Plane Day/Feast Day - Day 20

Day 20 of 21: Monday 7/27

I woke up early to check the MAF sked.  Finally they are coming--the day before we are scheduled to leave from Yehebi.  They are to bring the things that we have been waiting for from the first week here - a new radio battery so that we could communicate better on the radio sked, gas and oil for the mower, a new tap for the water tank (the old one leaks badly and I couldn’t repair it) and other supplies as well.  

A plane day always draws a large crowd.

Finally, after 3 weeks and on the last day there, we finally got a plane and received desperately needed supplies.

Carrying the supplies

After the plane came and went, I got David to fill the mower up and with the mower man, Gahi, sent them to the strip to cut away and see if it would be okay.  I went up to put the replacement tap on the water tank. 

After about a half hour or so, while installing the tap, I got a message from David that the mower had stopped running.  Not only had it stopped running but gas had mixed into the oil, and gas was also spurting out of the exhaust system.  This happened about mid-day, and it was the day of the feast. The feast was supposed to be in the evening and people were out hunting for a pig for the feast. Others were gathering food from the bush or their gardens, fishing in the river, etc.  I had this afternoon left to see what I could do with the mower, and I had no idea what to do.  I did not know what was causing the problem (I actually found out before leaving PNG, but there was no way to go back to Yehebi!)  My choice had to be switch engines replacing the newer one with the old, old one!  A fairly big task, but I did not really want them to cut with the old mower housing all rotting away.  The front wheels were almost falling off anyway so it just wasn’t a good option to use the engine on that mower frame.

So David and I went to work, in a major way.  We got the newer bad engine off the good mower and then the old, working engine off of the oldest bad mower and switched them around.  I praise the Lord for the tools that I had left behind and the ones that I brought for the trip. We had everything that we needed.

I also switched out the carburetors.  I switched them because there was a non-essential part missing on the old engine carb (little did I know that the carb was the problem with the one that stopped working, and I had just installed it on the old working engine). 

Although it all sounds simple it still took about 4 hours to make the switch. These were big 11 horsepower engines with belts and cables attached.  I couldn’t have done this without David.  He was a great help. We completed the switch, but we didn’t even have time to start the engine because we had to get ready for the feast. After all, I had started it a couple of days before.  The food being cooked for the feast was almost ready. They had killed a wild pig in the bush (I think they were very happy because wild pigs had been destroying their gardens – something they could not afford to have happen).  

Heating the rocks up is the first step to cooking food for the feast for their traditional mumu.

Meat, sago, etc are placed in banana leaves. Then hot stones are added which cook the food. Several hours later, the food in done. Usually the men cook the feast food.

We quickly hurried down to the river to wash – note that I said “hurried.”  Because I hurried down a very slippery, muddy path I am paying for it to this day!  I slipped really good (or bad depending on how you look at it) this time.  I landed on my posterior and right elbow.  The shock through my arm went right up through my shoulder to my neck.  There was a pop or something in my shoulder.  I was not happy.  It was stupid to hurry, and I was not the young guy who used to do this 20+ years ago.

I have sworn to never go through a rotator cuff tear repair surgery again—I think I have to take that back now.  Anyway, nothing was dislocated so that was good!

We finally got up from the river then up to the church to the feast.  I was exhausted and sweating up a storm--so much for the wash in the river!  The feast was great.  As usual everyone was so excited, especially since there would be meat in the diet today.  By the time we got to the church (where we usually held the non-traditional feasts in the past), everyone was already there.  

Everyone had already gathered when we arrived at church for the feast.

Carefully cutting up the wild pig meat to be sure everyone gets a portion.

Pots of rice, greens, sago, roasted bananas and potatoes.

People, plates, pots of food, and a cooked pig all placed on banana leaves took up almost the whole floor of the church.  There were about 4 or 5 men carefully cutting up and dividing the meat to make sure every clan got the same amount (very important).  Once the piles of meat were set out, then the actual sharing happened.  This is the fun part.  Some of the people grab their food and go around sharing with everyone else.  They have the rice, greens from the bush, sweet potatoes, fish, sago, etc.  Everyone is being very careful not to step over anyone’s legs or food--another big taboo.   David and I supplied the rice, and they cooked it.

Everyone is careful not to step over food or legs - a taboo in the culture.

Food was everywhere!

We have a couple of plates and as people go around they place food on the plates, so much food that our plates began to overflow.  They were piled so high you couldn’t safely lift them from the floor.  Our friend, Dafo, who helped us many years ago to reach the Gobasi with the gospel (he was from a neighboring tribe and had come to visit) managed to scrounge up a pot lid and we had an extra plate.  It  isn’t polite to turn down food, so David and I ended up with 4 plates of food each piled about 4 to 5 inches high.  The last thing to be passed out was the meat.  We got 3 large pieces.  Since we had been mostly meatless over these 3 weeks we “pigged” out.  It was so good. 

Out portion was four plates piled with food!

We really enjoyed the fresh meat!

In the end we had to tell everyone that we could not finish the food and would they please help us finish it off.  A crowd gathered and picked the plates clean in a few minutes, but we saved the meat. 

It was just after dark as we headed back to the house, too tired to pack up for leaving tomorrow.  We would have been already packed, except for the lawnmower problem.  My mind was racing with the many things we had to do before the plane came tomorrow to take us away.