Dear All,
This is why we are here.
Finally I begin to look to the end of my time in Papua New Guinea. My final few days will be spent pressing flesh and offering opinion and reflection with pngs sanitation heavy weights , the movers and shakers in a world of aspiring improved latrine use.
A walk to work.
It’s been truly remarkable to touch base with such a different perspective, in
which the move to basic sanitation improvement is in such infancy for many local languages to even lack a word for toilet , let alone to breach the cultural taboos associated with menstrual hygiene.
In some villages we entered to ceremonies to wash our feet and be adorned with aromatic plants as a means of warding off any evil spirits that might attempt entry with us.
Warding off evil spirits.
In others , tribal land disputes or unresolved conflicts from civil wars almost lead to open conflict in discussions as to how to organise latrine construction and the necessary allocation of tribal lands.
The joys of natural bathing.
As a way of de stressing at the end of a day or preparing your self for the rigours of the one to come, I can only recommend washing in jungle rivers amid the cacophony of bird life and rainbow selection of multi coloured butterflies, even if nights are spent crippling oneself sleeping on school classroom floors and eyes necessarily remain wide open in search of unwanted floating guests.
The Assaro Mud Men
Getting a chance to watch the Asaro mud men or other tribal dances (do please Google and add Goroka Highlands Show for an idea of the cultural diversity from where I write) has been amazing but the truth is much of png is riven by clan divisions and the struggle to
maintain a strong cultural identity within a fast encroaching and confusing modern world.
Local Culture is a strength in PNG
Improved sanitation is only one of many aspects of modernity that people here are struggling with, money is another.
The need for improved sanitation is obvious…but who really cares after 10,000 years without a toilet!
But I must say that visiting Australia to see a black country devoid of a visible black presence and so dominated by white foreign culture , (an irony not lost when reflecting on its current policy to refugees) , in comparison the people here are at least in some control of their own destiny.
A village elder sits proud in a model village
It’s been something of a privilege to be invited to all levels of the society from advising ministerial leaders on policy development all the way to village chiefs to explore culture and traditions associated with water and sanitation, and hopefully having some positive influence on the development of such an important sector.
Finn, Btw I missed you madly.
But right now I feel so very distracted at the proximity of seeing Finn again and the possible arrival at the finishing line for the divorceathon and maybe even farm finn.
If the future is unwritten , I have to admit I’ve been penning it lightly in my dreams…and of course, if you don’t have a dream…how you gonna make a dream come true…to quote The Captain
As they toasted with shots of vodka over dinner in Tajikistan here’s to toilets for everyone the world over…..and other ridiculous dreams of the future.
Love to you all and hopefully see many of you in May.
Pxxx