Ep. 144 - Emmanuel “Manu” Peni on Saving the Sepik River & Indigenous Leadership

Can you give us an insight? Because for someone like me who hasn't been up there to the Sipik, you know, I'm in awe of it just from seeing images and photos and I'd love to visit it one day.

But as a person who grew up there, like how would paint the picture for those people that, you know, have never seen it in real life?

So if you were taking off from JFK Airport or from Sydney's airport, you arrive in Port Moresby, you see a little bit of glass, steel, iron roofing.

Then you fly to Wewak and you see less and less of it.

A couple of houses with iron roofing, steel, glass.

Then you travel out to the river and by the time you reach the river, it's as if you've crossed back 20,000 years in time.

And the river just is silently there, just flowing, just doing what it does, just being alive.

Whether it's taking a nap, having a dream, or waking up to talk to the people, connect to everyone, it's there.

And you don't see any more processed food, processed this.

It's just nature as it is.

We are so fortunate and blessed in Papua New Guinea and this part of the city because we're able to jump into a river in the condition it has always been.

when our parents or our ancestors arrived almost 50,000 years ago.

So we are dwelling in their living memory.

So that's epic.

There is no sound of a humming refrigerator.

It's quiet still.

There are no phones ringing because of course people don't have phones and there are no internet network.

So you arrive back in time And when you end up in, say, my village in Kourougou, the only thing that you can spend money on is coffee if you want or a beer if you want.

Other than that, everything is bought and sold through button system.

And it's, I mean, people say we come from one of the most poorest nation in the world, but the economics, the Western economics or these economic models don't work for us because How would you call me if I have my private lake, land the size of seven football field, and I have seven fish for breakfast.

I throw the rest and they rot.

And at lunch, I have seven fish, or 20 if I want to.

And then at dinner, I don't want to eat fish.

I eat prawns, eel, or crocodile meat.

An abundance of sago and vegetables.

Can you give us an insight? Because for someone like me who hasn't been up there to the Sipik, you know, I'm in awe of it just from seeing images and photos and I'd love to visit it one day.

But as a person who grew up there, like how would paint the picture for those people that, you know, have never seen it in real life?

So if you were taking off from JFK Airport or from Sydney's airport, you arrive in Port Moresby, you see a little bit of glass, steel, iron roofing.

Then you fly to Wewak and you see less and less of it.

A couple of houses with iron roofing, steel, glass.

Then you travel out to the river and by the time you reach the river, it's as if you've crossed back 20,000 years in time.

And the river just is silently there, just flowing, just doing what it does, just being alive.

Whether it's taking a nap, having a dream, or waking up to talk to the people, connect to everyone, it's there.

And you don't see any more processed food, processed this.

It's just nature as it is.

We are so fortunate and blessed in Papua New Guinea and this part of the city because we're able to jump into a river in the condition it has always been.

when our parents or our ancestors arrived almost 50,000 years ago.

So we are dwelling in their living memory.

So that's epic.

There is no sound of a humming refrigerator.

It's quiet still.

There are no phones ringing because of course people don't have phones and there are no internet network.

So you arrive back in time And when you end up in, say, my village in Kourougou, the only thing that you can spend money on is coffee if you want or a beer if you want.

Other than that, everything is bought and sold through button system.

And it's, I mean, people say we come from one of the most poorest nation in the world, but the economics, the Western economics or these economic models don't work for us because How would you call me if I have my private lake, land the size of seven football field, and I have seven fish for breakfast.

I throw the rest and they rot.

And at lunch, I have seven fish, or 20 if I want to.

And then at dinner, I don't want to eat fish.

I eat prawns, eel, or crocodile meat.

An abundance of sago and vegetables.