Sharing our diverse culture

By DANIEL KUMBON
MY mind was blown away to see the young man display the PNG flag at Times Square in New York City during the recent Independence celebrations.
The choice words he used to express his genuine love for the country is truely enduring.
And he was a foreign national.
The young man boldly stood alone as cars and people passed by unaware of the emotions surging through his mind.
“Nothing makes me happier than to lift up the glorious flag of a thousand tribes here in the heart of NYC, at the iconic Times Square. My deep and abiding love for PNG has defined the core purpose of my life. PNG yu lewa bilong mi – Rev SML.
These are the enduring words that accompanied the photo shared by one Faime A Ambaiarr on a popular Engan social media site.
Conversely, the performance at the Port Moresby headquarters of oil giant Exxon Mobil sparked controversy with some people saying the show disrespected their culture.
The video posted on Twitter showed a man painted brown and dressed in the traditional clothing of the Tolai people while dancing around in celebration ahead of PNG’s 44th Independence Day celebrations.
The man performed a version of a traditional dance and the crowd was heard laughing and cheering.
It is understood the performance was part of an “adopt an expat” event that pairs PNG and international staff, in a bid to celebrate local culture.
But members of the local Tolai community told the ABC that they felt the performance “didn’t display appropriate respect for our culture”.
“For a foreigner to just dress up, walk up, and just dance somehow, without understanding the real meaning of the ritual — it’s offensive,” Tolai woman Janet Sios said.
Sios is the founder of PNG Fashion Week and has spent years working to get better recognition of traditional cultures.
She said her concern centres on the fact that the performance did not recognise the sacred nature of the dance and costume.
Ms Sios told the ABC that she was disappointed ExxonMobil allowed the event to happen but she did not hold it against the person dancing in the video.
Maybe Sios has a valid point to express that ExxonMobil and other multi-national companies operating in the country should exercise caution when involving themselves in cultural affairs.
There is a far cry in the country that the very people who rightfully owned the land and resources hardly benefited from the proceeds from ship loads of oil, gold, gas and timber that left their country for lucrative overseas markets.
And some Papua New Guineans may not like to see their sacred rituals, dance and other forms of cultural activities that centred round their very lives to be abused by foreigners for the wrong reasons.
However, I made a comment on this article published recently in PNG Attitude blog that sometimes people ought to see the lighter side of life.
I have always held this view that Papua New Guinea’s diverse cultures should be shared with the rest of the world, always with respect and in more meaningful ways.
I felt the man dancing in traditional Tolai dress was just doing that – enjoying our culture at an appropriate time – the celebration of PNG’s 44 years of independence.
This man in Tolai dress was not alone. I was delighted to see two other foreigners dressed in traditional gear in the everyday dress of the famous Huli Wigmen.
Then there was the young American girl dressed in Enga costume.
It was awesome to see her standing there with an Engan lass, the same as her own age, dressed exactly the same and both propped by elderly women who appeared to be singing local songs.
How good is that?

Sharing our diverse culture with foreign friends can come in many forms.
We can share local dishes with them, give them a stone axe, kina shells, a painting or a bilum as a gift or even offer an inquisitive visitor to sample buai.
These small gestures can go a long way in a world that is getting smaller and sharing our culture can bring us closer and cement friendships with friends from the far reaches of the earth.
I have always given away a bilum, a painting, a highlands cap or anything of traditional value wherever I have travelled in the world.
I have always felt PNG’s rich cultural diversity should be shared since meeting an American Linguist who had done some anthropological work on Enga culture many years ago.
He was Dr Paul Brennan who had been working at Irelya, headquarters of the Gutnius Lutheran Church in PNG.
Dr Brennan was showing me Enga artefacts on display at the African American cultural centre at Wilberforce in Dayton Ohio in 1991.
“How do you feel seeing artefacts from your country on display here? Do you feel them taken away from you?” Dr Paul Brennan surprised me with the question.
“No, definitely not,” I replied. “I don’t feel that way at all. I feel proud. And I believe culture should be shared.”
My experience at the Wilberforce Museum was a different kind of feeling, something like a dream to have seen, smelled and touched some of the artefacts from my own province.
There were the rattling seeds the Engas used in olden times to contact the spirit world and the Yupin figure that used to be worshiped and offered pig sacrifices.
Dr Brennan had saved these and other precious items from destruction by ruthless missionaries which were now being shared here with the American public. I felt it trivial to argue over the man dancing in Tolai gear especially when the whole country was in celebration mood during independence festivities which of course included foreigners living here.
I felt some Papua New Guineans were lazy, stubborn and failed to see their mistakes when they seemed to just sit on their backsides, chewed buai, sold loose cigarettes, rented properties like shops or sold precious land to foreigners.
‘‘Why don’t we compete?’ I asked in the comment I made on the article published in PNG Attitude
‘Why don’t we sit behind the till everyday like the Asians do and make money?
Congratulations to the person dancing in this picture. You are in a free country. When the next Independence Day celebrations come around, try and dress up in a different cultural outfit from a different province.
PNG has over 800 different cultural groups and it won’t be hard to choose from.
Try and perform the Tapioka dance if you wish. I don’ think the people of Milne Bay will mind.
But if they don’t allow you, ask any Engan to dress you up.
Culture is meant to be shared.
If people have an issue with Exxon Mobil – speak to them direct.
All praise to the lone young man raising the PNG flag in Times Square, New York City far away on the other side of the world.

• Daniel Kumbon is a freelance writer.