Tapini Mission Experience
Papua New Guinea is located in the southwestern Pacific Oceanit and is the world's most diverse country, with more than 700 native tongues and 80% of Papua New Guinea's people living in rural areas with few or no facilities of modern life. Students experience first hand poverty and the unknown however have new skills that will last a lifetime.
Tapini 2011
With expectations high and curiosity at a peak, the Monivae mission experience team consisting of Mr. Brendan Ashby, Miss Georgie Rolls, Ben Ryan, Ben Stubbs, Emma Nicholas, Jack Kennedy, Jack McLeod, Danica Williams, Marcus Dorado, Brittany England and Cameron Davey set off on what would be an eye opening and life changing trip.
The mission experience was the most confronting and adventurous journey so far undertaken in the teams lives. It would be the frst time on foreign soil for most of us and the frst taste of a different culture outside of the Western District's culture-dry society. The kind, loving nature of the local people, the never ending smiles displayed on everyone's face and the smooth, shiny, massive machetes in the
possession of every man, woman and child was a consistent reminder of how far from home we actually were. This became a concept which was hard to get used to at frst, but an ideal which will never be forgotten. The expression, "PNG mission experience" was respected highly by many of the locals but difficult for the group to come to terms with. The longer duration spent in PNG the clearer it became to the team that it would be us, for whom the trip would be most beneficial.Spending the short but memorable time in the schools, sitting amongst the students and answering the curiosities of most, was a frst hand experience of the sheer enthusiasm that was shared by every student attending school. The equipment, resources and infrastructure available to these students was far from impressive, but this didn't affect their willingness to learn, the rich desire to do the best they could and the ability for everyone to enjoy every little thing they had access to was incredible. It was witnessing this aspect to life in PNG that led to the wake-up call of how much we take for granted in Australia, and especially at Monivae. During this refection, of the things in our daily lives which are too easily taken for granted, our value for the trip improved dramatically. The ability to share every loved possession between everyone else and the ability to turn a deflated rugby ball into half a village's enjoyment was embraced by each member of the Monivae team and a highlight of the trip.This article could go on for pages and pages, describing the four hour hike through the highlands of central new guinea with a one-hundred metre drop on one side of you, and waterfalls cascading on the other, marching through sloshy mud or climbing over boulders, or maybe the traditional dances that went for hours celebrating the opening of the new medical centre, or describe the personal relationships each member experienced with many of the students and locals. A place where it was the enjoyment of each others company that made it so beautiful and loving, but there is a shorter and much more enjoyable way to gain a knowledge and understanding of all that PNG mission experience has to offer and that is by going there and living it yourself.
Ben Ryan and Jack Kennedy