That was when things started to get better. “Come with me”. It was Nathan, a pilot living a ‘one month in Sydney; one month in the Highlands’ routine. He had been through cancelled flights a few times. With his help and only by means of his help my ticket was rebooked and my overnight was spent at the Crown Hotel in downtown Port Moresby, which meant that my first six nights on this trip were spent in six different locations (and nine out of eleven overall).
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The main road through the CLTC campus |
Early Tuesday morning we were on our way to Hagen, only to discover later in the week that the same flight the following morning had its door blown out at 20,000 feet, traumatising a couple of CLTC Council members. Yikes?! I arrived at the Christian Leaders’ Training College (CLTC) campus just before 10am, ready to step into my first talk at 10.30am. In amongst my four talks, I made a presentation to the principal, William, thanking him for the CLTC distance education course, “Come, Follow Me.”
Under God’s gracious hand, this course was the most decisive factor in transforming the little church we pastored in Invercargill (NZ) in the 1980s – and now, thirty years later where we live in South Asia, Barby is watching women be transformed by it each year.
On Thursday morning I was to take the trip to Ukarumpa by PMV (‘public motor vehicle’). ‘Why does everyone roll their eyes at me when this trip is mentioned?’ Even a google-search rolled its eyes at me! Even Nathan had rolled his eyes and told me not to do it. Apprehensive-me started to become a bit anxious. In their wisdom (and my relief) CLTC asked their head of IT, Kuo, to travel with me. He was on his way to Lae to train students in the art of Moodle. Patrick picked us up at 7am for the short drive to the Banz PMV-stand. I commented to him about how the valley was like a Garden of Eden and then, uncharacteristically, added an evaluative comment – “but too many people are eating apples, is that right?”. I shouldn’t have worried. Patrick was still chuckling when we reached the PMV-stand…
After waiting for two hours for the PMV to fill up, Kuo and I were on our way along the Highlands Highway. One of the reasons for the eye-rolling was the poor quality of the road. Well, just quietly, when compared with the Manipur Motorway in North East India, from Imphal to Kohima, this highway was every bit a highway. Only on a handful of occasions did it feel like we were driving into a pothole and then out of it. However, being a PMV and with the waiting here and there, the 5hr 27min trip on google-maps did become a neat, round figure of 10 hours.
The other reason for the eye-rolling soon became evident. At various times, small groups of thugs, posing as labourers, would gather in the middle of the road, causing vehicles to slow down so they could ask for money. If I was on my own in a private car, the thugs would have become thieves (and maybe more) and I’d have been in big trouble. Our PMV driver had his own strategy when confronting them. Rather than slowing down, he accelerated as he approached them and they’d be seen flying off to the side of the bus in that last split-second. I think I felt more safe with this strategy.
I wouldn’t have missed the drive for anything.
What a way to see the beauty of this country!
The mountains, with Mt Wilhelm (the highest peak in Australasia, at 4500m) nearby, but unseen and travelling across the Daulo Pass (at 2500m). [NB: Apologies for the poor quality of photos, as most of them were taken from a cramped vantage point inside the PMV].
The main market in Goroka |
The early morning market at Ukarumpa |
The ubiquitous beetlenut, looking far better like this than when it is splashed as a red stain across peoples’ teeth.
I became more accomplished with ‘pidgin’ English, as we travelled.
Although I have not had it confirmed yet, I think ‘Top Up Hia’ means ‘Top Up Here’ … 😀. Such a clever boy. |
And the beauty extended inside the PMV to the children, often sitting up with driver…
Along the way, the striking juxtaposition of social issues with numerous churches will remain with me. It suggests a nominalism reminiscent again of Northeast India (and parts of countries like the USA, for example) where a high percentage of Christians appears to have little influence-for-good on public life. It takes us back to Jesus on salt, light and yeast. In PNG this is compounded by the intrusion of foreigners into their socio-economic life, be it the local grocery shops, or the way wealth from their mines is being taken out of the country. Scandalous. However there are whispers of hope among local people with the recent election of a committed Christian (James Marape) as Prime Minister and his stated intent to focus on issues like corruption.
Ukarumpa is home to SIL/Wycliffe, the ministry committed to Bible translation around the world. It is a totally self-sufficient community, with the circumference of about 5 miles enclosing within it as many as 500 ex-pats at one time. It is beautiful. If you put a beach out the front, you could be at a holiday spot on the Coromandel in New Zealand.
SIL was the venue for a Langham Preaching seminar, now into its tenth year in PNG. The last time I was in PNG was for the first one. I arrived in time to be involved just in the Friday programme (which needed to finish at 11am!) and so it was a long way to come for a minimal involvement. But that is OK. Tim, our faciltator from Melbourne, has persevered with the work throughout the decade and it was so encouraging to hear him say that two local trainers – Willie and Jonathan – were involved in the teaching during the week. It has been a struggle. But this was the best week they’ve had thus far. Praise God.
It is always encouraging to see the calibre of the women who surface at seminars, even though they can be so few in number. I always try to have an affirming word with them and, at one point, I popped into the small group discussion of which Sophie was a part. Wow – such insight. You can encourage her too, as she is Business Manager of a coffee-exporting business (www.erandoracoffee.com)!
I facilitated an interactive sesssion on ‘integrity in the life of the preacher’ – and invited them to pray for each other, before concluding by reading 1 Thessalonians 2.1-12 with them.
Midway through the session I had each small group contribute to a list of biblical characters with integrity – and then a list of those who lacked it and why they thought this was the case. This group is still bringing a smile to my face. I think they really, really liked the story of Daniel.
Speaking of Daniel one of the benefits of visiting Ukarumpa was meeting up with a classmate from life at Woodstock School in North India. I had last seen Danny – now, ‘Dan’, for obvious reasons – in the 5th grade, 50 years ago. He and Arlene have been based at Ukarumpa for 30 years as the SIL IT specialist. There are over 300 languages – be it entire Bibles, or parts of one, or something like the Jesus film – represented on his database. Amazing.
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With Dan, 50 years after being at school together in North India. |
After the seminar finished it was back to Goroka, 2 hours back along the same road from whence I had come the day before, and a flight to Port Moresby.
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18 of us in the Salvation Army vehicle back to Goroka |
Looking out through the window from the brand new Goroka airport. |
The final day, added belatedly to the schedule, was spent with the freshly-minted Langham Scholar, George, working now at the CLTC-Port Moresby campus. So lovely to meet him and Ruby and their children, Emmanuel and Irene. Only on the job for a couple of months and still waiting to defend his dissertation, George had about 80 people crammed into a room for me to do abbreviated versions of three of my talks from earlier in the week, after Tim preached from Nehemiah 8. Wow. Such a mature group – mainly pastors, rather than students – and as engaged a group as I’ve had anywhere in recent years. A real highlight of the week, saved right until to the end – almost.
‘Almost’ because George kindly arranged for me to go and see Joshua and Mone. Joshua was a previous principal of CLTC, as well as a senior pastor at Boroka Baptist Church and even Langham Preaching’s coordinator for a season. A highly respected PNG leader whom I first met when he was on sabbatical in Auckland in the 1990s. He has been in such poor health and was more frail than he looks in this photo. It was good to pray for them, honouring them for their faithfulness in serving Jesus over the years and through many difficult times.
nice chatting
Paul
About Me

the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
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