During the Second World War cargo cults developed in Papua New Guinea.  Isolated local tribes saw airplanes arrive with unimaginable goods, some of which trickled down to the locals.  Then they left.  Some leaders preached that if the tribes imitated the behavior of those who brought the cargo they would be induced to come back.  So, they built airplanes out of bamboo, cleared landing strips, made wooden headphones, sometimes a control tower, and on some nights lit fires at the end of the “runways” to induce the cargo back.  The cults died out mid-20^th century when the cargo didn’t come, or when it did it did not benefit them.

During our three port calls in Papua New Guinea I asked guides about the Cargo Cults but none of them knew anything about them until I spoke with Francis, an elementary school teacher on Kiriwina Island, who said his father, who was a child in the Second World War told him stories about the cults, and about the soldiers he met as a kid.

Francis’ school is about 15km (a little under 10 miles) from where we tendered.  He let his classes out and walked to meet the cruise ships.  In the village of 600, where we tendered, school was out and the kids performed dances and sang for us on the school grounds.  There were barrels out for donations to the school, and the community. 

Francis told me that the people were poor, the schools underfunded, and parents had to pay for materials and uniforms in, what is, a mostly cashless subsistence culture.  While most of his students couldn’t walk the 15 kilometers to meet the ship he could and hoped to act as a guide to get some money for his school.  Francis saw us sitting in the sun, spread a mat on the ground under a tree and invited Suzi and me to sit and join him while we watched the school performances.  He told us about his school.  He offered to take us on a walk but it was so hot and humid that we passed, but I did contribute some money for his school (or himself, he told a good story and that’s worth a lot to me.) 

Far more than 600 people greeted us “ship people” to sell us their crafts, especially wood carvings.  We were the first cruise ship of the year.  The next two will come in March.  Each ship is an occasion for a school holiday, not only in the village we visited but from villages around the island as people gather to greet us, sell their crafts, or act as guides.  Some people walked four hours with their carvings to meet the ship.  It appears to me that the Cruise Ship Cult has replaced the Cargo Cult.

Kiriwina Island, part of the Milne Bay region of Papua New Guinea, is a backwater.  Only one town has electric power, Louisa, and that is across the island from where we tendered.  Louisa also has the airport, built by the Americans in 1943, and flights only to one town on the main island.  There is 3G cell phone service in Louisa but the signal does not reach sea level where we tendered.  I did catch a signal on deck 9 of the ship.  I saw several small solar panels used by people selling goods to charge their phones. 

The island is flat with no flowing rivers.  The water used to come from wells drilled by missionary churches but the water table has been drawn down and the water is either contaminated by the pit toilets or has become brackish.  There are some attempts to drill deeper wells but new efforts are going into rainwater catchment.  The central high school in Lousia has a deep well.  The school we visited has a well but I am not sure how deep it is and how good the water is.

The island is beautiful, with white sandy beaches, coral, flowers, and plentiful fruit trees. It is well worth the stop.  The people are friendly, happy, and doing their best.  It’s one of those rare countries with a completely different culture where people speak English and are willing to sit and talk with you about their lives and dreams. 

But why did I call this post “The Bank?”  There is no bank in Kiriwina so the collective “we” on the ship became the bank.  Some of us had changed dollars to the PNG Kina in Alotau, which also has an ATM machine near the market.  Its line is more than a block long.  We didn’t need much PNG money since we’ve stopped buying stuff, we already have a houseful, so we changed only tip money and, as it turned out, didn’t need much of that. 

As we left, we, and everyone else getting on the ship, were besieged by folks who had sold their crafts for US or Australian dollars asking to us if we had any kina and if we were interested in buying back dollars.  We became the bank.  Suzi bought some Australian currency but the seller did not have enough to cover her 20 Kina note so she got “change” in the form of a small carved turtle.  

I also changed money.  They rounded in their favor, fair enough, making an extra 3% selling Australian dollars and a bit more on American.  I hope Francis, to whom I gave American dollars, fond someone and got a good rate.  

We didn’t change all our Kina back, to the distress of the merchants.  We left some in the community barrel for the local school.  Alot of other people did too.  Back on the ship several friends told us this stop was the highlight of the cruise so far.  And we have a tangible memory of this day.  The village gifted the ship a group of beautiful wood carvings.