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Port of Call |
LAST UPDATE May 28, 2008
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| April 21, 2008 |
Rabaul, Papua New Guinea: Cultural Exchange in the Mountain Village of Gaulim |
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| A volcano erupts steadily in the distance as Peace Boat participants make their way to the mountain village of Gaulim |
Peace Boat made its last call of the 60th voyage to the port of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, a Melanesian country made up of volcanic islands. Dense rainforest covers the coastal regions while a spine of rugged mountains runs through the interior of Papua New Guinea, where biologists believe numerous species of plants and animals remain undiscovered. A group of 100 Peace Boat participants traveled through winding mountain roads by truck to the small village of Gaulim for a day of cultural exchange and to get a sense of rural life in Papua New Guinea. |
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Eri Nakaya presents aid relief items such as shoes, school supplies and sporting goods to the people of Gaulim, a donation made possible by the United People’s Alliance, an ongoing Peace Boat project |
Warm smiles from the village residents welcomed 60th voyage participants to the mountain village of Gaulim, which surprised Peace Boat participant Eri Nakaya a little bit. Japan’s oppressive actions in the Pacific region during World War II caused considerable hardship to the people of Papua New Guinea, but Eri was happy that the Baining people of Gaulim seemed to bear no ill will toward Japanese people on a personal level. Eri enjoyed playing with the children and talking with the adults of the village, saying that this type of opportunity is what made Peace Boat port visits so special. Peace Boat participants visit the village of Gaulim during nearly all of the ship’s calls to Papua New Guinea, and over the years have built up a strong relationship of trust through the sharing of traditional meals and cultural exchange. |
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Village elders shared Baining culture with Japanese participants through a performance of traditional chants and percussion-based songs |
Peace Boat participants had a chance to tour the village, whose residents live subsistence-based agricultural lives, growing crops such as cocoa, coconuts, and starchy roots like sweet potatoes and taro. People enjoyed playing games of soccer and volleyball, jumping rope, taking pictures and just spending time together, using both verbal and non-verbal communication tools to get to know each other. Many Peace Boat participants were surprised at the “simplicity” of the Baining people’s lifestyles, noting how different the stilt-raised huts in Gaulim were from their own homes back in Japan. Simultaneously though, this simplicity attracted many Japanese participants, who would be returning to busy lives in Japan sooner than they liked. |
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| Akari Koseki enjoyed the chance to play with the Baining children in such a relaxed and friendly setting |
Tour participant Akari Koseki felt lucky to be so warmly received by the people of Papua New Guinea despite the brevity of Peace Boat’s visit. As the tour traveled between the village of Gaulim and the port of Rabaul, people lined the roadside to shout enthusiastic greetings to Peace Boat participants as they drove past, displaying warm smiles and waving cheerfully. Akari, surprised at the open friendliness that people in Papua New Guinea showed toward complete strangers, thought about how rare it would be to show such warmth to a passerby on the street in Japan, especially if that person were from a different country. For Akari, this open kindness to strangers is one thing she hopes to bring home with her to Japan. |
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| Children of Papua New Guinea face numerous challenges as the country modernizes, from the preservation of their indigenous identity to protection against the quickly spreading HIV/AIDS epidemic |
Peace Boat participants felt lucky to get such a close look at a different culture during the Gaulim cultural exchange tour. While Japan is a relatively homogenous country, Papua New Guinea is thought to be perhaps the most heterogeneous in the world, made up of hundreds of ethnic groups who speak in total over 850 distinct indigenous languages. Over 80 percent of people in Papua New Guinea live rural lifestyles, and development and over-exploitation of the abundant natural resources is held in check by the rugged geography and people’s tendency toward subsistence-based lifestyles. The relationship between Gaulim and Peace Boat is a precious one both for its depth and for the sharing of apparently stark cultural differences between Japan and Papua New Guinea, and Peace Boat looks forward to visiting Gaulim again in the near future. |
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