1956
- new interest in church activities
- language learning
- traditional beliefs
- medical work
- relationship with Unevangelised Fields Mission and Missionary Aviation Fellowship
- a new minister from Tonga
New interest in church activities
By 1956, the work of the Methodist Mission in Tari was becoming well established. The staff team was a strong international group with pastors from New Guinea, Papuan Islands and the Solomon Islands and ministers, teachers and medical workers from Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Germany. The ministers were Roland Barnes from Australia, Cliff Keightley from New Zealand and, later in the year, David Mone from Tonga. Because of illness, Sister Joyce Walker returned to Australia in May and her place was taken by Sister Edith James from New Zealand. Sister Elizabeth Kessler from Germany was working with leprosy patients. Later in the year, John and Barbara Hutton would arrive from Australia to take charge of the school.
The annual report from Tari in 1956 said:
“Church services have been well attended during the year with congregations of three to four hundred being the general rule. These numbers have been a challenge to us but have constituted a problem while we are still in the process of learning the language.
“There is more than just a formal acceptance of our message by quite a lot of the thoughtful and there is a real desire to learn and experience the Christian way. We press on in all the ways we can to show them Christ and tell them of Him.
“Our Missionary Meeting was a memorable occasion. A congregation of 800 to 1,000 crowded the church for the service. Many responded to the invitation for them to contribute to the work of God as they were able and a small mountain of sweet potato, sugar-cane and other foods expressed their desire to help.”
‘Contact is being made with the people through education and medical work. A large number of Hansenides [people with leprosy] have been found in the Tari area and a special centre for their care and treatment will be opened shortly.’
Language learning
A report about language from Cliff and Noreen Keightley:
Early in March 1956, Roland Barnes and Noreen Keightley, and later Edith James, joined Bob Glasse to produce a revised Huli-English dictionary. We are putting it into a card filing system for easy reference and alteration. So far, we have completed about 1000 words, but have much more to do yet. Bob Glasse will have finished his work here very soon, but we should be able to carry on the dictionary. His contribution has been mainly in the field of social structure, ritual and religion. In the last month, Cliff Keightley has been able to take a part in the school and is coaching the top boys in Huli reading. He has three of them through two primers, and these we can say are now able to read. So we must produce more reading matter for them. We are planning to put a monthly paper in Huli to contain devotional matter, Catechism, Bible stories, and general information and stories. As soon as Roland returns from Mendi (he went to Madang with Joyce and has returned as far as Mendi) we hope to publish our first Number. It is to be called BI HENENEDAGO (True Talk).
A few months later, Cliff Keightley wrote:
We have published our first two numbers of our Huli paper, “Bi Henenedago”. Both of us believe that the time and trouble we spent on their publication are proving their worth. The boys whom Cliff is coaching for Huli reading seem to be making good use of them. Already we have ten boys reading them, and in a short while, we hope to have another to that stage.
Traditional beliefs
Although there was interest in the Christian message, and large numbers of people came to church services, the Huli people understood the spirit world in their traditional way. When someone was sick, they believed that it was the work of evil spirits, or sorcery. An example of this belief was described in a letter from Rev Cliff Keightley.
He wrote:
A fortnight before Christmas we were saddened by the sudden death of Gorama‘s husband. Gorama, until then assisted with our washing, and her influence among women folk had been very helpful to the mission, particularly in Hospital work. It was a sad scene that we saw that Sunday morning when we visited Gorama. The body on a low platform with crowds of women, standing around, wailing and Gorama in the midst of them frenzied with grief. Her sorrow was also displayed by the destroying of her gardens. On the Monday morning, the body was taken to our mission cemetery, followed by a trail of wailing women for a burial, according to Huli custom. Gorama did not attend, being confined to her house for seven days. Before the burial, an autopsy was performed by a specialist to determine the cause of death. His verdict was that four Dama (spirits) were responsible. These were later propitiated by the killing of pigs, to avoid any further vengeance upon Gorama or her three children. Gorama now has to wear a long, dilapidated skirt, old drapes over her head and a heavy string bag, for six months.
In another letter from the missionaries, they wrote:
There have been a number of “Tege Pulu” on all sides of us in the last few months. There are three-to- five day celebrations which include initiation of boys, fertility rites, dancing, and pig-killing (to propitiate spirits). The result is a general upheaval all round. The initiates live in a special house in the bush during the three to five days. There they are kept in continual suspense and not allowed to sleep. They wear a wig made of grass, and their bodies are painted black all over. The house, in which they are initiated by hitting with switches, is a long structure with a sloping roof and an alley-way of burning coals through which the boys must run. Inside this enclosure the Huli women are not allowed. The main spirit in the “Tege Pulu” is “Ni”, also the name of the sun. He is a very ancient spirit, in contrast to some which are quite recent in origin. It seems that “Ni” is a beneficent spirit when placated, but we see great need to point to a better way—to a loving God.
Medical work
Cliff Keightley reported on the advances in the medical program.
“Our Hansenide land has been bought and we now have permission to use it. So clearing is going on each day down by the river. Sister Elizabeth [Kessler] is pleased to see her hospital in sight.
We have again been very busy with building, road making, and coffee planting. Already we have the shell of the maternity hospital and the shell of the Hansenide (Leprosarium) Centre completed, and also a trade store about three-parts finished. The Barnes family will be leaving us next week to take their overdue furlough, and Roland wants to get the buildings as far on as possible before he leaves. Also, since returning from Mendi we have extended our coffee plantation by about another 500 trees. The earlier section was planted out about ten months ago and has made very good progress — we have every reason to be confident that the experiment here will be successful.
Last week we held our Annual Meetings which were preceded the week before by a very profitable Retreat, the subject of which was “The Nature of the Church”. This year the meetings were held here at Tari, and we were pleased to have the fellowship of the Mendi representatives in our homes and at our services.”
The annual report on the medical work in Tari:
“We have reason to be thankful for the slowly but steadily increasing confidence of the surrounding Huli people in our medical work. However, we have had a few rather disheartening experiences when relatives took obviously very sick patients away to sacrifice pigs to the spirits. Then in two cases the patients shortly afterwards died.
In the last year we were able to treat 372 hospital in-patients and have had an average of 300 to 400 out-patients monthly. Four deaths were recorded: two adults and two babies.
… There are 130 babies on clinic roll, with an average weekly attendance of 60-65 at the Government hospital and our own hospital. There were 15 confinements recorded, although of these only four were Tari women. However, it is hoped that when the separate block for maternity work farther from the general hospital is completed the women will see that the demands of their culture have been observed, and they will be more ready to come.“
The maternity building, which will provide more adequate facilities for staff and patients, was started in May. After negotiations, the land for the Hansenide Centre was purchased by the Administration in February. Permission to occupy the land was not granted until May. The clearing of the land for the building site is nearly completed. It is planned to erect one building of native materials for medical and administrative purposes and several small ones for the housing of in-patients. A house for a married medical orderly is being built. Sister E. Kessler arrived in Tari on the 7th July. The object was to begin work among the many men and women who suffer from Hansen’s Disease. Apart from treating a number as out-patients little could be done, as there were no facilities for in-patients (only two at present). The work is not yet satisfactory as the patients do not understand that they are still sick, after their worst sores are healed, and they cease coming for regular treatments.
Marion Ote Alekera, a daughter of the Solomon Islands Missionary, Alpheus Alekera, with her insight and knowledge of the Tari language is a very good help. There are also four medical orderlies in training. Two of them come from Wabag, and two are Tari men. They attend the afternoon boys’ school regularly, and in hospital work have shown themselves willing to learn. One of them takes part in the daily devotions in the hospital. One will be transferred to the Hansenide Centre as soon as it is established.
Many thanks are due to the Department of Public Health for providing the essential drugs and equipment, and to each member of the mission staff for helpful co-operation.
But above all we thank God who has given us the strength and wisdom to carry out this work, and is giving to our Huli people the willingness to come and seek our help. Without Him and His guidance we could do nothing, and with Him we are prepared to go into a new year of service.
Relationships with Unevangelised Fields Mission
In Tari, the missionaries of the Methodist Mission became good friends with the missionaries of the Unevangelised Fields Mission. The two groups had many things in common. Their good relationship meant that they wanted to cooperate with each other. One important question for them all was: ‘Where are the boundaries of the work of each mission?’ They wanted to be clear with each other and not interfere with the work of the other mission, but they also wanted to be able to expand their work into new areas. The leaders of the two groups, Roland Barnes and Len Twyman, decided to work together to make a clear plan of the areas where each group would work. At first, they thought that they would go on a long patrol together, on foot through the mountains, to see and meet the people of the many communities who lived in the region. Then they had a better idea. They chartered a plane with Missionary Aviation Fellowship and flew over the land, looking carefully at the landscape with its rivers and mountain ridges and seeing where there were signs of houses and gardens of local people. Instead of a tough patrol taking at least three weeks, they ‘established in 2 ½ hours the borders of each district’.
Missionary Aviation Fellowship plane with local people (Missionary Review 1956)
A new minister from Tonga
Rev David Mone was already an experienced minister. During the years of war in the Pacific, he was stationed at Salamo in the Papuan Islands Region, and stayed at his post during the war. Many Australian troops appreciated his care at the mission station at Salamo. Later, he had a year of study in Brisbane and then served for another year in the Theological College in Tonga. His heart was still for missionary service and he offered to serve in the PNG Highlands.
When David Mone and his family arrived in Tari, this was the report:
The Reverend David Mone, his wife and family arrived recently at Tari in the Papua New Guinea Highlands, and the acting superintendent Reverend RL Barnes, in writing of the welcome tendered to Mr Mone says, “Mr Mone passed onto those present the greetings to those working in the Papua New Guinea Highlands, which were personally given by Queen Salote before he left Tonga. He went on to indicate the great interest of the Tongan church in the Highlands venture. Mr Mone’s size greatly impressed the people and a couple of Tari boys said “Oh, he is big. We are frightened. Will he eat us?”
Mr Mone in the letter says ‘I am now teaching in the school and we have school from 8 to 11 in the morning for over 50 boys and from 4 to 5.30 in the afternoon for another 20 other boys. In school we teach the boys cricket, football (Australian Rules) and soccer”.
Unfortunately, not long after the Mone family arrived, their house made of bush materials caught fire and burned. The family escaped with their belongings. It was not long before a new decision was made. Instead of working in Tari, David Mone was appointed to pioneer a new work in the Lai Valley.
The Missionary Review—September, 1955—Page 5
Rev D. McCraw ‘With wings as eagles’ Missionary Review April 1956 pp 10-11
Missionary Review, April 1956, page 12
Missionary Review—November, 1956—Page 14
Missionary Review—December, 1956—Page 7
Margaret Reeson 