| day of shameOctober 28 2004 at 7:30 PM | Anonymous |
| hey did anyone see this.....
ONE of the key distinguishing marks of a human being is its care for the young and its concern to give a decent burial for its dead.
In Papua New Guinea’s Melanesian society with strong ethnic and tribal ties, a dead body is not just the property and responsibility of the immediate parents but of the extended family.
Yesterday should have been declared a day of mourning of PNG’s loss. The loss of life and vitality of bright-eyed babies who would have brought joy to many childless couples. The loss of potentially productive Papua New Guineans.
This loss is more pronounced because many of the innocent babies were left abandoned by their mother who gave birth to them, by their father in most cases who abandoned the mother with his seed, by the relatives who obviously knew this baby was in her mother’s womb.
It took a complete stranger — Tessie Soi and the Friends Foundation — to do the decent thing and bury these little babies.
In all PNG cultures that’s an offence that can only be washed away by killing of pigs — and a huge feast with payouts of shell money. Failing that, land would have to be given to Ms Soi and the Foundation of Friends — for handling bodies that are not theirs.
Yesterday’s burial was the second mass burial of abandoned babies at the Port Moresby morgue. Earlier 24 of these abandoned dead babies were buried.
Yesterday, 17 others were laid to rest at the Bomana Cemetery. Those two together with the brutal killing of another baby in Hagen and the dire statistics that 15,000 PNG children die before reaching their fifth birthday is the worst and most shameful indictment against us.
This indictment is not something we can blame away on history, influx in capitalistic lifestyle or family rejection. It is a total denial of our Melanesian-ness, of our human-ness, of all that society stands for.
It degrades us to be animals when we can no longer care for the seed and product of our so-called love-making.
Shame on us!
Shame on Papua New Guinea!
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| | Author | Reply | Anonymous
| Re: day of shame | October 29 2004, 9:14 AM |
IT IS A SHAME FOR THE ACTUAL MOTHERS AND FATHERS OF THE BABIES. I DONT KNOW WHY THE MEDIA IS INTERNATIONALLY SHAMING THE WHOLE COUNTRY. AND WHY DONT THE MEDIA COMMEND PNG FOR THE TYPICAL CARING CULTURE DEMONSTRATED BY MS. SOI? THE MEDIA IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TARNISHING OUR COUNTRY'S NAME UNDESERVINGLY. |
| Kuti Mangi
| Tru Ya ,,,,Ol Media ya???? | October 29 2004, 9:27 AM |
Please, PNG is always known for its culture but now seems like the trend has just reversed it self.....I dont ol papa na mama blon ol displa ol pikini too ol stap o were they just orphans......Its is Shame,,,
God Help Us..
Frustrated Citizen. |
| Wantok
| Re: Tru Ya ,,,,Ol Media ya???? | October 29 2004, 10:05 AM |
Ol mama sot lo mani lo baim coffin na ol funeral expenses.
Let alone the living souls that have nothing to eat but one scone and coke for a day's meal...
Where has all the nation's money gone to??
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| Right paps
| Fuk those sleazy paps | November 20 2004, 4:19 PM |
We can do it.......we are MELANEASIANS...........bloody fuks......all they can do is kwap and catch aids.....bloody stik breathe. |
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