Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime

"To this day talking to a river or to a tree is far more important to me than sitting down and listening to somebody else talking about God. Neither my father nor my mother ever became Christians. I was supposed to bring them to the big evening service on Sunday, and I tried very hard indeed because I was beaten if they didn't come. Occassionally my father went for my sake, but my mother did not go once. I used to receive 15 lashes when neither of them attended, and seven and a half when only one did not attend."

Sir Albert Moari Kiki Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime. A New Guinea Autobiography. Melbourne, Cheshire, 1968