SORCERY

19th March 2010

In PNG, when someone dies, it is never accepted that the death is caused by a natural phenomenon.It is believed to be caused by sanguma or witchcraft.

"Today, practically no death is regarded as natural and one blames sorcery for it and tries to discover the sorcerer by asking the dead to reveal his or her killer.No accident is only the result of human error:behind it there is always bad will and sorcery, which must be avenged.The witch hunt, its ordeals and the occasional lynching leave a bloody trail in certain parts of PNG" (from Death, Witchcraft and the Spirit world in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea by Neville Bartle)

This week, one of the school security guards died - we reckon he would be aged somewhere between 40 and 50 years old.I was told of his death by one of the senior teachers at the school and I got a real shock when she said it was believed his death was caused by sanguma - an evil spirit sent to kill him by someone using sorcery.This educated, intelligent woman told me that she believed in sorcery and it works and was believed in by the majority of people, particularly in Simbu.I remember being amazed quite early on in our stay here, when another teacher also professed to believe in sorcery and a group of students told me that their homes were in the villages, but they lived in the town with relatives, as they were afraid of the sorcery in their village.I must admit, not a week goes by but there is a report of a sorcery related killing in the newspapers - here are a few recent ones:

"There can be no two disruptive traditional practices that have been carried into modern PNG with such chaotic consequences as are sorcery and tribal fights" - Editorial

"Witch is burnt" - a young woman was lashed naked to a pole and burnt to death in what authorities fear may be a sorcery killing ………"

"Man killed, family tortured over sorcery allegation" - a man was chopped to death in his sleep and five of his family members were brutally tortured after being accused of sorcery………….

Here, when someone dies, people show their grief by loud wailing, tugging their hair and daubing mud all over themselves.Occasionally, close relatives would cut off one of their finger joints or cut an ear lobe to demonstrate deep grief.Whole clans visit the house of the deceased for a 'haus crie' bringing gifts of pigs, food and money.

During this time of mourning, people are looking for signs which indicate who caused the death.They look for unusual behaviour of people in recent days, and at the body of the deceased which will be asked to reveal the name of the person who killed him or her.The body is watched to see if there is any movement when the names of possible culprits are mentioned.People who do not appear to be showing sufficient sorrow are suspect too.John and I donated some money to the family in the hope no suspicions were cast our way!

John attended the funeral, as I had other appointments, so I'll let him describe the actual event.

The security guard, my namesake, John, was very popular and very religious, so to hear that his death is possibly being blamed on witchcraft is difficult to reconcile. But then witchcraft and religion are side by side all the time here. Everyone is religious to the extent they close their eyes and pray every morning at briefing and most go to church regularly, but the juxtaposition of a vast range of Christian religions, PNG culture and witchcraft is very complex and interesting. We often want to ask how their behaviour, which they put down to their culture, squares with their religion, but we dare not, and you can understand why.

John was often seen in the chaplain's office with his bible or one could hear him praying in the office when he was supposed to be doing his security role, indeed the chaplain used his bible, the most battered and dog-eared bible I have ever seen, with highlighted passages on most pages, in his tribute to John. The school chaplain conducted the service and the whole school lined up across the field and the coffin was carried from the school truck through the lines of students throwing flowers. The truck had brought him from the morgue but not before they found the fancy coffin the school had provided was too short and there was a quick trawl around for another one.

The immediate family, wailing and keening followed the coffin, everyone gathered round and fortunately the service was relatively short, given that they like the sound of their own voice here and everyone wants to get hold of the microphone and hold forth. But it was midday and the sun was fierce, as my red face will confirm, so it was as well the speeches were short. The finale was the coffin being handed over from the teachers and ancillaries who had carried him to the family, who then carried him out and off to the village for the "haus crie".

There was a whole pile of food under a covering of banana leaves that had been contributed by the students, this was greens, cabbages, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, plus a full grown pig and bags of rice sugar and tea and coffee, contributed by the school, which filled an open backed three ton truck, this food is to sustain the family through the "haus crie", plus all the visitors that come to pay their respects.

Corruption is rife and we have seen evidence of it both in our school here and ones we have visited.There is government money earmarked for school refurbishment (and boy do they need it). Schools bid for the money, which is not given to the head teacher but the local MP.He then nominates contractors to do the work who just happen to be his wantoks, so the actual amount spent on the school is far less than that donated, the rest is syphoned off to wantoks.The thing is, everyone knows it's happening, but they do nothing about it.When we questioned the school managers, they said they dare not upset their MP or they'd never get any money.

The school team entered a local women's volleyball competition played over several weeks.I was invited to watch, which I duly did and the school team lost.When I commiserated with them the next day, they said they lost because of sorcery!The opposition had used a spell, which caused them to lose!It seems to me no-one takes responsibility for anything around here, it's always someone else's fault.However, despite losing the one game, the team got through to the grand final and although they lost then, it was a great event.We wanted to watch it and asked three different people what time it was due to start and we got three different answers, 10.00, 12.00, 14.00.After waiting around for what felt like the whole day, it finally got going at 5.30pm and only just finished before dark.Still, everyone had a great time, as shown by the photos.

We managed to get through to two schools this week.It was quite a tricky journey to one of them and we got stuck in the mud twice!!The heavy rain is really making travelling difficult.Next week we are visiting a school close to Mount Willhelm, the highest mountain in PNG (4,500 metres) working with the teachers and management team for 3 days.It's a 3 hour treacherous journey and until recently the road was closed by a landslide.We're hoping that will have been cleared by next week - it's very cold up there too, so we'll be unearthing the thermals.

I'll never get used to the child abuse here.It is very distressing.One of the teachers living nearby has 5 children.Last week two of them were returning along the path which runs past our house, presumably from school, when their father walked to meet them.Without warning, he broke a branch off a tree and started beating the girl with it.She ran off crying when he grabbed the boy by the arm, dragged him down a bank and started hammering him too.As I write, there's a little boy screaming his head off being pursued by his mother - a teacher - brandishing a huge stick and yelling incoherently, completely out of control.Thankfully he has disappeared out of sight, so we don't have to witness yet another child being abused.

Well, the ticket home has been booked!VSO have booked it for us as they get favourable rates and baggage allowance.As a result, we go from here to Port Moresby, then to Brisbane, then Sydney before eventually arriving in Bankok.Quite a tortuous route, but we don't mind as we like travelling and as we're homeward bound, it will be tolerable.Then a lovely long, exciting holiday, part of it with Lisa and Simon, that will be amazing.

Sounds like you're enjoying lovely spring weather right now - snowdrops and daffodils - gorgeous!

Enjoy!