During our three day adventure transporting a home kit, we encountered one of a few interesting development of events. One of these would involve a conflict between the two villages we were working with. The village where the home kit was being stored, Sangom and the village where we were transporting it to, called Bang. It all started on the first day of the trip, where we were doing load after load. Sometime in the afternoon, a flowerbed in Sangom which was right on the edge of the road in the village was run over. On the next run, the Hilux was the first vehicle back to find a roadblock across the road. The owner of the flowerbed came out of his house, probably waiting three hours for us to return, to bring it to our attention. Who from what I heard was quite good about it and had a very valid point. But one interesting thing about the PNG culture is compensation. It is something that is a big part of the culture. If something happens to something you own, then you are owed compensation by the person responsible. And sadly there are some people who try to take advantage of this.
On my return to bang late that night after travelling in the rain and a long day, those of us who had been travelling on the Dyna (4 tonne truck) all day learned off what had happened. But little did we know that night the events that were developing in both villages, until the next morning. Both villages held meetings that night with their leaders in what do with the situation. As there were some in the other village demanding compensation from us and not allowing us to continue the work. So it was a bit frustrating with some little being blown out of perspective and trying to take advantage of it. And being white, it is expected that you have plenty of money and cargo (belongings). One of their thoughts on the matter even included fighting.
The following day (second day), we headed off on our first trip of the day, once the river near our village had lowered enough for us to cross. But for the first time, we had a lot more ‘helpers’ travelling with us than normal. The SIL translator’s Hilux was full of men and boys from the village. And every part of the Dyna was taken up with men and boys. There was at least thirty men in both vehicles. Some carrying weapons, which could easily be assumed as for hunting. But again little did we know until that night, that these guys were coming with us for protection or as peacekeepers. To prevent anything happening in the other village, and if something was to happen, then they would resolve it, even if that meant fighting. As the other village did not want us to drive into their village anymore. And not being able to get this home kit to the other village, greatly affected the other village, especially in having God’s word translated into their own language. So there we were in this village loading the truck and Hilux, without really knowing the communication and the processing of events that were taking place. But yet despite all this we were able to finish the work we set out to do and had no problems, the conflict was resolved peacefully. The leaders of the team were aware of the events taking place, but because of our isolation it took time to spread. And we were amazed and discussed what had been taking place. But despite all the dramas and seriousness, it was a great opportunity to see this side of their culture.
