Our time in New Guinea has been interesting. It is one of the more beautiful places we have had the opportunity to experience but has governance and other issues which will make advancement of the country as a whole, difficult. The people have interesting views and beliefs which I think would take a lifetime to fathom let alone understand. The culture is an interesting mix of primitive beliefs combined with a strong religious faith all mixed up with a growing modern understanding of their place in the world. This mixture of beliefs and understandings has made the work undertaken in this country the most difficult we have encountered over the last 40 odd years of working life - but also the most interesting (once frustrations are managed). The teams we worked with over the last 5-6 years have been brilliant and the varied ethnic mix across the team has been great (from our local team members, to the normal expat mix (Brits, Ozzies, and the Yanks) with some Russians, Cubans, Asians (Indian, Malaysian, Indonesian, Filipinos, Chinese etc), Europeans and East Europeans - a real mixture.
We have had great experiences and meet wonderful people and now need to undertake the difficult role of fitting in back home.....and I do believe this is one of the more difficult periods of an expat lifestyle. To make things even more interesting we have decided to sell our existing place and have bought a new home. So lots of changes coming up.
