….. (To be politically correct)…A one-eyed person is King…. (Paraphrased proverb)
There seems to be a notable increase in the number of laptops, tablets and smartphones owned by students in Rarongo. This has resulted in me being accosted with issues concerning them such as – connecting to the Internet, setting up emails, downloading and some not working properly. So how to deal with these bombardment?
The lady working with the MSC students requested that I do sessions with them regarding the above mentioned for research purpose. The MSC studentS intake has doubled – partly due to my recommendations to the Bishops during last year's Assembly – that they make use of us 3 volunteers' last year at the college. Anyway, I had the first session ,yesterday, in my living room because it's one of the few places with fairly good internet connection. There were 5 students with their lady lecturer in my living room turned classroom. I was able to attach my iPad to a project on the wall through a projector, of course. The session went well and there may be a couple more.
There was supposed to be another session afterwards for a group of 6 students from other courses. The aim is to train them to train others. This has not happened yet. To reduce the traffic of people to my place, the principal has agreed for wood benches to be built along the seaside and a couple under my house for students to connect to the Internet. The reception within the college is bismal compared to the beach front.
Being a one-eyed king, I am not that knowledgeable enough to solve the all the problems pertaining to the use of technology. However, I thank God for forums and information on the Internet. This is also a learning curve for me. Just 3 weeks ago I was able to work out how to connect my laptop to the Internet (without a dongle/modem) through the iPad using bluethooth. Modem/dongle is quite expensive for students here. Also the few that have them tend to transfer their phone SIM cards to the dongle and vice versa when needed. With this new discovery, students should be able to connect using phone. Am yet to find out how to connect to devices without Bluetooth. It is doable…….the learning continues.
Culture:
You will notice that I sometimes include culture in posts. Over the holidays, family and friends kept enquiring about the people and life in PNG as they have little or no knowledge about the country.
DISCLAIMER: PNG is unique and very diverse culturally (Anthropologists' heaven). Therefore whatever I write about relates only to my experiences and the environment where am serving and should not be applied to the whole country.
Exchange culture.
This is practised in many places in PNG. Where I grew up it was called 'trade by barter' in the olden days. This is where what you've got is exchanged for what you need. This could take place in market places or parks. In some areas in PNG, where there is conflict between clans, goods and persons (who are willing) are exchanged for the sake of peace. I came across a Peace park at Goroka last year.
I have been able to use this concept with students at Rarongo. Last year, students were encouraged to have dictionaries to improve their english. I bought some for those who did not have. In exchange they worked on my lawn. The same has happened this year and my knee high grass has been cut and cleared. One of the common needs is phone credit. Every now and then I repay work done with phone credits.
Another observation is deaths are really celebrated while new births are hardly recognised. When there is a death in the family/community, the person affected can stop work immediately to travel. Friends are encouraged to visit and give contributions towards funerals. Inasmuch as this is a generic practise around the world, it is a very big thing here. I see these announcements on GBHS notice boards. A student at Rarongo narrated to me recently of having a quiet Chrismas due to a number of deaths in the village – parent, uncle and grandparent one after the other plus the expenses.
On the other hand, mid last year, there were 4 new births at GBHS. There was no celebration mentioned or contributions made. Birthdays are hardly celebrated. This may be due to the older ones not having birth certificates or not knowing when born. However, birth certificates have been issues to newborns for years now. From my worldview, I find this intriguing. As mentioned earlier this is my observation. There are probably reasons and explainations for these behaviours which am yet to discover.
🙂
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