VL part 2 {Places & Faces}

A little tour of the places and a few faces we met during a our village stay. 

This house belongs to our waspapa, Jimmy. 

He let us live in his two bedroom house during our time. 

No electricity, no running water. 

85% of the country still occupy villages, not towns, so this is the norm.

 The lower left was the covered "kitchen" where we made our meals. 

The fire was on the ground and we had a "counter" where we could prep. 

All of this made out of bamboo and different wood found in the jungle. 

We actually had a metal roof which was nice. 

Most homes have marota roofs which are made out of sago palm leaves.

Here is our lik lik haus...or the bathroom. 

We actually brought a "toilet seat" from POC. 

Basically a plastic rim on a wooden frame. 

Typically it's just a hole in the ground, 

but with 2 girls and 5 weeks...we needed a seat!

This is Jimmy, our waspapa and cocoa farmer.

Jason learned the ins and outs of cocoa harvesting and went to the "block" 

with Jimmy several times to gather cocoa. 

The process is time consuming and heavy 

as they had to haul all the beans back to the house to be dried. 

Jimmy built a fermentry at his house and this is where the cocoa dried

 before it was bagged and then taken to market to sell.

This is Benedict...and he's just CUTE!! 

He was one of Jimmy's nephews that lived nearby.

Benedict is about 2 or 2 1/2. Many people don't know when their birthday is or how old they are, 

so we took our best guess. Needless to say, he and Mal act very similar :)

This is D with Gerry (our is guess around 7 or 8) and is Jimmy's nephew who lives with him. He basically became like an adopted son to us over the course of 5 weeks. He would help start fires, help cook dinner (although many times he asked what it was we were cooking!) 

Gerry had an infectious laugh and was such a good friend to D and helper to the girls. 

They picked on each other a fair share and took to him like a brother! 

We miss him!

Mal and her friend Georgina preparing food one day. These two were practically inseparable, when Georgina wasn't at school. Georgina is about 13 and would carry Mal down the muddy hill to where we bathed each day, carry her back up and then hang out with her and Mo until bedtime. She was such a fun girl, loved cooking and had a mischievous side as well!

Speaking of bathing...here is where we bathed every day. 

There was a huge tree that fell down which made for a great jumping spot for the kids. 

We usually had a huge group of kids go with us to the water. 

I also had to wash our laundry in the river then hang it out to dry. 

Trust me, I will never ever take a washer or dryer for granted ever again! 

This is Jimmy's sister Roslynn with her kids, Benedict (in Roslynn's arms), 

Naomi (next to Mo), Sherryn (in yellow-she walks 2 hours one way to get to school every day!) Geraldine (behind Sherryn) and Georgina. 

Another family we got to know very well. This is Vincent, Rose and their kids. He is the doctor at the Aid Post. Our kids and their kids became good friends. Vincent loved geography and asked many questions about the U.S. and our life there. They were such a blessing and such a sweet family.

That's just a glimpse of some of the people we met and got to know in the village. 

Part 3...let's talk about the food...PNG style!