My Summer Vacation Part 1: Highlands

Hello everyone.  It might be winter in the northern hemisphere, but it was summer here in PNG and school was finally out, Christmas was coming and my twin sister, Debbie, was coming to visit.  

I left Kimbe on Dec 16, 2018, to meet Debbie in Port Moresby (POM). I arrived and was met by Fr Jonathan- a Capuchin. We stayed at the Capuchin College for two nights. We met Debbie off her international flight from Brisbane and the US and returned to the Capuchin College. 

December 17, we met Mel (my old principal) and two of her family members who showed us around POM. We went to the Vision City Mall, the Waterfront Mall where the grocery store had just about everything that we don’t have here in Kimbe. We visited the PNG Art and Cultural Museum that was being renovated when I arrived last March. It had representations and exhibits from all provinces and it gave us a real sense of the PNG culture and history. We ended our day having lunch at the Airway Hotel overlooking the airport. 

December 19-22: Highlands 

Debbie and I took off to Mt Hagen where we were picked up by Sr Lilian a Notre Dame Sister who housed us at her convent while we were visiting the Highlands. The Highlands are given a bad reputation, but we found the people friendly and willing to help when they can. 

Judith, a mother of one of the brightest students in my Grade 9, picked us up and we took a round trip to Mendi. The countryside was beautiful with round huts (different type of huts than the ones found in Kimbe). The villages are made of several of these round huts and were charming- making me want to explore, but the trip was long and we still had a ways to go. 

We had the opportunity to meet Bishop Don, the Bishop of Mendi while in POM at the Capuchin College. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to meet him. We did stop by to see his cathedral in Mendi; hopefully our new cathedral, when renovated, will also be a much nicer place to worship. 

Mendi was like many PNG cities, crowded with people going to and from the market. I believe the ride through the countryside was the true highlight. Another highlight was being interviewed on Sr Lilian’s Trinity radio station out of Mt Hagen. Debbie and I were interviewed about my mission, how I came to be in PNG and life in general. I felt honored to be put on radio. 

We had an opportunity to attend a family wedding, a relation to Judith. It was to begin at 10 am, but once again, it was PNG time and finally by around 12:30, the wedding began. The church was crowded, and to Debbie and I, it was a typical wedding, but what we didn’t realize is that it was the first time the bride and groom kissed in public in a church wedding. Everyone clapped and the bride and groom were a bit embarrassed. Something so normal for us was something new to PNG. Cute.  

Our last day in the Highlands was a long drive from Mt Hagen to Lae. Like every other road outside of POM, potholes were just part of the journey making a long trip a few hours longer. The slow ride was beautiful through Mt Hagen, then through the Shimbu Mountains. The scenery was beautiful and again, we passed several hut villages along the way. People walked on the road and that along with the potholes made the journey much slower. We made it to Goroka right as the sun was going down and had a brief tour. Then it was the long ride to Lae, in the dark and then it began to rain. That trip seemed to take a lot longer than expected. All in all, the entire trip that day to Lae was about a 13 hour trip. We stayed that night in a hotel next to the airport for an early flight the next morning. We were met in Kimbe by Bishop Bill.

To be continued...