Threats, tires and hefty bags

The principal has threatened to shut the school down due to lack of funds. This happens every year and most schools, including Rosary, will shut down at least a week early. This year is a bit different. The governor of Simbu Province promised to pay half of the school fees for every student in the Province - this was the cornerstone of his winning campaign and really a crazy promise that he knew he could never fulfill. So, at the beginning of the year, the parents forked over half of the tuition costs - enough to cover two terms of the four-term school year. Meanwhile, the governor gave Rosary around 16,000 Kina - which is around 5% of the money he promised and can barely cover three weeks of food rations for the student population. So here we are, halfway through term III and the reserve funds are drying up like a puddle in the desert.

Now things get interesting as the political posturing begins. The principal advisor, on order from the governor, has told the schools that they are forbidden from asking the parents for the remainder of the fees - this would rain shame down on the governor for reneging on his promise. In response to this, the school has threatened to close the school. The principal advisor came back, demanding that the school remain open (the advisor knows how much money the school has in reserve funds). Still, the reserves will last only so long and the school has already purchased food on credit. The school does have some firepower - the national examination for grade 10 and 12 students is scheduled for the end of the term. These examinations determine which students move on to the next level of education. If there is no school, there are no exams. If students miss exams, there will be outrage and potential violence.

Tire rolling is the undisputed game of the moment for the young male division (ages 3-12). You take two sticks, hold them on the opposite sides of a tire, and run behind it. All day long. Tire rolling knocked off the previous champ, marbles, who had held the title for over four months. I don't really know what the girls play - they stick close to home.

PNG is very 1950's, in regards to gender equality. Men are the thinkers and doers and women are the home-makers. For instance, I have helped to put together a relevant education awareness campaign in the Simbu Province that was kicked off by a province-wide Poster Competition. The students were asked to come up with a poster design that illustrates how they have applied the knowledge they have learned in school at their home communities. The only submissions I have received so far are from the boys - the girls just assume they are more talented and leave this sort of thing to them. (this was explained to me by a teacher, when I inquired about the male-only entries) There is also a nation-wide math competition open to all students - again, only male applicants. The message is clear for women: graduate from school, find a husband, start making babies.

On the flip side of that coin, women work harder then any man that I have seen. On top of cooking every meal and taking care of the kids, they tend the gardens and haul surplus crops to the market to sell. I see women all the time hauling tremendous loads up and down the roads - the satchels are wrapped around their heads and rest on their hunched-over backs. Just grueling work. This scene is often coupled by a man, strolling idly by with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. I would not say chivalry is dead in PNG - it just has not got here yet. The women pay the toll for this lifestyle as they age at a rapid rate. They go from 30 to 80 in about ten years. We have the loveliest little librarian here at Rosary who I would have sworn is 75 years old. She is 53.