Cultural upheaval in the highlands of New Guinea

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33277, 14 July 1973, Page 12

Cultural upheaval in the highlands of New Guinea

(By

MARY WOODWARD

The highlands of New Guinea must include some of the most beautiful country in the world, and some of the most friendly and energetic people. But it has had a bad press lately and one hears little but reports of revenge and tribal clashes. Not. one would think, the ideal place for a family holiday.

( Our highlands students ipersuaded us to put •daside our doubts. They illpointed out the “ritual” in the fighting }!— the warriors wear traditional fighting regalia and so far only tradi-

tional weapons, spears, (bows and arrows, clubs, j and axes—have been i used. As a result the number killed has been ’small. 5 An estimated 25,000 people ; were involved in tribal fights in the Western Highlands last . year, but only 18 men were ■ killed. : “We don’t usually want to kill people,” one student assured me, “but we have to show our feelings when we are angry.” , Moreover, the lights are not directed against Euro|i peans; the arguments are i I usually over land rights or ' r women, not the concern of s Europeans * At Tarnbul recently 1000 ' warriors, determined to fight. 1 . charged through a line of , missionaries attempting to £ separate the factions, without r’ harming one of the would-be peace makers. ~ gl Nevertheless, it was with a sense of adventure that we . iset out recently, complete ; { with children, tramping gear , and student friends all piled . j into our truck, for a week’s exploring in the highlands, t It was a week that gave us < another picture to set against i the gloomy one that so often 1: emerges.

51 Ml miles

H We travelled more than 500 |-'l miles along the highlands Jft highway to an area beyond ’ ji Mount Hagen — the troubled Western District. The high71 way has made Lae the centre of a thriving transport info dustry. The biggest trucks 1 have _• ever seen go up and down foloaded with everything from ( i betel nut to tractors and the •

tonnage carried has been increasing at the rate of 28 per cent each year — an indication of the development taking place, and an example of the importance of the growth of a road system in this country. Unhappily, those European gifts of venereal disease and strong drink also travel the highway, and those who criticise the highlanders for their part in disturbances must realise that the European example has not all been good.

Over the Kassam Pass, climbing from the long dusty Markham Valley, it is a new world, discovered by white men only in 1933 when Mick Leahy and his party inadvertently crossed the island during a search for gold. They came upon fertile lands and a thriving people where they had expected barren rocks.

The area was restricted — that is, open only to armed Government patrols — until after World. War 11.

Sudden changes

Lutheran and Roman Catholic missions came in during the 1950 s and in the last 20 years the people have experienced sudden and severe changes in the whole pattern of their lives, with new religions, wage labour, cash crops, greater mobility, the growth of primary education, health services, a fast rising population — plus V.D. and alcohol. It is not surprising that there are many problems to be faced.

I admire our students from this area. They are good talkers, proud, shrewd young men.

Often a student will be the only person from his village ever to gain an education, and he faces an enormous culture clash between traditional and Western ways while he tries to live up to all that is expected of him as a future leader, a member of the small black elite.

The Engga district of the Western Highlands, where we spent five days, has been a scene of fierce fighting in

recent weeks, and it is one of the most remote areas of New Guinea.

A high pass at about 9000 ft leads into the valley of the torrential Lai River, passing through blackened trees and other dismal reminders of the recent drought and frost which led to famine in the high country. The journey provides a kaleidoscope of breath-taking views and fascinating people. Traditional dress is usual, skimpy in spite of the cold, and designed for easy walking along rugged mountain tracks.

Garry axes

Every man carries an axe in the broad belt through which he loops a bark apron at the front and a bunch of tanget leaves at the back. The women wear grass aprons that leave the thighs bare and both men and women delight in colourful beads and flowers for decoration.

The most striking part of the costume, however, is the hat-—a subject of incredible ingenuity. One sees every shape, size, colour and adornment, and it is a constant source of interest and delight to see how banal European artifacts like bottle tops or Christmas tinsel are incorporated into headpieces that are works of art. Even a pair of women’s cotton pants, worn upside down and decked with flowers, formed a creditable Easter bonnet for one villager. But there is more to the district than beautiful scenery and exotic costume. Everywhere there are gardens. carefully tended, tidy villages, pig houses and a parade of pig stakes for the traditional pig exchange that measures the wealth and prestige of a village. Along the hillsides one sees large raised round patches, like huge buttons. These are the sweet potato gardens, worked in circles fertilised by mounds of grass and weeds and planted in rotation to maintain the ground On this traditional gardening skill the Lutheran mission has built a remarkable producers’ 'co-operative, a positive achievement that rarely reaches the headlines, although it is as much a part of the fabric of life for the average villager in this district as the tribal clashes that one reads so much about.

Fuller existence

WASO means, in Engga, “to produce, to create.” It was begun in 1964, "as an expression of Christian concern for improving men’s lives and giving opportunities for a fuller existence.”

So often young people leave the villages and drift into unemployment in the towns. There is no more important task in New Guinea than the enrichment of village life. WASO organises local producers, encourages the regular growing of vegetables and their transport to an assured market.

The organisation brings in agricultural experts to combat plant diseases, introduces new crops and techniques, and gives the village people an opportunity to learn about and take part in a co-opera-tive business venture.

In the village of Wapanamunda, opposite the air strip from which planes regularly airlift vegetables to towns all

over Papua New Guinea, there is a big workshop where local men are trained to keep the WASO trucks in order, and a large headquarters building which also houses the local post office, a bank and airlines agencies—all run by WASO.

There is a central warehouse, a large supermarket, and a big area for storing and sorting vegetables.

Liquor licence

In spite of the mission background, WASO has even applied for a licence to sell liquor—“beer is a legitimate need,” says a recent prospectus.

The captal for this enterprise is partly supplied by local people. In 1972 there were 473 indigenous shareholders out of a total of 560, although they contribute only a little more than a quarter of the total capital and so cannot control the company as they should. But they attend board meetings with enthusiasm and complain that the 10 per cent dividend that they receive is not enough.

Meanwhile, miles from anywhere. we suddenly came upon acres of cabbages one day. More cabbages, my husband declared, than he had either seen or smelt since leaving his native Ohakune.

Tomatoes are grown in large quantities too, under polythene “glasshouses.” Cauliflowers and lettuces thrive, and there is a plan to organise a new potato-grow-ing co-operative to set the famine areas on their feet and to supply the whole New Guinea market. WASO is also in the coffee business — it purchases dry parchment from New Guinea planters, processes it and ships it all over the world. These achievements are notable in a country where, in spite of the many political advances recently, most of the economy is firmly controlled by expatriates, even in primary production. For example, most of the tea exported comes from expatriate estates, and the big coffee warehouses (haus kopi) that we saw along the highway were the subject of bitter comment from the students.

Training courses

WASO is training the local people at many different levels so they will be able to compete on more equal terms in the business world. There are training courses in English, maths and commerce for all the office and shop staff. One WASO-sponsored student has already graduated from the Institute of Technology and another is completing his course. Both will have interesting jobs in their own areas—real work for the future. All this must be set in a district that is mainly subsistence villages, with mountains rising high on all sides, rough roads and few Europeans except for those in the missions.

We walked in to several villages and were greeted kindly, although we were quite unexpected. A committee man or a council man came to greet us in each case, sugar cane and passion fruit or some other delicacy was provided and all work apparently ceased so that people could welcome us. Our guides were solicitous to the extreme, embarrasingly so at times, and my

husband bitterly regrets having had no camera at the ready to record my all-too-rapid progress up and down the steepest places on the mountain track, impelled by two determined village men in full traditional dress who were apparently certain that the “missus” would never manage the hills unaided. Suffice to say that 1 neverworked so hard in my life, grasped firmly on either side and taken at the run up or down the steep clay tracks. Our hosts were indigenous mission workers, relatives of our students. They lived simply and looked after us generously and we had plenty of opportunity to assess what the mission is doing in the area. One sees little of the administration apart from the kiap’s house and one verv new high school at the head of the valley, but there are any number of mission schools, two hospitals, medical aid posts, a printery and a translation centre, training colleges for evangelists and a big headquarters complex. Everywhere in the mission area American is spoken, and one of our hosts apologised for talking, as he put it, “like a Harlem taxidriver.” We would not have been surprised to find the Stars and Stripes flying over all.

We spent our last night in the district at Wabag, the northernmost village in the valley, with a Lutheran translator. His job was to turn the American missionary's sermons from pidgin to Engga, and he was working at the time on an Engga version of the New Testament.

I p before dawn

We were up before dawn ready for the long journey back to Goroka, and as the sun came up we had a feeling of the unreal as the mist streamed past the high, close hills and the casuarina trees gradually emerged. On the journey back v.a picked up the students, whom we had left at various villages along the way. It was heart-wanning to see how close the village links still are for these young men. Most of them are intensely involved in village affairs, some have even carried weapons in tribal or clan disputes, and they all feel a great sense of responsibility for the village problems. It is important that this closeness be kept as much as possible _ between the educated elite and the villager, if all our Western-oriented education is to help more than a very narrow section of the community. Even after such a brief journey we were struck strongly by the contrast between the villages we had left and the comfortable house we returned to. "Different, isn’t it?” remarked the students as after showers in a clean white bathroom we all sat down to eat at a table, with knives and forks, and with everyone clad from neck to knee. We parted reluctantly, like a tramping party returning from the hills. Now we have another “family” on this campus, one that gives us hope that somehow the current fighting and upheaval in the highlands will be worked out, through the energy and vigour, warmth, business shrewdness and gardening skills that we set alongside the troubles of swift culture change.