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My Social Shock

My experience as a young man in a devoloping country.

By Michael TriggPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
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My Social Shock
Photo by Bob Brewer on Unsplash

As those who read my articles may know, I was born and raised in New Zealand. In my early twenties, I decided to travel to Australia.

New Zealand and Australia are both "down under" countries with a great deal in common. The inhabitants both have a love of the outdoors, love of cricket and rugby, and of a course, a great love of beer. Apart from accents, there is not a lot to differentiate the average Kiwi (New Zealander) from the average Aussie.

I worked in a garage in Melbourne for around six months and reading the newspaper one morning saw a classified advertisement for mechanics wanted in Papua/New Guinea. On an impulse, I sent off a letter and a copy of my certification papers and in due course, I received an offer letter of employment and a plane ticket to Port Moresby, the main town in the territory. At that time, Moresby as it was called by the locals, was not considered a city as it did not have a building with an elevator. At the time, Papau/New Guinea was not an independent country but a territory of Australia.

When the plane arrived at the Moresby airport and I had disembarked and collected my luggage, I discovered there were three other "newbies" on my flight; mechanics recruited from other areas of Australia. We were rounded up by a gruff, burly fellow and transported to our lodgings. This turned out to be a number of single rooms with a bathroom attached in a round-shaped compound. The air temperature was around 30 degrees and the humidity around 100 percent. It made our winter clothes unbearable, to say the least for those of us who had arrived from the southern part of Australia.

Our guide/handler told us to dump our luggage in our rooms and he then drove us off to a store that sold tropical clothing. After making our purchases we were driven back to the compound to change and have lunch and were advised there would be an orientation class that afternoon that we had to attend.

By Tim Gouw on Unsplash

There were a number of 'do's" and "don'ts" covered in our orientation. Most were common sense but some were peculiar to Papua/New Guinea. They included the following;

1. If involved in a hit and run accident while driving, do not stop! Go directly to the nearest police station. Many of the native people in Moresby wandered in and out of the town and knew little of "white peoples" practices. For example; to not step off the curb in front of an oncoming car. There was a tribal system of retribution inherent in the territory that if a member of a tribe was injured or killed, retribution would take the form of a severe beating or even the death of the perpetrator.

2. Do not take up with native women. Again, the tribesmen took great exception to white men romancing their women and would beat or kill anyone who transgressed, whether white or from another tribe.

3. Do not enter any of the beer sellers' buildings. Native men had a low tolerance for alcohol and drunken killings with machetes were not uncommon.

In the auto dealers where I worked, they employed what were called at the time "garage boys" regardless of their age. They were generally simple but hard-working men who were trained in removing and installing engines, transmissions, and such, in other words, the grunt work. We, the white mechanics would fix whatever had to be fixed and the garage boys would install them under supervision.

They learned everything by rote and if a bolt or bracket would not fit where they thought it was supposed to fit they would resort to using a hammer. This is why they had to be supervised we were told.

We were also told not to get too friendly with them. I found it very difficult to adjust to being called "master." This "title" was a long-held tradition in New Guinea since white settlers had arrived.

During my stay, playing cards were banned. It seemed the native people took a great liking to them and created games known only to them. Anyone who won one of these peculiar games was considered a cheat and sometimes a fight broke out accompanied by machetes that often left one or two players badly injured or dead.

Many of the long-time white residents had a dislike and often contempt for the native people. Many whites called the native people "boongs", a term I had never heard prior to arriving in New Guinea. Many of the native garage employees (as I now prefer calling them) were from distant villages. Every now and then, something would click inside their head and they would go home. My first instance of this was with a young man named Billy who I worked with. He had a great sense of humor and was very adept at his job. One morning, he came to me and said, "Master, me go now." I asked him where he was going. He just replied. "Me go now." and began packing his tools away.

One of the longtime mechanics said with a grin. "Leave it. He has to go but he'll be back." Sure enough, a little over a month later, Billy arrived back, ready for work as though he had never been away.

By Ryan Clark on Unsplash

I worked in several locations through Papua/New Guinea and I found the native people for the most part, friendly but guarded. I hated the way they were disparaged by so many whites at the time. In one job, myself and the other employees shared a large house paid for by the company. Also included was a "house-boy" who tended to the laundry and cleaning and another whose sole job was to drive us when required. The company had strict rules about drinking and driving and decided the easiest solution was to provide us with a full-time driver. He had a habit of picking his nose and no matter what we said nearly always drove us around with one hand on the wheel and the other with a digit up his nose. The housekeeper did a fantastic job with our laundry, washing and ironing. However, we could not stop him from washing anything that was left lying around. Our clothes rather than being worn out over time through use were worn out with over-washing.

I lived in New Guinea for a year and a half and every day experienced something new. I was 22 at the time and I had no idea prior to arriving about working in what whites considered a primitive country. It was a real culture shock. I think that over the year and a half I was there, I learned a great deal about a culture that was initially totally foreign to me and it gave me a real appreciation for the human diaspora. According to some writers and researchers, there are over 800 different languages spoken in Papua/New Guinea. Over time, I learned to speak basic Pidgin English, a very basic language that is in common use throughout the country. More often than not, when I was first learning, my amateurish attempts would send my native friends into gales of laughter.

Some years later, I read a book by Jared Diamond entitled Guns, Germs and Steel. It is an amazing book about the years the author spent in the jungles of New Guinea. I wich I had read it before I had lived there. I would have been a lot less "babe in the woods" and provided myself with a better understanding of and a greater appreciation for the New Guinea / Papua people.

The Author

If you have any comments, disagreements, or additional information on this post, please contact me through my website.

Follow me on TWITTER, FACEBOOK & LINKEDIN.on my website.

My direct email is handshakeconsultantsATshaw.ca

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About the Creator

Michael Trigg

I love writing and I think it shows in my posts. I also enjoy feedback, particularly of the constructive kind. Some people think I am past my "best before date" but if that is true, it just means I have matured.

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