Jonathan

The other day, I went to this bonfire party and had a good, long talk with a fellow international student who is from Papua New Guinea. His name is Jonathan. We talked for probably around two hours or so. I had met him earlier in the week, but hadn't really talked to him for very long until that night.

Jonathan is a shorter guy--somewhere around 5' 6"--and built like a miniature linebacker. He has a dark complexion and a wide face adorned with the type of smile that is so big and warm, smiling back is involuntary. When he laughs, you can't help but join him. His hands look like those of one who knows what it means to work hard. His manner is very respectful and kind, and even though I have known him for less than a week, if I had to choose one word to describe his personality, it would be "selfless".

He comes from a very different way of life than I do. His village is up in the mountains of Papua New Guinea. They recently were able to get electricity for the first time, but they still do not have running water. It is primarily a farming community whose major crop is sweet potato. The village is about an hour away from the nearest town. Going into town is always a big deal and requires a lot of preparation. The road is full of hazards. Every trip requires the men to get out of the car and push to dislodge it from some sort of pothole, mud puddle, or what have you. Fortunately, the village is fairly self-sufficient and trips to the town are not required often.

By most western standards, his way of life would be considered primitive and/or poor, but I feel these words connotate an arrogance without ground. Humble is much more appropriate descriptor. Jonathan and his family are content with what they have and are never left wanting. They never go hungry; they have sufficient shelter; they have no need of money; and don't miss any of the "stuff" western culture trifles over. Jonathan told me that he was a little intimidated by life over here because he is afraid of offending someone with his "poor manners", but really, he is perhaps one of the most polite and conscientious people I have met. It saddens me that this was his first impression of the "1st World".

He lives in a tin roof hut that he built himself with his wife and three small children, all under the age of 7. Jonathan will be the first person from his village to go to college. Most people from his village do not even continue their education beyond the tenth grade. If they do, they have to relocate to a larger village or town where eleventh and twelfth grades are taught. Jonathan was not so fortunate.

Sometime after he finished the tenth grade, he began an apprenticeship for a large international mining company and has spent the last 16 years working for the same mining company, mining gold and copper. The last ten of which have been as an electrical technician. He is here to study electrical engineering. The mine is far from the village he is from. So far, in fact, that the mining company has to fly him back and forth between the village and the town near the mine. He spends as many as six months away from the village. Fortunately, the company he works for provides housing for him and his wife and children

Jonathan told me about how he would often come home after a long day at work and play with his children until it was time for bed. Then, he would tuck them into bed and pray with them. He told me about how he and his wife taught them how to pray, how every time they would even eat without praying, his children would speak up, saying "Hey, we didn't pray! We shouldn't be eating yet!". He told me about how his son wanted to pray before meals but didn't know how to finish the prayer and how he would stop mid-prayer and ask his mother to help him finish. Jonathan relayed one memorable account of when his son asked to pray. This time he began the prayer, his mother expecting him to pause and request help half-way through. He kept going until finally he was done. It was his first complete prayer. Everyone was so happy and proud of him that they hugged him, threw him up in the air, and celebrated.

He told me about how earlier that day, while he was going through new student orientation activities, seeing all of the other much younger students and the way of life here in Australia, he began thinking of his own children and broke down thinking about how he wanted the same things for them, for them to get a good education and go off to college, to have all of the cool stuff that they wanted.

Now, I am not one who is easily moved to tears. There are few things that can even push me close to that point--at least since I was in grade school, anyway. One of these things, however, is the thought of one day seeing my own children experiencing harm or hardship or even seeing another father endure the same. Witnessing any sort of emotional turmoil for a father really gets to me. While Jonathan told me the stories of him playing with his children, his son praying on his own for the first time, and his breakdown over missing his children and wanting nothing but the best for them, I almost had a breakdown myself. I couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it must be for him to miss any of the great milestones in the lives of his children because of his studies.

He has made a huge sacrifice by coming here to continue his studies. He will be away from his family for up to 4 months at a time. I pray that God will give him peace in being away from his family and that he will be as good of a student as he is as a father. I pray that he will be able to give his children all that he desires. I am glad to have met Jonathan.