FAITH

Through the maze of ministry ministry

By Rev SEIK PITOI
JUST like every young public servant starting out in his career, Momoru Hedu looked aspiringly up the corporate ladder and hoped one day to be somewhere at the top.
He began by working with the Department of Primary Industry as the overseas recruitment officer. Later, he transferred to the Finance Department’s Finance Cashier Branch. It was here on the ground floor of the Waigani Central Government office complex that I first met him. I had just commenced work with the Public Services Commission Selection Branch and Momoru worked with my cousin Amos Leana, another FCB staffer. We often hung around together during our lunch breaks.
Our Bamogu Union band had just begun and we were happy when another cousin and band member, Karo Gamoga, joined us at Waigani for part time work. Amos introduced me and Karo to Momoru, who soon got to meet the other members of our band. In fact, after our first recording at Walter Bay Studios, we went to the Botanic Gardens one lunch hour for a photo shoot. Momoru came with us and we invited him to join us in the photo to be our ‘guest member’ from Pari, however, he politely declined!
It was during those times that Momoru shared about his activities with the church. He was chairman of the Pari United Church Youth ministry and was doing external studies to enter theological college full time. It seems the desire to rise up the corporate ladder slowly began to fade. The Lord had intervened in Momoru’s life, turning his focus now towards His Kingdom affairs. We finally parted company at the end of 1985 as he left to pursue studies at the Rarongo Theological College in Rabaul.
Momoru entered theological college in 1986. After graduation, he and his wife, Sina Erebou, and their young son were posted to Karawa, a smaller village near the main village of Keapara in the Rigo district of Central. So began a series of postings in the Hula speaking villages.
Learning a new language
Rev Momoru and Sina Erebou are both from Pari village. As typical Motuans, they are comfortable with their own Motuan language which is seen as the dominant language in the southern region. Many people from other provinces speak Motu, or the alternative hybrid version of ‘Police Motu’. Most people in the Hula area speak both versions of Motu so communication is not much of a problem there. However, for the missionary couple, they decided that their effectiveness in ministry would be greatly enhanced if they could communicate in the people’s own langue. So they challenged themselves to learn the new tokples.
Children we find are quick to pick up any new language which they learn while playing with their local friends. Typically, their young son was the first to learn the language. Rev Momoru explained that in his first few deacons’ meetings (Henega), he would have his son sit down by his side to interpret for him if the deacons spoke in their language. So the boy became the unofficial interpreter for his father.
But after just three months, the child’s duty was over as the father picked up enough vocabulary to have meaningful discussions in the tokples! “I picked up new words from my son and often asked him for meanings of words I couldn’t understand. My son helped me through many of my meetings,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sina Erebou’s interaction with her womenfolk also resulted in her slowly picking up the language. By the time their tenure was over, the couple could fluently speak the Keapara language, albeit with the typical Karawa accent, which makes no difference to me as an outsider but is often pointed out by the local speakers!
After serving at Karawa where their second son was born, the young family moved to their new posting at Kaparoko village, again in the Hula area. Now fluent in the Keapara language, they made small adjustments to cater for the actual Hula tokples spoken at Kaparoko. Ministry here was slightly easier as they had mastered the main language by now. Following this, their next posting was to Makerupu, also in the Hula area. However, the tokples here slightly differs as variations of the Rigo language come into play. But, having mastered the main Hula tokples, it was again fairly easy to communicate.
Then, having faithfully served in three Hula speaking villages since his graduation, Rev Momoru was appointed the Superintendent Minister of the Hula circuit, based at the actual Hula village. When he completed his time at Hula, he finally got a posting closer to home. So concluded an era of serving in the Hula area of Rigo.
The next posting for Rev Momoru was as Superintendent Minister of Kadeboro Circuit, based at Tubusereia Village. After four postings, they finally came to their first Motuan village! It was now back to speaking Motu! The return to speaking Motu daily took some readjusting, but the couple managed well. After that posting, they came back into the city with their posting to Koki United Church. This was followed by Baruni Village, Boroko United Church and then Poreporena-Laurabada congregation at Hanuabada village.
Following the Hanuabada posting, the couple’s ability to speak fluent Hula became handy again for their present appointment. They were sent to the beautiful Moukele, or Fishermen’s Island, off the coast of Port Moresby. This island has a sizeable community of Hula fishermen and their families who have their own church and come under the Wester Circuit of the United Church. Again, there were more adjustments as the couple and their grown children all had to return to the flow of speaking Hula daily.
The couple has four children and the three older siblings were either born or grew up in the Hula villages. As such they too are fluent in the language. Rev Momoru explained how the last son, born and raised in Hanuabada, could not speak Hula.
“At times, Marama and the older kids would rub it in when they discussed an issue in Motu and then switch to Hula where everyone could understand – except for him! He would get really annoyed and get on his mum and siblings for speaking in a language that he didn’t understand”! Despite this, the tenure at Moukele has been an ideal opportunity for the young lad to catch up on the lingo so he won’t be left out in future discussions!
Counting their time at the theological college, as well as in their respective postings in at least 10 different villages, Rev Momoru and Marama Hedu have clocked up nearly 40 years in active service for the Lord. It has been an interesting run and the couple feel they have achieved much in their ministry. Armed with a Diploma in Theology initially, later with a Batchelor of Divinity degree, both from Rarongo, Rev Momoru often wondered why his applications to go for his master’s degree were overlooked.
“After trying for a long time, I decided it is not necessary after all. While some are called to spend their whole lives in colleges getting degree after degree, I feel maybe God’s call for me is to remain on the field to serve His people. I find great joy in field ministry”, he added.
His final word of encouragement was for pastors serving cross-culturally in another tokples area. “Honour the people by speaking to them in their language. Be culturally and linguistically conversant with the people. It is not good enough just to speak in English or Tok-Pisin if you will be spending three years among them. Try your best to learn. I leaned by ‘brukim bus’, just plunging in and speaking – making mistakes and getting laughed at. But I eventually learned. Now, my parishioners are comfortable with me and my wife as we rattle off in their language, with all their idioms and expressions. It really is worth the effort”.
As the year winds down, the family prepares to leave the tranquil Moukele for another Motuan village of Vabukori for their appointment in 2021. Rev and Marama Hedu believe that is where they will retire after an exciting life of ministry in the service of the Lord!

• Rev Seik Pitoi is a freelance writer.

Families remember those missing during crisis

THE last time I saw my brother was in 1990, when he went to drop off my sister and her son at Makaki Point in Kieta town.
“Before leaving, he asked for chicken for dinner and we ate all together that night. The next morning, he left without saying goodbye. Since then, we have not seen or heard from him. My heart breaks every time I recall that moment, not knowing that would be the last time I would see him.”
These are the painful sentiments of Isabella Buruau, as she reflects on the last memory of her brother, Pascol Buruau, who was 23 years old when he went missing during the Bougainville Crisis in September 1990, two years after the crisis broke out. According to his family, Pascol used to help to bring food for people taking shelter at the care center during the ceasefire.
“Pascol was born after me in Bougainville. He was always smiling and a very obedient child to our parents. Every time he returned home for holidays from university in Port Moresby, he would bring toys for his nephews to make them happy. The family is now left with these memories and a slight hope that may be one day Pascol might come back to them alive.”
Cecilia is sharing the same pain with her sister Isabelle: “Ever since he disappeared, we suffer from not knowing what happened to my brother and if he will ever return home,” Cecilia added.
Since 1988, hundreds of families in Bougainville are still yearning to know the fate of their missing loved ones, said Dominik Urban, the International

Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Head of Mission in Papua New Guinea.
Every year, ICRC supports and accompanies families in Bougainville to organise traditional ceremonies to remember their loved ones as a coping mechanism to the deal with uncertainty. On Nov 1, 2020, families of those who went missing in Topinang, Pavaire and Amiong communities in Kieta, Central Bougainville gathered to commemorate their relatives who are still unaccounted for today, more than 20 years after the end of the crisis.
On this occasion, families brought a tree that they believed the missing family member liked, accompanied with a portrait, and had it blessed by the community priest before taking it home to plant in memory of their loved ones. The ceremony is a platform for families of the missing persons to come out and celebrate the lives of their loved ones and look at a new way forward without them.
“It happened many years ago, but the memories are still fresh,” said Joycelyn Mimira, a family member of another missing person from the Amiong community.
“The life of the missing person has a meaning. These are people that have been with us before and remain with us in spirit. We should never forget them.”
Families of missing persons undergo the same traumatic experience as all others affected by the conflict, and face additional psychological, social and economic challenges associated with the disappearance of the family member.
“The tragedy of the missing people remains a humanitarian concern and it is important that authorities ensure that their fate is clarified and that families receive their long overdue answers. The ICRC reiterates its commitment to support the national and Bougainville authorities in this effort,” said Dominik Urban.
The ICRC has been working to protect and assist people affected by violence and tribal fighting in Papua New Guinea since 2012.

• Story by EUNAR NOREEN KARATU and BORDGER BAKERE of the ICRC