1957
Two visitors came to the mission at Unjamap in 1954. They were curious about these strange white people. They saw many signs of change and new things on the mission site. New gardens, large foreign buildings built in ways that were different from the traditional Mendi style. There were strange animals, voices speaking in other languages, people wearing unfamiliar clothing. The school and the hospital were very surprising to them. These visitors explored the government station, too, and were interested in everything they saw.
Where had they come from? They explained that they had come from their home beyond two mountain ranges to the west of the Mendi Valley. A river ran through their home valley and they called it Ip Lai, the Lai River. They were a long way from home. These men were very brave to come into enemy territory to see these strange things. They had heard rumours but wanted to see for themselves.
‘Come to our valley’, they said, ‘and bring some of these new things to us.’
Gordon Young heard them and wanted to send someone. But at that time the Lai Valley was restricted territory and even the government patrol officers had not gone there yet. They took a photo of the men from the Lai Valley and did not forget them. They had to wait.
A year or two later, Gordon Young was invited to go with a government patrol, led by District Commissioner Gerry Toogood, to explore some new areas. For the first time, he walked with the patrol to the west, crossing first one range, then a second one and climbing down the steep limestone cliff faces into the Lai Valley. They found a large population of people living along the valley. The patrol kept walking west, crossing another series of mountain ridges into the Nembi Valley to Nipa, then on to the south to Lake Kutubu and Ialibu. At last, they arrived back at Mendi. Young had flown over some of these places by plane on his way to Tari, but now he saw and met many new groups of people on the ground. He began to hope to start new mission work among them.
Gordon Young was a very strong man and went on many long patrols. On Sundays he sometimes walked as far as twenty miles to preach in a number of different preaching places. His physical strength was important as he was able to lead new initiatives in remote places.
After that first patrol into the Lai Valley, Young returned there in 1956 with David Johnston and Tomas Tomar. This time they went to find a place where they could start a new mission station. The patrol officers had decided to de-restrict the Lai Valley so now it was possible for the mission to enter. The patrol officers negotiated with the local people for a lease of land at Tukup on the eastern side of the swift-flowing Lai River. The valley was long, with the river running between high walls of limestone cliffs. The people living there had been quite isolated because it was not easy to climb beyond those walls.
The first pastor-teacher to be appointed early in 1957 to the Lai Valley, at Tukup, was Tomas Tomar from New Ireland. Tomas was a simple man, strong and faithful, willing to take the risks of being a pioneer in new places. He was not well-educated and struggled to speak the Mendi language but he earned the respect and love of both missionaries and the local people over many years of service in the Highlands. As a single man, he was prepared to go to difficult places and to open the way for others to follow.
It was clear that there was a big population of people in the Lai Valley. The Methodist mission decided that it was important to open other pastor stations as soon as possible. A new place was opened by pastor Sekri To Vodo, from New Guinea Islands, at Homep in the north of the valley, and then another was opened at Kip, on the western side of the river, by pioneer Kaminel Ladi from New Ireland.
The first Pacific Island minister to Highlands Region, Rev David Mone
Rev David Mone from Tonga was the first minister to be appointed to the Lai Valley. He was already well known in Australia and New Zealand. During the years of war, Australian troops appreciated his help and hospitality at his mission station at Salamo in the Papuan Islands. He and his family stayed in Papuan Islands for a number of years before spending a year at King’s College, Brisbane. In Tonga he was appointed by the Church as Tutor at the Theological Institution where he completed the L. Th. diploma of the Melbourne College of Divinity. In 1955, he and his wife Latu offered to serve in the Highlands. Before the family left for New Guinea, Mone spent some months visiting churches in Australia and New Zealand. After some time in Tari and Mendi, he was appointed to be the pioneer minister in the Lai Valley, arriving in August 1957.
David and Latu Mone knew that this new appointment would be a challenge. They needed to learn another new language. They would be isolated from other colleagues and out of reach of medical help. If they were sick, they had to help themselves so it was good that Latu had medical skills. There was no airstrip and no road into the Lai Valley, except for steep walking tracks over the mountains.
With his wife Latu Mone and three of their children, David Mone set off to walk and climb, slip and slide, for eight long hard hours, starting from Wombip in the north of the Mendi Valley, through mud and rock faces, high misty rainforest and creeks, tall canes of pit-pit and rough textured kunai grass. They walked past orchids, ferns, flowering impatiens and rhododendron, until they reached Tukup at last in the Lai Valley. Latu Mone, who was used to the flat lands of Tonga or Papuan Islands, found it very hard and exhausting. ‘I’m staying here in the Valley until we leave at the end of our term’, she said. ‘I will not climb that mountain again!’ And she did stay there for the next four years.
An observer wrote in the missionary magazine:
Mone of Mendi follows in a great succession of Pacific Island missionaries… This is the life of his choice; for beyond the ranges there are many who have not heard the Gospel. David Mone and his wife, Latu, have heard the Call and have gone beyond those ranges.
Latu Mone may have refused to climb the mountains back to Mendi but she was a very active partner and co-worker with her husband David. She had medical skills and considerable wisdom. A report on their work in the missionary magazine told the story:
Every day is busy for these Tongan missionaries, for both teach in school from Monday to Friday, and sometimes on Saturday. Sick and injured are brought in daily for treatment. On Monday Latu Mone conducts a baby clinic and spends time advising mothers in the care of their children. Recently a small boy was brought in with a deep head wound inflicted when his father struck him with a bush knife. Latu Mone says she could see the brain, but she cleansed the wound and bound it together with plaster. Treatment was given daily and the child’s head is now healing and he is running about the station.
Another mother, in deep distress, claimed that “devils” were haunting her house, and she begged the missionary to write a letter for her to fix outside her house so the devils would see it and be put to flight. Latu Mone explained that devils could not read, and therefore suggested medicine and prayer. Then and there they knelt and prayed, and an injection of penicillin was also administered with beneficial results.
A few weeks ago, David Mone visited hamlets in the Lai Valley and came upon two hundred warriors engaged in hot battle with bows and arrows. The missionary made his way carefully through their gardens until he stood between the fighting men and called on them to give up their quarrel. Many came around him, and he prayed with them and told them to go home.
It is estimated that there are ten thousand people in this Lai Valley. David Mone and his wife are happy in their work. They see changes taking place in those who have received the gospel. On Sundays the Mones visit from hamlet to hamlet; Latu Mone also preaches and plans to visit distant hamlets. They see an understanding of Christ particularly in the children, and every Sunday they come with their parents and wait for the Church service. This Church in the Lai Valley is built from local materials to Tongan design, and measures fifty feet by twenty; the school is about forty feet by twenty.
“There is much to be done,” says David Mone. “More workers are needed. Up north there are many people, and no missionary”.
Pastor Tomas Tomar stayed at Tukup until the first church building was finished and then returned to Mendi.
The Missionary Review—January, 1955—Page 15
The Missionary Review—January, 1956—Page 15
The Missionary Review—October, 1956—Page 16
The Missionary Review—December, 1958 Page 11
A.Harold Wood and Margaret Reeson, A Bridge is Built: a story of the United Church in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea Commission for Mission, 1987 p 34-35
Gordon Young, David Mone, Latu Mone, Lai Valley, Kip, Tukup, Homep, Tomas Tomar, Sekri To Vodo, Kaminiel Ladi, David Johnston, Gerry Toogood, District Commissioner, patrol officers, tribal fighting, ‘devils’, medical, baby clinic, Lai Valley, Nipa, Nembi, Lake Kutubu, Ialibu, New Zealand, Tonga, Papuan Islands, Kings College, Brisbane, Melbourne College of Divinity
Margaret Reeson 