Tell me more about the Hauna Village folks who visited the US!

To: John.

Your First Question: “I would like to know more about the ‘boys’ who came with you to America. What did they say about the USA?”

1. About the boys:

These 6 young men were the sharpest young men in the village. They all have a wild sense of humor and are such a delight to be around. They were all in their twenties when they came over to visit the USA. Three of them are now pastors and the others are leaders and teachers in the village. It was December 2, 1989, when I brought them over to visit the USA. Winter. The coldest it gets in Hauna Village is around 85 degrees but it was 2 below zero in Chicago!!

2. What did they say about the USA?

They were amazed to see the huge, high rise buildings, so many cars, the roads were all cement, the large number of people in church, the numerous places to eat, restaurants everywhere, and the tons of food in the super market just blew their minds, everyone was friendly, and a lot of people were fat No one is fat in Hauna Village...all muscle. We could go from state to state and yet we all speak the same language and were not enemies. Everyone is in a hurry and just rushes around.

They visited in 29 states and had 200 meetings!

They were very anxious to go back to their jungle where life is not so complicated and fast.

They said that we did not have much freedom. We were pretty much enslaved. I asked them what did they meant by that. I told them that we are the freest country in the world. Well, they did not think so. I asked them to explain what they meant.

They said we were controlled by three things:

(1.) They said that we are totally controlled by the watch. We look at it hundreds of times a day to find out what we have to do next. It tells us when to get up, when to go to work, when to eat, even if we’re not hungry, if the clock says it’s time to eat we eat, it tells when to come home, when to go to bed, etc. They hate the watch. They think we should go to work whenever we want and eat whenever we want, etc.

(2.) The other thing that controlled us was the stoplights. No matter where we were, Chicago, Los Angeles, Valparaiso, big towns, little towns, there were stop lights everywhere. So we have to look up there and wait to find out what to do. If it is green all the cars go, when it is red all the cars stop, when it is yellow, they never knew what I was going to do, speed up, or slam on the breaks. They said we had to get rid of the yellow because no one really knew what to do with yellow. And then of course when we were going through towns late at night when there were few cars but still had stop lights, they would get angry when I would stop because of a red light. And they would ask why I was stopping when there were no cars anywhere or from any directions. I told them that I had to stop because the light was red. They really thought that was stupid. So we just waited, waited, waited, for nothing. How ridiculous.

(3.) The third thing that controls us is money – we cannot live without money.

They said that they did not need watches, stoplights, or money and that they would never be controlled by those things.

3. Have they made return trips? Yes, they have been to the USA four times.

4. Would they like to return? Yes, they would love to return.

Hope you enjoyed these answers about the Hauna people.

Marilyn Laszlo - 24 years in Papua New Guinea and 39 years with Wycliffe Bible Translators

Question to readers: Have you ever visited Papua New Guinea? If so, where did you go and what did you see and do?