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Published: October 29th 2015
Post Card
Pacific Dawn anchored off Kiriwina.In many ways it is great that not many people know of Kiriwina Island because it stands as a largely unspoiled undeveloped community in the Trobriand Island Group. If you want to see how these people have lived for many hundreds of years, this is a great destination on the P & O Papua New Guinea discovery cruises.
Once again we see some commonality with other island communities, and some unique things as well. This is the largest of the Trobriand Islands and supports a local population of around 12,000 people.
We have returned to a Matriarchal society with some interesting values. (Rabaul with the groups we spoke to were community custodians of land) Possessions are passed mother to daughter, pigs are an indicator of wealth and are highly treasured, and we as visitors are known as 'Dim-dims'. The men are worth less than pigs, but from what we saw behaved better!
We were glad that we were not known as Dim Sims else we may have ended up in the cooking pot. While Christian Missionaries have changed the heart of the people from cannibalism to a welcoming society, the rest of their culture seems largely in tact.
The peir - Kiriwina
This was quite a long pier, but well built. There are 48 languages spoken on the island, so the typical communication/miscommunication issues have prevented a bond between clans. The Missions have taught the people to read and using English and Pigeon, bridge the gap between clans.
Cannibalism and wars have been replaced with Trobriand Cricket. While we didn't see this played it is similar to western cricket, but also rather different. Firstly, there is no limit to the number of players in a team as long as both teams have the same number of players. This is no 50 over game nor a 5 day test. The game can go on for weeks until both teams have batted in full. The games are frequently interrupted with songs and dancing that spill out onto the field.
There is no port at Kiriwina, so we went ashore on the ship's tender to a pier. We queued early as we were aware that the junior and senior schools were putting on some cultural displays as well as the usual markets that you expect in the islands.
The young ladies were dressed very colourfully with feathers adorning their head gear. The young boys from the junior school not as colourful,
OOOPS
A navigational issue - Kiriwina Island but their Emu Walk (or maybe here the Cassowary Walk as that is a native bird here) was performed with purpose and exaggerated vigour. The Island community really made a huge effort to showcase their culture, songs etc.
We found the locals chatty and were surprised that they were hosting visitors that day from adjoining islands that had never seen white skinned dim-dims. In looking through the photos, we realised that while many aspects of their village life had been influenced by missionaries, the teachers and leaders were now indigenous people, not outsiders. That doesn't mean to say they don't get help from outside, but it appeared that the communities were substantial self sufficient. This was another place where we chose to leave one larger donation with the schools. The cruise entertainment director also brought paper and pens and other basic educational material from a charity jointly run by himself and P&O. The communities are trying to build education standards and skills that will help their communities such as teaching, nursing and medicine etc. That's not easy on a remote island that has no phones, no pool but plenty of pets. (Pigs and dogs)
One lady in the
market had a tame eclectic parrot. (she didn't know it by that name) The male bird had been eating her corn, so she made a trap and caught the bird. It was surprisingly easy to take from wild, and in the space of a couple of weeks had become an easy pet for the family to handle. Previously I had only seen eclectic parrots in far north Queensland, but in captivity. They are called eclectic as the male is a plain emerald green, and the female a colourful red and blue mix.
As we were leaving the Waterfront restaurant last evening, I was approached by a well dressed crew member who asked if I was going in to dine. David and I chatted to him for some time while the girls powdered their noses. Marius was the Maître D'hôtel and was asking how we were finding the food and more particularly the service in the restaurant. We were able to assure him that all was well as far as we were concerned.
He was interested in where we came from and found in return that he was Lithuanian. In the course of the chat I told him that
I would be writing blogs about the cruise and wanted to include the people of the ship as well as the adventure. I had booked the Grand Tour for the last day of the cruise, but told No Cameras! So, I asked if it was possible to get some photos of the galley in action. He was sympathetic and said he would get back to me. He asked if we were dining at a regular time and table and noted the detail.
As we were about finished our meal this evening, who should appear at our table but the Maître D'hôtel. He took one look at my camera and asked if I had a simpler one! No worries, swivelled the viewfinder, set it on auto and showed him the power and the shutter buttons, and off he went.
Some time later he returned with the camera and Ben the Executive Chef who was a little apologetic for having dropped my camera in a pot of crayfish chowder. I quickly flipped the viewfinder and plucked out and ate a tender piece of crayfish, and then checked and discovered to our delight the photos had survived the mock dunking. As
you will see the kitchens are immaculately clean. The photos were taken in the lull between the early diners and those who arrive around 7:00pm or later. At peak hour, this is an incredible frantic well organised kitchen.
Most evenings the P&O photo crew were ready to take your picture (and money) against a variety of beautiful back ground banners. We decided to try some of our own around the ship in the evening as there are many appropriate paintings in stair wells quite appropriate as back grounds. Also, the atrium changes colour at night, so we experimented with some different photos. The professional models we employed were Mary, Margaret and David. I believe I got shot as well!
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Ake Och Emma
Ake Dahllof and Emma Holmbro
I would love to go there
I hope I have the chance to go to PNG one day. Looks like a very interesting place. /Ake