Sensory Overload

Tommy, a Wycliffe translator in PNG whom we had met in Vermont 6 years ago and whom we have reconnected with now that we're here, asked if we'd like to travel about 2 hours west to Goroka, a relatively large city (for PNG), to see the 'Goroka Show' this past Saturday.  This is an annual event where tribes from all over this region (known as the Eastern Highlands) send a group dressed in their traditional clothing, singing and dancing.

Of course, we said "yes" especially because this would be our first time really off the SIL center except for a valley-wide Sunday morning service last month and a short visit in the village of Ukarumpa, just across the river and up a path.

We woke up Saturday to the sound of constant rain on the metal roof, got our stuff together, and were picked up at 7 a.m.  I'd packed mostly camera gear plus a rain slicker, no hat and no sunglasses.  Why bother?  Julie was smarter.

A valley of the Eastern Highlands

It's most of a bridge, right?

Soon after leaving the center, rough dirt roads turned to paved roads and we got onto the "Highlands Highway". There aren't many vehicles on the road.  Most are either small flatbed trucks acting as buses with lots of people overflowing the space behind the cab.  There are some 18-wheelers and the rest would be private 4-wheel cars.  The road was surprisingly (to me) pretty good, winding through valleys and small villages, up and down mountains.  There are some places where the road narrows to one lane either because of a narrow bridge or because some of the road has washed away and is dangerous on one side.  Most village buildings were made with wood poles, thatched roofs, and woven frond walls.

We arrived in the city and parked in a gated parking lot of a nice hotel.  We'd been told that we could pay the show fee (which let us inside the fenced area and able to mix with the groups) with a credit card at the hotel desk, so we brought little cash as a hedge against theft.  The desk clerk said credit cards could not be used for the show fee, but the Lord laid it on the heart of another friend who came to have brought along just that right amount of surplus PNG currency.  Thank you, Lord!

The plan was to ride the shuttle over to the show grounds (about a mile away) and then meet around 12:30 pm to go back to the hotel, eat something and head home.   The show started around 10 a.m.

Oh, did I forget to say that "the sun came out and dried up all the rain?"  I carried the slicker around all day, had no hat to protect my head, but enjoyed weather that was perfect for pictures.

I never thought I'd reach such a degree of sensory overload in less than 3 hours.  Groups, each ranging from 10 to 30 people, came in one at a time onto a field about the 150 yards in diameter, dancing, beating instruments, or singing.  They were then marshalled to different parts of the field as other groups arrived.  Of course there were several hundred "white skins" (tourists) rushing around in and between groups to get the best spot for their pictures or videos (which of course was right in front of me).

Far left side of field

Left side of field

Right side of field

Far right side of field

Each of the ~30 groups (maybe more) was unique.  In composition (men, women, mixed, young, etc), attire, style of song or dance, attitude/emotion, etc.  I've uploaded about 90 pictures (of the ~400 pictures and 20+ video clips) so that you can see the astounding variety.  See the slide show at the top right of the blog.  Clicking in this area will expose controls for reverse/pause/advance or you can click on the picture to open a new window with full-size versions of each picture.  Astounding!

Great day had by all.  Except when we returned to the hotel (after eating Chinese food) to find that Tommy had left the car lights on and the battery was dead.  Two attempts to pop the clutch failed (I was huffing, too).  The hotel staff were so gracious and installed a battery from one of their vehicles, got our car started, and reinstalled our battery so we could be on our way.

Their aim's not too good, huh?

The trip back was thankfully uneventful... that is, until we were about 2 miles from the SIL center.  We discovered that a team of men and boys had tried to fell a tree alongside the road.  Instead it went across the road.  They were busy with a huge chain saw, some axes, and a bunch of bush knives clearing enough out to let any traffic go by.  We sat for only about 10-15 minutes and then finished our trip.

It hit us, as we uploaded and reviewed all our photos and videos later that day and into Sunday, that we had only seen a very small part of the 830 people groups from PNG. While we were listening to the song and speech and instruments of 30 groups, there were 800 that we didn't experience. 

What struck us is that this represents less than one twentieth of the people groups in PNG-each not only with its own traditional dress-but also their own distinctive language.  About 300 of these language groups-most living in isolated places-don't have a written language and do not have God's Word in their own heart langague.  Another almost 200 groups have translation work in progress but may only have a small portion of His Word to hear.

That's why we're here.  

We thank God for a wonderful, exciting and safe trip to the Goroka Show.  We're also very thankful that God used Saturday to open our eyes to the wide variety of culture here and the great need for more workers.

"Pray the Lord of the harvest sends more workers, for the fields are white with harvest."