Heading Home to Telefomin
On our way home from Mt Hagen to Telefomin, we dropped off Pastor Rall, his wife and a PNG Bishop in Wanikipa, a bush village a little over half way from Hagen to Telefomin. Pastor Rall is American, he and his wife have served in PNG for many years and were visiting Wanikipa to do teaching with local Pastors. Pastor Rall is a Lecturer at a Bible College in PNG and described Wanikipa as his “as ples”, which, in the local trade language of Tok Pisin means “where I originally come from”. He told us that he first visited Wanikipa before we were born!
MAF flies Missionaries & Pastors throughout PNG to spread the word of God and improve discipleship training so people can better understand and deepen their faith. Some of these Missionaries & Pastors are foreigners, like us and the couple we met going to Wanikipa, but the vast majority are Papua New Guineans reaching their fellow countrymen & women. This is the most effective form of long-term outreach and, thanks to financial support from people like you around the world, MAF provides discounted flights to the PNG Church to enable as much for this kind of travel as possible.
The day we flew home to Telefomin was also the last “working day” before PNG Independence Day on 16th September. (Friday 15th was a non-flying public holiday, apart from Medevacs) This meant that most of the MAF staff were wearing their “PNG bilas” (decoration), proudly displaying the PNG flag. The pilots were still in uniform, but I (Shiv) was pleased to wear my PNG colours with pride and took pics with some of my PNG friends.
When we got to our house in Telefomin, we found that our friends had decorated our veranda and even put a flower necklace on Koda, who was so happy to see us!
On Saturday 16th, PNG’s 48th Independence Anniversary, we went for a stroll to watch some of the celebrations. We saw everyone, and the few trucks, all dressed in their PNG colours and traditional Telefomin dress. This young man showed off his “fighting shield” cloak. This pattern would traditionally be carved into a long wooden shield, over 2m long which was also used as a door. The specific patterns represent each clan, or extended family group.
