Going to the Garden- Part 2

     I know it has been a few days since I did part one but hopefully you will remember going to the "antap gaden". So after we finished our work (making all the holes) we came dome the mountain. Tiffany and the kids had stopped to work at the "klostu gaden" (see" bananas in the morning..." post) and I thought we were heading back there to get them and maybe eat some stuff cooked on the fire before heading back to the village. But that is not what happened. I was in the middle of another cultural experience and didn't know it. Almost everything is done in community in the village. From planting a garden to building a house to taking care of community areas there is always someone (a "wantok") helping you. However becuase these relationships are bulit on give and take, paying people back is essential.

     So, we got to the bottom of the mountain where waspapas garden was which happened to be the garden of one of his relatives and we sat down. I saw several teenage girls cooking very large pots over some fires. It still didn't dawn on me the scope of what was going on here (I can be a little slow to catch on). While we had been working in the garden these girls along with the women who were now planting the taro had haulled all this food (and I mean mountains of it) all the way up to this garden and had cooked it. So now waspapa's youngest son, Simon began to dish it out into plates and banna leaves. It is very important how much is in each plate because this is in a sense pay and if you pay one person more than another and they have both worked equally then you have offended the other. Finaly, when all the plates were mounded up equally with food to Simon's satifaction they were given out. the order that they are given is also import as it indicates a persons status. We all ate our fill (which for working Papua New Guineans is a huge amount), the rest was saved for the women who would come down later, and we layed in the shade to rest.

{Simon}

     I thought that was the end of it but then from behind a tree Simon began to bring out several huge hands of baui. Papa said that no matter how much you feed people and how good the food was if you didn't give them buai too they would not be happy with you. Simon gave all that out and everyone seemed happy (with red teeth). But it still wasn't over. Finaly, Simon brought out a rope of bannanas ( 5 or 6 hands of 10 or so) for everyone.

     We all left happy and loaded down. Simon, waspapa, and I returned to the "klostu" garden". I could hardly wait to tell what I had seen and done and to hear what they had done as well. I hope that Tiff will give you a part 3 on the garden tommrow about what they did.

-matt