been experiencing quite a few power outages lately, not so fun.
There's been no margarine in the stores for some time, also not so fun... But on a brighter note we can still get real butter from France... yippee...
Well, that's about all the "news" I can think of...

Retribution...

Things have been quiet around here this week. People are still scared though. As it turns out, the older people in the community, including Ice’s dad, met to discuss retribution for the murder of the young woman. They have fined Ice’s cousin 50 million rupiah (about $5,500CAD) and the guy that pretended to be her boyfriend, 150 million rupiah. If the money is not paid within 2 weeks, someone has to die and that someone has to come from the triplex that Ice lives in. It seems her dad has gotten involved in this issue when he doesn’t actually need to be involved. Ice says that the family of the girl is quite angry that he is involved. I don’t really know all of the ins and outs of all that but the ramifications seem rather terrible... Remember, Ice’s cousin knew nothing, she was an innocent bystander and yet she has to pay too... Never mind where they are going to get that kind of money from...??? I can’t even wrap my mind around it all.
The helper of a friend told how her tribe deals with situations like this. They will put a razor in the hand of the dead person and tell them to exact revenge on the guilty. Apparently the helpers father died mysteriously and they did their traditional thing and nine people died in the following months....
All the people involved in the above call themselves Christians but it is hard for those of us who’ve had the benefit of hundreds of years of ancestors who were Christians to fathom how people can still cling to such animistic beliefs and traditions. It is one of the biggest struggles for the Papuan Christians here. We in the West are often fighting the new whereas here, they are fighting the old and the new.

Revenge...

There is still much tension in the air here on our hill. Ice has given me a lot more information regarding the events of last week. Sadly it just shows how the people here are still unsure of what it means to truly be a Christian. Many are still following cultural traditions that have been practiced for 100's of years. The death of the young girl as it turns out, is a revenge killing. Years ago already, her father had tried to save a woman who had fallen into a fast flowing river but he lost his grip on her hand. Her family felt that as a strong man he should have been able to save her and so therefore he is responsible for her death. (Very logical not?) The woman's family has been seeking revenge since then. They wanted to kill the man's son but he is not an easy guy to track down so they decided to go for the daughter. Ice's cousin was best friends with the girl who died and she got a new boyfriend. Friday night she was going to up to the road up higher to meet him. Her friend asked to go along; an unusual thing as she wasn't normally allowed to go out much. Her family was protective of her. But she went along. At some point she asked if she could try out the boyfriends motorbike and he agreed and went along with her and they never returned. Ice's cousin went to look for them and only found the motorbike running with her friend's clothing on top of it. She freaked out and yelled for them but there was no answer so she ran home. The story is that the "boyfriend" used Ice's cousin to get close to her friend and then he sent a text message to the killers and told them where they were. Both families involved are Dani-mountain people. But they are from different tribes. Now the tribe of the girl who was killed feels that someone from the tribe of Ice's cousin should die as well. Actually, they would like it to be Ice's cousin as they blame her. She is still in police custody for her own protection. This afternoon she and the guy involved came up here for a meeting with all the families and they were under tight police protection. Ice said that the family of the girl who died is still very angry and emotional and so they didn't really discuss much and then it started to rain so the meeting was called off until tomorrow.
Everyone is frightened. On Saturday the relatives of the girl surrounded Ice's house and cut down all the banana bushes and whatnot around it. They pulled their bows and arrows out in a threatening manner. Ice's Dad told her to stand in the doorway and just look at them. She was very, very frightened but she did it and eventually the people went away.
In spite of the local pastors pleading with the people not to act the way they are, people are just going ahead with their traditions of revenge and retribution. Logic, rationale, and God's Word are just not being considered.

This afternoon we witnessed a traditional Papuan ceremony. Sadly, the girl who was killed was murdered in a very brutal manner. No murder is respectful but this one was about as disrespectful as one can get. An incredibly sad and fear inducing event. When someone commits an offence against a person of a different tribe, they are committing the offence against the entire tribe. There are apparently three suspects in custody with a fourth being hunted for. The girl's two companions are also in police custody more for their own safety along with the hopes that they can give some crucial information which would help lead to a conviction. Understandably the two friends are terrified to say anything as they fear they could be indicted as well.

The ceremony we witnessed today was unlike anything I have ever witnessed before. It seemed as though all the members of the tribes involved who live in Sentani congregated on our hill. (I estimate a couple hundred people) They came running up the hill whooping and some were waving sticks and machetes. They would break into groups and run back and forth; stop and wait for another group to run back and forth and proceed again. Then they joined as one and gave a loud whoop in unison. It seemed as though they took a break for lunch and then later in the afternoon repeated the mornings events. Then they all congregated in the field across the road where a few groups formed with the rest of the folks outside the fence observing. Each group would take a turn and run around the field whooping and waving whatever weapon they had including the occasional bow and arrow. We were watching in wonderment wondering what the purpose of this event was. It seemed like they were performing a stylized battle. Finally they all ran down the road back to the place where the girls family lives. One of the stragglers was a man we know and so I went to the fence and asked him about it. I did my best to understand him as he spoke rather quickly. This is a traditional ceremony used to determine which tribe the offender belongs to. The decision is based on the sound of the whooping. I'm not sure who makes the decision and what kind of whooping is good and what kind is bad. The people all gathered together afterwards to make the determination and then a number of people hopped into a police truck to go to the police station to pass on the results.

The people here are very upset about this tragic event. The girls family feels that someone from the offending tribe needs to be buried with her. There is tension in the air and people are behaving in a manner that is not normal. These kinds of events really do test the faith of the people here and bring out old suspicions and beliefs. Please pray that things will be resolved in a manner that is to God's glory and that the people can feel comfort in God's promises.

In the meantime we plan to keep a low profile until things settle down. Sadly, I think I know the girl. I never knew her name but she would come by to borrow a ball or pump up a ball or sell some fruit; often accompanied by little children. She was always friendly and polite; I liked her. I will find out for sure when Ice comes back to work.

I'm back in Sentani eh...

After more than 35 hours of travel I arrived safely back in Sentani. The trip was long but fairly uneventful. While on the plane from Makasar to Biak there was an announcement asking if there were any medical people on board who could assist a passenger in dire need of medical assistance. I looked up ahead and saw a group of people clustered around one of the seats. Not sure if any of them was a medical professional. However, there was a gentlemen across the aisle from me, wearing a Kim Jong Il type suite with gold framed glasses, who, without examining the patient, told one of the flight attendants to give the person a pill which he just happened to have on him... okaaaayyy.... Gotta love this place...
This morning as we were eating our pancake breakfast, we saw many people begin running past our house and up the road; some of them carrying machetes or sticks. A police vehicle also raced up the road. Ritha went outside and asked one of them what was going on. Turns out that the daughter of the local RW (head of a bunch of subdivisions) was found dead by the side of the road. Not our road, but a road that meets up with our road. She had been missing since last night and was found this morning by her uncle as he went up to work in his garden. When a member of the Dani tribe dies in a car accident it is a big deal. They don't view accidents like accidents and will demand 100's of million rupiah from the tribe of the person that was involved. They are still rooted in the old customs of an eye for an eye. Traditionally, before the modern world entered their world, when someone from another tribe killed one of their own, they would reply by killing one from the offending tribe. Now they just ask for money...
Later on we saw the mobil jenazah (literally=dead body car) go by on its way to the hospital where an autopsy was to be performed. It seems that this girl was beaten to death. Very sad. As people came down the hill later some of the women were calling out loudly. Ritha explained that close family members of the mother of the person who died call out like that.
Let's pray that the people will remain calm and not go out an attempt to exact vengeance for this death. Let's pray that they will remember God's word and act accordingly.