Sing sing

One of the interesting cultural traditions in PNG is called a "sing sing."  Basically, it is a big celebration of something really important such as a bride price, compensation, or peace ceremony.

Today I experienced my first sing sing.  I drove Big Blue (the cruiser) picked up Nykki and Matt (two of our volunteers) and their daughter Miriam.  Jonathan is a local and was our tour guide for the day.  We headed down the Minj road about thirty minutes or so to the site of the sing sing.  (Wow, I feel like such a grown up missionary.)

The reason for today's celebration was that one of the local tribes would be giving 21 cows to a neighboring tribe.  Rumor had it that an elephant would also be making an appearance.  Once upon a time these tribes were enemies, so this gift of cows was a sign of continued friendship between them.  

Our first stop was at the place where the cow exchange and feast would occur.  There was a several story tall tower of plants and flowers and food to mark the actual site.  We also got a peak at the infamous cows grazing in a field (their last meal).  There was no evidence of an elephant, and I wonder if there has ever been an elephant in PNG.  A few kilometers back toward Kudjip, the celebration was underway.  Participants dressed in traditional costumes made of leaves and feathers and shells and more leaves.  Their faces were painted with a rainbow of colors.  The feathered head dresses were particularly impressive, some of them with entire birds (not live ones) perched on top.  Apparently they are passed down through the generations from father to son.  Each of these traditional costumes is particular to the part of the country where the tribe or person comes from.  The sing singers all danced (or jumped) mostly in a circle and sang some sort of song about going to get the cows.

The whole thing was quite a site!  I have some pictures to share, although they really don't do it justice.  Someday you will just have to come and see for yourself.

"Speak to one another with songs, hymns, and spiritual songs.  Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

~ Ephesians 5:19-20

Blues vs. Maroons

The big American past times are baseball, football, and basketball.  Soccer dominates throughout much of Latin America and Europe.  But in this part of the world, rugby is #1.

Last evening I was introduced to the great game of rugby.  I joined up with some of the missionary families and several PNGians to watch the "State of Origin" rugby tournament.  (We gathered at the Bennet's home, one of only two houses on station that actually get the one TV station we have here in PNG.  "Em TV" --> "em" is he or she or it in Pidgin, and is pronounced "M-TV."  Hee hee.)  Australia holds an this annual all star tournament, which seems to be that continent's equivalent of our Super Bowl.  State of Origin is a three game series.  The Blues from New South Wales play against the Maroons from Queensland.  The Maroons have won the tournament for the past three years, and also won the first game of the series.  So it was win or out for the Blues!  And the Blues were out.

My first impressions are that rugby is some sort of combination of football, soccer, and basketball.  A match consists of two 40 minute halves.  All of the players on the team, 13 to 15 of them depending on the league, play both offense and defense.  The ball is moved forward by either running or kicking, and is also passed but only backwards.  The goal of the defense is to stop the forward progression by tackling the guy with the ball.  Each team has 5 chances to score before they must kick the ball to the other team.  These are similar to downs and punts in football.  There are no pauses between the "downs;" the players just get up, pass the ball, and keep going.  A goal is called a "try" and is worth 4 points.  After a team scores, the kicker goes for an extra two points by kicking the ball through the goal post from the point at which the ball crossed the line.  This is a "conversion."  There is also some sort of something called a "scrum" where all the players from both teams huddle together in a big bear hug and try to get possession of the ball, but it is not entirely clear to me when or why this is done.   I still have a bit to learn about the game.

Rugby is a very fast paced game.  Reportedly the Australians find American football quite boring in comparison, and I can see why.  It was a lot of fun experiencing this part of the PNG culture.  And I would have to say I am hooked!

Two Joes

I took a brief trip over to B-ward but have been back on pediatrics for about the last 10 days.  I have been rounding along side Dr. Carol Howard.  The Howards were serving here as missionaries the first time I came to PNG and have since settled back in the States.  Carol and her daughter Hannah, who is a pre-med student at Point Loma Nazarene University, are here to volunteer for the month.  It has been great to catch up with them!

Once again peds ward has been full to overflowing, with an entire third row on the floor most days.  But unlike the typical peds rounds which consists of alternating cases of pneumonia and gastroenteritis, I have had some unusual cases over this last week.  There have been several with strange abdominal illnesses that I never really figured out (hepatitis or typhoid or who knows what?), but thankfully with medicine and prayer they recovered.  I cared for a three year old with fever and some sort of inflammatory arthritis.  Another one of our patients presented with acute flaccid paralysis, PNG's version of Guillan Barre syndrome.

Joe #1 is about 12 years old, more or less.  He came to the hospital last week with severe headache, vomiting, and weakness of the left side of his body.  His work up was negative for any kind of acute infection such as meningitis or malaria.  This left two diagnosis at the top of my differential list:  tuberculosis or brain tumor.  In an ideal world, he would be rushed off for a CT scan of his head and we would likely have a certain cause for his illness.  However, there is only one CT scan in the country and Port Moresby (where it is located) is only accessible by plane.  Most families cannot afford the price of a plane ticket or cost of the CT scan (somewhere between $100-300).  Joe will not be getting this much needed test.  As a doctor, how do you care for such a patient?  You treat the illness that you can treat.  If the cause is TB, he should get better.  If he has a brain tumor, his condition will continue to worsen.  For now, we wait and pray.

Joe #2 is maybe a couple of years older than the first Joe, and sleeps two beds down from him.  He has seizure disorder or epilepsy.  Joe had been doing well for some time so he stopped taking his medicine.  Unfortunately his seizures returned this last week with a vengeance.  Convulsions continued despite several medications, and we almost lost him a couple of times.  Joe is no longer seizing, but he is confused and combative.  I am concerned that he has some permanent brain damage.  So again, we wait and pray for a miracle.

It's a good thing that my God is a God of miracles!