Village House: Building Up the Deaf MInistry (Matt)

Matt's crew with Nathalie and Foretin (black/blue) in center.

How do you build a house in Papua New Guinea, in a village that has no power?  Most people would say "I wouldn't!"; which is what I wanted to say at times.
We started this project over a year ago, taking over after the first builder left.  I can only guess why.
Situm is a village not too far outside Lae, one of PNG's bigger "cities"; which is why Nathalie and Foretin want to be here. They are a deaf married couple who have settled here to work with and have a ministry to the deaf in Lae, and as far as they can reach into the remote places of PNG.  Nathalie is Swedish, but for Foretin, this is home. He grew up in this village, exploring the jungle and playing around the river.

Even though it's close to Lae, Situm is hard to get to.  The roads are rough and you must go through a river to get in and out (see pictures in last year's blog "Where There Is No Bridge"). We tried to time this trip between rainy seasons and with God's help, were able to manage the river.  It came up one or two nights but we had no need to cross then.

We brought in two portable generators; one for back up.  We ended up using both and ran the backup until it nearly ran out of gas on the day we were leaving. We had everything else packed up, and we planed boards for them to use inside later. We had completed almost everything we came to do and finished the last board moments before the gas ran out.

Bradford

Kevin

Can you find the gutter guy?

This woman is carrying maybe 30 coconuts, plus bananas. Women here work the gardens and carry unbelievable loads!

 Local River Mangies

Lord of the Flies!

Solar hot water - no electricity needed

We equipped the house with gutters to catch rain water, along with 3 water tanks, solar hot water, a shower, and kitchen sink - all electricity-free!

Josua

Home base and mess hall

When things were hard and tools were breaking, I was reminded why we came to Papua New Guinea. I was here to build for people who were here to minister to others.  I am here to build because I can. Nathalie and Foretin are here to fill a role that only they can.
 Deaf people have so many skills that many of us do not have. They can feel a vibration in the floor and know which direction it came from, just like we can tell the direction of sound.  My crew loved learning sign language and being a part of this project.

After working 11 hours a day for nearly two weeks, bathing in the river at 8 pm each night, and eating village food, I was ready to go home. Village food is usually boiled: a variety of boiled potatoes and tubers, boiled bananas, boiled leaves from a variety of plants, plus rice. Sometimes boiled eggs. I was so thankful there were a couple hot meals prepared for us every day, but when Laura had lasagna in the oven when I got home, it was the the best lasagna I've ever had!