Life Story of Sr Pierrette Gagnon

Daughter of Wisdom

40 Years in Papua New Guinea

Since early childhood, during my 12 years of schooling with the Daughters of Wisdom, and after hearing stories from missionaries coming home on leave, the desire to become a missionary in a far away country grew in me. In 1959 the Montfort Missionaries went to PNG. I had also heard that the Daughters of Wisdom would follow soon, so I decided to become one of them and realize my dream. After my teacher’s training, a few years of teaching experience and a time of formation for my future ministry, I left for PNG in 1966.

What a change of life it was for me. Brought up on the sidewalks of Montreal and being transplanted to the thick pristine jungle of Boset was quite a challenge.

Everything was strange, hard, unknown, even frightening: the men going around with their big, long bush knives and rifles for hunting, the women carrying heavy loads on their heads, with plenty of toddlers all around them, no electricity, rain water during the wet season, otherwise, dirty water from a hole that needed to be boiled for drinking, mosquitoes by the thousands, flies, spiders, frogs and snakes everywhere. Since we were living in a corrugated iron house, unfinished and without ceiling, at noon we had the impression of being in a hot oven.

We were cut off from all contacts with the outside world except for the mail that we received every 2 or 3 weeks when the plane came to bring food and other supplies. What a joy it was to go out to visit other missionaries after a year!

Communication with the people was a problem, only 2 or 3 men in the village would know a bit of English, so they were our translators. The children were used to being free like butterflies, roaming in the bush all day, looking for berries, small insects and animals to eat. Having them in a classroom and following a timetable was quite an achievement. I worked in that village for eight years, doing all kinds of odd jobs.

These first years have given color to the rest of my life. There, I learned that to survive in PNG, I needed to acquire patience, endurance, and a change in some of my thinking: relationship is more important than time and efficiency, material things are not that necessary to be happy and to live a fruitful life. I can learn a lot from simple people; often I had to change my way of doing things completely.

From 1974 to 1999, I worked in different villages, from the sea to inland, in pastoral and social work, education, promotion of women, most of the time in very hard conditions, living on boats and small muddy villages. I have never regretted my life in PNG. This is where I belong, this is where I find happiness, fullness of life and a feeling of making a difference wherever I am.

For the past 7 years, I have been working with persons with disabilities. This is also the realization of a long cherished dream. Nothing much was done for them in this country. Everybody told us that there were not many disabled people in our Province. We soon realized that they were there but hidden in their houses because parents blame themselves for having a disabled child, seeing it as a punishment for their wrongdoings; they feel guilty, so they hide them. With awareness and education, we are now changing that mentality and the people are also changing their attitudes and learning to appreciate the abilities of these children, their capacity to love and give. I am now the coordinator for 3 daycare centers, where more than 200 children with special needs are cared for by 15 staff. We also have an Ear and Eye Clinic, do physiotherapy, teach sign language to the deaf and have a special education classroom in each centre.

After 40 years in this country, I can say that these last seven years have been the best of my life. I receive so much from these children. They bring out the best in me, with them I understand what it means to become like a child again through their simplicity, playfulness, trust, unconditional love, sense of wonder, affection and silent suffering. To have a friend with a disability is the most precious gift you can offer yourself; he/she will be a friend for life, will help you get in touch with the tender side of your personality and become a compassionate person.

When I look back at my life, I feel privileged to have witnessed the passage of a people from Stone Age to the age of computer, cell phone, and the most modern technology in a period of only 40 years. I have seen the people of this country make giant steps to journey with the rest of the world. Their traditional beliefs and values are still very strong in them. We often wonder in which society they have their roots: the traditions given them by their ancestors or the knowledge and way of living of the Western World? A progress? A blessing? An evil? A disaster? Maybe a mixture of all that? What is sure is this: it is a reality here to stay and the Papua New Guineans, with their immense capacity for adaptation, are facing the future with great hope and with them, so am I.