Life in Kapuna, Papua New Guinea
Following on from last week’s story about Scott & Nikki, we bring you the next instalment on what life is like for the Wheeler whānau in Kapuna, Papua New Guinea.
The family arrived in Kapuna one and a half years ago to live and work with the Kapuna Hospital Community; Kapuna Hospital is a teaching hospital and the only tertiary training provider in the province. Gulf Christian Services is the receiving agency and their mission is to provide Christ-centred health services to the gulf community. The hospital has a saying, “We treat, and god heals.” People feel different when they leave, not just physically better, but spiritually as well.
The Kapuna school bus - travelling by boar saves them the 30-45 minute walk to school each morning - especially nice travelling by canoe in the rainy season when the mud is very deep on the path.
“Kapuna is hot, and it takes its toll on your body, but we are spiritually thriving. Our lives are immersed in the community and it is enriching the lives of our children. Sometimes we have to do the hard yards to get the blessing. We want to hear from God, but do we listen? If we follow the call, the blessings are huge,” say Scott and Nikki.
With Nikki’s training in Physiotherapy, she expected to be fully utilised in the hospital in that capacity. While she has done some physio (and seen some interesting issues, like a wild boar attack!) they don’t have a huge need for a physiotherapist. But they do need a shop manager so Nikki picked that up. With access only by river, it can be a logistical nightmare to get supplies in. Most supplies have to be brought in as not much grows in the swamp where the hospital is based. There are only so many bananas, paw paws, pineapple, kumara and pumpkin you can have! Nikki was the ideal person for the job owing to her good computer skills and command of the English language.
Scott initially asked himself, “Why am I doing this, what can I contribute?” but soon found his wide variety of skills came in very handy. He provided support to the construction of the new hospital wing – which the Prime Minister came and opened. “His visit was not a political one. He stayed over night (we had to run around to find the least-dirty sheets!) and preached very passionately in our church the following day.”
He spends a lot of his time mentoring the locals as they undertake projects in Kapuna, supporting them to lead development projects in their own villages. “The prayers is that when we leave, the locals can fill our roles.”
Joe, in a neighbouring village, digging out his old toilet (long drop type system) to make space for it to be used again.
A number of the projects are tackling hygiene issues. The river the hospital community is situated on is tidal and is used for many purposes; washing clothes, washing people, cooking and drinking water. It’s also used as a toilet. Scott, a self-confessed germ-a-phobe has researched what kind of system will work best for toilets in the tidal swamp and has been rolling that out, along with education to help locals see the link between toileting practices and health issues.
‘Days for Girls’ is a project addressing menstrual equality that Scott has also become really passionate about. A sewing group, started up to teach sewing and provide clothing and income, has been certified by Days for Girls to manufacture reusable menstrual products so girls don’t have to miss any days of school. It’s not a topic that many men in Papua New Guinea are well educated on, so Scott is excited that he gets to deliver the Men’s Education programme as part of the project.
“God uses what you've got to do God’s work. Trust God to find you good work to do with the random skills you have,” said Scott.
Another interesting aspect of the mission life in Kapuna has been doing ministry work, which they originally didn’t think there would be much of. They have been called upon to preach; Scott got to preach at a youth conference with 1,500 young people about generational sin – something that is a real issue. They run the Alpha Pre-Marriage course with couples. They also run a 6-8 week discipleship training programme, which participants then take back to their own village to run in their own dialect.
What help is most needed?
We are all different parts of the body. Some are called to overseas mission – if you think that’s you, talk to NZCMS. All kinds of skills are needed and you may want to consider a short term mission to Kapuna.
There is a big need for teachers. There are not many schools and the Gulf district isn’t a place that many teachers want to go.
You can also donate to one of the specific projects:
Days for Girls – Menstrual Equality
Discipleship Training
Kapuna Life School
