My grandfather and his contributions

(13th,September, 2015, Sunday Chronicle)

My grandfather was born in our little village of Yanguri in Erave, Southern Highlands Province, some few years before the Second World War started.  

Yanguri to this day is inaccessible by road and the closest interaction my people had then with other people was with our neighbors from Western and Gulf provinces. Most of the news about the world outside came through them.

My grandfather, Yalo Sakaire was just a boy when the war came to Papua and New Guinea. He chuckled when he recalled how the old people reacted when they saw and heard war planes over the sky of our little village.

“We saw planes flying over the skies, night and day. No one had seen planes before and we thought the planes were spirits of our dead ancestors roaming the skies. We called the planes “buala hali” (crying man). We saw the planes discharging things from the skies. We would hide among the trees and flowers and watch the planes fly by.

“I remember one time I was in the toilet when the planes flew right over our house. I switched my attention to the sound of the planes and was so engrossed that I did not realize my tapa falling into the toilet. Knowing that it was my only tapa and my father would spank me for spoiling it, I quickly cleaned it with a piece of tree branch and ran home,” he said.

Soon after the war, missionaries from the Asia Pacific Christian Mission (now Evangelical Church of PNG), carpenters, teachers and mechanics were sent to Yanguri.

“Most of us knew nothing about school but the white man told us that those who could put their hand over the opposite side of their head and touch their ears could go to school,” he said.

As my grandfather faintly recalls, his journey began as a young man working for Honybrooks Construction Company from 1956 to 1957.

“When the Australians came, we were told that young men were needed to build roads in the city. We did the cementing of the Brown River Bridge, the Sogeri Bridge and did the road from 5 Mile to downtown. I worked for two years and 18 months. We were paid five shilling in a month but that did not matter because we were given more than enough food to eat.

“After my work was done, I came back to the village. All of the men I worked with from our area (named) died later,” he said.

After moving back to the village, my grandfather married my grandmother in 1961. He worked closely with missionaries, Joan and Don Moseley and others where they had to sleep in haus kiap (patrol officer’s house) and assisted the missionaries to teach people how to read, write and provide basic health care.

Although most people were frightened of white people and would hide their faces with their hands during prayer times, my grandfather said the missionaries helped them a lot.

In 1965 my grandfather was sent to bible school for four years and in 1968 he graduated with a certificate as a pastor. His first task was to go to work in Western Province from 1968 to 1971. His work not only involved evangelism but also as a health extension worker and a teacher alongside the missionaries.

While my grandfather was out doing his practical in the Western Province and around our surrounding villages, my grandmother was helping Mrs. Mosley as a midwife. She helped many women deliver babies in our village and the knowledge she gained from Mrs. Mosley she passed on to my aunt.

In 1971, my grandfather came back to Yanguri and did his usual work closely with the missionaries until independence.

“Not all of us knew what was going on during the 16^th‘of September, 1975. Only the school children who were in Semberigi knew the meaning of Independence. School children danced in traditional attires and waved our flag in the air as they sang while most of us just went on with our business,” he said.

After the independence, a lot of things changed. Missionaries were sent to other parts of the Highlands and as pastors we had to carry on our work that we were tasked to do. Women were also asked to record their names at the aid post I was heading because some women would kill their babies soon after birth. After five months, census people would come around to check on the women and how their babies were doing in case they killed them.

Many people from our area came to my grandparents for spiritual guidance, counseling and health advice. Although my grandfather was called twice by the government to seek further training as a male nurse, he refused. My grandfather said he was satisfied with carrying out the gospel.

In 2006, my grandfather was awarded a medal for being the longest serving pastor in our village. He was presented a medal at Government House by Grand Chief Sir Paulius Matane, the then Governor General.  He said he would still not forget what Grand Chief Sir Paulius Matane said to him on that day. He said Sir Paulias told him: “You have won the battle, now here is your price.”

“Back in those days, we as pastors did more than just teaching gospel to the different communities. We walked miles to areas where there were no roads and we thought people the gospel. Then we cured them by providing medicines, we prayed with them and provided them with basic necessities.

“I worked three years helping people in the village from a semi kunai grass hut. I was almost arrested when the government workers found out that my pastor’s license was outdated. The problem had been sorted and I was at my work again,” said my grandfather.

“The missionaries were very friendly to us and that is why we remembered them very fondly at the village. They thought us about Jesus and introduced us to many good things. We were also encourage to practice our traditional way of curing sicknesses and diseases instead of relying heavily on the western medication but many of the medicine and health ideas they brought had helped a lot of people. We will forever be grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Mosley and the others who have thought us with care,” he said.

Although the missionaries left too soon after the war, their legacy still lives on. My little village of Yanguri did not know much of the outside world before and after the war until just recently but nothing has changed.  

Although the district, Kagua-Erave, is home to the Iagifu and Gobe oil fields, successive governments have failed to provide the most basic services like schools and health services. Bridges are less or nonexistent in remote parts. Road links are also an issue to this day. It takes almost up to three hours to walk from where the road ends to Yanguri. Basic health care, food and clothing supplies are obtained in Hagen, Western Highlands Province, which is about six hours drive due to the poor road condition.  

Nevertheless many of the schools, churches, and aid posts the missionaries built are still around today. Like many other remote villages in the country, basic health care ideas that were passed by the missionaries and onto people like my grandparents and others were essential in the survival of the people at the village. Despite the lack of government services for many years, the work of the church in many parts of the country has proven to be vital.

 

From left are my aunties Rose and Dora, myself in the center with my grandfather
and my elder sister, Joan, who is named after the Missionary, Joan Mosley .

 

   

My grandfather ,Yalo Sakaire ,(right) and seated in front of him is my grandmother in Red ,Adiame Yalo , with other pastors in the mid 1960s.