The Magic Word Opens Doors
Following the success of my PNG travel thus far, I decided that the capital, Port Moresby, is safe enough for a visit after all. Thus, I changed my flight plan and got one day at Moresby, where I spent 9 jolly good hours with a local family that I met on the plane.
I was supposed to meet there someone that Pastor Eric had talked to, but he didn’t show up and I couldn’t make contact with him; so after checking in for the evening flight (thus leaving my bag at the airport) I just went to visit Ruth and her family. They took me in their car and showed me the city, including some interesting sites.
The parliament building was supposed to be closed due to Sunday, but the magic word (”Israel”, of course. What other word?) worked here as well, and the guard opened the gate especially for me and let us in. It is an impressive building, including a nice mozaic at the front, a pool, some grass, and statues of the prime-minister (he was PNG’s first PM, but he is in power again. I wonder how it feels, to go to work passing your own statue every day. Probably somewhat like a roman emperor). The building has a very unique architecture, combining styles from many provinces in PNG.
The national museum, despite being very small, is very, very, impressive. In fact, it is so impressive that the hour I spent there was alone worth the Moresby visit. It hosts a vast collection of Melanesian art, from all over PNG. I was especially impressed by the Sepik room - an abundance of wood carvings, masks, totems, Tumbuans (straw masks that cover half body), and much more.
Also impressive was the Island’ culture room (lots of necklaces and belts with shells, bat’s teeth, dog’s teeth, and more); the maritime section, describing all sorts of canoes and boats (canoes are made of a single tree log, up to 30-40 meters long, carved and decorated; boats are more complicated, and usually include a special timber that is tied along the ship’s side and used to balance it on the water); the music room (lots of traditional playing tools, such as Kundu drums, made from a tree which is shaped like a sand-clock with skin - either lizard, snake, or possum skin, depends on the region - cover; and many flutes and pan-flutes, made of Bambu; and much more.
I spoke quite a lot with my hosts. Here, like everywhere in this country, everybody hates the Australians and the PNG government, and loves Israel. In fact, they are interested in making commercial connections with us, and to my opinion they have much to offer to Israel - from agricultural crops (vanilla, orchids, coffee, coconuts, and so forth), through artefacts (amazing masks) all the way to cultural relations. This is an undeveloped market, full of opportunities; and it is a wonderfull country, that truely loves Israel.
