In the 1930's a group of gold diggers decided to venture into the interior of Papua New Guinea to search for gold. It was believed to be completely uninhabited. Much was their surprise when they found close to a million people living there. Nobody had known about them before that time. The amazing part is that they actually had a black and white camera with them and were able to record that first contact. The film was placed on a shelf somewhere until the 1970's when it was rediscovered and interviews conducted with the natives and the people in the exploration party. We watched it yesterday during our lunch break. Very very interesting.
Yesterday we had a lecture by Albert Wendt, one of the leading Pacific Island authors. We had to read one of his books before we came to it was interesting to hear him speak. We also had a lecture on social issues and changes which is something that really interests me.
In the afternoon we went to a taro filed on the UH campus and learned about how taro- which was once a staple- was grown. They are trying to preserve a part of their culture which was very close to being lost by teaching students and others the traditional ways of doing things.
In the evening we watched a Pacific Island film called "The Land Has Eyes." The producer and director spoke to us after the film and will be coming again today.
I'm running out of time so I have to run but I was able to upload some of my pictures. You can check them out here: http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k182/maex1121/
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