Last Monday a thought came to me about getting away for the weekend. I had been needing a weekend out of Mt Hagen and to rest a bit. There were a few possibilities of places to go, depending what MAF flights were going on Friday and Monday. But also at the moment, we have plenty of work on and are stretched, especially as we are in the middle of a C check and have other aircraft scheduled as well. One of the possibilities of places to travel to was Ukarumpa. Come Wednesday morning I had leave and flight approved to go to Ukarumpa Thursday till Monday.
1. Ukarumpa from the air
Ukarumpa is the world’s largest mission station, which belongs to SIL. And is the place where the majority of my friends from POC are serving or are based when not in a village. There are about 1000 people living at Ukarumpa, from translators to support staff. The PNG branch is the largest of SIL branches throughout the world, due to the diversity of 800 plus local languages in PNG (SIL translates the Bible into local languages).
I had been wanting to make to Ukarumpa to catch up with friends and to see a place that I heard a lot about. So it was really amazing to see the timing of it all and everything to fall in place for me to go.
I stayed with a friend from POC, who is also an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. For me it was a relaxing time and to reflect on the past few months and refocus my perspective. Ukarumpa is another world compared to Mt Hagen. No fences, nowhere as much noise, you can go walking at night (if you are a guy). But really it is like being in a small country town in the mountains in America. But there are still security issues there.
2. My food supplies from the store, less than half of it made it back to Mt Hagen
The store there imports certain items from Australia and America that I cannot get here, or easily. But visiting the store was some of a culture shock for me. The store was clean, didn’t have any weird smells, wasn’t hot and did not have anyone watching or stalking me. It was like being a corner store in America and I did forget I was in PNG. But I couldn’t spend too much time in there or otherwise I would have spent a lot more money that I had on me.
I got to experience several other activities over the weekend. Friday night it was a blessing just to hang out with a group of young adults for once. Sunday morning church service I saw the most white skins in one place since leaving Australia. Sunday afternoon we had our POC reunion lunch, which was a good time of fellowship and catching up with friends from POC.
3. Some of PNG scenery
So it was really good to get away and to have a break. I guess with all that has been happening the past month have increased the amount of stress that comes with living in Mt Hagen. Since arriving back today, I have noticed the difference and it is amazing to see the contrast between the two places.
November 17th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
No videos! thats cool! Nice to hear that you got to hang out with people your own age!
6 months already! WOW! its been over 11 months for me!
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November 18th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Wow, that’s quite a stash you bought there. Pad Thai here we come!
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