New Britain Survey: Travel

One of the biggest unknowns on this survey was travel. I can sum it up by saying God worked it all out. :-)

We didn't know how we were going to travel when we got to New Britain, but just a few days before the survey, our plans for even getting to New Britain fell through. However, our amazing Aviation department came through for us, and we flew from Ukarumpa to New Britain on the Kodiak!

Once we'd reached New Britain, we needed to travel by boat. For the first two weeks, we went by dinghies (with outboard motors).

We had a few rough rides, and spent a night sleeping in the open on a dock, but overall our travel worked out great!

Here we are, life jackets and all. (People weren't familiar with life jackets and asked us if they were a special survey uniform...)

We also traveled some by sailing canoe. This picture was taken after these kids had taken us to church (on another island) and back. A number of times, we also went on the same kind of platform outrigger canoe, but with people paddling rather than using the sail. (These canoes are massive - they can hold all four of us, plus all of our backpacks, and four people to paddle!)

Some villages are located on little islands just off the coast, while the church and school are located just across the water on the mainland. Since Bonnie and I wanted to interview school and church leaders, we would canoe over to the mainland... here we are setting off.

We took turns paddling in the front. As you can see, the canoes are really skinny! Rather than sitting on a seat inside the canoe, you balance on top of the canoe. And that's why you're glad there is an outrigger!

Many of the islands have no fresh water source, so people canoe to the mainland to bathe, wash dishes and clothes, and get drinking water. It was fun and refreshing to paddle to the mainland and wash in the river. The particular time pictured here felt like it was straight out of a movie... as we paddled up a winding river past beautiful, exotic trees!

New Britain Survey: Where We Went

New Britain Island is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago - a group of islands off the coast of the PNG "mainland." There are two provinces located on New Britain, aptly named East New Britain and West New Britain (WNB). On the survey, we stayed in WNB, surveying three languages on the South coast (Apalik, Lesing-Gelimi and Avau) and one on the North coast (Bebeli). (Click each language's name for some information about it.)

One thing we wanted to find out on the survey is what the people themselves call their language - many language names around PNG were assigned by early researchers who may or may not have visited the area or asked people what they call their language. As a result of our research, the name Lesing-Gelimi will probably be changed... people living in the "Lesing-Gelimi" villages had never heard of Lesing-Gelimi before!

I made a map that shows all four language areas we visited; the computer is acting up and not let me post it directly here, but you can use the following link to see it.

[Click here to see map]

Making maps of the areas we've surveyed is my favorite part of my job, so the time I put into this map was a labor of love. :-) Maps like these will also be included in the survey report that we will write for each language.

Look for a post about how we traveled next - we went by dinghies with outboard motors, small outrigger canoes, and larger outrigger canoes with sails! On the north coast, we drove around in a pickup truck.

New Britain Survey: Working

So, you know I recently helped to survey four languages on New Britain Island... but do you know what I actually did during the three weeks?

The team and I spent much of time talking to people and waiting for things to happen, but the main objective of our work was doing sociolinguistic research (i.e. to find out about the culture and language of each place we visited).

To do this research, we get a group of people together and ask them questions. On this survey, I did these kind of interviews with groups about their contact with other groups - where and how much do they travel, do people from other areas marry into their village, or people from their village marry to other areas, etc. (I also interviewed church leaders in each village - look for more about this in future posts.)

People are usually very interested in meeting us and talking to us, so it's usually not hard to get a big group of people together (in the early morning). If you're trying to get a group of people together later in the day, it can be hard, because everyone has canoed from the island to work in their gardens on the mainland!

Often when we're talking with groups of people, we draw a huge crowd. Can you see Juliann (my teammate) in this picture? She's in the middle of the group - write down a phonetic wordlist in the Apalik language. (If you look closely, you can see a white arm in the middle of the picture.)

New Britain: Beauty of Creation

While the New Britain survey was work, I also had the pleasure of enjoying some incredible beauty! Here are some snapshots from the trip...

A lovely beach...

Oil palm plantation cover areas of north New Britain. The area under the trees is cool and mossy.

A colorful sunset...

And another, with beautiful purples and pinks

The most beautiful swimming hole I'd even seen... spring-fed and clear deep, deep down.

Last but not least, these plumeria (frangipani) flowers. I've seen them in Zambia and Uganda too, but these were the brightest and most beautiful I'd seen!

New Britain Survey: People

The people of New Britain were extremely hospitable, helpful and friendly. I wanted to share a few pictures of them with you...

Some kids from South New Britain

As we left each island by boat, a huge crowd would gather to say goodbye and wave farewell.

A common sight in PNG: little kids carrying and caring for even smaller kids, often their siblings. I took this picture of a little girl carrying her borther around in Lulakevi village.

Some more South New Britain kids and teenagers - they loved having their picture taken!

Here's a picture of me with my namesake Sara at a village on the North Coast. She and her mother both gave me a necklace, since we shared the same name.

One night I went to take a picture of the breathtaking sunset and of course, had a little group of kids following me. They found it hard to believe that I would want to take a picture of the sunset rather than them :-)

Back from New Britain!

I'm back from the New Britain survey!  Thanks so much for your prayers!  God answered them and greatly blessed us.  We were safe, healthy and experienced great hospitality in the form of food, lodging and companionship.

I'm off to dinner now, but I'll try to post pictures and stories later.

God bless,

Sara

Air travel in PNG - by Nancy

I’ve mentioned before that PNG is a very rural country. There just aren’t many roads. There are only about 19,600 km (12,200 miles) of roads in the whole country according to Wikipedia, and only 686 km (426 miles) of those are paved! Even the capital city, Port Morseby, is not connected to any other major town by a road!


View Larger Map

Basically, air travel is the single most important way to get around in PNG. There are 578 airstrips in the country – and only 21 of those are paved. So to say the least, aviation is very important, especially to the missionaries who need to travel to rural areas. Without the pilots, the aviation mechanics, and the people who build and maintain the airstrips-- the language surveyors, Bible translators, and literacy workers would have an immensely harder time doing their jobs.

The mission agency who provides most of the air service at Ukarumpa has 9 aircraft to meet the need. There are 4 Cessna 206’s, 1 King Air B200, 1 Islander BN-2T, 2 Bell Helicopters, and the newest addition to their fleet, the newly arrived Quest Kodiak. The Kodiak arrived a few days after I left PNG, so sadly I didn’t get to be there for the celebration of its’ arrival. But I did have a chance to fly in 3 of the other types of airplanes while I was there and have a tour of the Aiyura hanger.

This is me next to the King Air. I arrived at Ukarumpa on this plane.


These are the two Bell Helicopters.


Here are Sara and me getting into a Cessna 206 which we flew in to Madang.

(Thanks to Jacob for this photo.)

Remi was our pilot, and yes, I got to wear the headphones but I did not fly the plane!


This is what the airstrip looks like at the Aiyura Airport (near Ukarumpa).


One of the pilots (Christopher) fueling up one of the planes.


Looking back at the hangers at Aiyura.


Now some aerial views of PNG…first, two photos looking down on hillside gardens. The burned areas are where they have either cleared to make new gardens, or just burned for no particular reason.
A rugged valley with a river running thru it.


A view of the missions center at Ukarumpa.


Here is another shot of Ukarumpa, nestled in the beautiful Aiyura Valley.


And finally, the mountains of PNG! This was taken on the flight on my way home - between Ukarumpa and Port Morseby.


And now, I’m going to say good-bye! I’ve enjoyed sharing some of my experiences and photos with you from my trip to visit Sara. I hope you have enjoyed them, too.

Please keep praying for Sara, Bonnie, Juliann, and Jacob as they finish up this survey trip and head back to Ukarumpa. Continue to pray for their safety, health, being able to complete the work they went to do, and traveling mercies. Thank you so much!

New Britain Survey: Week 3

The final week of the survey is here! Continue praying and I'll post an update after I get back. Thanks!

November 4 (Wednesday)
The Plan: Visit the remaining two Avau villages.
The Prayer Requests: Pray for safe travel, good relationships and accurate data collection.

November 5 (Thursday)
The Plan: Return to the airstrip where we will get picked up tomorrow
The Prayer Requests: Pray that we’ll be able to find boats (and fuel!) to get us to the airstrip. Also pray for safety on our boat trip.

November 6-7 (Friday-Saturday)
The Plan: Fly from the south coast to the north coast and travel by road to two of the villages in the Bebeli language area.
The Prayer Requests: Pray for good weather for the flight! Pray that the roads will be drivable. Rainy season is just beginning in Bebeli and if it has been raining a lot the unpaved roads may be too muddy to drive on. Pray for safety as we drive, and wisdom about which villages to go to.

November 8 (Sunday)
The Plan: Attend and observe a church service in the Bebeli language area.
The Prayer Requests: Pray that God will lead us to a church where we can gain helpful insights about the language area, as well as encourage people and grow ourselves.

November 9 (Monday)
The Plan: Return to the airstrip so we’ll be ready to fly to Ukarumpa tomorrow.
The Prayer Requests: Again, pray for safe and successful road travel.

November 10 (Tuesday)
The Plan: Fly back to Ukarumpa.
The Prayer Requests: Pray for good weather, protection for us, the pilot, and the plane.