Daily Ramblings - April 14, 2009

Welcome to “Daily Ramblings”. Throughout our Peace Adventure we share our experiences, friends and stories of the folks we meet along the way.  We try to update it every few days.  Additionally photos are posted that support the places and people we are trying to share with you.  You will be able to view a broader selection of our photos in the “Photos” section.

April 14, 2009 - We are motoring eastward along the north coast of Papua New Guinea on our way to Wewak – near the mouth of the Sepik River.   I’d like to share a few reflections:

We’ve been 2 1/2 weeks amongst the Raja Ampat Islands, the Misool Islands, and various island groups off the north coast of Papua and New Guinea, Indonesia.

The villages are clean and neatly organized along main streets of sand.  The people are friendly and curious. Children laughing and playing.  Neighbors clearly helping one another repairing a boat, fixing a roof, or preparing fish nets.  In this part of Indonesia the Christian missionaries colonized the cultures, but the rest of life seems timeless.  Fishing and gardening feed all - the splendor of the sea and prolific growth of the jungle providing a haven for living.

We came to relax and refresh, to fish and dive, and relish the sun and sea.  And the scenery above and below the water have been beyond imagination.  The seas have been calm...the skies blue.

But, interestingly, it is the villagers we have met, the laughter of the kids, the group of girls letting me teach them a few words of English, the boys challenging Cam in soccer, the sharing of Easter eggs, the re-stringing of a village guitar and the music resulting...it is the delight of briefly being welcomed into the lives of these peaceful folks that we will remember always.

We have been without television and world news.  Stock market reports and corporate earnings have not been part of our world and are unknown to the Papua villagers.  What many families have lost in the recent economic downturn is more money than several of these villages will ever see in a lifetime.  What they have, is worth more than any economic number can ever measure.  Truly, happiness - it takes a village.

Read April 7 Log

Read March 31 Log

Read March 29 Log

Read March 12 Log