Between Weight and Wonder
The following is a summery of letters from March 1965
Malalo Mission Station
The Month Opens Without Stillness
March arrives at Malalo without pause or ceremony. The heat remains steady, the sea below the hill changing color with the hours, the path up from Buakup never empty for long. The station—five hundred feet above the coast, rebuilt after the war by Fred and Edna Scherle—continues to hold the work of many lives at once: schooling, preaching, nursing, administration, and the unceasing flow of people up and down its winding trail.
By now the rhythm is familiar. Boats are late. Mail is uncertain. Plans are provisional at best. Yet the days are full, and March proves to be a month where weight and wonder exist side by side, often within the same hour.
Learning in Small, Determined Ways
Ina’s mornings begin close to home.
On the veranda, a small kindergarten takes shape—Paula, Tommy, and several village children sitting cross-legged on the floor, learning letters from flashcards cut by hand. Words are written in red, large and deliberate. Body parts are named. Numbers practiced. Songs repeated until memory takes hold.
Paula thrives on it. She recognizes words on cereal boxes and signs, counting progress carefully. Questions follow everything: how children learn, how adults learn, why stories on the radio make less sense than songs. Tommy participates when he feels like it, then disappears toward the nearest climbable surface. Kristi weaves in and out of it all, teething, watching, absorbing.
Education at Malalo grows slowly, by attention rather than system, shaped by whatever time and energy can be spared.
The Sawmill: Labor Measured in Tons
Down the coast at Sawat, the sawmill continues to demand strength and patience.
Al spends days there helping Graham Little coax the Dolmar saw into steady work. An Anisoptera tree—sixty feet of usable timber, twelve feet around at the base—is cut and hauled piece by piece toward the beach. It takes days. The weight is immense. Much of the work is done by hand, without machinery that would only bog down in mud or break beyond repair.
The work is slow, but it is honest. Pay is negotiated carefully. Each board foot is counted. The mill exists not for efficiency, but survival—for schools, teachers, and the long future of the circuit.
Mail, Distance, and the Feeling of Absence
Mail defines the emotional weather of March.
When it is delayed, Ina feels unmoored. When it arrives, it brings photographs of nieces and nephews she barely recognizes, evidence of lives growing forward without her. Gratitude and grief sit close together. She studies faces carefully, memorizing them for later.
Mail also carries work—slides carefully catalogued by Estelle, letters distributed and saved, prayers offered from far away. These unseen labors steady the Ericksons more than anyone realizes.
Alvin Leaves for the Buang’s
Mid-month, Al prepares to leave for the Buang villages.
The trip will take weeks—through dense jungle, steep climbs, long days on foot with carriers who know the paths by heart. Paula watches him pack and asks questions about God making the world, about who really makes things. She knows Metegemeng built the swing herself; she saw it happen.
When Al leaves, the house shifts again. Ina knows this rhythm well: absence layered onto responsibility.
The Dispensary Does Not Wait
March brings no lull in medical work.
A pregnant woman arrives in pain, feverish and vomiting. Plans to catch a boat dissolve when labor begins on the beach below. Ina grabs her bag and runs downhill, meeting the newborn halfway up—carried by village women, wrapped and alive. Malaria complicates the delivery. Mother and child survive.
A man with a snakebite follows soon after. Observation replaces certainty. Waiting becomes treatment.
Days later, a newborn with a severe cleft palate and double harelip is brought in. Ina prepares feeding tubes, sterilizes blankets in the oven, and braces herself for long nights. In many villages such a child would be allowed to die. Here, care is attempted. When the government boat finally takes the baby after only one feeding, relief floods the station.
This is Malalo medicine: improvised, relentless, deeply human.
Children Asking the World into Being
Evenings bring quieter moments.
The children watch the full moon rise out of the sea. Paula wonders who moves it. Tommy wonders if it will make thunder, and what color thunder might be. Explanations satisfy briefly, then dissolve into more questions.
They see the newborn with the cleft lip. Paula knows this baby did not come from a hospital. Questions follow—about bodies, about birth, about how babies eat and where they come from. Answers are offered carefully, one layer at a time.
The questions never end. They are the truest sign of growth.
Community and Shared Tables
Despite exhaustion, Malalo remains a gathering place.
Teachers from Bula arrive. Bruce Howe comes up from Salamaua. The Littles visit from Sawat. June Prange and Martin Boerner stop in. One meal stretches to twelve people, and no food is wasted. Potatoes arrive at last, tasting extraordinary after months of taro. Fresh meat disappears quickly.
The people notice the unity. It matters—to villagers watching, to teachers struggling, to the church finding its footing.
Faith That Holds Without Explaining
March does not resolve its tensions.
Boats remain unreliable. The Victor is still away. Illness comes and goes. Al is gone. Children grow. Work accumulates.
Ina writes without illusion. Gratitude is present, but so is fatigue. Prayer continues not because answers are clear, but because dependence has become unavoidable.
Malalo holds—not because the work is finished, but because it is shared.
And between the weight of responsibility and the wonder of children’s questions, March finds its place in the long story.
The following are the actual letters from March 1965:
1965 March 2
Letter written by Ina Erickson from the Malalo Mission station to Durward and Estelle Titus Box 224 Route1, Carlos MN USA
Dear mom, dad, Willa and Martin,
Happy anniversary, mom and dad! Thank you so much for all the workbooks and Christmas cards. Now I can get an early start for sending them out next year. Paula is so thrilled with the books and eager to start so I’ve started with the book ‘Getting Ready’. I had been reading earlier about a program where one makes flashcards out of 11x8 paper, and write on it in red. – – Just had an earth tremor – I thought it had stopped, then came a little harder, but even that was very slight. Color about 3 inch letters starting with the familiar body parts. She can recognize about 10 words now. According to one of the phonics books, they should know 50 to 100 words before they learn phonics -is that the way to learn sight words?
Al has been at Sawat trying to help Graham get the Dalmar saw going in the lease behind Sawet. They cut one Anesophria 60 foot long and 12 foot in diameter. It would take 2 1/2 days to get it cut up and carried to the beach to be transported to the mill for selling into lumber.
The Victor still isn’t back yet. Perhaps in the next couple of weeks it will be back. Tommy is feeling OK again. There is a dentist in Lae again so when we have a boat will have to have everyone taken care of. Kristi has been having quite a time with teeth again, but fortunately no convulsions. She had croup so I was steaming her. Today for the first time in a week she sat up and was really hungry and ate. Last night we had to laugh, she was eating chocolate pudding and started to vomit her supper. The nearest thing to catch it in was her dish so I use that afterwards and she was trying to fish her pudding out of vomit so I got her a new dish. I hope Fritzi is getting along well.
Al will be heading for the Buang’s next week. I thought about going along, but I’m still leery about taking Kristi into the bush. Kristi brought me her scarf and wanted to go outside. She loves to chase the ‘Chickies’ and ‘duckies’. She runs to the window when she hears a cow and says mooooo. She’s delighted when she uses the bathroom, but doesn’t tell me very often.
We have a fruit called a granadilla. We haven’t had some for a long time. I made a fruit drink like lemonade out of it last night. Al was helping the children pray for a grandpa and grandma. Paula wanted to know about the other grandma.
We’ve started listening to a program on the radio “wireless “as Australians referred to their kindergarten songs and stories an action song. The kids are starting to listen a bit better to the songs, but have no interest in the stories. Paula asked so many questions I can’t keep up with the story to explain it all to her.
Thank you for the clippings and note from Martin. My heart surely goes out to them. Be sure to tell me how Marion gets along.
Thank you for the money from Bethany. I’ll write a note shortly. We’re hoping to start a practical school for the kids that can’t continue in English school and need funds for this. Jaseling, the carver of the cross, we’ve sent to a technical school for a year and hope to have him teach. Also, a girl has gone to a domestic science course, and we hope to get her back. I have our nurses track hygiene. Thanks for all your love and concern. Pray for the school please and Jaseling. Ask First Lutheran to pray also.
Love, Al, Ina and children
Footnote:
Granadilla is a flowering plant species of genus Passiflora, or the fruit of these plants (passion fruit). It is often confused with passion fruit, and the term often refers specifically to the fruit of Passiflora ligularis, although other species such as the Passiflora quadrangularis(giant granadilla) are included. Wikipedia.
1965 March 5 to Michelle
Letter written by Ina Erickson from the Malalo Mission station to Michelle Tonn, Route 1, Box 224, Alexandria, MN
Dear Michelle,
What a nice surprise to have a letter from a very big girl. I always think of Mickey as a little girl, and then, while uncle Al and I have been away, suddenly you’re big enough to write letters. I enjoyed your letter very much.
Paula is soon going to be big enough for school. Will Jenny be going with you on the bus next year? I bet you all have been having fun in the snow. We don’t have snow on the coast in New Guinea, so Paula, Tommy and Kristi have yet to play in snow. You’ll have to teach them how when we get back to America. Do you have a big class in your school? Or do you have one room and many classes like grandma Titus teaches?
Have you lost enough weight to get your new bike yet? That’s another thing you, Laney and Jenny will have to do, and that is to teach Paula and Tom how to ride a bike. They can teach you how to carry a string bag and do New Guinea dances and paddle a canoe.
Your mother says you’re also learning to swim, which is very good. Do you know what? I saw a picture of your mommy in the echo. It was a nice picture. I also saw a picture of your aunt packed. I wondered now who is the beautiful girl and then read the paper and learned it was aunt Pat.
Be sure you say hello to Elaine. I’d like to have a letter from her to someday. Say hello to Jennifer and to that big brother Martin Junior. We want to see you so badly. Remember to thank Jesus for your good mommy and daddy and thank mommy and daddy for taking such good care of you. And giving you good food and nice warm clothes. Many people in New Guinea don’t have very many clothes. And thank them for helping you in school and giving you a nice warm home when it’s so cold outside.
Love auntie Ina and uncle Al, Paula, Tommy, and Kristi.
1965 March 11
Letter written by Ina Erickson from the Malalo Mission station to Durward and Estelle Titus Box 224 Route1, Carlos MN USA
Dear mom, dad, Willa, and Martin,
It’s been so long since we’ve had mail so we really feel out of touch with things. A government boat took our outgoing mail in on Monday but we haven’t had any back. See how spoiled we are? Our boat didn’t come back either. I just can’t imagine what is holding it up now. It will have to wait until the Simbang makes another trip next month. Oh well. The Victor won’t be fixed until mid-April.
Al will be leaving Sunday night for three weeks into the Buang’s. It should be a good trip. Paula asked so many questions. We were talking about God making everything. She asked if God helped Metegemeng make our swing. I said yes, he helped, and Paula replied ‘no he didn’t, I saw Metegemeng make it all by himself.’
She saw a little doll buggy in a store and wanted it. I told her it cost too many shillings. A few days later she wondered if we couldn’t get the shillings out of daddy‘s box which is the Victors money. I explained that wasn’t ours to spend. She wondered if perhaps we could trade the cross Jaseling carved for us for the buggy. The other day Ongunow (our house girl) asked Paula where I was. She said you go find daddy; mommy went to heaven.
Kristi has been having a sore throat and diarrhea etc. etc. with teeth for about two weeks but did not have any convulsions. I was up a number of nights when she had a temperature. She says a few more words.
March 15
Mail came and so did the pictures and all the work—mother, of listing our slides – thank you so, so much. It’s so good to get the pictures. I surely don’t recognize any of my little nieces – oh, how they have grown and changed. Fritzi sure is a cute loveable guy and is so big already. I sure do hate to miss all their growing up.
Amun, our friend is surely a wise old man. Graham has been trying to build a sawmill with a dozen second rate carpenters that will not stick to the job. Elsiah, a good carpenter from Buakup has been working on the school of Buakup trying to get it finished for school this year. Amun has been the pusher. Then Amun said Elsah could go down to Sawat to help ‘Masta’ Little, as he could see Graham’s ‘heart was getting sick.’ In trying to work with the poor carpenters. He’s afraid soon he might have to go home. Elsah has been working a week and has gotten more done and good work at that -then the others had slapped together in six months. Elsah said Graham thanked him and thanked him and thanked him. This week when the Littles came, Graham looked much happier.
June and Mr. Boerner were here yesterday. Bruce Howe, the government teacher from Salamaua, came Saturday night and the Littles on Saturday afternoon. So we have had 12 for dinner. It was really good to have them. Our people feel that unitedness of all the Europeans in the area and that helps the church a lot.
Supplies came – potatoes– oh, did they taste good after taro and sweet potatoes- and fresh meat! There was hardly a scrap of dinner left. It was fun to see everyone eating so hardly. It really was a good day. We love you all. And thank you for your prayers and letters.
God‘s blessings, Al Ina and the kids.
1965 March 16
Letter written by Ina Erickson from the Malalo Mission station to Durward and Estelle Titus Box 224 Route1, Carlos MN USA
Dear mom, dad, Willa and Martin,
Al is gone and the kids are playing outside. The dispensary is finished and a cool breeze is occasionally coming through the window. A government boat is slowly making its way to Salamaua -gleaming white against the blue, blue water. I love to see and watch the boats. On Sunday there were numerous speedboats passing this way to Salamaua.
Just as Al was leaving yesterday, a teacher came tearing up our hill, saying his aunt was having terrible pains in her abdomen. She’s been having such a temperature and vomiting. I told him to quickly see if they could catch the boat. He added as an afterthought that she was pregnant. The teacher isn’t married. I asked how big she was and he didn’t think she was very far along. They put her on the boat and started out and then she said the baby was coming. So they turned around and brought her back.
Another sweaty boy brought the news a baby was born on the beach. So I grabbed my bag and a nurse and went flying down. 3/4 of the way down I met a woman carrying the baby, which was full-term and shortly some men were caring, a stretcher and the mother. Tired and scared, but OK apparently. She had a good attack of malaria when she went into labor. Tonight we had a man with a snakebite and were still observing him, but so far, no symptoms, so maybe it wasn’t poisonous.
March 18. Today we have a new born infant with cleft palette and double harelip1 one of the most severe I’ve ever seen. Fortunately we have a large syringe and a feeding tube. I’ve saved some of Kristi ‘s Komoda sleeve? shut, so it doesn’t scratch his lip. Surely is ugly. Most villages would let it die, but this village below us (Buakup) are much better about such things. So far it hasn’t cried much. I have it on the little car crib and have stuck blankets and clothes in the oven for sterilization. The government boat went to Salamaua. So some students and a nurse canoed over there to see if they would be going back today and see if the baby could get on the boat. Otherwise I’ll be up with three baby feedings and I’m lazy. I’m afraid we won’t keep things clean enough and get it an infection.
Regarding the photos:
1. Whose house is the picture of Martin and his beard taken?
2. The other indoor picture – are they at Lois’s?
3. When did Mickey start wearing glasses?.
4. Fritz sure is a roly-poly doll.
5. Liza looks like Bette.
6. Jerry looks nice – I don’t think I’ve ever seen him. I hope they are happy.
7. Grandpa T sure has lost weight.
8. Poor Elaine does look like a picture of me and you too mom.
9. Mickey and Jenny have changed and grown so.
10. Did you move Bill house to house and what are you using it for.
I’ll be sending some photos of the kids. One with Paula and Tommy sitting and Kristi standing. I’d like to see about getting prints for sending in our form letter. Tonight Paula, Tommy and I were watching the big, full moon “rise out of the sea “. Paula wondered who was moving it. I told her God had made it, and that it moves. She says walks. All of the time she wondered why it got smaller than it went higher. “Does God break it a little? “ Tommy wondered “in a little while will it make a big noise and we can call it thunder? “. “What color is thunder? “ No explanation will satisfy as far as thunder is concerned.
The children saw the new baby with its harelip. It had a long cord on it. We’ve talked about getting babies from the hospital, but Paula knew this one had not come from the hospital. So I told her it grew in its mom‘s tummy. “Does the food get all over it? “Was the first question. I explained the baby is in a sack in the mommy so stays clean. Then, how does the baby eat? “She wasn’t too keen on the idea of her having been in me. Then she wanted to know how it came out. I explained a little hole. “Who fixes the hole?” She wanted to know. It sure is easy to get into it pretty deep. The questions never end. Two more to go. Paula can recognize about 15 words and three of the phonetics.
Love, Al, Ina and children.
PS. The boat came and took the baby after only one feeding. I was so relieved. I got some closets and drawers cleaned. At long last and deluged. Now I hope to paint a bit.
Footnote
1 Cleft lip is a birth defect in which a baby's upper lip doesn't form completely and has an opening in it. Cleft palate is a birth defect in which a baby's palate (roof of the mouth) doesn't form completely and has an opening in it. These birth defects are called oral clefts or orofacial clefts.