2017 yawo! 2018 sebor e!

New year! Sisor pazi!



I’m laying in my sanctuary in my room: a sleeping bag on top of a thin air mattress in a miniature mosquito tent in a room about twice my beds size, floored with woven pandanus, walled with woven tree bark and roofed with woven leaves. Sounds of solar powered boom boxes fill the air, punctuated by loud booms, cracks, and cries of “2017 yawo! (bye!) 2018 sebor e! (welcome!)”



Our last day of 2017 was spent happily. Three young women joined me on my run this morning! I hope it becomes a regular thing. It was fun to run and walk together, then do some stretches and go to the bathing hole. I wish I had some more tennis shoes or shorts for them to wear too... I just brought one set.



I went to church again this morning since people were so happy to see me there last week. It was a packed house and the message was “God wants us to be happy today so be happy and peaceful (and don’t do anything bad)”. I brought my translation work and glossed a part of a text during the sermon, highlighting words I wasn’t 100% about.



After church I took a great nap in the hammock and then we went to decorate houses. I also gave out the pictures Lauren sent from last trip. Everyone was pretty happy. We decorated houses then went home to rest, cook, and wait. I recorded a fantastic interview with Wagiba about the history of Limol. She told me this unbelievable story about women’s role in the village history. Not only were a lot of husbands brought in from other villages here (either because they didn’t have exchange or through coercion) but they also moved their families away from some bad people. For instance one group when they found out that the men had been sacrificing children for luck in hunting (not losing them in the sacred place as they had been told) surprised them one evening by each beating her husband nearly to death all at once and thereby stopping the practice immediately. They ran away to Limol to escape the memories.

The evening concluded with a showing of Finding Nemo and 24 hours on earth. We turned the projector off at 23:58 then enjoyed some fireworks (!), whooping and hollering, music, and fun. 

Plan to write tomorrow about some plans for the new year - a bit exhausted now!
Kate. 

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