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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Filus

 

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     There is so much to say about Filus I’m not sure where to begin. We all know that it is wrong to have favorites among your children but is it wrong for your children to have favorites among your friends? I’m not sure if it is or not but my 3 and 5 year old definitely have a favorite and it is Filus. he might be the most patient and caring person in the world. Silas will stop him in the middle of work and ask Papa Filus to help him catch a frog. Filus never says no. He will sneak around a building to avoid them before he will tell them no. Little Evie thinks she is a workman too. She goes right into the workshop and sits right down in the grease and sawdust and falls right into what we are doing. Filus goes right along with her and involves her in what ever he is fixing. This is probably my fault. I have always encouraged all of my children to be involved in the work I am doing. I think it is incredibly important for children to see adults working and to know that they can do work too. I firmly believe that it will make them more productive later in life. I also think that it will help them to discover what they enjoy and where they are gifted. Filus is a lot like me in this regard. His kids will come up to POC and hang out and help when they have free time.

     In addition to being great with kids Filus is unbelievably gifted at fixing stuff. He can fix just about anything. He is our mechanic, electrician, and welder at POC but he is in no way limited to this. it seems like he has got his hands in just about everything.

      Filus lives just down the hill form POC and it is not uncommon for him to hear me working on something at night and come back up to help me. 

     Filus’ mom and dad died when he was young and he was adopted by Amat (Talad’s dad). He and Talad and his brother grew up together. Filus even took Amat’s name. He is Filus Amat.

     I spend a lot of time with Filus. He and I usually take care of all the more complicated problems at POC. I also just like hanging out with him.  He and I go to town together regularly as well. Being in town with Filus is a little bit like being in a parade. Everyone knows him and it seems like he has helped just about everyone, so you are always waving and shaking hands.

     Maybe my favorite part about Filus is that he is always teaching. If we are in the jungle he is teaching me some new tidbit about a plant we just went by. If we are in town he has just shown me some little hole in the wall where we might be able to get just the part we need. And if we are on the mountain he has just shown me something about Papua New Guinean culture that I totally missed.

     Next up Papa Ganig.

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