Back to school in Papua New Guinea

My, how young I look! It’s back to my student days in Papua New Guinea. When I was at university, I organised a group of four students to spend a few weeks in Papua New Guinea carrying out various projects related to our university studies.

Our study tour in Papua New Guinea

We were deep in the highlands of Papua New Guinea in places that tourists would never get to, unless you had a reason to work with the locals, as a teacher, medical worker or missionary. As it’s over 20 years ago, you’ll forgive me if my memory’s a little hazy, but I do remember that the local American missionaries were kind enough to loan us their guest house. We lived on tinned fish, rice and sweet potatoes and whatever local vegetables the local ladies would come to sell us at the door.

My project was on the oral history of the area, delving into the history of tribal conflicts and first contact with the white men, first traders and explorers, then missionaries who moved into the area in the 1940s in a race for souls.

This picture was taken at the school house when we visited one day, I can’t quite remember why. As always a photo can tell a story, and from this you might think the story was of an isolated people still wearing grass skirts and barely touched by western influence.

In fact, the normal dress was western style but in order to keep in touch with their local culture, one day of the week was designated to the children wearing their traditional dress. Oh and my eye is always drawn towards that little boy picking his nose!

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

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