MAKING FRIENDS WITH KANAKS … Some of us get the privilege to travel – not to other places in PNG only but in the region also. Try to reach out and make friends. There are people wherever you go who will be willing to “befriend” you, if you have the heart to reach out. Last year (2013), while at Wallis and Futuna, I took a photo of a young electrician at work. (He told me his name was Pierre Chanel.) He was part of the group of workers fixing up the facilities before the start of the IX Mini Pacific Games staged there in September. (He gave me that information in French.) A few days later when I met him, I greeted him by name and he was happy to talk a bit more. He told me he was part Wallisian and part Kanak. I think he was trying to get a point across – I am Melanesian too. (Yes, he had a much darker complexion – it made sense to me.) Two years ago (2012), when I travelled to Nouméa, New Caledonia, I met many nice people there. Over the last few days, I had this question popping up in my mind – something to do with Kanak people, the indigenous people there. Of course, I could not email people who were not Kanaks for answers, and then I remembered a young man (Paulo) I met at the University of New Caledonia (UNC). (In fact, I was browsing some of the pics I took while I was there and his came up and I got my link to getting an answer for my question.) Paulo has German, Vanuatuan and Kanak blood – but to me he looks all Melanesian. Yesterday I emailed him asking if he was still at UNC. This morning I got my reply. “Yes, Thomas, I am still at UNC”, the reply came. (Paulo speaks and writes good English even though they learn everything in French in New Caledonia – from primary school to university.) Tonight, I will email Paulo my question. Point: Make friends. One day they will be the links to helping you get help or answers to questions.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 08:24:32 +0000
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