this happened at the local Hopsitail to me i have been in there for a few weeks when i was little when i broke my collar bone http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/09/2462357.htm
and a bush fire in the valley http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/01/08/2461575.htm?site=newcastle
In the news here: Post Courier
Kerosene drops below K2 a litre, Rex Pini is photographed looking pretty chuffed with his savings
and on a lighter note, there’s a story about a new law trying to be introduced to stop the Sorcery related killings in PNG.
The incident of hat girl who was burnt at the stake (on top of some tyres and with fuel thrown over her) probably galvanised the authorities into looking at legislation…but how would they enforce it?
Dinetta said:
The incident of hat girl who was burnt at the stake (on top of some tyres and with fuel thrown over her) probably galvanised the authorities into looking at legislation…but how would they enforce it?
As PNG has some real problems with corruption in the law and justice sector, it is hardly ever going to enforce these rulings regarding crimes involving sorcery. 50 reported killings involving Sorcery occurred in just 2 Highland Provinces last year (it’s been reported in the media) and it seems to be a fairly easy excuse to use after these horrific crimes are committed.
Sorry Judge, she was a witch and she had it coming to her… or him.
I have some close friends who have had to visit customary doctors in order to have spells removed from them, and I know of a man who has been accused of being a sorcerer.
A wife of a friend of mine has a medical complaint that because they can’t afford the best treatment, they have now decided that she has been infected by sorcery and that perhaps returning to her village may release the spell. Or she’ll die. In this case, I have a fair belief that the Husband has created the whole Sorcery notion to scare her into believing that it is not worth his effort to raise the money for her treatment and the fact that he has another wife, I think he wants her to return to the Village and take the kids with her… I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to have to deal with this “whole” problem of having two wives and especially looking after kids, and Sorcery can be the excuse for her to “disappear”.
pain master said:
Dinetta said:
The incident of hat girl who was burnt at the stake (on top of some tyres and with fuel thrown over her) probably galvanised the authorities into looking at legislation…but how would they enforce it?
As PNG has some real problems with corruption in the law and justice sector, it is hardly ever going to enforce these rulings regarding crimes involving sorcery. 50 reported killings involving Sorcery occurred in just 2 Highland Provinces last year (it’s been reported in the media) and it seems to be a fairly easy excuse to use after these horrific crimes are committed.
Sorry Judge, she was a witch and she had it coming to her… or him.
I have some close friends who have had to visit customary doctors in order to have spells removed from them, and I know of a man who has been accused of being a sorcerer.
A wife of a friend of mine has a medical complaint that because they can’t afford the best treatment, they have now decided that she has been infected by sorcery and that perhaps returning to her village may release the spell. Or she’ll die. In this case, I have a fair belief that the Husband has created the whole Sorcery notion to scare her into believing that it is not worth his effort to raise the money for her treatment and the fact that he has another wife, I think he wants her to return to the Village and take the kids with her… I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to have to deal with this “whole” problem of having two wives and especially looking after kids, and Sorcery can be the excuse for her to “disappear”.
They’re dealing with hundreds (?) of tribes which have tens of thousands of years of culture behind them…most so isolated it’s a wonder they’re not inbred…a lot of culture evoloves through choosing patterns of behaviour and genetic models (people) which will ensure the survival of the tribal unit…the PNG isn’t going to solve all this with pen and paper…
Economic reality is just so harsh the world over…some of these events remind me of the European Dark Ages, and look how long it took them to work their way out of it…