BREAKING SUGAR CANE TO BRING PEACE TO WARRING TRIBES IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

 

WOMAN LEADS PEACE MISSION INTO CHIMBU'S RUGGED HIGHLANDS

Judy with members of the peace building mission to Nondri with the tribal leaders showed solidarity for peace with some of the surrendered weapons from the warring tribes.

By Reilly Kanamon

‘A journey of a thousand miles began here’. 

Those were words from Caritas Kundiawa Coordinator, Ms Judy Gelua, as she gasped for air upon arrival in Nondri, deep in the Gumine district of Chimbu Province of Papua New Guinea's rugged highlands.

It took 14 hours to to drag ourselves over 125 kilometres of steep slopes, cold foggy mountains, and dew-covered bushes through daybreak to reach Nondri Parish. This is the landmark of the Sa'akaleku tribe, tucked away behind a dense curtain of green tropical forest in the Gumine District of Chimbu province.

“The journey started in Kundiawa where we had to travel by car to reach Dirima parish and continue the next leg of the journey into the unknown. As the female team leader, coordinating and communicating with other partner organisations was challenging.  I got it under control, I reassured myself as we set out into the wilderness,” Judy said.

Caritas Kundiawa was commissioned by the local Bishop Paul Sundu to lead a team to negotiate and restore peace in a tribal fight war zone at Nondri parish, in the Southern Deanery of the Diocese of Kundiawa.

A shotgun and bows and arrows surrendered for peace.

The team comprised Fr Cosmos Kombla, SVD, the caretaker priest of this parish, the Child Protection officer, the Caritas Coordinator, a couple of Caritas ambassadors, seminarians, and youths.

The partner agency that joined the mission was the Kundiawa-based Community Development Agency team headed by Alex Kaupa Kale, Gumine Rural Police Commander, Senior Sergeant Alois Dame, community police members including the joint District Mediation team members.

“Upon arrival, we realised that the once beautiful village was devastated and burned to ashes and corpses were buried along the side of the mission station. The community was aware that we had arrived to negotiate peace.   In the early hours, surrounding communities started gearing up to meet us.

They sent messages in their local dialect and made a huge fire at the mission station to signal that there was a gathering.

It took time for scattered hamlets tucked away along the safety of the mountain ridges to receive a message of assurance that peace negotiation is happening, to join the rest of the nearby villages at the mission station.

Surrendering a shot gun.

The communities displaced and devastated by the tribal conflict were the first to accept the peace negotiation and embraced us. After several expressions of aggression and heat-ups, they decided to lay down their arms by means of restorative justice.

During the process of assessing and making conflict issues and analysis, a second team was sent to the other enemy zone to negotiate for the same peace process.

A mass was also organized at Kone outstation as a symbol of peace and church solidarity with those affected by the tribal conflict.

Each of the warring tribes was given two days to negotiate for peace and recoup their strength to allow healing to take place both physically mentally and emotionally over the loss of their properties and loved ones.

“It isn’t an easy task to accomplish,” Judy remarked.

Judy speaking for peace.

After a week of tireless effort, the conflict resolution strategy was widely accepted by the parties involved. It was a win-win situation for all teams involved in the peace process.

“For the services to continue for common good, then peace must come on the land. The people accepted the peace appeal and reconciliation will be conducted by the Gumine Police and Joint Peace Mediation Team in a traditional Simbu way of 'brukim suga' or breaking sugar cane to sweeten the arrival of peace.

Catholic Health and Education services in Nondri are set to open their doors to service the children and mothers needing medical assistance and education once more after months of disruption.

For Judy, there were her last words, “In a male-dominated society where a female getting in a way leading role and negotiating for peace is a greater challenge where we are overlooked but, in my mind, l knew there’s a woman, a mother, a girl, an infant, a pregnant woman who had sleepless nights in fear of tribal fight and needed peace." 

I remembered Cardinal Antonio Tagles voice', "Justice shall flourish in his time and Fullness of Peace forever."