Boy from Norway backs locals

 By PETER ESOP WARI

WHILE hundreds of women attended the national haus krai, young Emil Hertzbertz from Norway followed his father to PNG to join rural women for the event.

The 12-year-old, dressed                                                                                                    in Jiwaka traditional attire, joined the people at Madan village in the South Waghi district as they dressed in black and marched through the village singing songs of sorrow.

Local men and boys sang and staged dramas depicting the brutality women suffered.

Emil’s father, Andreas Hertzbertz, said Norway was a leading country in promoting gender equality.

He said his son, after learning of the national haus krai, followed him to the country to commemorate women who had lost their lives through rape, sorcery related killings and domestic violence.

Issac Yalde, general manager of Madan coffee and tea plantation in the South Waghi area, said it was time husbands had to say sorry to their wives and work alongside them.

“Every success a man endures, there is always a woman by his side to push him through his achievement. A real man never hurts his woman,” he said.

“There is no such thing as freedom for women. 

“Women are the ones who are always under pressure to make sure the family survives.”

An advocator of gender equality, Aarlie Hull, from the United States who is the managing director of the Madan coffee and tea plantation said the Madan community would be role models for other people in the Highlands region. 

“I strongly urged the government to set aside a date every year so that such awareness of violence against women must continue,” she said.

The awareness saw hundreds of women expressing their concerns while men listened to them. 

Women representatives pleaded to the men to be their good partners.