Our knowledge keepers are passing on and we need to record their stories before we lose them all

n a space of  just 10 months, we lost three important ‘knowledge keepers’  who still had many stories we did not record.

In February, founding father, Grand Chief  Sir Michael Somare, passed away.  He took with him,  eight decades of knowledge and history. Although, he made efforts to write his stories, there were still parts of our history that he still held.   

When daughter, Dulciana,  spoke during his funeral in Wewak, she told of a part of Papua New Guinea’s modern history that intrigued thousands of people who listened.  Dulciana’s story was about a family who faced the challenges of growing up in a period of political transition.

Unless you read his book, Sana, most of the knowledge will not be passed on. Our schools do not teach out own history.  Our children are not taught to be proud Papua New Guineans by the education system. 

This is where we are failing.

And it was as if Sir Michael’s passing marked the end of an era, the passing of the baton.  But to whom?

Four months later,  a close friend and schoolmate of Sir Michael also passed away. Sir Jerry Nalau, left  quietly in Lae.  In February, I had asked him about the past and about this experiences with the Grand Chief.

He said a leader distributes the meat that he has bought to everyone and he goes home empty handed to his family.  He said that is what Sir Michael did for Papua New Guinea.

Many younger people outside of Morobe didn’t know who Sir Jerry was. His life story is closely knitted with Sir Michael. From Dregahafen as teens to the admin college and then to politics.  We didn’t do enough to record as much as we could have. 

In 10 or 20 years, many children will forget about Sir Jerry Nalau unless we make a conscious effort to record his stories…

…and tell it.

There are many more who have died that kids don’t know about.

On the 1^st October,  15 Days after Independence Day,  Sir Pita Lus,  passed away.  Sir Pita’s story remains unwritten.

There’s a heap of stuff we need to do. We need to write our own history and teach it to our kids and their kids. There needs to be a conscious effort by government. A nation that doesn’t know the wisdom of the past will not know how to handle the challenges of the future.