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Cultural conservation
The traditions of Sulka and Mengen
people of Pomio, East New Britain province will be documented
following the recent establishment of the bio-cultural resource
center in the area.
Toimtop Bio-Cultural Conservation & Development Center (TBCC&DC)
is a village based organization located in the remote Pomio
district.
It takes four hours by boat and an hour's walk on foot up the
mountain to reach Toimtop, situated on a plateau overlooking the
beautiful scenery of the Wide Bay.
The formation of TBCC&D is a result of the community's aspiration
to control and manage its own development.
The organization believes that for any development to take place,
the community must be grounded in their cultural values which is
the foundation.
The natural environment through our forest is synonymous to our
traditional cultures and are linked therefore TBCC&D focuses on
both as fundamental basis to community development and prosperity.
Staff of the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies (IPNGS) and the
National Cultural Commission (NCC) were invited to witness the
official opening of the centre.
The center was officially opened by NCC Executive Director Dr
Jacob on May 18.
The centre's main function will focus on cultural preservation
particularly the documentation of traditional songs, dance, music
and folklore.
The center also hopes to create a cultural library and archive to
store all the collected materials and information.
With the Institute's experience and expertise in the area of
research and documentation, IPNGS and NCC will establish a working
relationship with the center and provide assistance in the area of
training research personnel from the village level to document
their own traditions.
The center will firstly concentrate on documenting the traditions
of the Mengen and Sulka tribes and will slowly extend to include
other parts of Pomio.
Last year the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (World Bank) provided counterpart funding of a grant
totaling K33, 637 to the Toimtop youth and community for a project
titled 'Strengthening Cultural Identity'.
On May 6 last year the youth and community represented by its CBO,
Toimtop Bio-Cultural Conservation & Development Inc. signed the
contractual agreement and first installments were given to begin
the project.
The funding was to implement the first component of the project
which is to construct a Community Bio-Cultural Resource Center.
The initiative by the Mengen and Sulka people of Pomio to set up a
bio-cultural resource center started back in the 1980's and 1990's
with the main aim to encourage and strengthen environmental and
cultural conservation.
The participation of the IPNGS at the opening of the Toimtop
Bio-Cultural Resource Center is in line with the Institute's main
functions; to carry out research into, recording and interpreting
all aspects of the traditional culture of the indigenous
inhabitants of this country; and establishing a library of Papua
New Guinea folklore; and making all its records available for the
development of literature, drama, music and the visual arts as
well as developing a publication programme to inform the people of
Papua New Guinea about all aspects of indigenous culture.
The formation of the center is also in line with the Organic Law
on Provincial Governments and Local-Level Governments, Sec 42,
part (e) and (f) which encourages the establishment of cultural
centers, museums and libraries within the provinces.
The people of Pomio believe that when they start to document their
songs, dance, music and folklore then they will be able to
preserve their cultural heritage for their future generations.
Their main emphasis is for the youth to play a major role in the
documentation process as they are the ones that will be accessing
the information and making it available to others. The first lot
of documentations by staff of IPNGS is the recording of the
ceremonial dance, music and songs performed by the Sulka and
Mengen people at the opening of the resource center.
The information collected will add to the Institute's archive of
PNG's folklore and copies of the recordings as well as a written
format on the correct procedures of documenting each cultural
property will be sent to the center to assist the youth to carry
out their own field-work to record and document their many
existing cultural traditions.
They will not only focus on their existing cultures but also
conduct research into cultures that are lost and hope to retain
some of them.
The effort by the Sulka and Mengen people to document their
traditions through the establishment of the Bio-Cultural Resource
Center should be commended and supported by cultural organizations
and institutions in the country who are concerned with the
protection and preservation of our cultural heritage.
 
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