Where Magic is Real. And Scary.

In Papua New Guinea, you have your sanguma man, your glassman, and your bigman.

Historically, a bigman was a final decision maker, hearing the opinions of all and stating the majorities stance as the decision. Now they're just people that others respect and listen to, less of a final decision maker. Also, historically, these men were sanguma men.

A Sanguma man is your run-of-the-mill assassin. Either with magic or more concrete means, he's hired to kill. If anyone ever falls sick, it was a sanguma man using magic. And you have to go to a glassman, a magic practitioner, to work magic to make the sickness go away. Now if you ever see a sanguma man, you'll probably die, because the sanguma man doesn't want a witness.

Now, while the Word of God is making a notable change in people's view on the spirits and their powers, it's still a hard concept to grasp that God is more powerful than anything else. So people typically delay quite a bit before going to Martha to get medicine, which, as you can imagine, is a great source of frustration for Martha.

Now, one night, after the boys Bible study, they prayed that God would protect them from the sanguma men. When asked, they said that there had been a number of sightings of sanguma men close to the area. This is not like "ooo, I saw Bigfoot!!!" This is like, "...I just saw a ninja." There are people who's intent is murder, who have been seen, multiple times, close to the village.

Well, of course, right in the middle of that fateful night, I had to use the facilities. ...or the bush due to the lack of facilities. So during this moonless night, I go out and use my torch (the aussie word for flashlight) to look in the bush for any sanguma men (like I would be able to see a native trying to hide in the jungle). Seeing nothing, I switch it off (so the villagers don't see me!) and the entire time, I couldn't help but think "A sanguma man is going to hop out of the bush and kill me with a machete!"

(Now before you think less of me for being afraid of the sanguma man, let me remind you: this is not a spirit, even evil spirits must obey God. I'm not afraid of them. A sanguma man is a man. And men have freewill. And this is concerning.) Well, I finish my business and turn on my torch and resume scanning the bush for impending doom as I walk back to our house. At the last second, I turn to watch where I'm going (smart move, I know) and quite unexpectedly THIS HUGE PIG APPEARS IN MY TORCH LIGHT. My heart definitely stopped, I was afraid it would forget how to start again! (It didn't forget.) When telling this story to Martha, she said that the nationals would say that the sanguma man turned into the pig! (She also said that there was a pig in the area prone to attacking people and that I should eye the pigs as much as the bush.)

So the thing I'm turning in my mind is this: Living in a world where magic is real, spirits aren't something to mess with, and sanguma men are out to get you, in a world where the supernatural strikes genuine terror in the hearts of all, how do I brace my children for Twilight? Harry Potter? The Lord of the Rings? The Chronicles of Narnia? 

Fishing

Well, I've been back from the bush for a fair handful of days now. But motivation to go through pictures and write blogs was just lacking.

It's just, sooooooo much happened in the bush. To process through that and approximately 300 pictures is hardly a task I want to tackle during break at the office!

But today is Saturday.

Jacob is at a Literacy meeting (on a Saturday! At 10am!) and I'm home alone with 300 pictures, coffee, Tim Tams, and time.

Here we go:

Fishing

It's our second Saturday in the Bush. And I'm in a bad place. You see, I've gone for two weeks being the epitome of awesome. However, this has resulted in little to no Elizabeth time. And that will take a toll on a girl!

The first half of the day involved us lounging about, enjoying the Saturday, having just completed a week long medical course. Martha, the missionary we were staying with, was running to and fro about the village to ensure that at some point someone would take us to go fishing.

The entire time, I was thinking, "If they forgot, it wouldn't be the end of my world." But Martha said it was the task that no intern had ever hated doing! And that we wouldn't get a chance again during our time there in the village so we should go.

Well, noon rolls around and someone comes to fetch us. And I must admit, I did get a bit enthused as we began our hike to the river.

I shouldn't have.

After almost breaking my neck on the small but steep cliff they wanted me to hop down, they seated us on the rocky bank. And shortly after, the women left to go cook just a ways away. Now I wasn't sure if I should join them. I was concerned that they were cooking not enough for us and so moved away for a reason.

So I sat on the rocks.

Unproportionately frustrated as a result of lack of alone time, the time that breeds sanity.

It was very cold. I had goosebumps.

There was a multitude of misbehaving children (as children aren't really disciplined until it's time for them to start being useful).

I was sitting on rocks.

I did not get fed.

No one talked to me (except the misbehaving children) (and Jacob, I guess)

And it would occasionally rain.

For four hours.

Waiting on the fish.

They have this vine they call Masak, which they cut and put into the river and it poisons all the fish. (Yeah, I know, bad long term decision. But in the short term, you can add protein to your diet!) Well, whoever was supposed to be poisoning the river didn't get up early enough so the fish didn't start coming until 5.

For four hours we waited.

"I hate everything," I told Jacob.

It was one of those days.

 

Finally, the fish came, and I got into the river with a loaned net. And let me tell you. Those fish were not dead yet. Floating belly up is not a sure sign! Because when I tried to pull that net up underneath him, that fish came to and swam off on the double!

But they had strung nets across the river behind us to catch the fish that evaded us.

But I did manage to catch one!

And Jacob even managed to spear one! (Although it was on someone else's spear at the time)

(The nationals told us to take a picture of him pretending to spear it from the water!)

The act of fishing was a load of fun.

But, on this day, I was not in a position to sit on the shore for four hours with all the awesomeness I can normally maintain.

Upon arriving to Martha's house, a Bible Study was underway. And I locked myself in a back room for two hours. And it was a good idea.

So what about you? Have you ever had a day that wasn't that bad but external factors made you hate everything? Do tell!