Region(s): South Pacific
Field(s): Papua New Guinea
Website: click here to visit
Bio: Products of the pioneer missionary efforts of Glen Bogue in Australia, Richard and Margaret Carver left Australia in April 1973 as pioneer missionaries appointed by the Australian church to Papua New Guinea (PNG). Beginning in a remote village in the mountains among primitive peoples, they established numerous churches throughout the Highlands. By 1985 the church had grown to over 7,000 constituents, and the Carvers became UPCI missionaries. In 1988 the Carvers moved to New Zealand. They went to Fiji in 1991 where he became the superintendent and Bible college president and began a large Bible college building program. In 2001 the Carvers located in Australia, pioneered a church there and, in 2003, took the oversight of the Cairns, Queensland, church. Carver again became the field superintendent of PNG in 2004. His other responsibilities include being the area coordinator for Australia, PNG, and Solomon Islands and supplying literature for the Pacific Region.
Papua New Guinea
Independent State of Papua New Guinea
Area Coordinator: Richard S. Carver
Superintendent/President:
Population: 6,000,000
Area: 178,703 sq. mi.
Capital: Port Moresby
Languages: English (official), Melanesian languages, Papuan languages
Religions: Protestant, 44%; Roman Catholic, 22%; local religions, 34%
New Guinea Island, the world’s second largest island, is located in the South Pacific, directly above Australia. The Independent State of Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the island with 85% of its population being subsistence farmers. Because of the rugged and mountainous terrain which separates tribes and makes travel difficult, Papua New Guinea has over 750 distinct tribal languages (one-third of the languages of the world). However, the official language is English and the linga-franca is “PNG Pidgin.” The country is also one of the world’s least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of PNG. Somewhat larger than California, PNG is one of the few regions close to the equator that experience snowfall, which occurs in the highest mountains of the mainland. In 1973 the UPC of Australia appointed the Richard Carvers as pioneer missionaries to Papua New Guinea. In 1985, at the request of the Australian church, the UPCI assumed oversight of the flourishing church, registered as the United Pentecostal Assemblies of Papua New Guinea. According to the 2006 Annual Field Report, the UPA/PNG has 50,000 constituents, 237 ministers, 258 churches and preaching points. God has blessed the work and in 2005, thanks to Pastor Daniel Maxwell of Gerald, Missouri, and his awesome team of builders, PNG now has a training center in Goroka, operating as the full time national Bible school.
Additional Infomation for those interested:
PROFILE
Geography
Land area: 462,840 sq. km.; about the size of California.
Cities: Capital--Port Moresby (254,158). Other cities--Lae (78,038), Mt. Hagen (27,789).
Terrain: Mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills. The largest portion of the population lives in fertile highlands valleys that were unknown to the outside world until the 1930s, but that supported agriculture some 10,000 years ago, possibly before agriculture was developed elsewhere.
Climate: Tropical. NW monsoon, Dec.-Mar.; SE monsoon, May-Oct.
People
Population (2008 est.): 6.5 million.
Annual population growth rate (2005-2010): 2.0%.
Languages: Three official languages are English, Tok Pisin, and Motu. There are approximately 860 other languages.
Education: Years compulsory--0. Literacy--49.3%.
Health: Infant mortality rate (2008)--69/1,000. Life expectancy (2008)--62.0 yrs.
Government
Type: Constitutional parliamentary democracy.
Constitution: September 16, 1975.
Branches: Executive--Queen Elizabeth II (head of state, represented by a governor general); prime minister (head of government). Legislative--unicameral parliament. Judicial--independent; highest is Supreme Court.
Administrative subdivisions: 19 provinces and the national capital district (Port Moresby).
Major political parties: National Alliance (NA), People's Progress Party (PPP), United Resources Party (URP), PNG Party (PNGP).
Suffrage: Universal over 18 years of age.
Economy
Nominal GDP (2008): U.S. $6.39 billion; PGK 18.72 billion.
Average exchange rate (2008): U.S. $1 = PGK 2.7.
Real GDP growth rate (2008): 4.5%.
Inflation rate (2009): 7.0%.
Per capita GDP (2008): U.S. $1,040.
Natural resources: Gold, copper ore, crude oil, natural gas, timber, fish, oil palm, tea, rubber, logs.
Forestry (4% of GDP); marine (1% of GDP); minerals and oil (82% of GDP).
Agriculture (13% of GDP): Major products--coffee, cocoa, coconuts, palm oil, timber, tea, vanilla.
Industry (25% of GDP): Major sectors--copra crushing; palm oil processing; plywood production; wood chip production; mining of gold, silver, and copper; construction; tourism; crude oil production, refined petroleum production.
Trade: Exports--66% of GDP: gold, copper ore, oil, timber, palm oil, coffee. Major markets (in order by value--high to low)--Australia, Japan, Philippines, Germany, South Korea, China, United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, and Malaysia. Imports--31% of GDP: machinery and transport equipment, vehicles, manufactured goods, food, mineral fuels, chemicals. Major suppliers (in order by value--high to low)--Australia, United States, Singapore, Japan, China, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and United Kingdom.
PEOPLE
The indigenous population of Papua New Guinea is one of the most heterogeneous in the world. Papua New Guinea has several thousand separate communities, most with only a few hundred people. Divided by language, customs, and tradition, some of these communities have engaged in low-scale tribal conflict with their neighbors for millennia. The advent of modern weapons and modern migration into urban areas has greatly magnified the impact of this lawlessness.
The isolation created by the mountainous terrain is so great that some groups, until recently, were unaware of the existence of neighboring groups only a few kilometers away. The diversity, reflected in a folk saying, "For each village, a different culture," is perhaps best shown in the local languages. Spoken mainly on the island of New Guinea--composed of Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian province of West Papua--some 800 of these languages have been identified; of these, only 350-450 are related. The remainder seem to be totally unrelated either to each other or to the other major groupings. Most native languages are spoken by a few hundred to a few thousand, although Enga, used in part of the highlands, is spoken by some 130,000 people. However, the Enga people are subdivided into clans that regularly conflict with each other. Many native languages are extremely complex grammatically.
Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca. English is spoken by educated people and in Milne Bay Province. The overall population density is low, although pockets of overpopulation exist. Papua New Guinea's Western Province averages one person per square kilometer (3 per sq. mi.). The Chimbu Province in the New Guinea highlands averages 20 persons per square kilometer (60 per sq. mi.) and has areas containing up to 200 people farming a square kilometer of land. The highlands are home to 40% of the population.
A considerable urban drift toward Port Moresby and other major centers has occurred in recent years. The trend toward urbanization accelerated in the 1990s, bringing in its wake squatter settlements, ethnic disputes, unemployment, public utilities pressure, and attendant social problems, especially violent crime.
Approximately 96% of the population is Christian. The churches with the largest number of members are the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the United Church, and the Seventh Day Adventist church. Although the major churches are under indigenous leadership, a large number of missionaries remain in the country. The bulk of the estimated 2,000 Americans resident in Papua New Guinea are missionaries and their families. The non-Christian portion of the indigenous population, as well as a portion of the nominal Christians, practices a wide variety of religions that are an integral part of traditional culture, mainly animism (spirit worship) and ancestor cults.
Foreign residents comprise about 1% of the population. More than half are Australian; others are from China, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Philippines, India, and the United States, most of whom are missionaries. Since independence, about 900 foreigners have become naturalized citizens.
Though cultures vary widely, traditional Papua New Guinea social structures generally include the following characteristics:
•The practice of subsistence economy;
•Recognition of bonds of kinship with obligations extending beyond the immediate family group;
•Generally egalitarian relationships with an emphasis on acquired, rather than inherited, status; and
•A strong attachment of the people to land, which is held communally. Traditional communities do not recognize a permanent transfer of ownership when land is sold.
•Though land and other possessions may be inherited through the female line in some cultures, women generally are considered and treated as inferiors. Gender violence is endemic.
•Patterns and frequency of sexual activity, though never publicly discussed (especially in rural areas), contribute to the current rapid spread of HIV.
Most Papua New Guineans still adhere strongly to this traditional social structure, which has its roots in village life.
HISTORY
Archeological evidence indicates that humans arrived on New Guinea at least 60,000 years ago, probably by sea from Southeast Asia during an Ice Age period when the sea was lower and distances between islands shorter. Although the first arrivals were hunters and gatherers, early evidence shows that people managed the forest environment to provide food. There also are indications of gardening having been practiced at the same time that agriculture was developing in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Early garden crops--many of which are indigenous--included sugarcane, Pacific bananas, yams, and taros, while sago and pandanus were two commonly exploited native forest crops. Today's staples--sweet potatoes and pigs--were later arrivals, but shellfish and fish have long been mainstays of coastal dwellers' diets.
When Europeans first arrived, inhabitants of New Guinea and nearby islands--while still relying on bone, wood, and stone tools--had a productive agricultural system. They traded along the coast, where products mainly were pottery, shell ornaments, and foodstuffs, and in the interior, where forest products were exchanged for shells and other sea products.
The first Europeans to sight New Guinea were probably the Portuguese and Spanish navigators sailing in the South Pacific in the early part of the 16th century. In 1526-27, Don Jorge de Meneses accidentally came upon the principal island and is credited with naming it "Papua," a Malay word for the frizzled quality of Melanesian hair. The term "New Guinea" was applied to the island in 1545 by a Spaniard, Inigo Ortiz de Retes, because of a fancied resemblance between the islands' inhabitants and those found on the African Guinea coast. Although European navigators visited the islands and explored their coastlines for the next 170 years, little was known of the inhabitants until the late 19th century.
No comments:
Post a Comment