Festival participants take day off but to make not

BY ALFRED SASAKO

IT was a rest day for regional participants of the 6th Melanesian Arts Festival in Honiara on Sunday. But the day turned out to be not a rest day for all at all.

Organisers of the $7 million two-week event got the mainline churches in Honiara to host regional participants for the day. It was a hit for both the visitors and the hosts for the PNG participants and their host.

For the Honiara District Dorcas of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, it was an opportunity to share the time, food and singing of religious songs with visitors from neighbouring Papua New Guinea.

“Feeding people is part of our community service, but we do not always entertain visitors. So when we were approached, we readily accept to entertain our brothers and sisters from PNG,” Honiara District Dorcas Vice President, Beverley Wale told Island Sun on Sunday.

Her President Delker Pakivai agrees.

“It is a golden opportunity to make new friends and share in the food as Melanesian brothers and sisters,” Mrs Pakivai said.

Food was in abundance as youth groups and others entertained the visitors with singing. Some 300 people attended the “day-off” at the Maranatha Hall at Lungga in east Honiara on Sunday.

Visitors from Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia were hosted by other mainline churches.

The 6th Arts Festival, which brought artists and craftsmen and women from the five Melanesian nations of Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands together, will formally conclude today (Tuesday, July 10) with foreign participants due to start departing the next day.

Participants from the Torres Straits Islands as well as West Papua also took part in the two-week event

Discover more from Theislandsun

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading