The Baya Baya legend: Messiah-like myths amongst the Huli & Foe

By BETTY GABRIEL WAKIA - Posted on PNG Attitude

An entry in the 2016 Crocodile Prize

IN EARLY Huli history, there emerged an important young man named Baya Baya. He was the son of the great high god of Hela, Datagaliwabe, who transformed himself into the sun god Ni, came down to the earth and stayed among the Huli people.

Baya Baya was conceived by the virgin Tiame. He was a perfect young man who went around doing good and persuading people to stop fighting, committing adultery and doing evil things.

He was around 14 or 15 years old when he came with Tiame past Duna to Koroba and then down to Lai Terebo places in Duguba. Lai Terebo is a site for performing the ancient dindi ponegone, the ground knot rites.

From there Tiame and Baya Baya came into the Huli area where they stopped and slept at Gumu.

Then they crossed the Tagali River and went to Lumu Lumu, Wabia and all around the Huli area telling people not to do evil things.

At last they came to Bebenete, the special ground called Abureteanda, the most important Lai Terebo place situated beside where Dauli Teacher’s College is now.

Here men were killing pigs for dindi pongone, the ground knot sacrifice, so they decided Baya Baya was going to hold the pigs and would let his blood flow to bless Hela land and stop people doing wrong things.

The man in charge of the pig killing said, “When you hit the pig, instead of cutting it, just miss and cut Baya Baya’s hand between thumb and forefinger.”

But they hated Baya Baya so they hit him and knocked him to the ground. Then they butchered his body and chopped it into little pieces and mixed his blood with the pig’s blood. The women washed out his intestines like that of a pig.

The men who murdered Baya Baya were mostly from the hameigini (clans) Padagabua, Abua Amuira, Hogo Yuwi, Koroba Goli, Pailero, Uguma Labe, Dugu Kewai, Hubiyabe, Homa, Ambua, in and around Dauli village and other Huli men, people from Obena, Duna and Duguba were there that day.

Pieces of Baya Baya’s dismembered body were buried in the territories of all the guilty clans to stop people from doing wrong. Today some of his remains are at one of the secret places inside Mount Lagabe.

A certain stream flowing from Abureteanda sometimes appears red due to the underlying clay and the Huli say it is the fluid from Baya Baya’s intestines containing his blood.

That day, all the men in charge of the killing told the people not to cross the Huria river or go back to their places for six months while they changed their name from Huli to Homa.

The people spoke the Homa language for six months then changed back to Huli. The reason they did this was because they were afraid that bingi, the darkness, would come to them because they had done wrong.

The darkness had occurred earlier in Huli, but on the day of Baya Baya’s death they were afraid it would return so the dindi pongone yi, the specialists who performed ground knot rituals, altered the nouns in the language to avert this.

The Huli regard darkness as punishment from Datagaliwabe and say that, since Baya Baya's death, his mother has been keeping a special pandanus tree of angalu nanenamu variety in Duna. When the tree bears fruit, darkness will occur. Since then, whenever there has been trouble, famine or drought, the people have come together at Bebenete and changed all the names around.

On the day they killed Baya Baya, they hit his mother and threw mud at her and pulled off her clothes. She ran away naked and dirty, trying to get back to her own place. On the way, the Tani clan, which had not participated in Baya Baya's murder, took her in, washed her, gave her new clothes and looked after her.

As she was leaving, Baya Baya's mother said, "Because you have looked after me and helped me in my trouble, one day you, the Tani clan, will be the largest and greatest of all the Huli clans."

So today the Tani people are the biggest and strongest clan and are growing bigger and stronger all the time. Who knows, the new Hela Governor might be from the Tani or Ni clan because the first Governor came from the place that killed Baya Baya.

Many people believe Baya Baya will one day return to the Huli area. Others fear that his kin may come and demand compensation for his death. This is a common cause for concern since all the Huli clan, except for the Tani, are responsible for his death and it is the only case in Huli history where payback has not been given.

The fact that Baya Baya was a perfect man born from a virgin who never did wrong but shed his blood to atone for the sins of all the people, suggests a connection with the Christian gospel, although there is no resurrection of Baya Baya.

A similar Messiah-like myth is found amongst the Foe, the details of which are closer to the gospel than the legend of Baya Baya. Possibly similar myths occur amongst other Huli neighbours as well.

This is the Messiah like myth found in the Foe area.

“Long ago a bird came from the sky and alighted upon a virgin woman. She saw a mark on her stomach and knew she was pregnant and a son was born.

“When he grew up he went around telling people in each village to stop killing, stealing and committing adultery.

“Because he was a good man people hated him. They wanted to continue doing evil, so they decided to kill him. He knew he would be killed, so he told his mother to come to the place where he would be killed on the fifth day after his death.

“Eventually the men in a certain longhouse grabbed him and dragged him out to kill him in the village. But he said, ‘Remember you will pollute the village if you kill me outside the village’. So they dragged him and killed him in the bush.

“They then lay his dead body on rock ledges. Five days later his mother came to the place where he had been laid, but his body was no longer there. She saw a strange light in the sky and heard a voice saying ‘Your son is no longer dead but is with his father in the sky’.”

The Messiah-like myths from the Foe and the gospel refer to the same events, but the New Testament accounts are more accurate because they were written down.

This indicates that the gospel or a version may have come to the area at least 150 years before contemporary missionary outreach.

Concerning Baya Baya the Huli say he is not Jesus Christ but God allowed this legend in their oral history so that they would understand the gospel when it came to them.  

Go to link: https://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2016/05/the-baya-baya-legend-messiah-like-myths-amongst-the-huli-foe.html

The history & mythology of biango dudu, the Huli singing dog

By BETTY GABRIEL WAKIA - Posted on PNG Attitude

This is dedicated to my dad because of his love for 'biango dudu'

SINCE the beginning of Hela history, Huli people have lived in close contact with animals, usually as farmers and hunters, and have developed myths and legends about them.

All kinds of creatures play important roles in Huli mythology. In some Huli legends, animals perform heroic acts as mediators between heaven and earth. They may also be the source of the wisdom and power of a shaman.

Animals often have a dual quality in Huli mythology, being helpful to humans or harmful or sometimes both. They provide people with food, but at the same time, they can be dangerous. As sources and symbols, Huli myths and legends of animals represent the mystery and power of the natural world, which can create or destroy.

Dogs were important to the Huli people. It is said Huli men and dogs worked together to hunt for survival.

The mossy, wet-cloud forest of Hela holds an ancient secret. A seldom seen, fiercely predatory type of wild dingo called biango dudu or hiyawi.

Not a lot is known about this dog, popularly known as the New Guinea singing dog because multiple individuals may howl in chorus.

The Huli biango dudu is a slim dog mostly living in the high mountains. They often burst out howling during the morning and evening and each has its own unique voice. They use their tuneful howling to communicate with other dogs.

In those times of old, many Huli people would capture biango dudu male puppies and raise them as hunting dogs. They were highly valued by Huli hunters in those times.

The biango dudu’s feet are extremely agile and able to grasp objects. They climb and jump like a cat and ascend any tree large enough to hold their weight if they spot prey.

They also have great joint elasticity, especially in the neck and spine, and good rotation of the hip joint.

In appearance, biango dudu have wide faces and golden brown fur with patches of white on chest, paws and the tip of their tails. Compared to domestic dogs of the same size, biango dudu have shorter legs, flexible joints and paws that rotate further than those of the domestic dog.

This legend illustrates the bravery of Hela and the dog Peli and also the importance of dogs as informer.

There were two dama (Satans), Dabera Lira and Dabera Ali, living at Guluanda. We don’t know where they came from but one of them wanted to kill and eat the people.

One night, biango Peli met a dama and asked, “Where are you going?” “I’m going to kill and eat all the people,” the dama said.

“All right”, said Peli, “I’ll show you where the people are if you can count all my hairs before daylight”.

So the dama started counting and when it had finished, Peli said: “Now you must count all the dust.” When it had finished that, Peli said, “Now you must count all the trees.”

When it had counted all the trees, Peli said, “Now you count all the water.” But the dama said, “You can’t count water; mindiya, kindiya, goregira, koregira,” (which were nonsense words) and went off in a huff.

Hela tried to chase the dama, but couldn’t catch it. They went on and on until night fell. The dama came to a big tree and stopped beside it. Hela came to the same tree and slept on the other side, but neither knew the other was there.

Hela went back in the morning and the dama went away. Dog Peli in this legend was biango dudu, how brave and heroic was biango dudu at that time.

A certain track throughout the Huli area, known as habua hariga (the greedy road), passed from Bebenete to Guluanda, was avoided by women with children younger than four months. This path was said to have been taken by the snake and dog in early times; they were good friends in those days.

The dog could curl up but the snake could only stretch out in a straight line. So the snake said to the dog, “Give me your magic to bend.” So then it could bend and roll into a coil. So the snake gave the dog the magic to blow ash off sweet potato so that dogs can think of food.

The biango dudu live happily and take advantage of any meal that comes their way. They eat birds, rodents, cassowaries and as well as small or medium sized marsupials.

They has no problem with taking the catch if Huli hunters don’t check their traps often enough. They have also been known to occasionally eat fruit.

In present Huli culture, biango dudu are sometimes kept as guard dogs but are generally neglected and left to scavenge for food. Their population fluctuates because they are destroyed when they compete with pigs for food.

After white contact, they were also killed off in preference for the supposedly more ferocious European dog used by other Papua New Guineans.

But Huli biango dudu remain unique because of their beautiful singing. In the middle of the rainforest, they sing their hearts out making  the Huli wonder why they are crying. Today, they are one of the most endangered species in Hela Province.

Go to link: https://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2016/06/the-history-mythology-of-biango-dudu-the-huli-singing-dog.html

The remarkable & true story of the Huli wig school

By BETTY GABRIEL WAKIA - Posted on PNG Attitude

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Award for Tourism, Arts & Culture

DESPITE tribal warfare and the bad reputation that follows, Hela is one of the provinces that puts Papua New Guinea on the world map.

In terms of its natural resources and culture, the people of Hela strongly and proudly uphold their tradition and culture.

Hela always participates in special occasions, to showcase and promote its unique culture. Today Hela culture is a significant most tourist attraction in PNG.

Papua New Guineans sometimes believe that education only comes from Western countries. But for thousands of years we had education as well. Traditional education.

The Huli wig school is one of the oldest traditional schools in Hela Province and possibly PNG.

Its lessons have been passed down from generation to generation and still exist today.

Huli men are best known for their custom of wearing decorative woven wigs, elaborate head-dresses decorated with bundles of multi-coloured feathers and adopted a celebratory festivals.

The famous Huli Wigmen attend the wig school, in which they live together in isolation from the rest of the community.

Wig masters are normally elders who have special powers and are able to cast spells to enable the growth of hair.

At wig school, they learn the fundamentals and rules of Huli traditional customs: growing their hair; collecting feathers; and making armbands.

One of the rules of Huli culture is that boys live with their mothers until they are seven or eight years old, then they live with their fathers to learn skills like hunting with bows and arrows, building mud walls and making houses.

When they are 14 to 15 years old, they go to wig school and don’t return home until they graduate.

Sometimes they stay there for 10 years and may be given the choice between returning to their villages or to staying in the forest to learn more and improve their skills.

To enter the wig school, the boys’ families pays the wig master in cash or with a pig. The boys stay with the wig master for 18 months to grow one wig. If they want to grow another, they stay longer and pay again.

Not everyone is accepted as a student. Only young, virgin males can enter wig school. Before the student arrives, the wig master has to put a powerful spell on the students. The spell will not work on someone who has had a sexual relations. Women are not allowed to go to wig schools because they don’t wear wigs.

Once accepted into the school, the students and master perform a special ritual near a creek or other water source.

First, the master spits into a bamboo pipe filled with water from the creek. The students each gulp down half of the water and spit it into the air so the water falls onto them and cleans their souls.

The other half is then drunk to cleanse the interior of the students’ bodies. Students have to wet their hair at least three times a day.

Students sing while using fern leaves to sprinkle water onto the big bouncy hairdo. They also have to follow a diet where certain types of food are not allowed, such as pig hearts, pig fat and spicy food.

They must adopt a special sleeping position: perched on one elbow and neck resting on a wooden log, all to ensure the healthy growth of hair.

After 18 months of growing their hair, the wigmen cut their hair and hand it to the wig specialist, who then sews and weaves the hair into wigs. The wigs are decorated with feathers from various birds, including parrots, birds of paradise and killer cassowaries.

Most wigmen have more than one wig, but they must all be grown before they get married. Some are used as daily wigs, while other ceremonial wigs are worn only on special occasions. The ceremonial wigs are made with two wigs combined and shaped into a headdress that resembles the silhouette of a bird with wings stretched out.

Once the wig specialist weaves the immaculate wigs, he goes to market and sells them. Many Huli men who don’t grow their own hair will buy them to wear for festivals or major events.

The daily wigs can cost as much as K600 to K700, while the ceremonial ones fetch double that price, K1,500 or more depending on their appearance of the wigs. This money helps pay for the bride dowry, as marriage is always on the horizon when wigmen graduate from school.

On the day that the students graduate and leave the school, they put ochre on their face and head and go out to find a wife. They carry with them two or three wigs that can be used in festive times, festivals, weddings and for greeting tourists.

In the past the Huli wig school took in 20 to 30 students each term, but now it’s only gets 10 or less. More Huli men prefer to go to public schools these days.

Today most of the wig schools are some distance from the Tari town and difficult to find, so tourists need to organise transport with a guesthouse in Tari or join a tour.

Often some of the wigmen students supplement their income by travelling to town to demonstrate how they grow and care for their hair.

Tourists should ask permission before photographing anyone in full traditional dress.

Hulis are usually happy to be snapped and do not ask for payment. Make your thanks known and offer to send them copies of the photos.

The main market day in Tari is on Saturday and this is a particularly good time to meet Hulis in their full traditional attire.

Go to link: https://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2015/01/great-moments-in-png-tourism-the-huli-wig-school.html

16 powerful & inspirational Papua New Guinean women

By BETTY GABRIEL WAKIA - Posted on PNG Attitude

DESPITE domestic violence, gender inequality and other challenging issues, Papua New Guinea has produced many powerful and inspirational women of real accomplishment.

The next International Women’s Day on 8 March will be a wonderful opportunity to honour these heroes and, with the assistance of PNG Attitudeand Pukpuk Publications, the collection of women’s writing, My Walk to Equality, edited by Rashmii Amoah Bell, will do just this.

Traditionally, Papua New Guinean society views women as playing a role that is second fiddle to men. As a result, PNG women who journey along the path of equality and independence find it a road less travelled.

The woman I have selected in this brief catalogue inspire hope and a promise of a greater tomorrow. They can be held high as examples for young PNG women who have historically suffered from a lack of female role models.

History will remember them and their work will continue to greatly inspire upcoming generations and their trail-blazing lives will encourage others to travel their path.

Dame Josephine Abaijah

Dame Josephine is an educator, businesswoman and political leader, being PNG’s first woman to be elected to the House of Assembly in 1972.

She was born in Wamira village, Milne Bay Province, and her career encompassed health administration, several retail businesses and chairmanship of the Interim Commission of the National Capital District.

In 1991, she was named a Dame of the British Empire. In the same year, she published A Thousand Coloured Dreams, based on her life story and the first novel published by a PNG woman. In March 2014, she was awarded the US Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award.

Dame Josephine stepped into politics at a time when deeply embedded cultural perceptions of women’s role precluded them from public life and women’s leadership at the political level was non-existent. She is one of the recognised inspirational role model for advancing the status of women in PNG.

Justice Catherine Anne Davani

Catherine Davani, whose recent early death from breast cancer saddened the nation, came from Dorom village, Rigo, Central Province, and was PNG’s first indigenous female judge. She was also a soccer international.

After graduating from the Legal Training Institute in 1984, Justice Davani started her career with the Public Solicitors office.

In March 2001, she was appointed a judge of the national and supreme courts becoming a great role mole for all PNG girls.

Dame Meg Taylor

Dame Meg, a daughter of Australian explorer Jim Taylor and Yerima Taylor from the Eastern Highlands, is a Papua New Guinean lawyer and diplomat who became the first PNG and a Pacific Islands woman to become Secretary-General to the Pacific Islands Forum.

She hold an law degree from Melbourne University and an master’s degree in law from Harvard University. She began her career as private secretary to then chief minister Michael Somare before PNG independence and continued in this role during his tenure as prime minister.

She was a member of the Law Reform Commission and ambassador to the United States, Mexico and Canada from 1989-94. In 2002, she was made a Dame Commander of the order of the British Empire.

In 2014, Dame Meg became a vice president of the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank Group.

Her appointment as secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum was a significant breakthrough for women throughout the Pacific.

Hon Julie Soso Akeke

Julie Soso Akeke, from Eastern Highland Province and the daughter of a paramount chief, is a businesswoman and former radio broadcaster.

In 2012, she became PNG’s first female governor and the first woman from the Highlands region to be elected to parliament.

Before entering politics, Julie Soso was known as a humble and outspoken women’s rights leader and was president of Eastern Highlands Women’s Council and deputy chair of the Eastern Highlands AIDS Council.

Hon Delilah Pueka Gore

Delilah Gore is a daughter of a chief in the Sohe electorate and was elected at the 2012 elections as the first female political leader from Oro Province being appointed as Minister for Higher Education, Science, Research and Technology.

Currently in the role of Minister for Religion, Youth and Community Development, she is one of the inspirational female political leader who urge PNG women to stand together to address women’s issues and women’s rights.

Loujaya Toni Kouza

Loujaya Toni, from Lae, is a poet, teacher, journalist, singer, songwriter and the first woman from her province to become an elected politician. As a schoolgirl, she was nominated as the PNG’s youngest poet by University of Papua New Guinea.

In 1985, she beginning a career as a singer and songwriter and launched a string of solo gospel music albums. In 1991, during the South Pacific Games in Port Moresby, she performed her song Keep the Fire Alive with the group Tambaran Culture. Her poetry was subsequently published by the Education Department in 1998.

In April 2012, shortly before being elected to parliament, Loujaya graduated with a master’s degree in Communication Development Studies at PNG University of Technology.

Florence Jaukae Kamel

Florence Kamel has gained internationally renown as an artist and designer and was elected as a local government councillor in 2002.

She is a founder of Jaukae Bilum Products, managing director of the Goroka Bilum Weavers Cooperative and principal artist of the Goroka Bilum Festival.

She learned the art of the bilum – an integral part of the identity of Papua New Guinean women and, in more recent years, men - from her grandmother.

The work of the Goroka Bilum Weavers Cooperative is now on the walls of leading international galleries including the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane and the Australian Museum in Sydney. Artists from the cooperative have travelled as far as New York and London to mentor design students in their craft.

Florence is an outspoken advocate for women’s rights, a respected leader in the Eastern Highlands and supports more than 50 female artisans by providing a source of income to supplement the seasonal cash crops many women rely on.

Janet Sape

Janet Sape is a founder and executive director of first Women’s Micro Bank in PNG, the first bank of its type in the South Pacific region and fourth in the world. She’s also the founder of Women in Business, established to develop financial literacy among PNG’s women.

She was named by APEC as the first winner of PNG’s Iconic Women in 2015. In the same year, she also became Westpac’s Outstanding Woman of the Year.

In her youth, Janet was a professional netball player who represented PNG in the world championships, going on to coach the national team and eventually becoming president of the PNG Netball Federation.

She has been an unsuccessful candidate in the last three national elections and is one of the Pacific’s best known advocates on women’s issues, particularly on the need for economic empowerment and financial freedom.

Francesca Rhianna Semoso

Francesca Semoso was a radio broadcaster and one the first women to be deputy speaker of the Bougainville House of Representatives. She was elected to parliament in 2005 for the North Bougainville Women Constituency.

She also serves as deputy chair of the Standing Orders Committee and as a member of the Parliament Business Committee.

Francesca is an advocate of women’s leadership in PNG and ardent supporter of temporary special measures (TSMs) to increase the number of women in the region’s highest decision making body because she believes “the women of Bougainville are natural leaders”.

Bosa Togs

Bosa Togs is general manager of information technology at Telikom PNG. She won the 2016 Westpac Outstanding Women award after successfully campaigning for equal pay for women employed by Telikom, taking up the case of two female colleagues, both engineers and single mothers struggling to support their families.

Mary Handen

Mary Handen is one of the only female to have been elevated to the Steamship Trading Company’s expatriate male-dominated senior management team after being appointed General Manager of Human Resources.

Moale Leah Vagikapi

Moale Vagikapi is a female entrepreneur, founder and co-director of IM Associates, a property development and management business that has expanded into other areas including mobile medical services.

She was recognised for her long service to the now disbanded Australian International Development Agency (AusAID). Moale has been also recognised by the Royal PNG Constabulary for her contribution to the human resource development in the police force.

Rita Jaima Paru

Rita is owner and manageress of Dial-A-Lunch services, a catering business operating in Port Moresby supplying affordable catering for government, business and the public. In 2014, she won the Westpac Outstanding Women Awards and was a finalist for the SP Brewery Entrepreneur Award.

In 2016, she was a Global Women in Management leadership training program recipient awarded by Exxon Mobil and Plan USA. Rita is an inspiring community leader and businesswoman who help girls and women in local churches to learn basic cooking, food handling, baking and other skills.

Penny Sage-embo

Penny Sage-embo is a professional social work counsellor and trainer. She is founder and Director of Joy’s Social Training Institute, which aims to help women by empowering and motivating them through counselling, formal supervision, awareness raising and focused training programs for businesses and the community on gender equalities and the roles and responsibilities of women in the business world.

Joyce Kiage

Joyce Kiage is a tailoring entrepreneur and became a successful businesswoman by providing sewing services and making uniforms for major businesses. She was the winner of the 2015 Westpac Outstanding Women SP Brewery Entrepreneur Award. Her businesses expansion has been driven largely by commitment to service. Her goal is to own a garment factory in PNG.

Lady Winifred Kamit

Lady Winifred has led change to improve the economic of women in PNG. She is a commissioner of the Public Service Commission, founding chairperson of the Coalition for Change and patron of the PNG Business Coalition for Women.

She also a senior partner in Garden’s Lawyers and board member for numerous businesses, where she helps PNG develop a consciousness about domestic violence and workplace equality.

Go to link: https://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2016/12/16-powerful-inspirational-papua-new-guinea-women.html

Datagaliwabe, the great God-progenitor of the Hela nation

By BETTY  GABRIEL WAKIA - Posted on PNG Attitude

MUCH is talked about Datagaliwabe throughout Hela, nearby provinces and even the entirety of Papua New Guinea.

Let me take you to Datagaliwabe. The Huli have a mixture of myths and legends that explain the origins of the gods, clan founders, the creation of all living things and other vital components of Huli life.

The Huli believe that in the beginning, there was land and the deities. The deities, such as sun and moon, the Ni and Hana, live in the sky.

The Huli High God, Datagaliwabe, was the original Supreme Spirit to come from the sky who created the land and other deities. Datagaliwabe was replaced by Honabi wali, the demiurge from whom all life flowed. Her children, Ni and Hana, are the focus of many Huli fertility rites.

The first goddess to inhabit the land was Honabe wali. She was seduced by Timbu, the male deity, and gave birth to five gods, Korimogo, Heyolabe, Piandela, Ni and Hela, and one goddess, Hana.

Many Huli regard all these deities as very powerful beings, but deity Heyolabe as the most dangerously evil of them all.

After a time, she gave birth to eight other deities, the first bird, possum and pig, hills, trees, bows and arrows, and fire and water.

She is the grandmother goddess of the Huli people and surrounding cultures, the Obene, Duna, Duguba and Hewa peoples.

Otherwise, they all speak different languages, have their own spirits and their own styles of worship.

The deity Hela married an unknown woman who bore him four sons, Obene, Huli, Duna and Duguba. They had a fight which resulted in Obene fleeing to live in the Magarima area, Duna to Lake Kopiago and Duguba to Mount Bosavi, while Huli remained in the Tagari river basin.

They were the first human beings and each founded the cultural group that is known to the Huli by those same names.

The Huli calm these deities and seek their assistance through oblation of pigs, red paints, pig fat, cowrie and kina shells, crops and special plant leaves.

Some deities like Ni and Korimogo consume the blood and aroma of prepared pigs while the other deities delight in pig fat offerings which are rubbed on sacred stones. Datagaliwabe and Heyalobe cannot be propitiated by any ritual means, although the former is placated by proper moral conduct.

The deity Heyalobe was regarded as dama, the Satan. He control the forces of nature and would deceive the Huli people to do evil things.

If Huli people did not follow Heyalobe’s instructions, he would attack them directly causing sickness, accident or death or indirectly through witches, corpses, stones, sticks or other ritual objects that are imbued with their presence.

If they pleased Heyalobe, he would help them in their endeavors. To avoid attack, the Huli people would placate and win the favour of Heyalobe by tricking him to protect themselves.

Long ago, in order to confuse the deities, Huli men would traverse deep forests and climb mountain peaks speaking a derivative of the Huli language called Tayanda Bi. They also tricked the Heyalobe by constructing symbolic gates to block paths as they walked through the forest.

The Datagaliwabe is a unique supreme being, who, unlike Ni and Hana, is not referred to as dama but only by name. He is someone who the Huli people never play around with. They feel his presence more powerfully than other deities.

He is a giant High God, who looks down from the sky to punish lying, stealing, adultery, incest, murder of related kin and disregard of ritual taboos. Huli say if you do something evil Datagaliwabe will be watching you.

Datagaliwabe was known to the Huli as a bringer of punishment upon those who infringed kinship laws. The only way to please him is proper moral behavior. He would never be placated by pigs as sacrifices and doesn’t accept prayers, dances or other rituals.

The Datagaliwabe looks favorably upon those who obey kinship rules and helps them in their daily affairs. He speaks directly to whoever pleases him in the form of dreams, visions, prophecies and special insights.

He also speaks to Huli needs in term of the good life: salvation and power for living. Only the righteous and holy people are taken to dahulianda, the heaven.

The Pari clan in South Koroba (a home to the descendant of the sun god, the Ni), regard the place as dahulianda dogo, the bridge to heaven. The Datagaliwabe uses that place for his holy people to cross to heaven.

In the legend of Ira Hari, there is a sacred tree through which all of the earth’s waters pass into the heavens only to fall again as rain.

Men tried to build a bridge to heaven on this tree using rope and timber but were unsuccessful. Their language was confused as they worked on the bridge resulting in the disruption of their plans to reach the house of the deities and this was the creation of various other languages.

The Datagaliwabe showed the Huli people dreams and visions of aircraft, truck and also the return of Tahonane, the Hulis’ long lost white brother.

The first Huli man Tagonimabe has two sons, Tahonane born white and Tamindini born black. Tahonane was nursed by a great god, grew quickly and left the Huli area never to die. Tamindini nursed at his mother’s breast, and became the father of all the Huli people through his son, Tiliali.

The first white men the Huli people encountered were Jack Hides and Peter O’Malley. They looked queerly at the two explorers and whispered excitedly among themselves about their long lost white brother who had returned.

One of the prophecies that has come to pass is Gigira Laitebo legend called Kwai Topo. In this legend, the wise men of Hela spoke many generations ago that their land possessed the Gigira Laitebo or everlasting fire and that one day this would so shine that the faraway lands would be attracted by it and they would come to their doorstep.

Today the people of Hela are seeing the men with the orange legs from faraway lands trying to take the fire from them.

The Datagaliwabe transformed himself into the sun god, the Ni, resulting in a combination of the supreme-being with the sun god to form one supreme-being, the Ni.

Ni is a creator god who makes the fertility of the earth and increases the abundance of life for his children, Ni honowini. One of the Ni honowini who makes the fertility of the earth is the famous huli legend of Baya Baya.

He was regarded as Jesus who stayed among the Huli people. Prophecy states that the descendant from Ni honowini would one day will come and light up the caves and tunnels of Hela Province. The Huli ancestors said that when that day came, it would be the sign of the last days.

Many Huli believe that Bible stories are paralleled in Huli legend, to the extent that some became convinced that their ancestors had somehow received the biblical message before even the missionaries came, which resulted in many questions about Church history.

Datagaliwabe is still equated with God or Yahweh by many Huli Christians today.

A catalogue of PNG women contesting the 2017 national election

By BETTY GABRIEL  WAKIA - Posted on PNG Attitude

WHEN it comes to Papua New Guinea politics, it always seems to be the men’s game: a dirty little game where women don’t stand much of a chance.

That’s why you hardly hear women talking politics; because they tend to believe the position of women is the kitchen or household. Women are also often regarded as weak decision-makers. Things are changing, thanks to education, and women are coming out alongside their male counterparts.

But PNG women still face several obstacles to participation in political life due to cultural and economic barriers. Contesting against men is not easy because women do not often receive the support they need to compete. And voters do not fully appreciate the benefits of having a mix of men and women in government.

Every national election, the candidates’ posters plastered throughout the provinces show few female faces. This year there has been a slight – a very slight – increase in the women running for office: 33 more than in 2012 to make a total of 169 in a field of about 3,000 candidates.

The Southern region has 60 women candidates, then Momase with 47, Highlands with 43 and Islands with only 19.

Southern Region

Sixty women are contesting Central, National Capital District, Gulf, Oro, Western and Milne Bay provinces.

Central has the biggest number with 14 women candidates. Rufina Peter of the Trust PNG Party is one of three women contesting the Central Regional seat. Two sporting icons - Julianne Leka Maliaki and Iammo Gapi Launa - and another six female candidates are trying to win the Rigo Open seat, currently occupied by Ano Pala. In Goilala Open, chemical engineer Matilda Tagu Koma of the Social Democratic Party is contesting against current sitting MP William Samb and nine other men.

The National Capital District has 13 women candidates contesting four seats. Three women are contesting the NCD regional seat held by Governor Powes Parkop. They include journalist Veronica Marmei from Chimbu Province and they face 36 other male candidates. Marmei has been a journalist for 23 years and wants to make a difference by focusing on women’s empowerment and providing financial security to women.

Among the three women contesting Moresby North-West is founder and executive director of the first PNG women’s microbank, Janet Sape. The other two women trying to win the seat from Michael Malabag and 34 other male candidates are Lynnette Kerekere and Sallyanne Mokis.

In Moresby North-East, Shelley Launa of the Wings Party is one of six female candidates.

The only female likely to challenge Justin Tkatchenko, sitting MP for Moresby South. is Anna Skate of the People’s National Congress Party. She is a daughter of former prime minister the late Bill Skate who founded the People’s National Congress Party now led by prime minister Peter O’Neill. Tkatchenko is a member of the same party.

Gulf Province has 12 women candidates, seven in the regional seat, two in Kerema and three in Kikori. Maso Raka is running for the regional seat for the People’s Party citing her experience and saying that the people of Gulf have suffered far too long.

Other strong women contestants for the Gulf regional seat are Martha Kaia Manggal, Priscilla Opa Kare, Anna Hou and Elisabeth Bradshaw, who is one of two women running under the banner of the Coalition for Reform Party. She is a young, vibrant, outspoken and highly educated with experience in the oil and gas sector including ExxonMobil.

Susanah Apopo (Melanesian Alliance Party) is one of the three females running for the Kikori Open seat while Margaret Fareho and Agnes Haro Harihi are contesting Kerema Open.

Other women candidates in the Southern region come from Northern and Western provinces (eight candidates each) and Milne Bay (five).

Three women are contesting the Northern Regional seat, four women in Sohe Open and one in Ijivitari Open. Priscia Mauwe, Anista Matbob and Jean Parkop, wife of NCD Governor Powes Parkop. are the three candidates contesting Northern Regional.

Sohe Open’s sitting member Delilah Gore is being challenged by three women: Helen Porari (Paradise Kingdom Party), Maureen Duang (Pangu) and independent Alicia Toroi.

Dr Joy Travetz, wife of the current Ijivitari MP, is the only female candidate for Ijivitari against 32 men.

In the Western Province, two women are contesting the regional seat, three for Middle fly, one for North fly and two for South fly.

One of the two women standing in the regional seat is independent Elizabeth Matit. In Middle fly Erica Sama (Pangu) is among the three women and in South Fly independent Ume Wainetti is contesting against another women and 49 male candidates.

In Milne Bay, businesswoman and mother of four Gillian Torie is the only woman candidate in the regional seat. Writer Imelda Yabara and Maria Tomofa are contesting Alotau Open and Monalisa Saragum (PNG One Nation Party) and Dr Rona Nadile are standing for Samarai-Murua.

The Kiriwina-Goodenough and Esas’ala electorates do not have women contesting the elections.

Momase Region

Momase has 47 women contesting in Madang, Morobe, East Sepik and West Sepik provinces.

In Madang Province, 15 women are up against 253 men. Two are running for the regional seat, four for Rai Coast Open, three for Usino-Bundi and Bogia, and one in Madang, Middle Ramu and Sumkar.

Mary Yalingu Kamang (PNG Party) and Ingina Kamuti Gelua (PNG Youths Party) are contesting the regional seat and commentator Kessy Sawang (PNG National Party) is contesting against three female candidates in Rai Coast Open.

Josephine Mandawe (PNG Party) is standing for Usino-Bundi Open and in Bogia Open we have Lucy Buck and two other women. In Sumkar Lillian Paul (Model Nation Party) is the only female contesting against 36 men and Inabe Ombongu in standing for Middle Ramu.

In Morobe Province, there are 15 women candidates. Independent Sussie Moses Sonny is the only women contesting the regional seat against 24 male candidates. Her vision is to build a godly model nation to reach out to the rural areas of Morobe where services are deteriorating or not available.

Sapume Kanawi and Judy Pokana are among 26 candidates contesting Bulolo Open seat held by Pangu Party leader Sam Basil. In Finschhafen Open, Lesley Bennet is among two women contesting the seat while Monica Peter is the only female contesting the Markham Open as an independent candidate.

In East Sepik Province, Dulciana Somare (Pangu), the daughter of Sir Michael Somare is the only woman candidate contesting against 25 men. Veronica Simongun is among four female candidates contesting Wewak Open. There are also women standing in Angoram (2), Ambunti-Dreikikir (1) and Yangoru-Saussia (2).

In West Sepik Province, two women are contesting the regional seat, four women in Telefomin and one in Vanimo-Green. Florence Saki and Julie Moide are taking on the regional seat for a transformed and better developed province. In Vanimo-Green Carol Mayo is competing against 20 male candidates.

Highlands Region

The Highlands region has 43 women candidates contesting across Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Simbu, Enga, Jiwaka and Hela provinces.

In Eastern Highlands, Julie Soso, Nina Giheno and Lillian Siwi are contesting the regional seat while Dr Susanna Khobu, Mary Pati, Sarah Shelley and one other woman are contesting Goroka Open. Salasa Moses is among other three women in Obura-Wonenara. The only female in Okapa is Serah Amukele, daughter of former MP the late Tom Amukele.

In Simbu, five women are contesting the regional seat, two are trying in Kundiawa while Chuave, Gumine, Kerowagi and Sinasina-Yongomugl all have one women contesting each seat.

Mary Maima is amongst five women in the Simbu regional contest and Lynn Aina and Joanne Tawi are seeking election in the Kundiawa Open. Christina Tumun Nime (Pangu) is contesting Kerowagi Open and Dr Susan Apa is the woman candidate in Gumine.

In Enga, academic Nancy Waiman and Linda Yombon are among three women contesting Kompiam-Ambum against Environment Minister John Pundari. Jenny Luke (Model Nation Party) is the only female candidate amongst 30 men challenging in Kandep, held by the opposition leader Don Polye.

In Jiwaka, two women are contesting the regional seat while three are standing for North Wahgi Open. Veronica Weiang is amongst the three women contesting North Wahgi.

Three women are contesting in Western Highlands Province, two for the regional seat and one in Dei Open.

Three women are contesting in Hela Province, two in Komo-Magarima and one in Koroba-Kopiago. Mary Ken is amongst the two women in Komo-Magarima while Leah Angowai is the only woman contesting the Koroba-Kopiago seat.

In the Southern Highlands, Rachel Yangu is the only female candidate and she is standing in the regional seat.

Islands Region

In Bougainville, five women are among the total of 73 candidates standing. They are contesting North Bougainville (2), Central Bougainville (2) and South Bougainville (1).

Former women’s representative Rose Pihei (Social Development Party) is contesting South Bougainville Open. An Independent Rachel Konaka and Elizabeth Burain (People’s Progress Party) are standing in North Bougainville while two independent candidates, Gloria Terikian and Lynette Ona, are contesting the Central Bougainville Open seat.

East New Britain has two women contesting the Regional seat and Kokopo Open. Since PNG independence, Kokopo has only had male candidates but now Cathleen Baragu is determined to break through against 24 male candidates.

There are four women candidates in New Ireland, two in the regional seat and two in Kavieng Open. Veronica Perety Jigede (PNG Human Rights Party) and Dr Kapa Kelep Malp are contesting the regional seat while Lucy Siki Aiya and Rubie Wanariu Kerepa are contesting Kavieng Open.

In Manus Province, eight women are contesting in the regional (3) and Manus Open (5). Betty Komes (National Alliance Party) and Theresa Kas, wife of Madang Governor Jim Kas, are contesting the regional seat.

Go to link: https://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2017/06/a-catalogue-of-png-women-contesting-the-2017-national-election.html

The envy that seeks to destroy the progress of women in PNG

 By BETTY GABRIEL WAKIA - Posted on PNG Attitude 

PORT MORESBY - It was such a privilege to sit alongside a group of distinguished Papua New Guineans as we collectively recognised the nomination of the first book authored by PNG women as our country’s nomination for the annual UNESCO Girls’ and Women’s Education (GWE) Prize.

In addition to counterparts and supporters of My Walk to Equalityand PNG Attitude, we were joined by Ponabe Yuwa, the Education Department’s UNESCO representative and Ambassador Joshua Kalinoe.

The GWE Prize was established by the UNESCO, supported by the Chinese government, in 2016 to reward outstanding efforts by individuals, institutions and other entities engaged in activities to promote girls’ and women’s education.

The prize contributes to two of the United Nations’ development goals: inclusiveness and equality in education and the achievement of gender equality and empowerment for women and girls.

The successful projects in 2016, the first year, were from Indonesia and Zimbabwe and last year from Thailand and Peru. This year’s prize will be awarded in October at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris, France.

The ‘My Walk to Equality’ project team is delighted to be PNG’s candidate this prestigious international award.

MWTE is an outstanding voluntary literary project of global quality which consists of contributions from 45 women writers from PNG who originally came together to write a book, published in March last year, and since have undertaken other related projects.

The primary objective of the MWTE project is to encourage girls and women to engage in writing and publishing as a mechanism for social activism in PNG. The project captures the daily challenges and positive contributions made by PNG women to improve the livelihoods of individuals, the community and the nation as a whole.

It promotes the idea that women and girls are not to be left behind but actively included in nation building through achieving the difficult task of gender equality and participation in all aspects of society by women and girls.

Since the publication of MWTE, we have received a number of criticisms from some people seemingly because of the donors and assistance we received in publishing this great book – which represented a rare window into the lives of PNG women and the challenges we face and the achievements we have made.

Those women who criticised us should celebrate with us, the 45 PNG women who set out to explain and challenge the inequalities that confront us in PNG. If we are to progress, women need to support each other’s work and achievements.

We all benefit when we celebrate another woman’s accomplishments. Together we can do more, go further and change the world. It is a waste of effort if we talk about promoting gender equality and don’t celebrate steps taken to achieve it.

It is a sad reality in PNG that some women don’t stand together for their mutual good but instead constantly compete to bring each other down.

It is unhealthy and it’s destructive, and it interferes with efforts to break down barriers and empower ourselves to overcome the oppression from men we too often face.

This attitude of self-gratification and envy impedes collaboration and he development of a strong voice for advocacy. It has to change if we are to move forward.

Go to link: https://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2018/06/the-envy-that-seeks-to-destroy-the-progress-of-women-in-png.html