A LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER LISA

Lisa, you and your son Jonathan have found yourselves in trouble with a family who thinks they will put you down and take your son.

But they have not counted on the fact that you are part of a strong family consisting of an expatriate father and elder sister who is giving you shelter at her apartment in Waigani.

Too many blackfellas in this country think that white men are stupid cowards. But the mother in this family of troublemakers is only half a blackfella.

Lisa, you were made pregnant by a boy about two years ago and had to leave school at Busu High grade 11 to give birth to a beautiful son.

You were not happy to leave school and wanted an abortion. But your father opposed this for a number of reasons including the danger of death to young women seeking back yard abortions.

Your son Jonathan is mixed race and the most glorious little boy I have ever met apart from Rachael’s two sons.

You and son were cared for by your father in Lae and two cousin sisters Wari and Mary. There was no support from the boy who made you pregnant.

You found a job for several months with your elder sister while your son and Rachael’s two sons were looked after by your family.

Then Rachael decided to go back to Morauta to make sure that her sons remained part of the Nape family after their father Jeffrey Nape died. They were in the will as part owners of the hotel.

Rachael was given an apartment at the hotel and rent to a room that provided her income. That took the pressure off her father’s income.

But at Christmas 2018, you decided to go back to Port Moresby to spend time with your sister. You promised to come back which you never did. I do not completely blame you.

Your troubles were only just beginning. The father of the small boy Max found you were in town and arrived at the apartment to see his son he had never supported.

I have no respect whatever for Max. He never made contact in the two years from pregnancy to your son turning 14 months.

He told you that he was going to train overseas to be a pilot which pleased me. It never happened.

I have never spoken to Max. On the few occasions he phoned us in Lae and I answered the phone he would hang up. I have never spoken to him nor seen him in the flesh. This small boy does not have my loyalty.

Does this junior creep think that he is going to take you and isolate you and son from your family? There was never any bride price paid. You decided not to put Max on the Birth Certificate as father.

His father was the Headmaster of Erima Primary School before it was closed down several years ago due to corruption. The father lost his job. I remember it well from the media.

You have been told that the father will pay bride price when he receives K5 million compensation. It sounds like a trick to postpone bride price to the never never.

You have several aunties and uncles who should share in bride price but it is obvious that no bride price will ever come. This is a con-family. But it gets worse.

You were staying with your sister over Christmas 2018 when Max arrived and wanted you to take the boy to show his parents at East Boroko.

The real trouble maker was the mixed race mother who claimed that the family had total custody over your son. 

I think the family thought that you and your expatriate father were so stupid that they could steal the child and there would be no reaction.

The mother and father claimed to have custody over the boy and would not let you take him back to Morata to live with your sister.

You ended up staying with them and were not happy as there was little good food for you and the boy. You were treated as the house girl and had to ask permission to leave the house.

You had no money and started asking your father in Lae to send money through the Post Office. You wasted the money when you were at Morata with your sister.

But you began a plan to market food and drinks outside the house at East Boroko. I sent you K150. This was to look after my grand-son.

But that was not to succeed as drunken Max arrived at the market table, punched you and smashed the table leaving food and money scattered in the dirt.

It is my guess that Max was not happy that you were receiving money from your father and wanted all money handed over to him. He is a violent and unemployed drunk.

I am sure that he would demand all monies from that time as your husband. He would even make sure he collected the money at the post office.

Not if your father checked by phoning you at the post office before dispatching the money. If Max’s voice – no money.

He is not your husband. No bride price has been paid nor ever will be paid. He will never be recorded as the father on the Birth Certificate.

Now I have the sacked Headmaster father and mother telling me on cell phone that they do not want Max to marry you. They have just forfeited the small boy with no bride price, no marriage and no custody.

After being bashed on the street, your sister says that you ran into the house, took the son, waited till the coast was clear and ran off to catch public transport to the apartment at Morauta.

Then the rubbish family arrived and demanded you return the boy to them.

They said that (1) they had custody not Lisa (2) they would have her arrested if she refused to hand the boy over (3) they would seek custody by Court Order and (4) if the son is ever unattended they will take him.

Lisa and her elder sister take turns in baby-sitting the three boys assisted by their 13 year old half sister, child of the mother and another man.

But the family of Max has no standing legally and culturally. The boy belongs to the mother and her expatriate father. I will come to Port Moresby if the matter ever came to Court and will testify as the parent of Lisa.

If the father was a Headmaster, he should know about personal relationships from school curriculum. There is gender equality that does not exist in that rubbish family. My daughter has been bullied.

The mixed race mother sees the opportunity to steal a beautiful mixed race boy. She supports the violence and bullying of her son towards Lisa.

There was a report in The National by journalist Rebecca Kuku on mothers who protect their sons and abuse the daughters-in-law.

But Lisa is not her daughter-in-law. She was just the family prisoner before her escape from Domestic Violence.

Lisa, you must never go back. You stay with your big sister. Keep your father informed. Be ready to come back to Lae.

Rachael has offered me a room at the Nape hotel at Morauta at a discount rent. I may take that up when there are no responsibilities in Lae. I will be the resident grand-father of 3 boys. I will guard the youngest boy from the kidnappers.