Bina Mene:Connecting the Hebrews

A book – launched by Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane on Thursday, February 1, 2007 – claims the Bine tribe of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea is related to the Hebrew race of Israel.

Author Samuel Were provides no sound anthropological, archaeological, linguistic or academic evidence to support his claim, however, draws on the oral traditions of his people as well as his spiritual experiences as the basis for the book Bine Mene: Connecting the Hebrews.

The book adds to a common belief among Western Province villagers, particularly of the South Fly, that they are related to the Hebrews.

The 28-page book is also an experiment in self-publishing, given that Were wrote and did the page layout himself, with Star Printers printing the cover and Summer Institute of Linguistics printing the inside pages.

Were, a petroleum geoscientist who graduated from the University of Papua New Guinea, also relies greatly on the Bible to support his claim.

He compares the similarities between Bine and Hebrew words for different subjects, people and places.

For example, Adam (mankind) in Hebrew is Ada in Bine; Eve (living community) is Ewe; galeed (father-in-law, son-in-law) is Galiame; Immanuel (God is with us) is Inama; Joseph (may he give me) is yo seba aa; Judah (praise) is alajuta; Manasseh (being present) is Mana agesate; and many others.

The book is a product of cumulative recording and compilation of events, episodes and research by the writer starting in 1972 with the arrival of translators from the Summer Institute of Linguistics to his Western Province village of Kunini.

The translators were assisted by his father, the Reverend Kibani Were, and that led to the completion of the Bine New Testament Bible and Bine Hymn Book.

Were claims he had a divine dream and vision in 1984 while attending Aiyura National High School, regarding what he calls “remnant Hebrew people in PNG”.

He says he acquired a great deal of oral history from his grandparents and his father as a teenager that his Bliutope (Hornbill) Clan were people from the East, great sailors and navigators, who conquered Australia before landing in their present location.

Were claims the history of his people goes as far back as the 1300s, and that he has family members living in Australia to this day.

Whatever critics, including me, may say, he staunchly sticks by what he writes in his book.

I raise this issue of credibility with Were.

“Basically, look at the Bible,” he replies.

“So far, I have used my own information, as well as that from the Bible.

“Because of the comparisons we have in language and prophecies, I’ve gone back to the scriptures to dig out certain messages from the prophets of the Old Testament, regarding people of God who are ‘remnant Hebrews’.

“It (book) originates from the traditional stories of my father and grandfather, about the movement of our people across the sea to our present location.

“…apart from being warriors, traders and sailors, we were also people who feared God.

“According to the story, we were the original people from the beginning.

“This was also true for the language we spoke.

“The other biggest force that made me take this story very seriously was the arrival of the Bible translators from the Summer Institute of Linguistics.

“Another thing prior to this was a stranger who came to my village, Kunini, went to Boze, and he was seen around the Bine tribe, Wipi and Kiwai tribes, and he was also in Daru.

“Nobody actually knew who he was.

“Even though he was locked up by police, he would come out.

“After some time, he vanished and we never saw him again.

“That’s when they started saying that he was an angel of God because we were ‘remnant Hebrews’.

“After this guy left, SIL came in with their Bible translators.

“After all these, I started to develop an interest in finding out if there was a language connection between my Bine language and the Hebrew language, people’s names and place names.

“Being a child of a pastor, this was actually part and parcel of my life, because I always had a Bible with me.

“I went to Aiyura (National High School, in 1984).

“I had a dream in which I was told about the ‘remnant Hebrews’ of this nation.

“I saw a bright light.

“That’s when I knew there were Hebrews here.

“I started doing my own write-ups, especially looking at the names of people, places and cultural comparisons.”

Were says he dug deep into encyclopaedias and the Bible to find similarities between the Bine and Hebrew languages.

Along the way, he found that the Greek language also had similarities to the Bine language.

“One of the main objectives of the book is to tell the truth and to make it known that we are a race of people for God’s service,” Were continues,

“Having that in mind, we believe that even in our present state in terms of social and economic life, we have a treasure of wealth in our land.

“It will be developed according to God’s timetable and plan.

“Many of my tribe people do not know their exact origins, where we come from.

“Only a few of them have records and evidence, in terms of passed-on stories, and some historical artefacts.

“Generally speaking, many of them do not know of our identity, but the language comparison we have between Hebrew language, Greek language, is now telling us that we need to think deep and accepted that if we are connected by language, then we must be related and our origin is one.”

Were says he has also met Israelites who have pointed out to him the similarities between Hebrew and Bine languages.

Some of his writings in the book may seem far-fetched; however, the comparison between Hebrew and Bine words did get my attention.

Were plans to write more books which probe further into the relationship between the Hebrew and Bine languages.

Bine Mene: Connecting the Hebrews. By Samuel Were. Bright Star Morning Corporation. Port Moresby, 2006. 20 pages. K20.

The write stuff now and into the future

It is while doing my annual end-of-year clean-up over the Christmas/New Year (2006/2007) period that I find a couple of old Kovave magazines from the early 1970s buried under a mountain of paper, novels and assorted paraphernalia.

I flick through the old Kovave magazines, hand-me-downs from my late father, and the memories of another day come to mind.

It is like being transported back to the halcyon days of Papua New Guinea literature in pre-1975.

For those who came in late, Kovave was arguably the best-ever literary publication of the young University of PNG, featuring some of our greatest talent such Vincent Eri, Albert Maori Kiki, Kumulau Tawali, John Kasaipwalova, Leo Hannett, Rabbie Namaliu, Russell Soaba, John Kadiba, John Kaniku, and many others.

Apart from Kovave, their work was also featured on the National Broadcasting Commission’s popular not-to-be missed Sunday night dramas and other literary programmes.

I lay on my mountain of paper and let my mind wander back to those days when such powerful writings so influence my young mind.

My wife wakes me up from my reverie and I fast-forward back to the future just like I am in a time machine.

Coincidentally, I happen to meet senior UPNG literature lecturer and established writer Dr Steven Winduo - who is a good friend of mine and part of the campus literary crowd in the 1980s – at the market that afternoon and we make it a point to meet some time.

Dr Winduo now wears many hats including being director of the Melanesian and Pacific Studies (MAPS) Centre at UPNG, and chairman of the National Literature Board, to name a few.

He believes that PNG literature is undergoing a renaissance after a literary lull between the ‘80s and ‘90s.

“I can see that there is a wave of new voices of PNG literature since last year when we started the National Literature Board,” Dr Winduo says.

“National Literature Board is under the auspices of the National Cultural Commission, so, we began to run the national literature competition

“When it started we had more than 300 entries.

“We had about six novels, a lot of short stories, poems and plays.

“That indicates to me that people are writing.

“But what they need is the support of the government as well as people in places such as UPNG to help them.

“This is very important because over the years, between the ‘70s and ‘90s, there was a literary gap.

“Commentators were saying that literature was dead in PNG, that the ‘80s and ‘90s was almost like ‘death’.

“I came through from that generation of a literary lull.

“People believed Papua New Guineans didn’t have the creative power anymore.

“But 2000 and beyond, individual writers began to publish.

“I think 2000 and onwards, we began to see new writers coming out.

“Some of them are very good.”

Dr Winduo’s MAPS Centre has a publishing programme in place; however, this has been limited because of funding constraints.

This is something that he feels strongly about.

“If we don’t give writers that opportunity (to publish), the work of a lot of people with literary talent will not see the light of day.”

Dr Winduo is also mindful that critical reading of quality works by Papua New Guineans is not done.

“This concerns me as a scholar.

“Otherwise, creativity is there.”

He also acknowledges the work of the Divine Word University in Madang in supporting literature.

“Balanced with scholarly work, fiction and non-fiction, I believe the university should play a central role in fostering and in developing cultural consciousness in PNG,” he adds.

“In some ways, my centre plays a major role and I’m very confident of seeing a lot more writing coming out.

“UPNG still runs Savannah Flames literary journal.

“It’s supposed to come out once a year.

“This is one avenue for writers to submit their works for publication.

“That’s the only journal that encourages creative writing.

“That’s now supported by MAPS Centre.

“Apart from that, I see the future as plentiful, but how do we cultivate it is the question?

“If you think about it, writing is now powerful.

“There are so many things happening in our country, so get the pen and write.”

Dr Winduo also feels that PNG writers are not given ample recognition, as well as financial endowment.

“One of my views is that I really want to see the government recognise our writers.

“Give them a medal or something.

“Maybe have totem poles named after them.

“Look at Russell Soaba, who was given a 30th anniversary independence medal.

“It took the government so many years to recognise this writer.

“Albert Maori Kiki, Vincent Eri and others are recognised all over the world but they are not recognised in their own country.

“The other issue is that the government should look at creating an endowment fund for the arts, which is really a kind of funding mechanism to support all arts, including the literary art.

“The endowment fund can be used to support publishing houses.

“Without the endowment, it’s a bottleneck situation.
“For example, we at MAPS, are working with very limited funding.

“Literature and the arts have been very poor recipients of private sector support.”

Papua New Guinea literature took a giant step forward last May when the first-ever writers’ workshop was held at the Holiday Inn, Port Moresby, organised by the National Literature Board and the National Cultural Commission.

More than 80 aspiring and established writers rubbed shoulders in a long-overdue event.

Dr Winduo was away in New Zealand at that time, however, gave his full support to the event.

“That (workshop) should have been in the ‘80s,” he says.

“The feedback I got is that writing is there.

“It’s the support that the government gives as well as UPNG that is needed.

“I see the future of literature opening up.

“This is a concerted effort by like-minded people and institutions who are saying ‘let’s work together’.

“Literature goes into other activities and feeds its consciousness.

“The ability of Papua New Guineans is there”

A Dictionary of International Units

Around Papua New Guinea and perhaps in other places around the World you have probably seen road signs with the symbol ‘Km’.

And on some bags and packets of rice, and in some supermarkets you’ve probably seen a metric weight label ‘Kg’.

Both of these symbols are inkorrect.

A small k and not a capital letter must be used.

In Britain you might see ‘Kgs’ on the side of vehicles belonging to a national security company; ‘Kgs’ is another symbol that is inkorrect.

The symbol ‘kg’ does not have a plural form.

In fact a leading American Dictionary (Merriam-Webster) accepts the word ‘inkorrect’ exists!

One person who is keen to promote the correct metric symbols is Philip Bladon.

He worked for many years in PNG as a Chemistry teacher and School administrator.

Between 1982 and 2004 he taught at the following schools: Kaiapit/Markham Valley, Aiyura National High, Hoskins, and Cameron Secondary, Martyrs’ Memorial, and Ela Murray International.

I’m an ex student of Aiyura in 1984 and 1985 and I can remember him.

Mr Bladon, 53, is still keen to ensure that students and colleagues write ‘km’ and ‘kg’ (not ‘Km’ and ‘Kg’).

He also points out to advanced Physics students that the correct symbol for ‘kelvin’ (the unit for thermodynamic temperature) is ‘K’ (not ‘K’); the wrong symbol appears in some science textbooks.

Philip Bladon is now staying in England where he has written a book.

This has recently been published, ‘A Dictionary of International Units’, is full of the official SI (metric) units.

The ‘SI’ refers to the International System of Units (in French: ‘Le Système International d’Unités’), and designated SI in all languages.

This book, not only provides an excellent reference source for science students throughout their careers, it’s also a fascinating book for trivia buffs and a delight for enthusiasts of the board game Scrabble.

With a copy of this book you will soon enrich your vocabulary and discover unusual prefixes.

Schools, colleges, and universities should get at least one copy for their libraries.

An ebook version for IBM and Mac Computers is also available for individuals and institutions to buy.

This dictionary will also help teachers to ensure that their students receive the correct guidance on how to write metric names, symbols and numerical values.

For the non-scientists, like myself, a browse through this paperback can be extremely illuminating (unit: yottalux).

For symbologists and symbolists they can ponder over character sizes for example: ‘Zs’, ‘zs’, ‘ZS’, and ‘zS’.

For Historians they’ll discover the six nationalities of the 19 scientists whose surnames have been used for SI (metric) units.

Most are British.

The first letter of these unit names is not capitalized.

Compared to the large and expensive ISO (International Standards Organisation) documents on SI units available from Geneva, Philip Bladon’s Dictionary of International Units is excellent value and it’s fun.

Those with computers and Internet access can buy online from all the major bookstores, for example www.amazon.com.

It can also be ordered through most bookshops and in Australia the paperback costs approximately $18.

The dictionary will make a good graduation prize for maths, and science students especially those doing Physics.

Schools should order copies and allow plenty of time for them to arrive before the end of the year.

If a bookseller or book distributor in PNG contacts the publisher there are large discounts for bulk purchases.

Philip Bladon is a Fellow of the Institute of Science Technology, a life member of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, a member of the International Council of Associations for Science Education, and a member of Australian Mensa.

Mr Bladon’s other interests include outdoor tropical gardening, snake scalation, and the work of the Red Cross Red Crescent movement.


‘A Dictionary of International Units Metric-Matters: Names and Symbols’ Published by www.iuniverse.com . ISBN: 13: 978-0-595 37115-0 (paperback) US $12.95 UK < £8, Australia $18 approx. ISBN: 13: 978-0-595 81515-9 (e-book) US $6.00. Available from online bookstores and can be ordered through leading bookshops.

Helene Holzknecht

Another chapter in the history of Papua New Guinea has come to a close with the death of Helene Holzknecht (nee Schmutterer, pictured above with her beloved husband Karl).

Her death also marked the end of a colourful era in the history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lae, Morobe Province, and PNG as a whole.

Hers is a story of pioneering spirit, love, the horrors of war, and a country and people she grew to regard as her own.

Mrs Holzknecht died on Tuesday, August 26, 2003, after a long illness and was laid to rest at Langmeil Lutheran Church in Tanunda, South Australia onWednesday, September 3, 2003, beside her beloved husband ‘Bingsu’ Karl Holzknecht.

Helene Holzknecht nee Schmutterer was born on February 28, 1917, at Sattelberg Station near Finschhafen.

She was the third child and daughter of Gottfried Schmutterer and his wife Magdalene Pfeiffer, pioneer missionaries of the Neuendettelsau Mission Society in Lae.

Sometime during her first year, one of her older twin sisters, Elfriede, died of suspected meningitis.

A younger brother, Wilhelm, died years later in Germany.

Helene spent her first eight years at the Ampo mission station, now the headquarters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG, playing with and getting to know the children of Butibam and Kamkumung villages, as well as people from Bukawa, Labu, the south coast and the hills behind Lae.

At eight, Helene was sent back to Germany with another missionary family to attend school while her parents remained in New Guinea.

She lived with other missionary couples at the Neuguinea Heim in Neuendettelsau, attending local schools.

From Neuendettelsau, Helene entered and completed nursing training at Schwaebisch Hall, and then Augsburg, where her father was then stationed as pastor.

During her parents’ periods of furlough in Germany in Neuendettelsau, she had met a young seminarian by the name of Karl Holzknecht who regularly delivered the Mission Society’s magazine, Concordia, to her parents and a friendship developed, followed by an engagement.

Helene’s wish to return to her people in PNG was realised when her then fiancée, Karl Holzknecht, who had been originally slated for mission work Brazil, was sent to New Guinea to meet the manpower needs of a rapidly growing mission field.

She followed Karl to New Guinea and they were married in her father’s old church at Ampo, Lae, on December 17, 1938.

The newly wed couple’s first posting was as support missionaries at Malalo near the then – burgeoning gold mining town of Salamaua, undertaking pastoral visits to villages by outrigger canoe down the coast as far as Sipoma and Paiawa, and by foot into the ranges behind the station to the Hote and Kaidemui people.

Helene accompanied her husband on all but the trips along the Black Cat Trail into the Wau and Bulolo valleys, ministering to village women and helping the sick she found in these areas.

The outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 brought this idyll to an end. Karl – being a German - was taken prisoner as an enemy alien by Australian authorities, leaving a pregnant and heartbroken Helene at Malalo.

Her eldest child and only daughter, Irene, was born at Sattelberg, on February 1, 1940, after Karl’s removal to Australia.

Helene and Irene were returned to Malalo, but were eventually evacuated after Japanese bombers attacked Lae and Salamaua.

Helene often talked of seeing those planes skimming the hills on their way to Salamaua, and the horror of the bombing of Salamaua.

Soon after their evacuation by DC3 to Port Moresby, Japanese aircraft also bombed the Malalo Station, destroying all the family’s possessions.

After long trips by plane to Australia and then by train to South Australia with other missionary wives and families, Helene and Irene were eventually placed with the Pech family in Appila, a sanctuary for which Helene was always grateful, making close friendships with the Pechs and their extended families which were retained all her life.

Helene soon worked with other evacuated wives to obtain permission to join their husbands at the internment camps at Tatura, Victoria.

This was eventually granted and Helene and Irene joined Karl in the family camp at Tatura where more friendships were made especially with a group of Palestinian Templar families.

During their enforced stay at Tatura, Helene and Karl’s two older sons, Gottfried (Fred) and Hartmut were born on January 3, 1940, and May 22, 1945, respectively.

The three children joined the other camp children in school and other activities.

Once hostilities in Europe ceased, many mission families sought release from the Tatura camp, most opting to be repatriated to Germany once their cases had been examined by the local tribunal.

Helene and Karl decided that their families in Germany had few resources to cope with themselves, let alone with another five mouths to feed, and opted to remain in Australia pending approval to return to the mission work in PNG.

The family moved to Queensland, finding initial accommodation with Missionary Lehner and his wife in South Brisbane, where Karl worked and helped on Sundays as a guest preacher.

Eventually approval was given in early 1947 for Karl to return to PNG, as the first German Lutheran missionary to go back.

He was sent to rebuild the mission station at Kaiapit in the Markham Valley, first organising suitable housing so that the family could join him three months later.

Helene soon took on the task of establishing regular health, women’s and baby clinics, looking after the boarding school girls when the school was re-established, and training girls in the household, the way her mother had at Ampo.

Sewing, cooking, ironing, literacy were all things that the future wives of pastors and leaders learned at Kaiapit – in addition to basic hygiene and health.

Helene’s family soon grew with the addition of two more sons, Philip and Erich in 1949 and 1951 respectively.

The older children had started school, first at Sattelberg and then at Katherine Lehman School, Wau, where all five currently went.

Following leave in 1969, Karl and Helene moved back to Ampo, Lae – back to Helene’s roots.

Her friends from Butibam and Kamkumung were now the elders of the community, but the friendships forged in childhood remained strong. Karl’s translation duties with the Jabem Bible and later the Wampar language New Testament also allowed Helene a continued interaction with the people she loved the most.

She was often torn between her remaining family and friends in Germany; her own family in Australia and her loved ones in the villages of Papua New Guinea.

Increasing personal health issues necessitated a move from New Guinea to Australia, where they first settled at Fernvale in Queensland near Philip and his family.

Amongst the many people Helene befriended in Ipswich was the son of one of the Palestinian Templar families who had been at the Tatura camp and Helene and Karl rekindled a friendship with him and his wife.

Every brown face she saw in the streets of Ipswich reminded her of her people in PNG.

At the end of 1989, Helene and Karl moved to Tanunda to be near son Erich and his family, first living in Jane Street.

Deteriorating health forced a moved to the Tanunda Lutheran Home where she saw out the rest of her life.

Helene is remembered by most people she met as ‘Mutti’ – a name which sums up what she was to most people who knew her.

She loved people, loved being with people, helping and being part of what was going on, despite growing frailty.

To her children in Adzera, Jabem, Wampar and Lahe, she was ‘Misi’, a figure of love, honor and respect.

But even there, she became ‘Mutti’ to many of her children’s friends.

‘Mutti’ will be remembered for the wicked sense of humour she inherited from her father, for her ability to use three or four languages in one conversation, for her quaint use of the English language, for the love and pride she held to her father and his achievements, but most of all for the love and pride she held for her children and grandchildren – her insistence on seeking knowledge and understanding it, and the love and unforsaken faith she had in her Saviour.

Helene leaves behind her older system Lydia, younger brothers Gerhard and Friedel and their families, as well as her children Irene, Gottfried, Hartmut, Philip and Erich and their partners Terry, Dawns, Sue, Rhonda and Sonia, 11 grandchildren: Aedin, Richard, Erik, Misha, Martin, Richard, Sara, Heidi and Karin, and nine great grandchildren: Ryan, Emlyn, Indica, Sebastian, Alec, Zak, Peyote, Liam and Acacia, with two more on the way last year.

‘Mutti’ is remembered with love and affection by all who knew her and whose lives were touched by her.

She rests now in the hands of her Saviour, free from all her trials and tribulations.

Ian Downs

Many of those legendary Australian kiaps (patrol officers) who helped develop Papua New Guinea into what it is today were sadly not be around as the country celebrated 30 years of Independence.

Such a man was Ian Downs, who died on Tuesday August 24, 2004, in the Gold Coast, aged 89, one of the greatest and most legendary men who walked this country.

Downs is remembered as the principal facilitator of the contruction of the Highlands Highway – linking the Highlands, Lae and Madang - as well as being a powerful influence in the founding of PNG’s great coffee industry.

He was also a member of the first House of Assembly in 1964, when he collected a record majority of over 100,000 votes – which goes to show the respect he commanded – to win the Seat of the New Guinea Highlands, a constituency in the Central Highlands region with a population of over half a million people.

In the face of an increasingly nationalist style of politics he decided not to stand for re-election in 1968, and retired from parliament to take up private interests.

“He’s the one who got the road (Highlands Highway) through,” pioneer Highlands explorer Mick Leahy once said of Downs.

“He’s a man and a half this Downs.

“A few more like him and New Guinea would really get somewhere.”

A man of intellect and a great strength of character, Downs was also a writer of note.

A former patrol officer who rose to the position of Deputy Administrator in the mid-1950s, Downs was a prominent figure in PNG in the last years of the Australian trusteeship, and possibly the only person who combined the roles of administrator, politician, planter and historian.

Ian Fairley Graham Downs was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1915 and was educated at Brighton and Geelong Grammar Schools between 1926 and 1928.

He entered the Royal Australian Naval College as a midshipman in 1915, and in 1935, joined the New Guinea administration as a cadet patrol officer.

Downs took up his appointment to New Guinea in 1936 and was one of the first patrol officers assigned to the Western Highlands.

He accompanied John Black and Jim Taylor on part of their famous Hagen-Sepik patrol in 1938-39.

From 1942 to 1945, Downs was a Coastwatcher with the Royal Australian Navy in New Guinea waters.

Downs returned to New Guinea after World War II and by 1951 was the youngest District Commissioner in the administration, based in Madang.

Between 1952-56 he held the position of District Commissioner in Goroka, before resigning to take up coffee farming and to enter politics.

Succeeding the late George Greathead as District Commissioner to the then Central Highlands, a huge “middle kingdom” of more than a million people stretching from Kassam in the East to the then Dutch New Guinea border in the West.

Disillusioned with official policy, Downs resigned from his post as District Commissioner in 1956 and in the following year gained election as Member for the New Guinea Mainland in the Legislative Council.

As a parliamentarian he was further elected in 1961 to the Administrator's Advisory Council (later known as the Administrator's Executive Council), a board set up to advise the Administrator on policy issues.

Downs resigned from the Government, where he had long been a member of the Legislative Council, to contest this country’s first national elections.

Downs was elected to the first House of Assembly in 1964 with a record majority of over 100, 000 votes.

For the next four years he held the Seat of the New Guinea Highlands, a constituency in the Central Highlands region with a population of over half a million people.

In the face of an increasingly nationalist style of politics he decided not to stand for re-election in 1968, and retired from parliament to take up private interests.

He involved himself deeply in the infant coffee industry, being instrumental in the creating of the original Coffee Marketing Board in 1964, of the coffee exporting company Coffee International Ltd, of the Highlands Farmers & Settlers Association and its trading arm Farmset Ltd, and was active in many areas of PNG’s early political and social development.

It was during these years that Downs pioneered what became known as Korfena Plantations, a group of coffee plantations centred in the Upper Asaro Valley, as well as one of the first village-based coffee marketing groups known as Upper Asaro Coffee Community Ltd.

His novel The Stolen Land was published in 1970, and he returned to Australian in 1970 after 35 years in the country.

His widely respected publication The Australian Trusteeship: Papua New
Guinea, 1945-75 was published in 1980, followed by his autobiography The Last Mountain in 1986.

Ian Downs’ contribution to the founding of modern-day Papua New Guinea was immense, and thousands who knew him well have mourned his passing.

Zia Writers of Waria

From July 10-15, 2000, in the beginning of the new millennium, a novel development took place in Unu village, along the great Waria River of Morobe Province.

Unu hosted the first writers’ workshop of the new millennium, attracting mostly villagers who started writing two years earlier when a conference on Zia language, culture and traditional knowledge systems was organised in Dona village.

Workshop participants included husbands, wives and children, medical officers, village court magistrates, non-government organisation workers, teachers, village elders and youths.

Their lowest educational standard was grade two and the eldest was about 64.

They all wrote creatively their life stories, histories, biographies and the Zia culture during the week-long workshop, which was coordinated by Zia language speaker and University of Papua New Guinea lecturer Sakarepe Kamene, assisted by his colleague Dr Steven Winduo.

The stories talk about Waria people and how their life style is fused into nature, and how it is nurtured in the rich alluvial plain of the Waria River.

They talk about the river that in ordinary times remains tame and harmless, but in the wet season runs wild like a raging boar, causing destruction and misery to people and the surrounding areas.

Some of these stories capture and exhibit the strong sense of moral lessons.

Other stories show a much bigger picture of how nature is closely linked with society and its people.

There are also stories that recount new and sometimes strange experiences when people relocate themselves into new places or situations.

From the workshop has come an 80-page book titled Raitim Stori Bilong Laip (Writing Stories about Life): Zia Writers of Waria, which was first published in 2004 by UPNG’s Melanesian and Pacific Studies (MAPS) Centre, however, is a publication that very little people know about.

In fact I had never seen or heard of the book until Dr Winduo recently gave me a copy as an example of recent MAPS publications.

The collection of writings by the Waria writers is the first of its kind in Papua New Guinea and could serve as a benchmark for future projects in literacy and awareness throughout the country.

“Even though it has taken a long time for this publication to come out, we hope the end product of this publication will benefit others who will read this book,” Mr Kamene and Dr Winduo wrote in the book’s preface.

“It is a publication we feel confident will stand on its own.

“The stories are written in the Zia language, Tokpisin and English.

“The use of all languages in creativity is encouraged.

“In editing this book for publication, we tried to make sure the way in which the writers expressed themselves was maintained, except for basic production issues.

“Through the initial project, we knew we had moved on from basic literacy to literacy that involves people writing their stories and lives down on paper.

“We wanted to make sure those who received literacy training used the skills acquired to transform their lives.

“In the Zia writers’ workshop, this was accomplished.

“The experience we had in running the Zia writers’ workshop and in the production of this book convince us that literacy programmes and awareness programmes must go beyond basic literacy skills.

“Literacy skills and development of these skills must be encouraged.

“Inclusion of literature and various techniques of reading and writing is a must in literacy and awareness programmes.

“This publication proves that anyone can write and have their books published.”

The Zia experience greatly touched Dr Winduo, senior UPNG literature lecture, established writer, director of MAPS, and chairman of the National Literature Board.

“In a week of enthusiasm and nerves to see that our objectives to facilitate the knowledge and skills already present in the participants’ lives accomplished our goals, we were excited that the workshop was a success,” he observed.

“The participants had begun to write their stories.

“Most of them felt that they had achieved what was impossible.
“They can now write their lives down with confidence.

“The Zia people can write their history, culture and lives in books without having to go to university to study literature or how to write books.

“In my view, these students were the most-serious ones and were able to prove to me that writing is not only for those in schools or those studying literature at the university.

“Writing was always with them!

“All they needed was a catalyst to take them one step further.”

Dr Winduo feels that what has happened to the Zia people is also applicable to other villages in Papua New Guinea.

“They village people, especially youths and women, need new kinds of training that involves skills and knowledge already present in their societies,” he says.

“Indigenous forms of learning need to be encouraged.

“Developing new ways of documenting cultural and traditional knowledge systems was the way forward.

“This is one way to renew and revive the skills of reading and writing.

“People are presented with skills of reading and writing everyday, but are never given the opportunity to use the skills to empower themselves in their way of life.”

Dr Winduo has strong words.

“In a book fair in Port Moresby, a lot of views were expressed about the right to read and write, but many people consider writing as a process that empowers individuals and people.

“Writing has the power to transform a nation’s consciousness!

“If a nation can develop its own works of literature consistently, it can continuously evaluate itself and reinvent its consciousness.”

Raitim Stori Bilong Laip: Zia Writers of Waria. Edited by Sakarepe Kamene and Steven Edmund Winduo. Melanesia and Pacific Studies (MAPS), University of Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, 2004. 80 pages. ISBN 9980-9962-0-X

Storm Boy brings back memories of another day

It was while searching a second-hand shop in Port Moresby for books recently that I found a real gem.

That book was Storm Boy, written by Australian Colin Theile, and which was later made into a classic Australian film of the same name in 1976.

I immediately pounced on the book as Storm Boy was a movie that touched my heart – and those of so many other children - so many years ago as a child in Lae.

And, indeed, my children enjoyed every minute of me reading the book to them, which just goes to show the timelessness of Storm Boy.

It also brought back so many memories of another day, particularly of the now-extinct movie theatres, which once abounded all over Papua New Guinea.

A whole generation in Papua New Guinea has sadly grown up without knowing the experience of watching movies in a cinema.

In the “happy days” of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, cinemas were commonplace all over the country.

Those of us who grew up in the roaring that memorable period will know the joy of watching films on the big screen.

These days, with the advance of television, video, VCDs, and the Internet, the movie projector has become as antiquated as the time-honored typewriter.

Anyway, it was in 1978, when I was 10, that my father brought my elder brother David and I to the Huon Theatre in Lae one rainy night to watch Storm Boy.

I remember sitting with my eyes glued to the big screen, following Storm Boy’s every move, until I broke down and wept with him when his pet pelican Mr Percival was shot by hunters along a lonely, windswept Australian shore.

Every once in a while there is a special film, a film that appeals to all ages, a classic family entertainment that celebrates life and joyfully touches the heart.

Storm Boy is that film.

Storm Boy (Mike) lives with his recluse father, Hide-Away Tom, on South Australia's lonely and beautiful coast.

Years before, when Storm Boy’s mother had died, Hide-Away Tom had left Adelaide and gone to live like a hermit by the sea

Here his Storm Boy’s spirit roams with his pet pelican, Mr Percival, and his secret Aboriginal friend, Fingerbone Bill.

He knows no other world.

Suddenly there are intruders, the local school teacher who wants him to take lessons, a resentful wildlife ranger, duck shooters, hooligans with loud music.

Storm Boy, growing up, is forced to choose between a life of continued isolation and the challenges of the outside world.

One time the hunters are in the area, Mr Percival is shot down and Mike does a mad search through the long grass to find him.

The search is unsuccessful and Mike cries as he walks along the beach remembering times they spent together.

Fingerbone eventually finds Mr. Percival and buries him.

He shows Storm Boy the grave he dug, and there are a few moments of sadness, but this is turned to hope when Fingerbone shows Storm Boy a nest with a freshly hatched pelican in it: "Mr. Percival all over again, a bird like him never dies."

The film was one of the first Australian feature films made for children to become well-known and both the book and film are still widely used in school English programmes.