A friend of mine is working for MSF in Papau New Guinea, he's been doing this kind of work for about six years now and has been in some war torn countries in deepest darkest Africa.
I receive three or four round robin e mails a year, they always make for interesting reading; tragic circumstances entwined with his peculiar sense of humour. Anyway, I thought I'd share this one with you, I found it quite thought provoking. If you're having a bad day, it may help with perspective…
…….. I thought it might be nice to tell a few stories. It is a big part of culture in PNG, especially the rural areas where there is no TV or media. People sit round at the end of the day 'telling stories'. So what stories to tell? Well, for me the most overwhelming cultural difference, the most difficult part of working here and the cause of so much of the suffering is this thing they call the 'Wantok' system. I thought it would be interesting to tell some stories of everyday people and events which illustrate the 'Wantok' system. But first of all a bit of background - what is it? Wantok is pidgin deriving from 'One Talk' or in other words 'same language' which means........one clan or family group from the same village. It is not tribal - the Huli are all one tribe, but within the tribe there are many different Wantoks.
So what is the Wantok system - well essentially the whole clan is responsible for the actions of everyone in it and the consequences. What does that mean? Well if you do really well and earn lots of money then you have to share it with your whole Wantok. If you get married and need 20 pigs or £15,000 to pay the bride price then you will not have to pay it yourself - your whole Wantok will pay for it. And if someone from your Wantok commits a crime - the whole Wantok is guilty and will have to pay for it - with money or their lives.
Now on first appearances you may be forgiven for a naïve impression that this is a somewhat romantic and fair alternative to more developed social cultures. But let me tell you a few stories.......
Story 1
Last week we were travelling 9 hours by Landcruiser up and down the dirt tracks of the mighty mountains which form the Highlands of Papua New Guinea to the country's 3rd biggest city (about the size of my home town Perth in Scotland) to buy our next 3 months supplies. The scenery is like something from Lord of the Rings. We climb 2000 metres up the side of a mountain, our Lanbdcruiser roaring at 6,000 RPM in 2nd gear the whole way up. We ride over the top of the mountain and out onto an Alpine plateau which forms the flat bottom of another valley. The mist rolls across the coarse grasses and marsh to the steep sides of the next two colossal mountains which engulf them on either side. As I look out across the moors and up the dark forested side of the next mountain I count more than 20 waterfalls cascading down its sides. I half expect some terrordactyls to come soaring over its brooding summit.
About 3 hours into our journey and up and down many bumpy mountain sides we come across a road block. A ragtag bunch of machete wielding villagers, about 50 in number have put rocks across our path and are intently blocking our way. We slow the car and check the doors are locked. The driver cracks the window, This is the Nipa tribe, a wily bunch and traditional enemy of the Taris. I have three national staff in the car with me - two drivers and one guard. They are all from the Huli tribe, two from the Tari area but all three from different Wantoks. 'Nobody has a 'problem' with the Nipas at the moment from your Wantoks?' I ask them. 'No - we are all good' they inform us. We inch the car forward to the roadblock. The driver speaks a bit of Nipa language - and talks with the leader through the window. Fifty hardened faces surround the vehicle and peer in at us. They see our white skin and back off a bit. I smile and wave innocently. A few children laugh and wave back from behind the men. The driver revs his engine, the crowd part and we slowly drive through them. I exhale. 'What was the problem?' I ask the driver. 'They are looking for people from a certain Wantok' he tells me. 'Someone from Nipa was killed by someone from that Wantok and now they are looking for anyone from that Wantok who is travelling on the road so they can kill them for payback.'
Story 2
A few days later I'm standing outside the guest house in Mt Hagen chatting with Andrew the driver and smoking a cigarette. Its a beautiful guest house he comments. Yes, I agree.
'I would love to open one of these in Tari' he says.
'Wow, Andrew - what a fantastic idea' I say 'why don't you then?'
'They will burn it down' he says.
'Burn it down? Who? Why?'
'As soon as my Wantok do something wrong - our enemy will burn it down. Businesses are easy targets and it is always the first thing to get targeted in Tari in a Wantok dispute'.
'That is so sad' I say. 'No wonder there are only a handful of businesses in Tari then. And that explains why most of them are Chinese owned. How can you expect to develop economically then? A population of 300,000 people in the Huli tribe with no hope of an economic future because you keep attacking yourselves. You have to love the irony'.
Story 3
When we arrive back in Tari, the truck is unloaded and we shower the dust off our manky bodies. I stand in the hot shower and let the water drain away in red streaks as it carries the dirt away. I contemplate the Wantok system. A couple of weeks earlier we got a call on the VHF radio for another RTA (Road Traffic Accident), an entire minibus had gone off the road and into a river. It was all one family. The driver had been killed instantly, another drowned in the river, 17 were brought to us and treated in the hospital including a couple of babies and a number of children. After 2 hours all the patients are seen to. We head off duty and head back to the house for some dinner. After dinner we hear from the guards that we have to step up security for the night. Apparently someone from this family involved in the accident called another member of their Wantok back in the village and informed them that one of their Wantok had been killed in the accident. They then concluded that it wasn't the drivers fault for driving recklessly or having the vehicle overloaded with too many passengers (he was dead after all), but that the brakes must have failed (the usual claim in accidents) and that it was therefore the owner of the vehicles fault. So, the owner is from a different Wantok therefore they should go and kill someone from that Wantok. The owner didn't happen to be around when they went for their 'payback' so they chopped his sister to death instead.
As a result the woman's Wantok were now heading to the hospital to take payback on the relatives of the patients who were in the hospital. We took mitigation steps (made everyone except the patients leave the hospital compound, locked our gates for the night and left our guards on high alert) and thankfully, all was well.
Story 4
I was chatting to one of my staff a few days ago over a cup of tea, asking him about his family, how many brothers and sisters he had, what his parents did for a living, etcetera. 'My mother is dead' he said
'Oh, that's a shame' I said ' what happened to her?'
'My brother chopped her in the neck' he replied
'Oh' I murmured
'Yes, then he ran away'
'That's terrible' I say
'Yes. Then my Uncle - my mother's brother said we had to pay compensation to his Wantok to pay back the bride price. Or they would kill one of my Wantok as payback. Probably me because I was the easiest to get as I work in the hospital and have to come to work every day.'
'Wow - what did you do?' I exclaimed
'I had to pay £2000 compensation otherwise they would have killed me'.
''Fan-tastic! So not only do you find out your mother has been murdered, your brother is the murderer, your uncle then gives you death threats and forces you to pay him £2000 not to kill you. In what other culture on any other part of the planet is that OK???'
'Oh that's normal here' he says.
Story 5
A Friday afternoon a teenage girl is admitted to our Family Support Centre for survivors of family and sexual violence. She was walking home and was raped on a path to her village not too far from the hospital. She can identify the attacker and there is a witness. Her parents are with her and are encouraged to report it to the police. Justice they say. That is what they want. On Monday they return to the hospital for a follow up in the Family Support Centre. 'Did you report it to the police' the staff ask the parents. 'No' they say. 'We went to the village court instead'. The village court is a collection of village elders who sit under a tree and hold court in their community according to their cultural laws as opposed to the National Laws of the Country. 'Yes,' they say 'we took compensation instead. The Wantok of the rapist had to pay us the full bride price for our daughter (she would not be worth as much otherwise since she had been raped) and then he has to marry her (because it is difficult to find someone who will want to marry someone who has been raped).'
So as you can see it is not really accurate to say the local culture is romantic or precious and should be protected or 'saved' from the evils of the West or development before it disappears. This culture needs to evolve as quickly as possible!
Well folks, I better go get showered and ready for my flight.. Its holiday time!!!
I hope you are well and feel the blessings of being part of a 'civilised' society as I do.
Lengthy lovin'
Andy
