superwomen

Superwoman

Dafna Nevo, the Explorer

Dafna had been always interested in exploring places and cultures. If you had told her two years ago she would publish a book in 2018 – she would chuckle. But these days she is launching her first book “Tangled in Time” – a travelogue about her journey through Papua New Guinea, which offers a mix of anthropology descriptions, deep study and personal impressions of what she experienced in PNG. Working on the book, she says, was a long journey also to her own self.

Dafna Nevo was born in Israel, and served as a Major in the Israeli Air Force. During the service she completed her first degree in Sociology and Anthropology, and her second degree in Business Management with expertise in Organisational Behaviour. In her spare time, she likes to play the piano. “I visited SE Asia for the first time in 1980 and felt it has a promising future for us”, tells Dafna, “At 1987 I was sent to Singapore to establish a special model in the Royal Singapore Air Force, my family and I spent two years there (then with 2 kids). Few years later we moved again to SE Asia – this time to Thailand, and we have been living here for the last 15 years – much more than I have thought I would…”

lady

Your interest in cultures brought you to join the Thai National Museum volunteers group. What was the main attraction for you?

“The differences in culture, religion, people and behaviour of my homeland in comparison to Thailand. I was very curious and eager to understand the unknown and to explain to myself the other way of looking at things. I can say now, after 15 years of reading and learning about Thai culture and its history, that the more you explore – the more you realise there is still much to learn and understand”.

writing

You are launching these days your first book “Tangled in Time”. How did it all start?

When I lived in Singapore at the end of the 80s, one of my friends came back from PNG and I was fascinated by his stories and got attracted to this unique place. For many years I had this dream to travel to PNG. It took me 35 years to finally fulfill it in 2016. When I finally took the trip there, I didn’t know that it will end up as a book. I spent 2 intense weeks in PNG that only later – I understood these weeks changed my life. But while being there I hadn’t realised it.

Returning to Bangkok after my trip, my friends in the National Museum Volunteers group asked me to perform a study-group about PNG. It was a challenging request. I had a small notebook where I wrote notes during the trip (some of them were not readable since I took them while we were moving … driving … flying) and many photos in my camera. So with this notebook I started enthusiastically to prepare a PowerPoint presentation, and quickly found myself with 70 slides, full with words, very crowded with many photos (as I am more a photographer than a writer… ).

Being ‘drowned’ in many slides I called my friend Gassani, a writer of 7 books, to help me out of the limbo. She reviewed my slides, read it professionally and said ‘Dafna – you have a book!’. Next steps were to convert this PP into a text file, read, investigate, and use every resource and trace of information and knowledge that could be found to deepen my study. After 3 months of writing days and nights, I had 50,000 written words – which is a a book – and many original photos to put in. Since I wrote it in English, which is not my mother tongue, I was looking for a good language editor who will be attentive to my Israeli English and will not rewrite the material. I wanted it to stay ‘my book’ rather than having the ‘perfect English’. I wanted my personality to be present there even if I pay some price in the language level.

Taking Picture

What do you think are the most interesting topics in the book?

In my book ‘Tangled in Time’ I tried to enlighten some of the issues that characterise Papua New Guinea, while expressing my feelings and thoughts about this place. I share some of PNG’s typical dances, costumes, masks, colors, sounds, nature, culture, people. I try to elaborate a bit about cultural topics such as suicide, women, the sorcery issue, headhunting vs cannibalism, remote places, Shamanism and Christianity, tribes wars, Crocodile myth and many more. But still, it does not cover all. It gives a good picture of the place though.

Why did you choose ‘Tangled in Time’ as the book title?

While visiting PNG, I sometimes felt confused. The people of Papua New Guinea appear to be tangled in time, living neither fully in the present, nor fully in the past. We are there in the 21st century, and around us are people living like in medieval times. It seemed to me these people were uprooted in time – not yet absorbed into the modern era, but no longer did they fit comfortably into their traditional past. I still have myself a confusion with the meaning of time, the significance of roots, of heritage, the meaning of belief, of God, of eternity and of our perception of our place in this world. Big … huge questions – no answers – but a lot of food for thought.

cannibalism

In the book preface you write that PNG is a place of contradictions and absurdities. Can you explain?

PNG is a kaleidoscope of mesmerising traditional dances and costumes, nature and people. Cultural diversity of 800 tribes with 800 different heritages. All is wild, rough, raw and untouched by time, which means unspoiled by the advances of economics and technology. Unity in Diversity is the optimistic motto of the country. PNG is a remote place that present challenges that yield insights into oneself and for me – enriched my life. It’s an unpredictable place – many things happened to us unexpectedly during the trip; we very soon, in fact already upon arrival, learned to ‘expect the unexpected’.

Let’s talk about woman. You dedicate few pages to this interesting topic and write about the womanhood paradox in PNG. Tell us a bit about that.

The paradox is – keeping the woman in the lowest status with no rights (traditionally and legally) but on the other hand – cherishing and fear from women’s power. As a woman I could not resist delving deep in the ocean of information regarding woman in PNG. PNG is described by Human Rights Watch as ‘one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman’. Few reasons for that: Women are identified with sorcery; There is legitimacy to marry more than one wife which leads to despair of woman when something goes wrong in her new family; Low status that leads to high rate of woman suicide; An estimated 70% of woman in PNG experience rape or assault during their lifetime.

To illustrate few of the causes – some of the most extreme cases have involved accusations of witchcraft and sorcery, in which women were brutally beaten, tortured and killed in attacks that can involve people from their own clan and villages. Typically the women were accused following a sudden illness or death of a child or someone of their own family / clan / tribe. Sorcery in PNG made international headlines in 2013 when 20 year old Kepari Lanieta was burned alive after accusation of witchcraft… In the book I quote more cases like this one.

Anthropological studies have found that ‘wife beating’ is a common habit and most men see their wives as their personal property. When a Huli (one of the largest tribes in PNG) is asked how a man chooses a wife, the answer will be: ‘We don’t want the beautiful ones… The best wives have no fingernails and are bald from carrying the woven bilum strap across the top of their heads.’ There is a struggle of women for more rights. They are holding more and more important positions though, but they are far from a significant achievement.

Women in PNG not only have a thick glass ceiling above their heads, but far worse, they have a shaky floor below their feet! There are a lot of examples and analysis in the book to all sides of the women issue.

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You told me once that writing the book was your second journey… can you elaborate?

The first journey – the physical trip at PNG – was for a short period of time – an intense 2 weeks. Whilst coming back and starting to research and explore was the 2nd journey. If I think about it, I can say that I also had a parallel 3rd journey – into my own self. All my life I worked with people; This time it was me and myself.

So now that the book is out, what keeps you busy these days? What’s next?

Now the main target is to bring the book to the public. I wish that everybody who is an adventurer, intelligent and curious will read it; either if they are interested to visit there or not – they will get the most real thing of PNG by reading this book and looking at the vivid photos. So I am busy these days with presentations and launch events (I had already 2 events in Bangkok and 3 in Israel).

Next year I plan on going into ebooks, internet publishing and Amazon. I am proud to announce that the book is already on the shelf at the ‘Open House’ Library at Central Embassy. I feel honoured. I would like to visit Papua New Guinea again next year. I still have so many questions and things to explore.

 

women

In the last decade you became a grandmother to 4 grandchildren (and expecting 2 more soon). Tell us a little about your grandparenthood experience.

I have grandchildren in Thailand and grandchildren in Israel, therefore we spend time in flights and try to share our lives here and there. Meanwhile we don’t give up our trips and vacations and our places of interest. I feel the globe is open and everyplace is reachable. I thank God for what I have. My life is interesting and full of surprises. I am trying to put as much pepper and chilli in my life as I can….

What drives you?

It is an inner urge. I try my best to keep my all senses open and be in a receiving mode so I can absorb everything around me.

 

Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

I hope for a better world… a more peaceful world, and peace for my country Israel. I wish for good health to me and my family. If I have it – it’s in my hands to conquer the world!

Your top tip to inspire other expat women in a foreign city?

Live with open senses. Enjoy every day again and again. Try to invent yourself each time.

young boy

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