Ordinary People, Extraordinary God: Aitape-A Tsunami Story (Matt)

New Translator/ Center manager's house.

Women's dorm down below, with an office and flat on the top.


Four of my six carpenters had never flown before!

Last month we flew out to the Sepik area to build a two-story women's dorm and another house. After months of planning and logistics it finally came together. Aitape West is almost as far west as you can go on the northern coast and still be in Papua New Guinea.

One confused river and the many different twists it's taken.

In 1998 a tsunami leveled the trees and villages on the islands and ground that the Arop people lived on. Estimates are that 2,000 people lost their lives that day. Late in the day, an earthquake triggered a tsunami. Many who survived were washed more than a half mile across the lagoon and spent the night struggling in the mangroves. Others were trapped in various locations or carried out to sea. Many were never found. I teared up as Emil, one of Arop's main Papua New Guinean translators, shared his story with us. He was trapped with a badly damaged leg. Many family members and friends were killed. His story is told in the book Sleeping Coconuts written by John and Bonnie Nystrom. They were the American translators whose house was destroyed, but fortunately were not there. For a video of the story, click HERE.

Many of the men helping us build had stories of being washed away when they were 5-10 years old. Somehow they survived by holding onto driftwood and spending the next 12 hours in darkness, in crocodile-infested mangroves.

One of many unpopulated islands in PNG.

After the tsunami, several villages moved far enough inland to where they felt safe from the wrath of another disaster, and resettled. The team started a fresh translation center in the new village. It has grown and grown and many more staff and translators have joined the project. As they have grown, so has the need for more buildings. This center runs impressively off of solar power and at times a small generator. They have a huge satellite dish to communicate with the outside world (some of you may have seen Facebook updates while I was there).

I loved getting to know these guys as we worked in this intensely hot and humid area of Papua New Guinea. The highlands where we live has spoiled us with nice, cool sleeping weather and comfortable daytime highs.

After we landed, Kevin (eyes closed) said, "I didn't like when we went into the clouds."

When we started I was thinking that if we could accomplish what we set out to do, I would be really impressed. I was impressed!

Michael Wright, another builder in my department, took my place a little more than halfway through. He flew out with all the doors and some badly needed supplies. He finished the last two weeks of the project. Missy Smith, a manager there, was there the whole time. She worked out so many of the logistics of getting supplies and materials there, as well as having all the lumber cut by local saw mills. Much of it was literally walked out of the bush or carried by children from the road.