Eleven-year-old Yori is the third of five children of his father’s second wife. He is a bright boy with a flashing grin. Once I saw him playing with a handcrafted floatplane he had made out of rivercane. He had used a knife to carve the wings and tail, and he had fashioned two floats from bamboo so that the toy would float on the water. The propeller even spun in the wind. He had the floatplane attached to a pole, and he was flying it out over the water as he ran along the river, making perfect landings and takeoffs. It was the best toy I have seen in Papua New Guinea. Later, I noticed a group of boys making fun of his floatplane. To my sorrow, I watched Yori smash his toy and throw the pieces into the river.
Whenever I come down to the waterfront, Yori is usually there, and he comes over to see what I’m doing. When I’m carrying fuel and supplies, I’m glad for help from the boys. When I realized that water from the nightly rains needed to be bailed out of the boat every day, I asked the boys to help me. At first many of the boys helped remove the water. But soon they got tired of helping and stopped. Yori was the only one who didn’t quit. So I allowed him to tie my boat to the tree in front of his house, and he and his family now take care of it for me.
When we first arrived at May River two years ago, we initially were very dependent on the boys to help us navigate on the river. Yori was my guide a number of times. He would stand at the front of my boat with a paddle to help steer us through narrow, sharp turns in the creeks. He would point which direction I should go in the swamp. Without him, we would have been lost a number of times.
Last year, Yori’s two oldest sisters went to school at another village, but Yori couldn’t go. It costs money to attend school in PNG, and Yori’s parents didn’t have money to send all of their children. This year the government didn’t provide teachers, so the school didn’t open. None of the boys or girls were able to go to school. Recently I have noticed that Yori is hanging out with the group of bully boys. They are roaming around with little to do.
Yori’s father left both his wives and all his children and headed to the city last year to find work. To my knowledge, he hasn’t sent any money home. Before he left, he was talking of divorcing his wives and not coming back. Of course, this is devastating to Yori. He is always hungry. His mother and sisters leave the house early in the morning to catch fish and prepare saksak for the family to eat in the evening. Some days there is no saksak and few fish. Sago palms take 20 to 30 years to mature before they can be harvested for saksak. The family’s land is short of mature sago trees, and it will take years to recover from this misfortune. Edie is giving rice and flour to Yori’s mother to help them when they have nothing.
I am noticing a change in Yori. He is withdrawing. He has stopped coming to church and other programs. We asked his family why he is not present at church, and they tell us he doesn’t have good clothes to wear anymore. When we give him clothes for church he comes back for a few weeks but pretty soon stops coming. I perceive that something else is wrong. Could it be the boys he is hanging out with, or could it be that he is grieving for his father? I don’t know. Likely it is both.
Four months ago, Yori’s mother went to the city for a two-week visit to convince her husband to return home. She has not been seen since. Yori is now the oldest male in his home. His older sisters are desperately trying to catch enough fish for the family to eat. It is flood season, and the river has overflowed its banks for three months without relenting. The girls now stand in our boat to wash their laundry and do other chores because the land around their stilted house is flooded. A storm blew off part of their roof, and now the rain pours into their house. The river current is pushing on their house’s stilts, causing it to lean to one side. Their situation is getting critical. An uncle says he is keeping an eye on them. But if you ask me, he isn’t doing very much. Culture demands that the father do the needed repairs to the house, so the uncle has done nothing. I wonder how much I can get involved without causing trouble. I must remember that I can’t focus on only one family. There are many families in similar situations. If I help one family, there will be a line of people demanding that I help them as well. There are strong, unwritten rules here that I don’t fully understand, nor is the mindset of the people simple to grasp.
What I do recognize is that Yori and some of the other boys in our village are in danger of turning their backs on Jesus. It is not good that they spend all day every day with nothing to do. The old saying “Idleness is the devil’s workshop” applies in this case. The challenge for our mission in the future is to find ways to involve these boys in something that appeals to them. In some way, we need to bring wholesome fun and productivity into their lives. Yes, they need school, too. And in Yori’s case, he needs his father and mother and positive male role models in his life. Please pray for Yori.
