All three of the nuns were from Cincie and had been in the bush for the better part of 30 years. Yet in that time, none of them had bothered to learn the local language. The nuns had been having trouble lately due to a conflict over pebble rights. A riverbed runs along side one edge of the campus and the nuns gathered rocks from it to pave trails for their cars. But the locals wanted the rocks for themselves and argued that the nuns were stealing.
Property rights are one of the main causes of disputes between nationals and westerners.
In Papua New Guinea, traditional land rights can be such that one man may own a piece of land, another the trees on that land and a third the fruit from the trees. In pre-missionary times, before the 1930's, this encouraged communality and cooperation. But since the first wave of Europeans trekked into the Highlands, bought a banana from the first fruit man and stiffed the other two, problems festered. It's an odd existence, but they say the money's good. Sister Mel bounded from the kitchen with a six-pack of Shasta soda clutched in one hand, a can of Pringle Lights potato chips jammed under an arm, and large plastic bowl of Orville Redenbacher popcorn balanced in her palm.