Penale Girl

It's amazing how much the kids at Kaiam like to get their picture taken.  Even most of the adults will give you a thumbs up or even jump up and down when they know that you've got a camera pointed in their direction.  This really doesn't work for me because I much rather prefer to have shots of people when they are doing their normal things and not acting strange.  However, I am a sucker for a cute girl. 

This girl was with her mom at our house at Kaiam who was busy weeding the area around the house footprint.  Since it's pretty easy to grow certain types of foods here, really anywhere is a garden and we have coconut, banana, guava, and many other edible plants all around our house.  Usually the mothers get the kids that can't really walk away from them, and the girls usually stick pretty close.  The boys, however, once they can keep up, or mostly keep up with the other kids, are off rampaging around the jungle.  The men typically are off doing their own thing as well, smoking, or chewing bui (beetle nut). 

Meanwhile the moms come by with two shovels slung over a shoulder, a bilum bag with some essentials, like the day's food, a baby in another bilum, both strapped to their foreheads and another kid usually alternating between one arm and a breast...  I'm in awe of these women.  I can't hardly walk with my water bottle because the heat causes me to drip sweat so badly I can't see where to put my feet on the slick slopes.  Yet they trudge up and down with apparent ease.  I'm reminded every time I leave the front porch just how much of an uncoordinated ape I really am...  Quite humbling really...