PNG Country Tours has a motto to encourage children to participate in cultural festival; a move for cultural preservation

ONE of the locally owned inbound tour operator specializing in cultural, bird watching and other special interest tours throughout the Highlands and other parts of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Country Tours Managing Director Wako Runi Napasu says the tour company's motto is to see every singsing group involves a child participation and they are rewarded the same as adults. 

"That's the right way to encourage and train and mould children to grow up with their culture because that's their identity," he said.

The Melanesian Way blog become interested in its motto whereby children are encourage to participate in the cultural events, be for fun or for reward, their involvement and participation is what caught the attention of this blog. The Country Tours motto is for cultural preservation through involvement of children. 

"Let's teach our children to bring our culture and traditions to the next century," writes Napasu on his Facebook wall, who hails from Tambul, Western Highlands Province. Country Tours has its office in Mt. Hagen,Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. 

For bookings and enquiries with Country Tours, email: sales@countrytours.com.pg, phone: (675) 325-9309 / 542-1603 / 7676-5684 / 721 86760. 

The Wako Runi Napasu photographs below.......these children were part of a group who welcomed cruise ship passengers into Mt Hagen and Tambul from the 8-10th August 2016

Photographs: Wako Runi Napasu 

Why the Melanesian Way blog? - Our aims, objectives, missions and visions why we want to preserve and promote culture through blogging

EVERY Papua New Guinea community has a traditional culture which is usually very unique to each other. We have about 840 different languages and our traditional cultures are almost the same number. These traditional cultures are part of our Melanesian way of life style that our ancestors have been living with for many years ago. In the wake of modernization, we have heard comments that our cultures and traditions are old-fashioned; they hold back progress in nation building and that we should completely forget about them and adopt new ways of life. Some say they are ‘dirty’ and ‘primitive’.

But many of us do not agree with all these comments because some of us are living examples of what our cultures and traditions did for us when we were young. They helped us develop and mould our attitudes and characters to be productive, useful, purposely and to lead progressive lives. Many of us reject immoral living and corruption, laziness and conning. Hunger for wealth, power and glory are unknown in our cultural and traditional ways of life. 

Every child to spend its first 10 years close to the soil, tracing the cultures and traditions.
Have them brought up in the village so that for the rest of their lives they should have had a mental background of the fields and trees and wide clear blue skies and the smell of the earth and the riches of cultures and traditions. Upon this basic culture all that they might later acquire would, I know, have grown more readily and more richly than it grows in the town child. The town child has no roots. He has quick brains, sharp moments, keen understanding of men; but he is an unfinished product.

“To have no cultural and traditional country background to your memories is equal to having no education.”

Papua New Guinea’s rich traditional cultures and indigenous systems may be lost if not regularly and with passionate practiced, properly recorded and preserved, and proudly and widely promoted. The young generation today needs to practice the rich cultures of the country so that they are preserved for the future generations. Our traditions and cultures will be lost if they are not passed on. Papua New Guinea has very unique cultures and ways of life, but these were at high risk with western influence. The blending of one culture with another also had the potential of killing off cultures. The challenge is to preserve our cultures by practicing and making them part of our lives. We must make an effort to sustain our cultures and not to depend on others.

In the Asian countries like South Korea, China and Japan people treasure their cultures and traditional values very much that they still keep them although traveling through the midst of transition from buffalo agriculture to highly computerized agro-technology.

We have been colonized and influenced by British forces through Australia mandate and now we are trying our best to be like the Australians of the British ways but we will never in the whole world become one because that’s not our way. We are not Australians or British for that matter. We are Melanesians and we remain Melanesians and die as Melanesians. Our children will live as Melanesians and the generations live on with our own identify – the Melanesian Way.

It is only when you don’t see a trace of a Melanesian culture anywhere anymore, which we stop to exist. So if we do not feed our children with our Melanesian cultures and traditions, teach them our languages, our dances, our folklore and songs, our fashion, indeed the totality of our Melanesian life style, our future will lose its identity and we may begin to wonder if we are Australians, Indonesians or just a nation of shadows blending into shapes and dark patches.

The state of recording and preservation of Papua New Guinea’s rich and diverse cultural heritage is shocking and ‘absolutely shameful’. Funds and interests have been dwindled over the last 30 years. Aid donors and development partners must learn that the maintenance of traditional cultures and indigenous knowledge and systems surely represents Papua New Guinea’s unique contributions to the world. It is just as essential as building road or health centers. And that is more important than many other activities that seem to be trapped financially.

Our culture is important to the future of our children and to our nation, because culture ensures a history, a past, present and certainly a future. “It is therefore important, and absolutely necessary, to hand down such an important birthright and inheritance to an informed and prepared generation. The future of this nation lies in the hands of our children. They are our future! And they must carry our identity – The Melanesian Way.

Culture should not be interpreted merely as a return to the customs of the past. It embodies the attitude of a people to the future of their traditional values faced with the demands of modern technology, which is an essential factory of development and progress. “A cultural policy is very important in order to incorporate such an essential part of our history into our general national development process, because culture, as a force, has both its own economic and political consequences in the life of any nation. The simple meaning to the importance of culture is that without culture, a national is as good as extinct, erased from the surface of the earth, blotted out and, an existence without dignity or recognition. The only way to wipe out a people from the face of the earth is to take away their culture.

“When we talk of self-reliance, self-sufficiency and national identify as the core of our national development, we refer to culture as the fountain spring of all policies whether educational, social, political, medical or economical. Our strategies of national development would therefore depend on the understanding of the culture, the adaptation of its elements for political, educational and economic development as well as its strengths for social integration and development.

Having seen the importance of reviving, preserving, promoting and protecting our traditional cultures in each our communities in Papua New Guinea, formed an organization known as The Melanesian Way Inc.

This organization is currently registered with the Investment Promotion Authority (Reg. 5-3063) under Papua New Guinea Associations Incorporation Act in June 2007 and using the Internet Technology (blogging) to preserve, revive, promote and protect our traditional cultures. The primary objectives of the Melanesian Way blog (www.melanesianwaypacific.blogspot.com) is to preserve cultures through photographs, articles and videos. 

In order to actively revive, preserve, promote and protect our traditional cultures we are now inviting interested people to become members and support us in our attempts as this is a volunteer initiative. We need you to join us hand-in-hand to revive our dying culture and preserve for our children in the future. 

To join us and contribute to our blog, please contact via email at: howarigc@gmail.com

VIDEO: The importance of preservation of audio and visual material was emphasized at the Pacific Media Partnership Conference in Port Moresby. Broadcast media houses were told that they have an important role in safely keeping moving images and sound recordings for their historical, legal and cultural significance.

PNG Tourism minister challenges Mount Hagen Cultural Show committee to host the event at Kagamuga Show Ground

MINISTER for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Tobias Kulang, has challenged Western Highlanders to bring the Mount Hagen Cultural Show back to its traditional venue, Kagamuga Showground.

Minister Kulang, while officiating at the 57th Mt. Hagen Cultural Show over the weekend said this must be achieved next year.
“Mt. Hagen and Western Highlands is a strategic location and must take the lead in such events. Where is the political will? Why is the show held here, where it can be held at its traditional venue?” questioned Minister Kulang.

This year’s Mt. Hagen Cultural Show was staged at the Rabiamul Field.
More than 400 tourists came to Mt. Hagen to enjoy the Western Highlands traditional culture on display.

One tourist representing a group from Israel said he previously worked with the Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority and still comes to PNG every year for Mt. Hagen Cultural Show.

Speaking fluently in Tok Pisin, Baz Chesbelis urged PNG to focus on Tourism.
“Culture em bai no inap pinis ,em bai stap igo inap lo bihain taim. Olsem na yupla mas lukautim culture blo yupela,” said Chesbelis.

Faces at Mt. Hagen Cultural Show

VIDEO: Sing-sing is a gathering of a few tribes or villages in Papua New Guinea. People arrive to show their distinct culture, dance and music. The aim of these gatherings is to peacefully share traditions. Villagers paint and decorate themselves for sing-sings.

VIDEO: published on Sep 20, 2014

Journey around Papua New Guinea (PNG) including Port Moresby, the middle Sepik River, the Mt. Hagen Cultural Show (singsing) and Tari.

The 2016 Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival is set and ready to go - all welcome.

THIS year's (2016) 06th Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival will be biggest so far for its events history. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is hoping to ensure that every year is BIGGER & BETTER.

Preparations on the ground are going well and doing good; ready to accommodate the people from all walks of life to enjoy once again the unique cultural fiesta in the interior of Southern Highlands Province, home of all our Wame's and Ana's...Kutubu Land.

"TINGIM GUT BIHAIN BILONG YUMI" (Our future is determine by today) is the theme of the year (2016). The community support of WWF and Community Development Initiative (CDI) on the ground, are prepared and ready to give a warm welcome to our the SPONSORS, GUESTS, MEDIA TEAMS, GOVERNMENT DELEGATES and other guest VIPs, who are attending the 06th Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival from the 23rd-24th Sept, 2016.

The Kutubu Kundu & Digaso Festival team would like to thank the Southern Highlands Provincial Government (SHPG) for its commitment towards this year's festival event. Hoping to hear from the SHPG regarding their support anytime soon. WWF/CDI and organizers are pleased to invite the SHPG official of the province to the 06th Kutubu Kundu & Digaso Festival in Kutubu.

The host community is prepared to welcome and receive their support.

Major sponsors for the 06th KUTUBU KUNDU & DIGASO FESTIVAL are as follows:
1. SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT (SHPG)
2. Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC)/(PRK)
3. EXXONMOBIL PNG LIMITED / PNG LNG
4. Oil Search Limited (OSL)
5. PNG AIR LTD
6. Trans Wondner Land (TWL)
7. KUTUBU FOE ASSOCIATION

The event organizers are WWF and CDI.

FRIENDS/FANS OF THE KUTUBU KUNDU & DIGASO FESTIVAL, THIS IS FOR YOU.

THE ORGANIZERS WILL BE LIVE ON RADIO INTERVIEWS REGARDING THE 06TH KUTUBU KUNDU & DIGASO FESTIVAL IN SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS PROVINCE UPDATES:

- LIVE INTERVIEW ON NBC RADIO 23rd August 2016 @ 1pm, 90.7FM NBC Radio (done)
- LIVE INTERVIEW ON NBC RADIO 23rd August 2016 @8:30pm (done)
- LIVE INTERVIEW ON ABC Australia RADIO 24th August 2016 (done)
- LIVE INTERVIEW ON NBC RADIO Anuaboi Driver 24 August 2016 @ 8:30pm (done)

WWF/CDI and event organizers would also want to thank the Tourism Promotion Authority (TPA) for their response to the invitation to attend the 06th Kutubu Kundu & Digaso Festival in Kutubu this year. They would like to welcome TPA's Mr Noah Mikmik and Joel Keimelo to be part of the event. They are pleased to welcome TPA and its staff to join this year to celebrate the 06th Kutubu Kundu & Digaso Festival in Daga Village, Pimaga, Southern Highlands Province.

It all will be exotic, exciting experience!

Happy viewing.

 

VIDEO: A mashup of clips in segment from the Grainery church mission trip to Lake Kutubu in September 2013. Includes some pretty snarly traditional dancing and feasting from Kutubu as well. 

Photographs courtesy of Saina Jeffery / WWF.

Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival offers a rare treat of fascinating cultural performances from Southern Highlands

THE Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival offers a rare treat of fascinating cultural performances from all over the Southern Highlands province and the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

This year 2016 will be the 6th year of the festival event and it takes place September 23rd to 24th.

The Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival celebrates the importance of the Kundu drum and the Digaso oil in the traditional culture of the Kutubu people in the Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

Hosted near the famous Lake Kutubu, local communities put on a Sing Sing spectacle and unite in a show of support and respect of each others cultural differences.

Cultural groups will travel from remote parts of the province to participate in the festival celebrations.

The people of the Southern Highlands invite you to join them in this extraordinary celebration tribute to their incredible culture.

Tourists and Visitors 

The 3rd Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival, in 2013, attracted a number of tourists and visitors from various parts of the world. They enjoyed the show and are hoping to come again for the next show.

Happy viewing!

Photographs courtesy of Saina Jeffery/WWF.

"TINGIM GUT BIHAIN BILONG YUMI" (Our actions today determines our future) is the theme for 2016 Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival

"TINGIM GUT BIHAIN BILONG YUMI" (Our actions today will determine our future) is the theme for the 2016 Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival facilitated by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and to be hosted at Daga Village in Pimaga District Station, Lake Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

WWF is an international conservation NGO operating in the Kikori River Basin which covers Kikori, Bosavi, Kutubu & Semberigi areas in the Southern Highlands Province. 

Its main aim is to encourage the local communities to preserve and maintain the integrity of the natural rich cultural and biodiversity of the regions in which they belong to as its their pride and life. Although, challenges are faced in all forms of life and phases, there are opportunities and strengths in which the people can step on not to lose track of their past and future. 

In this case, as the organizer of the event "Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival" WWF is proud to remind the people of Kutubu, Kikori, Bosavi and Semberigi again that "lets not forget that our pride is our culture and environment" therefore the theme for 2016 is "TINGIM GUT BIHAIN BILONG YUMI" our actions now will determine our future!

The T-shirt printing layout (photo below) of the 06th Kutubu Kundu & Digaso Festival, 2016 is complete. T-shirts will be sold at the Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival for only PGK40.00.

A special invitation is sent out to all the sponsors and supporters of the 06th Kutubu Kundu & Digaso Festival.

Cordially the invitation goes out to sponsors and supporters for their service/product promotions/awareness purposes during the festival on the 23rd-24th Sept, 2016. Invitations to buy stalls also goes out to the following;

1. Mineral Resource Development Corporation) (MRDC)
2. World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF)
3. Community Development Initiative (CDI)
4. Oil Search Limited - Environment (OSL)
5. Oil Search Limited - Health (OSL)
6. Oil Search Limited - Community Affai rs (OSL)
7. Exxon Mobil PNG (EMPNG)
8. Mananda Umbrella Joint venture (MUJV)
9. Airlines PNG (APNG)
10. National Cultural Commission (NCC)
11. Lake Kutubu Orchid Growers
12. Virgin Rainforest Protection Inc (VRP)
13. Kutubu LLG Youth Group
14. Kutubu Womens Counci (KWC)
15. Kutubu Foe Culture
16. Lake Kutubu Wildlife Management Area (LKWMA)
17. Kikori Womens Group
18. Mt Bosavi Ecotourism Group
19. TUBO Eco-Tourism LODGE
20. Semberigi Polopa Womens Group
21. Secto Commnet Services Limited, Kutubu-SHP
22. Wame Blood
23. Kutubu/Kikori Eco-Forestry Association
24. PNG Air
25. Trans Wonder Land Limited
26. Kutubu Arts & Crafts
27. Enga Traditional Salt Display

The festival this year is BIGGER & BETTER, COME and CELEBRATE IN KUTUBU!

Part of the crowd that attended the festival last year 2015.

The T-shirt printing that will be going on for sale at PGK40 during the festival.

A tree Kangaroo on show last year 2015 at the festival.

WWF Stall at the festival site prepared.

Daga Village where the festival will take place.

Photographs courtesy of Saina Jeffery /WWF.

Kundu and Digaso Festival is the pride of the Kutubu people

THE pride of Kutubu people is not found in the natural resources (discovery of oil and gas) rather it is the culture and environment that they live in.  Whatever tied their past ancestors had always determine today and the future and this lies in their hands now. 

The story starts when the Enga people wanted to know where the Digaso oil came from because their unique traditional salt was traded with this oil as they still know today. The Engans trace came back all the way to Kutubu and realized that their salt was not a waste.

Finally, the owner of the traditional salt exchanges it with the owner of the Digaso oil during the Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival last year (2015). It was a great moment for the two tribes to learn their traces of the important trading route of their traditional wealth and pride (Engan Traditional Salt & Kutubu Digaso Oil).

This year 2016, the organizing committee is looking at more traces of traditional trading routes from the Kikori and Bosavi side of their stories

Its happening on the 23rd-24th September, 2016. Venue: Pimaga Station, Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

Photographs below by Saina Jeffrey (WWF) of last years performance by a cultural group.

Happy viewing!

VIDEO: Flying over Lake Kutubu to land at Moro Airport.

VIDEO: The Kutubu Kundu and Digaso Festival was officially recognized in February 2015 as a National Cultural Event by National Cultural Commission in Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province. 

The 22nd Enga Cultural Show came alive with traditional hymns and diverse traditional dancing groups

by STAYCEY YALO

WABAG in the Enga Province, came alive once again for the 22nd time with various traditional hymns and diverse traditional dancing groups from all over the province for the annual Enga Cultural Show.

After the 20th Enga show two years ago, the show committee had aimed to promote purely the Enga culture which saw over 30 different groups performing traditional dances, rituals, and displaying Enga’s unique flora and fauna, customary way of life to target the preservation of Engan Culture and Identity.

Chairman of the Engan Cultural Show, Margaret Potane said Enga as a province is aiming to make sure the traditional knowledge, culture and its way of life is not lost in today’s modern culture.

Mrs Potane, who has chaired the show committee since 1994, said the show has reached its aim to promote the province’s culture where it is not only displayed every year through the show but has also been documented and will be thought as a curriculum to the school’s in the provinces.

“This is actually the second Engan show because after the 20th year two years ago, we have decided to not include other sing sing groups but only from Enga. As much as possible we want to preserve our Engan Identity where we have started to include our children in the high schools in the show.

“I’m happy to say that the entire province has taken part where our children has a chance to learn every year about their culture before western influence. We want to keep it the Engan way and the positive outcome for the show is the preservation of our culture as a province because when we first started in 1994, our costumes were scarce. As the year progressed and the show became an annual event, our people started re-producing dying our traditional costumes and revived a lot of our traditional practices which would have easily faded away. “

Mrs Potane said the Enga culture is very intact where the province has created its own cultural curriculum which was accepted by the national education Board and have been thought in schools throughout the province since last year.

The curriculum will be launched on the 16th of September this year where the province anticipates to hand pick elders from different communities in the province to teach the curriculum in the local Engan dialect to students, school by school, annually as part of the show.

The show Engan Cultural show started on Friday 12/08/16 and ended on Sunday 14th August, 2016. 

 

  

 

Source: Sunday Chronicle / Port Moresby.

Freelance Artist Clement Koys' artworks are to be featured on the Melanesian Way blog

CLEMENT Koys is a name gradually gaining momentum in the arts and crafts industry. Koys hails from Simbu Province but was born and raised in Madang Province. He spend another ten (10) years in Popondetta which he calls it his second home. 

Young Koys is now residing in Port Moresby as a freelance artist making a living out of his artwork. The Melanesian Way Inc blog has agreed to feature his artwork; with two (2) missions, firstly to promote his work wider both locally and internationally and secondly, which is the primary mission of this blog, is to preserve the Melanesian Culture by making a collection of Clement Koys artwork and paintings.

His paintings are oil-base and mostly come in the size of 60x80cm for sale at the prize of PGK600.00 For those who are interested in his painting can contact him via mobile phone: +675 72339555 or find him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/clement.koys

Here are some of Koys' paints.

Happy viewing!

Local television EMTV News on the Arts Exhibition in Port Moresby.