Middle of Nowhere

by Sara's sister Laura and dad Forrest

We've arrived in the middle of nowhere - Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea! Believe it or not, Sara has already been living and working here for almost two years. We (Sara's sister Laura and dad Forrest) were excited to have the opportunity to visit Sara for about a month. Our trip has already been an eye-opening experience!

After many hours of flying from Pennsylvania, we landed in Port Moresby, the capital city of PNG. We got off one plane and right onto another, much smaller plane. It was just big enough to hold 5 people and most of our luggage! Upon take-off, we could see the city from the air, but that quickly dissolved into a beautiful landscape of green jungle and winding rivers.

As we continued, the terrain became more mountainous - the mountains were sometimes almost as high as our plane! We flew over these gorgeous views for about 2 hours before we caught our first sight of Sara's PNG home, Ukarumpa.

This town of missionaries is sometimes called "Little America" because it is self-supporting. Ukarumpa has a grocery store, open-air market, medical clinic, elementary school, high school, community library, hardware store, gas station, and beyond. Why is it so important that Ukarumpa be self-supporting? Because it really is in the middle of nowhere!

Though we have already been amazed by many things on our trip, experiencing the remoteness of Papua New Guinea is one of the first and most astonishing! To fly for 2 hours at 100 miles per hour and see absolutely nothing but jungle, mountains, and the occasional village of grass huts? That is more remote than any of us from American can imagine! Many of us believe that Susquehanna country is the middle of nowhere, but Dad and I have learned what that can really mean.