Tag Archives: portraits “Yuorait?” “Yu stap gut?” The calls of “How are you?” in Papua New Guinea’s Tok-Pisin were all around us when we stopped at a simple roadside stall just outside Maprik in East Sepik Province. The local people who were gathered in the canopied shade – selling their produce, gossiping and chewing betel – seemed happy to see […]  How can one talk about “the people” or “the culture” of Papua New Guinea? Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse nations in the world. Comprising the eastern half of the world’s second-largest island, it is home to hundreds of different ethnic groups and 852 known languages. And, who knows how many pockets […]  “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ~Berthold Auerbach I count my many blessings daily – But, some days are still harder than others. I always experience post-holiday (Christmas-New Year-Birthday) blues: a greater-than-usual melancholy that is at least in part the consequence of too much food and alcohol and too many […]  That direct, forthright gaze! Eyes red from the ubiquitous dust and the smoke from the dung-fires; skin weathered by time and the elements; teeth broken and stained by hard-living and tobacco – but still happy to stare at the foreigner’s camera with a complete lack of self-consciousness. For me, one of the many joys of […]  I love Papua New Guinea. I love it with reservations; the same kind of reservations one has about a disordered cousin whose heart is in the right place, but whose life is always a tumult of chaos. I admit: I was cautious at first. I had been warned before I booked the flights for my […] |
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