Today on the 16th of September Papua New Guinea celebrates 33 years of independence. This is seen as one of the most important days of the year, besides Easter, Christmas and Remembrance Day. Celebrations have taken place all over the country, but I did not see any today. PNG gained independence from Australia in 1975 and since 1884 has been ruled by another two external powers as well. Today was a public holiday, but with the amount of work we have some of the Engineers and me worked today. So 33 years on, PNG is a developing nation. This is quite amazing considering it being one of the most diverse countries in the world, with over 850 indigenous languages and at least that number of traditional societies for a population of six million people spread across one of the most rugged geographies in the world. With the majority of the population still living in traditional societies and by subsistence based agriculture. But what amazes me is how the first white explorers did not discover the western highlands (central part of PNG) of the country until 1933 and other tribes not discovered until the 1970’s. The country has a lot of ups and downs in the past 33 years, with a lot of issues to face in the coming years. But there is hope in God and his hand is at work in PNG.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
thanks for the lesson…sir!
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