Preserving culture a must: Village elder

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Wednesday February 3rd, 2016

 PRESERVING traditional songs, dances and legends reflect our cultural identity, Butibam village elder Malach Nathaniel says.

He said many young people were distracted and brainwashed by modern technological advances, thus ignoring their culture, which was their true identity. 

He was speaking at Butibam village during the launching of voice recording and film documentary ‘Wisawa’ Tok Ples songs. It is a joint effort of a Momase film crew, Water PNG and Ahi Hope Foundation.

Wisawa from the Kawac language in the Yabem language group is an invention of folklores from situations experienced.

“Butibam village has fallen into a trap of losing all meaningful cultural icons especially language, which is the core element that identifies social status.” Gibson Jethro, a church elder, said preserving cultural heritage signified “who we are, what we are, and our origin”.

Water PNG manager customer services Wallis Pingin assured that the initiative will go a long way to educate future siblings of Butibam and realise their true identity.