Thu, 20 May 2010 2:23p.m.
By Charles Bennett
After a hectic week of sorting shipping containers, ordering oil drums and purchasing equipment for the new programme, departure for Bougainville is now in sight. On Saturday everyone from the Oxfam Highlands office headed to Everlyn’s village, about 40 minutes drive outside of Goroka in the valley of the Asaro River, for a leaving party in advance of our departure next week.
Everlyn’s family prepared a traditional lunch for us all, including a mumu – a traditional way of cooking in Papua New Guinea, similar to a hangi. This form of cooking involves heating up stones in a fire before transferring them to a pit. A pig is then placed on top, covered with banana leaves and left to cook.
Pigs are a large part of village culture. In every village and even in town there are always pigs running and snorting around and feeding on scraps. Pigs traditionally represent wealth and power, and continue to be important as symbols of status and as a source of protein.
Along with plenty of kaukau (kumara) and salads, we also had greens, chicken and fish cooked in bamboo - another traditional method of cooking. With this cooking method, chicken or fish is mixed with locally grown greens, grated ginger and coconut, stuffed into a section of bamboo and cooked over the hot stones from the mumu.
Before the lunchtime feast we all worked up an appetite on the volleyball court. Despite the obstacles of smoke billowing across the court from the fire for the lunchtime feast, and the ball splitting (mended with tape), some impressive skills were on show, not least from Programme Manager Zoe Coulson-Sinclair.
After the volleyball, we headed to the river to cool down before lunch. The younger members off the Oxfam team especially enjoyed the dip!
The party was a great way to round off my three weeks in Goroka. Pauline and Everlyn have clearly been great members of the team in Goroka and will be greatly missed. For me, it’s been great to get to know everyone here and see the excellent work that Oxfam is involved with in the Highlands.