Kabiufa

I belong to a ladies craft group that meets once a week in town for a time of socializing and working on various crafts. Many of these ladies have never been out of town my direction and so I invited the whole group to meet here at my house at Kabiufa this past week. I thought maybe you would enjoy a tour of where we live as well.

Kabiufa is approximately 6 miles out of town. Our SDA boarding Academy is located here and we live right in the middle of the school campus.

Here you can see the Kabiufa school campus from the air. It is in a beautiful country setting.

When you walk on campus you are met by this block of classrooms.

To the right is this large green lawn which is often the site of many happy games of rugby or baseball. (In the background you will notice a little white house in the middle of the photo. This is our home)

A closeup of our humble abode.

The administration building has a pretty little garden courtyard in the back.

(Front of Admin building)

(Back of Admin building)

To the left of our home is the cafeteria. It also serves as the “gymnasium” on Saturday nights. The tables are all stacked against the walls and the games begin. It can get quiet noisy sometimes. (In the background you will again see our home)

The view from our front porch, looking out onto the cafeteria.

Next to the Cafeteria is the Church.

It dominates the campus as it is quite an imposing building with its tall, steep roof.

Here you see one of the dormitories. Kabiufa has approximately 700 students, but not all of them are boarding students. Many are local kids from town and the surrounding villages.

Some of the staff housing that is on campus.

Believe it or not, there is even a swimming pool!

Recently we had a baptism for some of the students. The candidates, dressed in white, are all lined up waiting for the service to begin.

Believe me, the water is cold! At our high elevation a swim is not necessarily refreshing.

Roger Millist, the director of AAS, is also a pastor so he had the privilege of helping with the baptism.

As for Bill and I, we were just happy spectators.

The Many Faces Of PNG

Everybody loves a good 4th of July parade, right? Well, here in PNG the big event is the Goroka Show, held every year to celebrate their Independence Day. (While September 16 is actually Independence Day, the show is always held on a weekend so occurred this past Sunday.) Multiple tribes from all over the island gather here in Goroka to show off their traditional dance, music, and culture.

This festival was first started in the mid 1950’s by Australian patrol officers in an effort to curb tribal warfare. The idea was that the various tribes would come together and get acquainted in a non-threatening, friendly atmosphere. It has since evolved into a national cultural event.
So sit back and enjoy a “parade” to beat all parades. Guaranteed!

The parade started with this long black “snake” that was slithering and swaying back and forth. It was actually very effective. The head was made up of men...

... and by the time you reached the tail, they were just small boys. I think this was Bill’s favorite!

From that point on, it was just one dance group after another.

The music consisted mainly of singing (If you can call it that - a wailing chant is more like it.) and various crude instruments ranging from wooden drums to bamboo pipes that were thumped on the ground.

I wouldn’t want to run into these men in the dark!

The backside can be just as entertaining as the front.

Even the children get involved.

We found it amusing to see the “modern” mixed in with the “traditional.” Here you see a man proudly sporting sunglasses.

And here you have a woman who apparently did not have a wooden drum so she improvised - using a plastic bottle to beat on instead.

This dancer just can’t resist pulling out the video camera and catching some of the action.

After the parade, the masses of dancers all congregate in a large field and simultaneously continue their traditional dances.

There are hundreds of dancers and the noise can be overwhelming at times! There is a large monetary reward for the best dance group so the competition can be fierce.

Next year why don’t you really come and join us for the Goroka show. It is an experience you will never forget!