Maybe you think now, well I live in a village, too. But let me tell you, I´m not talking about that kind of village you´re thinking of. During our 7 weeks on Outreach in Papua New Guinea we visited several villages.
Before we arrived, it was the plan to stay maybe at one. Coming back, we actually have a list of three stays, that took half of our Outreach- time… ☺When you watch videos or movies of Papua New Guinea you imagine the rural villages as a community of tribes with masks and body- painting. To be honest I am glad we didn’t experience that. If you want this, which is probably a cool adventure, you have to go far into the highlands.
The three villages, where we stayed at had their very own characteristics, with mostly families living together in these communities. Furthermore, they were really different if you compare them. The nature, the connection to the civilization, the food, the cleaning- conditions or the spiritual atmospheres are in every village contrasting.
As a German 18-year-old girl, I am used to a house that is warm through heating in winter and cold because of isolation in summer. If I am hungry I just go into the kitchen where my parents store our groceries, that they bought from the store. I have my own room at home with a comfy bed and I can use our shower whenever I need.
Although I had scout experiences as a young girl, staying in a village in Papua New Guinea on the other side of the world is not the same.
Most of the time these villages are really far from the city or a grocery store and they don´t have normal electricity.
To get yourself clean you have to bathe either in a river or shower under something with your clothes on. You´re also getting used to eat rice every day and fruits directly from the trees.
But, what did I now actually learn?
- DIFFERENCES || First of all, I learned that even though their daily life and life- conditions are really unlike to mine, it does not necessarily mean that it is wrong, it is just different. I mean what would the world be like, if we all have the same understanding of living. Even if we do things not in the same way than they do or maybe set a higher value on things like hygiene or privacy, we are not better. God created us all in his image and loves us all the same.
- THANKFULNESS || Secondly, I learned to be more thankful for what I normally have. We often take it for granted to have a bed, a roof over our head or an actual toilette and shower, but it is not. So many people on this world don´t have a grocery store next to them or clean water out of the tap. It´s right, that they can live like that and many of them are staying in villages their whole life, but for me personally I would not choose it. Moreover, I´m glad that I got the opportunity to grow up, where I grew up.
- GENEROSITY || And last but not least I more saw than learned yet the giant generosity the people have. They took care of us, gave us their houses to sleep in, cooked for us and cleaned our clothes. The most extreme was, when they sometimes gave us the offering of their services. It was really like the poor widow that Jesus talks about.
These precious people of the villages don´t have much, but what they had they invested in us and even gave us their money to bless us and invest in the kingdom of God.
When did you give the last time not out of plenty, but out of need?
For myself, I think I never did.
God wants us to be generous, but maybe we all need to see a radical expression of generosity from needy people, to really understand what he means by that.
I’m glad God took me on this journey PNG and experienced this adventure with me. My prayer for you and me is, that we learn from experiences and each other, if it is in Papua New Guinea in the tropics or wherever you are right now.