Home away from home : A company with the Aewai Selan family

By Kanau Sion and Joanne Kanau

 Home sickness is a problem and which can set in so easily, especially when one is a long way from home. In fact, it is one of the first problems one encounters apart from finding one's way around and overcoming the culture shock. Those who have been through similar situations can attest to this experience. This had been the case for us when we first arrived in Perth. The beauty and excitement of what Perth had to offer were all surreal. However, knowing that one is a stranger in a foreign land can be a challenge. We were quite lucky to have some Manus connections in Perth. They were our initial source of strength and comfort away from PNG: The Eris (Jeffrey, Nini and the kids); the Aroviris (Joe, Ngason and the kids), The Hans-Peters  (Ian, Joy and Dudu) and Aewai Selan. Along the way we lost The Eris to Black Water in Queensland; the Aroviris to Newman in the North of WA, The Hans-Peters to Lae, PNG except for Aewai Selan.
Aewai was struggling to have his family come over to Perth from Port Moresby. He had to fly back to Port Moresby on several occasions to help facilitate and speed up the travel arrangement. It took a long while and we could tell the frustrations in him and only wished all went well as we too had been through our share of similar problems two years earlier. Aewai went back to PNG once again in August of this year (2010) with the hope of salvaging any chance of quickly bringing his family to Perth. After a frustratingly protracted effort the entire family finally arrived in Perth on the night of the 10th of September 2010 and we had much pleasure meeting and giving them a lift home from the airport. Finally, the Aewai Selan family is complete.

Aewai Selan and family with Leila

 The Sion family is happy that another Manus connection replaces the missing link. The kids are all too happy to have the company of young Ben and little home scholar Walter alias "Wally", my buddy buddy. We have a home scholar too in the form of our last born Leila. Ben has started school in good time and has gelled quite well with his new found classmates, school mates and teachers...not to mention with the Sion kids. Amazing how kids connect well within a short space of time. That's natural.

Aewai Selan family with us celebrating Joanne's 33rd birth da

 While the Sion and Aewai kids enjoy each others' company in our usual frequent visits, the older Sions and the Aewais get together for a yarn.... catching up on old  Manus gossips and other PNG issues over occasional drinks and laughs. We are a formidable company now and there is no time or space for extreme homesickness to set in and that's for sure.We also plan to bring on board the Micah Nako family, a Lou Island family who reside in a corner of Perth somewhere and have only visited and been visited a few times. We'll keep you posted when this happens and the larger Manus Company develops here in Perth. From the Sions, thanks to the Aewai Selan family for being part of our company and we are sure to get the Nakos on board soon. Together, we can continue having sago, fish, taro, kaukau, kumu, tapiok etc as our local cuisine.

Sion and Aewai having 'wan wan' & frying sago

Lucille & Fiona having a few 'wan wan'