Papua New Guinea

After living in the jungle villages of Papua New Guinea leaving with absolutely nothing, I feel like I returned filled to the brim, overflowing with treasures. It is so cliché to claim that it was life changing but when an experience grabs you by the heart and makes you rethink everything you have ever known to be important, life-altering is the only description that is able to capture the magnitude of the realization.

All my life I have been obsessed with the next step, what I will do tomorrow, where will I go to Law School, what my future will bring, how will I make money and where I will live. For the very first time in my life, I was completely content sitting around staring at the same 12 sun burnt faces 24 hours a day talking about nothing more serious than who had the most mosquito bites or the latest spider count in the bathroom. Playing cards was so intense that if you would likely be cussed out if you took too long on your turn. Calling each other names and cursing each other out for spying on each other’s cards was the norm, all to be forgiven once the game was over and I (of course) won. I listened to “The Secret Life of Bees” in the worst southern accents I have ever heard, “Blow Your Load” took on a whole new meaning and learned that It’s Not Safe Once the Sun Goes Down. I have so many memories that this group is all a part of and I learned that sometimes it’s important to take the time out to let people know what they mean to you because even though it’s obvious to you, they may not know it. I am completely shit at showing my emotions, so while the lessons of P&G (lol) are still fresh in my head I think I should do it more often.

The “stuff” that you are truly made of, that defines who YOU are, the depth of your character and the limitations of your personality, weaknesses and insecurities are only allowed to shine through once all comforts of home and material possessions are stripped away. In fact, these things are the only things strong enough to survive the storm, now sticking out so far above everything else they are impossible to ignore.

I encountered people living in complete poverty, their children walk around with bloated stomachs from malnutrition and ring worm that overtakes their entire body. They live in meagerness with nothing beyond the bare necessities and yet somehow managed to shower us with gifts upon arrival and fill our stomachs with food even though they cant manage to fill their own. When you cross paths with people who encompass the kinds of kindness and generosity that only exist in the most optimistic minds, it is impossible not to feel a pang of guilt for having so much yet appreciating so little.

The people of the villages gave trust without us earning it and were overtaken with happiness if you gave a smile or wink, bonus points for hugs. The children held my hand and looked up at me with eyes full of trust and genuine love and a longing for any scrap of knowledge you were willing to divulge. Most people will never experience this feeling in their entire lives and be completely happy in their ignorance but once you experience it just once, nothing can ever be the same. I feel so grateful that I have been given this opportunity so young and if I can live my life with 1/10 of the altruism that they do, then this short time has enriched my life the sum of 22 years has not been able to.

If it is true that man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world, than my world is expanding with every day. As for now, this short snip-it is all Im going to say about Papua New Guinea until I can find the right words to tell the stories and do them justice. Here are a few pics for now until I manage to put all my thoughts into coherent sentences