Thursday 19 June 2014

Road Trip

Last week I went to Lae for a few days. This is a 10km drive from our home in the Aiyura Valley to the Highlands Highway, then about 210km along the highway to Lae. In many places, a 220km highway drive is a matter of a few smooth hours. Not here!  We spent four hours bumping through or swerving around potholes, breaking suddenly and holding our breath.

A truck parked on your side of the road?
No worries, just swerve around it.
The 10km to Kainantu is one of the worse stretches of road. At one point the road subsides over a metre, and the cars bump down into the hollow and back up again. At another point, the road has been patched up from what used to be one lane and a gaping hole where the creek stole the other lane. The bridge to Kainantu has also been patched up, with pieces retrieved from the river below where they had previously fallen. This bridge is slowly sinking down the river banks. When it is eventually impassable, we shall be cut off from the highway.

Looking ahead to a landslide which
we will soon go along the top of.
Once on the Highlands Highway, we first wound our way towards Yonki dam. This provides hydroelectric power to much of the nation. At all points you are sharing the road with pedestrians and roaming livestock, which adds an extra challenge. Along the edge of the road are villages, market stalls and fuel stalls.

 The beautiful view along
the Markham Valley.
Once we have crossed the dam, the next challenge is KassamPass. This is the switchback road which descends from the highlands to the lowlands. As we drove down we passed through a layer of cloud, travelling from clear air to fog and back to clear air again. The clarity gives a breathtaking view of the valley and the Finnesterre Mountains beyond…and of the precipice beside each bend that you take. Reaching the bottom of the pass I always breathe out a sigh of relief and breath in the humid air that says we have reached the lowlands.

The Markham River looking lazy.
The Markham Valley is flat, grassy and full of cattle. If you take the turn off to Madang, there are palm oil plantations. I have only ever seen the Markham River in a lazy state, but the breadth of the river bed, the sharp cliffs along it and the trees and rocks scattered about testify to the force of water which sometimes passes through. It has been known to take out bridges when in full flood.

The surprising house that seems
to have landed from somewhere else.
PNG is the land of the unexpected and nearing Lae there is a sight which made my head turn; a house which looked like it had been lifted from America and landed in PNG. Apparently it belongs to a local MP.

Once we reach the turnoff for Nadzab airport we are nearing Lae, although it is still over half an hour away. Maybe this distance would be shorter if the road were better, but as a heavily trafficked road, it is quickly worn down. The worst stretch of road is the last 10-15km into town. The unofficial rule is that you keep to the side of the road which is smoothest and to the left when there is oncoming traffic.

Potholes at a Lae corner.
In Lae itself the roads vary. The road to the guesthouse had been redone since I visited a year ago. It was smooth, had kerbs, gutters and lines marked. Another corner by a main shopping centre was so full of potholes that it required defensive 4WDing skills, in a 2WD van, while dodging the pedestrian crowd. As the potholes were full of water, we never knew how deep each one was until we splashed into it and out again, sometimes with more of a ‘thunk!’ than expected.

Stepping into another world to
have lunch at the Lae Yacht Club.
Our driver for most of this was Rebekah. Taking on the driving helped her defeat motion sickness, and surely has half the Highlands Highway talking about the white woman who was driving. Women driving in PNG, especially outside of a town, are rare. As security we had one of our male colleagues with us. He rode in the front so that everyone could see him and hopefully choose not to harass us.

The long receipt after we filled four
trolleys with groceries at one
supermarket. I have no idea why
this won't upload the right way up. 
Lae itself was a time for shopping, dining out, meetings, relaxing in the pool and generally enjoying being with friends and away from the computer for a few days.

Skeleton of a ute.
On the drive home we were laden with cargo. Organising a trip to Lae is a headache and for many of us only happens once a year. As it is our best accessible centre for shopping, we make the most of it and stock up while we can. The van was rather full!

During the drive home was Susie suggested that PNG cars include skeletons and zombies. Skeletons are the remains of vehicles which have ended their life by the roadside and left only remains. Zombies are those vehicles which should have died, but somehow keep on driving. We saw plenty of both. I hope you’ve enjoyed some of my attempts at taking their photos from a swerving, bouncing vehicle!

A truck that did not make the corner
and is quickly being stripped down
to a skeleton.
Arriving safely home in the highlands we offloaded cargo and collapsed into our various beds. Our three days away had been good, but tiring. Meanwhile, another vanload of people were doing ‘Lae in a Day’, leaving before 6am and returning after 8pm. No thanks!

Vehicle skeleton on the roadside.

A local PMV (Public motor vehicle).
Surely there is space for one more!
 I think that windscreen repair
qualifies this as a zombie truck.
Note also the number of pedestrians
we're about to share a bridge with.

Monday 9 June 2014

Humbled

The best compliments and encouragement come in the form or casual comments and leave me humbled at the same time. Here are some examples from recent months, that continue to encourage me as I wade through the morass of decision making.

“I pray for you every day…”
While home on furlough so many people told me that they pray for me everyday and that they find me an inspiration. This was not just from close friends. Sometimes it was from from people I barely know, other times from people I look up to myself. Even when I am bad at keeping in touch with them, they are praying for me. Even though I am just working at living each day well, using the skills I’ve been given in the place I feel called, apparently I am inspiring people. My life feels fairly ordinary as I live it each day. I am inspired to keep going by those who have encouraged me. When I am overwhelmed by decisions to be made, I am reminded that there are friends who carry me.

“Thank you for your friendship…”
Over the last year I’ve exchanged a number of emails with married friends who’ve been going through an incredibly difficult time. I live in a different country, am slow to reply to emails and only caught up with them once while in the same city. I am aware of how much more I could have done, but did not. Yet by email and in person they tell me that I’ve been a friend and a support. Rather than telling myself I know better, I am working to hear their words and be encouraged.

“I’ll build you a house…”
When discussing possible destinations to work with a language long term, one colleague quickly told me that as soon as we were ready, he was ready to build us a village house. Several of the others in the conversation added their support that they too would love to be part of a building party. In the middle of all the details and decisions, knowing that my friends are waiting to be practical and supportive, even before I’ve asked them, is an enormous encouragement.

In writing this, my intent is not to brag, but to say ‘Thank you!’
To all of you who pray for me, thank you.
To all of you who care in practical ways, thank you.
To all of you who encourage me in ways you do not even realise, thank you.
 At the moment, as I am in the middle of what feels like endless decisions, you are carrying me in more ways than you can know, so thank you!