| Sports |
Resting in peace and comfort
By PETER KORUGL
At Yame village, there is a grave that catches the eye of the
visitors that travel the Mendi-Tari road in the Southern Highlands
province.
The grave has an iron fence around it, with a house built top of
the headstone and cement mounting under which lies the body of the
late Tangi R.Para.
Look closer and you will notice the whole cemetery resembled a
miniature residential area.
The whole area is beautifully painted and neatly kept with fresh
flowers placed at strategic locations around the cemetery.
Further down the road and close to the Magarima station, you come
upon another cemetery.
This one is built on a hill overlooking the road and the whole
hillside is cut away and a stone wall is built and painted in
black and white paint.
In the middle of this stone wall, steps are built, leading to the
three graves.
The National Weekender was informed that the cemetery contains the
graves of a businessman and his two wives who were killed in road
accident in Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands province.
Again, three miniature houses are built over the cement blocks
that cover the graves.
The houses have windows and are beautifully painted with doors
facing the road, as if the relatives want the spirits of the
deceased to walk out of their houses and to the road to travel
anywhere they like.
As you come into the Upper Wage area, you come upon another three
graves.
Buried here are the father and two relatives of the sitting MP for
Tari/Pori, Balus Libe.
The land is cut away and a stone wall is built on the side facing
the road, and painted yellow, red and green.
Mniature houses are built over the graves complete with an iron
fence around them.
These are just some of many cemeteries found all over the Hela
area of the Southern Highlands province.
Relatives of the deceased go to great lengths to build houses for
the loved ones because they believe it will make their spirits
happy.
They want their dead relatives to live in good homes and in return
they will provide protection and bring good tidings to the living
The houses signifies the position the deceased held in the
community when alive.
 
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