Traditionally Attired

 

  

Charlie in complete Tolai Traditional attire

Charlie and friends in red all set and ready to be traditionally attired.

 

Early January (first week) this year, Charlie and I made a trip to Rabaul, East New Britain province. That’s where my dad is part from. We stopped over in POM (the capital city of PNG) visited some of my immediate family members before getting an early flight to Tokua airport the next morning. Having mixed emotions I boarded the aeroplane, no reason, guess I was plain nervous in my first trimester of pregnancy. The last time I was there was like eight and a half years ago. Charlie was full of energy and excited and couldn’t stop talking; he started a conversation with a passenger next to us for the whole one hour thirty minutes until the plane landed. We were given a heart warm welcome by families and friends at the village that night. Gone were the mixed emotions over come by pure excitement and joy. Charlie was the ball, jumping from one hand to another. Guess he was confused but enjoyed the attention.  Anyway we had a great time, esp. Charlie. The most exciting and memorable moment were enjoyed seeing. Charlie dressed in traditional Tolai attire. I believe it’s an experience that will stick with him for a long time. Boy! was I proud to see him all dressed and ready to rock and roll with families, relatives,friends and more so with the dancers. The glitter excitements in his eyes were so obvious that they had to dance another round for his sake. I was glad the dancers put up with his excitement that day. I don’t know where he got the styles and moves from but definitely weren’t traditional..lol…which got me thinking that, how long will the excitement last. Will he still remember the traditional songs an dancers. Will he forget his customs and traditions? The western influence is gradually creeping up in every house hold in Papua New Guinea, I admit it’s already in my house, the honours is up to me as a parent to aggressively install and impart my cultural values, customary beliefs, and traditional knowledge to my children to keep in their generation time come. I can proudly say my country is very special. With over 800 different languages and diverse cultures and traditions near loss, no western culture will replace what was given to us by our fore-fathers. I am glad to say at least I can speak 6 languages, am working on my 7th one, and that is the Engan language.