GROWING WHERE NOTHING GROWS!

#The Royal tree as seen from 6-Mile looking towards 7-Mile in Port Moresby.

#Nature taught me something almost 2 years ago. In December this tree, the Royal Poinciana, taught me an important lesson. Here is what I shared with friends and relatives in December.

Good morning, dabai namona, gutpela moning tru:
Almost two years ago, I saw a flowering tree in an old mine pit in Nauru. It was in a place where only weeds grew, yet it had very beautiful flaming flowers.
It taught me an important life lesson: you can grow where nothing grows.

FLAMING SEASONAL FLOWERS … To many indigenous people in the Pacific it was not only the stars and heavenly objects that were used to signal the onset of a season. The flowering of certain trees also has been used by locals to tell the end of, or onset, of a season.
A tree that signals this season, the southern summer or the season of the north-west monsoon is the Royal Poinciana with its bright flaming, orange-red flowers. (Pics yet to be uploaded.)
Some people call it the Christmas Tree for obvious reasons. It is also known by other names like Flamboyant Tree or Flaming Tree.
The sturdy tree has been observed to be a survivor and continues to sprout flowers in places where nothing grows, as in old open cut mine pits.

I have seen it for myself: where rocky land is and nothing grows it will still grow.
Happy season greetings to you all and I hope you continue to grow this season.

YOU CAN STILL GROW BEAUTIFUL AND BRILLIANT!

Yesterday, the week-long Miss South Pacific Pageant came to an end and Miss Cook Islands (Joyana Meyer) walked away with the crown.

I was thinking much about all these happenings.

There was the Digicel Star thing going on.

Now the judges will in the end gave the winning prize to someone while the others went away with lesser prizes or nothing.

But then just because someone says you are bright, or beautiful or ugly, can sing, can't sing, etc is just an opinion of your abilities, talents, traits and physique.

The point I am trying to make is do not belive everything that men say about you: they may be judging you too harshly or too softly.

You must be honest with yourself: in the end, it is what you deem yourself to be.

There are some things that you cannot change, like your height, age, ears, nose, etc.

But there are heaps of things that you can change about yourself to make yourself be more brilliant, more beautiful in spirit, and more loving.

Keep on working on yourself: you have to; it is your responsibilty to do so for your people, your country and the region.

IREEN GASHU'S PHOTO EXHIBITION!

Ireen will have her photo exhibition next week Monday, 29 Nov, at the National Museum at 11 am. She informed us this morning!

A WOMAN WHO CAN SPEAK THREE LANGUAGES!

I met a person last week (Nov 11) a female who has dual Japanese and Argentinian citizenships and can communicate in Japanese, Spanish and English.
She has worked has a lawyer but now moves around as a photographer.
Her name is Irene Kawagami Gashu and she is 52 years old.

She has been in PNG for the last 10 months photographing people and things.
She may be doing an exhibition next week at the National Museum and Art Gallery.
I will tell you more about her later.

THE FACE OF PORT MORESBY!

There is so much construction work going on in Port Moresby (the capital of PNG). It is very likely that every business in the city is preparing for the billions of kina that may be floating around here as a result of the much-talked about PNG LNG project which will kick off in 2014.

The photo shows part of Down Town Port Moresby looking down Douglas Street where the Central Bank is.

A Nauruan male who visited the city (on work duties) in 2008 told me that he thought he was in Brisbane. (In fact he was accommodated at Crowne Plaza, the building on the hill at the top right hand corner of this pic.)

I understood then that there is no other centre in the Pacific Islands that is growing like Port Moresby.

A LAGATOI!

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to go on board a lagatoi - a multi-hulled traditionally built sea vessel of a Motuan village.

The canoe was built be the Manumanu villagers who live about 30 km to the west of Port Moresby.

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT INDEPENDENCE!

Yesterday my country PNG celebrated its 35th independence anniversary. These are my thoughts about this special week when celebrations in some parts of the country continue through the weekend.
Years ago I heard someone saying that a man does not live until he is forty.For those of us who were born before Sept 16, 1975, we are nearing that age. Our country is also approaching that age.If that statement has any ring of truth in it then it is about time we learned how to live.In 1975 I was a few years old and was a dependent. In fact I was on the shoulders of my Dad walking along Mt Hagen Park and observing the excitement that was everywhere. As I grew older I became emotionally attached to the national songs that were sung around the country. (These songs still strike special chords in me that modern tunes can not.)

By definition ‘Independence’ has the meaning of having self governance and being able to look after oneself and not needing someone else to ask or beg to assist in satisfying one’s basic needs.Despite not entering a haus boi or haus tambaran I grew up learning in my small village almost unconsciously (some things are ‘caught’ not ‘taught’) what it was to be a man; a person who was valuable to the society. (I tried to be one but had my share of failures nonetheless.)

“You have to work hard to learn to stand on your two feet,” I still hear my fathers say.“Learn to make your own gardens, build your own house and learn how to catch game in the form of flying foxes, bandicoots and cuscuses,” the fathers taught us the children.Such was the wisdom held our societies strong and resilient in the face of natural disasters, ravaging diseases and marauding enemy tribes.

Today this basic teaching must again be drummed into us.

We have become too westernized and become too dependent on others.However in the pursuit of independence in the traditional society there was still a dependence factor.The independent man was important for other dependents. The real man gave to assist others who were in need. Of course those were the days when alcohol, gambling and modern luxuries and pleasures were non-existent and men were more independent.Today it is this reclaiming this independent mindset that will save PNG and take it to higher levels.

There is no other country like PNG in the Pacific. Land wise, PNG surpasses all the other nations. It also has the greatest potential to increase its gross domestic product of $14 billion. Despite gaining independence a little later than Samoa (Jan 1962), Nauru (June 1968), Tonga (June 1970) and Fiji (Oct 1970), PNG is now head above all its neighbours in the region: PNG is the big brother.

Most of the islands countries depend on fishing and copra industries and tourism; they bring into their national coffers some hundreds of millions of dollars per year. PNG is dealing with amounts in the billions.PNG now has the privilege to assist these smaller island nations.And that can only happen if we sort out our own domestic problems quickly. (People with a lot of domestic problems never truly foster good diplomacy with others).

There must be no selfish motives in our decision making. Only through open and fair dealings amongst our own people will PNG be mature enough to raise its head and see the poor states of other nations.Individuals in PNG must working towards becoming independent; but being very mindful that our independence will help raise other dependents up to the point that they also become independent.In summary, the country will only become independent if we as individuals strive to be independent. The country is made up of individuals and the country will change for better if we as individuals develop the independent mindset and move forward.

Faith in God is a very important ingredient in our pursuit for independence. He facilitated independence for Abraham, Isaac, Samuel, David, Paul and the thousands of saints who have depended on Him; as well as to those who are still depending on Him today. (Have you noticed that the most independent person is usually very dependent on somebody else? Like being dependent on God?)

Most of our ancestors had that mindset. Will we also embrace that and help our neighbours along? That, my friend, is for each of us to decide.(By the way, I do not sit on my father’s shoulders anymore. Personally I have grown up; I am working towards my own personal independence despite the natural drag to remain a dependent.)

(#The picture shows young women from Salt-Nomane area of Simbu province in full traditional attire observing performances from a nicely decorated hut.)

WHY THIS BLOG?

With the creation of this blog, I have now three (3) blogs in blogspot.
This is dedicated to bringing to you my adventures in talking with people from different cultures and often in different tongues.
I have thought about having the blog titled A THOUSAND TONGUES for the 800 or so different language groups in my country - and my learning phrases from other languages.
However I have decided that instead of the word 'tongues' I will use the word 'nations' which can allow me room to discuss other aspects of different cultures instead of just talking about languages.

Tomorrow (16th September) PNG celebrates its 35th independence anniversary. Most of what will be broadcasted on the radio stations will be in three national languages of PNG: English, Pidgin and Motu.
More will be said about these different languages later!