During the Christmas holiday, I was stranded and do not have enough money to travel home. So that I could celebrate with my dad, mum, small brothers, and my relatives. Days pass by, wondering if someone will meet my expense so that I can visit the most beautiful village which is called Busama. One of my brother in law got up and told me to pack my little bag. We took off late in the afternoon and jumped on a PMV at Avagasi market in Lae city and travel for about an hour to Voco Point. We waited there for other passengers to arrive. Local people from Labu, Morobe, Busama village and the neighboring village of Salamaua were packing their food to celebrate with their families for the new year eve. It was late in the afternoon and there are not many skippers from Busama.
My brother in law and I stood there waiting for some friends or "wantoks" to help us get to that village.His elder brother got married to my elder sister so he is my best friend and my kind brother in law. I was surprised to see that many people at the Voco Point where people look for boats to travel to their villages called out my brother in law’s name and I was surprised. “Wow, every people knew you very well”. You know what Brandon; you have to be good to people whether they are the good guy or bad guy. You have to say hello to them and greet them with a little smile on your face will communicate a good message to them that you are a friendly guy, and if you are looking for help. They will help you sort out your problem. Then I found out that my brother in law know them very well because he worked with a service station in Lae City for many years now and everyday people came to that place buying petrol and diesel for their banana boat to travel to the neighboring village to do buai or betelnut selling business. My brother in law helped them with extra petrol and diesel.
Not long, one of the skippers that usually provide boat service to the Morobe people in the Huon Gulf District of Morobe Province ask my brother in law if we could travel with him to Busama Village with other local people from there. The skipper is from Popondetta, a town in Oro Province of Papua New Guinea. He is a hard-working man who always looks after his family very well and travels from Lae city to Popondetta to sell his buai bags in which the word buai in Tok Pisin is a lingua franca of the people in Papua New Guinea means betelnut. It is one of the best business that local people from there do to earn an income to sustain their living. He has been working as a banana boat skipper for almost a decade now and some of the local people trusted him to do business with him.
We packed our cargoes and jumped into his banana boat and the boat was overloaded with rice, sugar, and salt bags and petrol that people in the village entirely depend on. I was wondering if that famous skipper could bring us safely home. The sea was very rough and Markham river that flows through the ocean is very risky for the skipper to travel across by their boat that is overloaded with cargoes. I sat close to where the skipper and his crew, and I heard a little girl about an age of five years old cries on top of her voice as the boat bumped into a huge wave. But the skipper is a very talented person, he was able to steer the boat beside the huge wave by applying his little smart techniques to avoid the huge wave. A few seconds ago, I heard one of the mothers called out, "Oh thank you, heavenly father, for guiding our skipper to steering the boat safely.
