Ours is a big story - thanks for reading all the way to the end.
QUICK SUMMARY - WHO ARE WE, AND WHY ARE WE FUNDRAISING?
Our ancient Motu culture in Papua New Guinea is dying, but we are able to save it - if we work fast.
We are Motuans (the Motu are an indigenous tribe of the Central Province, Papua New Guinea). We recognise our history and heritage so we are working on behalf of the Motu people, fulfilling the aims and strategies of the 'Gida Initiative'. This is a non-commercial initiative established by Tomás Dietz in 2014 to systematically protect, revive and invigorate endangered traditional Motu cultural heritage.
We're raising money to complete the detailed educational archive of traditional Motu pottery (techniques and processes) that we started in 2015. It's urgent because this tradition is dying out in the wake of urbanisation, and there are only a handful of potters left in all 13 Motu villages. The finished documentary will be used for educational purposes to implement revival programmes. Relevance is key in keeping any tradition alive, so that will be the focus of the programmes. Other endangered cultural practices will also be documented and invigorated as part of Gida's vision, eg bilum making, canoe making, wood working, bushcraft etc - the list is vast.
The Gida research team this year are Tomás Dietz (Canberra, Australia), and Olive Tau Davis (Cairns, Australia). We will also engage a videographer and photographer from Port Moresby.
How the 'Gida Initiative' came into being:
In 2014 Tomás, an Australian with Motu ancestry, wanted an earthenware cooking pot but couldn't find any in the shops in Sydney. He decided to make his own traditional Motu cooking pot, since his mother's culture specialised in pottery, and was confident that his heritage would serve him well. He began to surf the internet for information, and to his horror he stumbled across an article that described the last remaining Motu potter at Boera Village. Disturbed and moved by this revelation, Tomás realised that his beautiful, ancient culture was dying from neglect, and knew he had to do something about it immediately. So he created the 'Gida Initiative'.
'Gida' is the Motu word for 'embers'; the idea being that the embers of a culture can be fanned back into flames, or left to die down to cold ashes. In 2015 he raised around $4000 which allowed him to take a small team of researchers to Boera to document what they could. The team managed to record some important information, but the funds soon ran dry; many planned activities had to be shelved and the team returned to Australia. Sadly, Tomás' dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's so for the next three years he focussed on caring for him, and put 'Gida' on hold. His dad passed away last year, so now it is time to return to Port Moresby to finish the archive. The Gida work which was started in 2015 is briefly captured in this short video:
IN DETAIL
We have identified traditional pottery as one of the most critically endangered of the surviving tangible Motu cultural practices. It is on the brink of extinction, with only a handful of elderly pottery experts left in all of the 13 Motu villages, and sadly it appears that few young people have been inspired to learn and continue the tradition. Incredibly, no comprehensive, systematic cultural preservation programme has been developed for the Motu people. We aim to record as much information ASAP, then catalyse revival programmes in close consultation with community groups and organisations, such as local village cultural groups and the Motu Koita Assembly.
We are volunteers - we cannot achieve any of these goals without funding support.
Why is it so important to save traditional knowledge? Cultural Loss = Social Breakdown
The Motu people of Central Province, Papua New Guinea, are the traditional landowners of the Port Moresby area. They have lost around 60% of their traditional land and their culture is being eroded by the expanding city life of Port Moresby. Traditional cultural practices, such as singing and dancing, are occasionally dusted off for pageants and the like. Slowly but surely, villagers lose touch with their heritage, details become obscured, repertoire is reduced, and cultural memory loss becomes chronic.
The digital age has seen parts of Motu society suddenly develop a new and alarming dysfunction - a growing proportion of youth have become socially disoriented; without the stabilising effects of traditional boundaries juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, crime and suicide are becoming a growing problem.
This situation arises from several converging factors, but at its root is the sudden and broad ranging loss of traditional cultural practice. Cultural practice secures social harmony. It provides group identity, solidarity, responsibility, mutual respect, the sense of belonging, contribution, personal worth and growth. Some traditions that are no longer useful to a society naturally die out. Yet some are taken away from a people or undermined for no good reason without regard to the human consequences; it is a human tragedy when the traditions they have lost are still relevant and of great social value. Pottery is one such tradition, and fortunately vestiges remain - enough to salvage.
PROJECT 'RARO' - SAVING POTTERY - The first project of the Gida Initiative:
'Project Raro' (raro= clay) is about documenting the tangible and intangible aspects of traditional pottery techniques and knowledge.
Brief Historical Background of Motu Pottery:
Pottery was the core industry of Motu people since time immemorial, centred around Boera Village. Pottery was the main commodity of trade for sago in the historic Hiri trade expeditions across the Gulf of Papua. A trade language evolved through this experience, called Hiri Motu. But deemed as too dangerous, these expeditions were banned by the Australian colonial administration in the 1950's; this single, kneejerk administrative decision imposed by outsiders brought about the collapse of the ancient pottery industry and a way of life, resulting in the irreversible breakdown of ancient intertribal connections along the Gulf, and the destruction of the complex web of cultural lore, practice, taboos and mores that held Motu society together. Villagers were instead encouraged to use aluminium pots bought at the trade store; and so began the steady decline in cultural practice and reverence of traditional knowledge.
[Image: 'Hodu' - Motu water pot]
Project Raro - Objectives and Methods:
The objective is to create a permanent, detailed, usable archive that the Motu people can use to design and run cultural revival, educational and training, social welfare and festival programmes. To do this we must visit the remaining potters in their villages, interview them, video their technique and all the processes and expert knowledge that surround pottery making - knowledge that has been handed down carefully through generations of experience. Every detail will be recorded, from the best type of wood for firing, down to taboos and anecdotes.
Project Raro - Breathing life into the data:
Project Raro is also about creating ways to inspire Motuans to embrace their heritage and fall in love with making and using their traditional pottery once more - to make it relevant. This needs a careful approach since the everyday use of pottery has not been seen since the 1950's. An effective strategy could be as simple as engaging potters to give cooking demonstrations in public areas of villages, cooking up delicious Motu food over an open fire in traditional Motu cooking pots, offering guidance on how to use and care for the pots, and selling the pots in situ. If people have easy access to these symbols of their heritage and see for themselves how practical and easy they are to use and acquire, they will be more than willing to adopt their use - and they can even learn to make these wares themselves.
We will look into establishing a village pottery society, and introducing Motu pottery into the school arts curriculum to have students working closely with qualified Motu potters. We also plan to consult with the Motu Koita Assembly to design youth rehabilitation programmes with pottery making at its core. Later, as other cultural practices are restored and developed, such programmes can easily be extended to include them.
Project Raro - a bridge to other cultural practices:
Cultural practices are all interlinked, so through this project other aspects of cultural decline will be addressed, such as tattooing, traditional singing and dancing, food gardening, herbal medicine, stellar navigation etc. A list of identified practices that need restoring can be found on the Gida website: https://www.gidamotuculture.org/future-operations.
WHO WILL BENEFIT?
As a result of enabling the Gida team to carry out this project, the long term benefits will be felt in many ways:
• Motu society as a whole will be better able to develop and strengthen their unique identity in the modern world - their biggest resource is its own culture and heritage. This work will leave a long term legacy; thousands of Motu people today and for generations to come will benefit one way or another from the archive and resultant initiatives. The archive will be made freely available to all Motuans, and to Motu leaders (such as the Motu Koita Assembly) to use as a key resource to support or create new social welfare and cultural initiatives.
• Disaffected youth:
Rehabilitation programmes in particular can be designed with a strong emphasis on traditional cultural practice - eg a traditional pottery bee to make and sell Motu pottery for domestic use and to tourists, instead of dealing in moonshine. Young potters will learn to reconnect with their culture, their community, their language, their elders, and with their family. They will develop a strong sense of community, of belonging, self worth, achievement, validation and pride. They will be able to contribute responsibly to their families and community. Through the pottery revival programme, engaged youth will be more likely to become interested in other cultural practices that also form part of the intricate web of a healthy Motu society.
• Active potters:
Can run community workshops, training and guiding the next generation.
Can sell their wares.
• School students:
Traditional pottery (as well as other dying traditional practices) can be invigorated by receiving due attention in primary, secondary and tertiary schools, especially in those that cater to Motu communities. The PNG School Curriculum states, "Children need to learn about their traditional arts and culture." The curriculum already contains a Culture and Community topic, so we plan to inject these dying arts and crafts into this system with heightened community participation, encouraging traditional experts to be contracted by schools to conduct meaningful workshops in these streams.
• Entire communities:
Since clay and specialty implements are sourced from the environment (eg clay from local claypans, stone anvils from river beds, sand from beaches), potters can begin to participate in Geo-Tourism - a recent initiative of the Mineral Resources Authority of PNG aimed at preserving traditional cultures in the context of their connection to the natural geophysical landscape. Here's a link with more detail on Geo-Tourism: http://pngresourcesonline.com/mra-pngtpa-collaborate-geo-tourism-initiative/
Pottery festivals can be featured at the village level, to attract and inspire other Motuans and tourists alike, raising awareness and also benefiting from the tourist Kina.
• Home cooks: can enjoy the health and gourmet benefits of cooking in handmade traditional earthenware, and to store their foodstuffs in breathable earthenware instead of plastic.
• Diabetes epidemic: Motu food traditionally prepared in clay pots is 'Paleo', and is a significant way to address the current diabetes epidemic. Encouraging villagers to return to traditional foods, cooked in traditional wares is a positive and important health strategy.
• Prestige Cooking: local professional cooks can elevate Motu traditional cooking in the hospitality industry featuring traditional claypot cooking; another way to apply status to returning to traditional cookery in earthenware vessels.
There are so many beneficial outcomes that can be designed around pottery revival. You can peruse a detailed list of objectives and outcomes on my website page: https://www.gidamotuculture.org/boera .
WHAT WILL THE FUNDS BE USED FOR?
Gida team members are volunteers. Funds will be used to pay for the following over the course of one month:
• Return economy airfares for Australian team members (Sydney/Cairns/Brisbane to Port Moresby)
• Visas
• Airport transfers (in Australia and Port Moresby)
• Coach travel Canberra to Sydney
• Airline excess luggage allowance for filming equipment
• Medical exams for visas
• Anti-malarial medications
• Budget accommodation in Port Moresby
• Daily allowance for budget meals and incidentals
• Incentives: provision of food to villagers who host the Gida Team when conducting fieldwork in remote villages
• Engagement of professional videographer and photographer
• Memory cards/batteries for filming
• International SIM cards to access internet for downloading edited material
• Local transport for fieldwork (4WD vehicle hire + petrol)
• Dinghy hire + petrol for collection of clay in clay pan areas in neighbouring bays/inlets
• If funds allow, the team will visit the Mailu/Aroma/Hula villages to document their oral history of the Hiri trading connections between them and the Motu, which centred around pottery trade. It is known than these people contributed to the cargo that the Motu took on their ocean trading voyages to exchange for sago, but this information is not yet recorded in great detail. With more exposure of the role they played, these societies will be justified in participating in and enriching the current Hiri Moale Festival, and hopefully triggering their own cultural preservation programmes.
Any unused funds raised for this mission will be invested in Gida's remaining projects, eg pua-pua canoe making, Motu string bag making, herbal medicine, wooden carving, and cat's cradles etc. You can view the full list of topics for future projects on my website:
https://www.gidamotuculture.org/future-operations
HOW SOON DO I NEED THE FUNDS?
The funds need to be guaranteed around May 2019 in order to properly organise and confirm the month-long field work starting in August. This lead time will be used to: liaise with villagers to confirm the plan of action; to arrange meetings with key organisations such as the Motu Koita Assembly, the Department of Education, and the Mineral Resources Authority; to organise the itinerary and logistics in Port Moresby and the target villages; and to secure travel arrangements.
We have chosen to be in field in mid-August so that the conclusion of our work coincides with the Hiri Moale festival in Port Moresby. This festival celebrates the famous Hiri trade voyages; and there will also be a highlighted awareness in the community of the need to preserve traditional knowledge in general. This event presents a valuable opportunity to promote the Gida Initiative and gain further support from individuals and government agencies/NGOs.
WHAT WILL THE SUPPORT MEAN TO ME?
• it will allow this important work to be done without further delay while the last remaining elderly traditional experts are still alive and can be consulted directly;
• enable us to directly and immediately make a positive and enormous difference to the health of Motu society;
• empower us to inspire and rally other Motuans to become proactive in preserving and celebrating all facets of their ancient heritage;
• provide the opportunity to involve non-Motuans in this important humanitarian project to allow them to share in the experience and to learn more about this ancient culture;
• give leverage to Gida's work in saving other endangered cultural practices.
Our gratitude for this funding is deep and heartfelt; you are helping an entire society - they may not know you, but all Motuans today and into the future will be grateful for your compassionate gesture.
All donors will be subscribed to the newsletter to stay informed about the progress of the fundraiser and Gida's work, and also added to the contributors' list on the Gida website (unless anonymity is desired).
Thank you for reading our story, and for your kind support.
The Gida Team