My visit to Sier Village

During the school holiday between terms, I visited my friend and wanwok (literally translated as "one work")Roselyn and her two children, Stephanie and Dunstan. It all started with a trip to the market to by cooking bananas, yams and kumu (greens. Next we sat at the water's edge and waited for the boat to take us to the island. I have to admit, this was one of the most scary things I have experienced here in PNG. The small motor boat was overloaded with people and their bags of food from the market. The boat was literally two inches above the water. I counted 26 people. I was certain the boat would sink!


The skipper decided that I needed a tour of the islands and he dropped us off last. The sea was calm between the islands and my fears of capsizing lessened. We slowly puttered from island to island and listened to the skipper's orders to shift our weight to help balance the boat. One by one the passengers would exit the boat and wade through the cyrstal clear water carrying their bags filled with yams, bananas and tinned fish on their heads.

It was refreshing to leave the mainland. I appreciated the peacefulness of the village. I sat on Roselyn's veranda overlooking the sea and wrote letters home to my grandmothers. I sat in the green grass under a mango tree and ate papaya with the women and children of Roselyn's village.
Roselyn is renting her house from a family for 100 kina a week. She struggles to make rent on her salary (it's almost 3 days salary for me). Dunston starting the fire for dinner.

I was surprised by the beauty of this "urban village" as she calls it. Dunston and I searched for fishing bait in the creek. Stephanie and I climbed trees for a fruit she said were cheeries, but they tasted more like plums to me.
The island was filled with colorful flowers and shrubs.
The island was filled with tropical fruit trees (banana, guava, papaya, coconut, buai and mango). We were surrounded by more fruit than we could ever eat. Stephanie and her double hybiscus.

Traditional yam house, the staple food of the islands.

On my next visit, the women are teaching me to row in a traditional canoe! I plan to make many more trips to Sier Island!