Eighty year old Gilman Hombega, a revered chief from the Waru Village of Sohe District, Oro Province has 44 grandchildren from 24 children born to him by 10 women.
Hombega’s story goes back into the colonial days when there was a divide between the white and the black people. He was just a youth who dropped out of standard 6 and joined the Correctional Services as a prison warden at Giru Prison Camp.
As a youth consumed with zeal for adventure he left the Correctional Services and travelled to Bulolo in the Morobe Province as a single man. His life took a twisted turn there at Bulolo when he found himself trapped in the love of an expatriate girl from Australia. She was part of a team of 6 young women who were assigned to train locals working for the Pine Lodge Hotel. Her name was Roselyn Smith.
Despite his inability to speak English nor read and write, he found himself entrapped by the infatuation of this young Australian girl who begged him to be her boyfriend, and though he refused her 13 times he eventually gave in, the relationship continued and soon Roselyn became pregnant. She gave birth to their son on January 16th 1959 and named him GilSmith which was a name coined after Gilman Hombega and Roselyn’s father, Smith.
Alas, the tables turned on Gilman then when he took the baby's clothes to the hospital that was meant only for the expatriates. A Papua New Guinean nurse from Manus was alarmed to see Gilman, a Papua New Guinean in the hospital. As it was then, Cecilia, the nurse wasted no time in reporting the matter to the police.
Therefore, Gilman got arrested by a Policeman named Soldier Arek and was brought to the station. When Gilman was questioned why he was there at the ‘white only hospital’ he said he was bringing his baby’s clothes. This was unacceptable at that time until the country gains independence. A black man cannot marry a white girl nor impregnate her, and so Gilman was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.
His girlfriend was also taken to the police station and questioned and was given a stern warning that she has to refrain from this relationship. She admitted that Gilman was her husband and that they loved each other. She even asked them to slit their hands to draw blood so they can compare the blood of a black and a white if they are indeed of different colours. Sadly their love couldn’t guarantee their union to stay together to raise their child, neither here in PNG nor in Australia.
For the sake of her love, Roselyn begged the police to let Gilman free from prison but at a high cost. The very next day she was taken to the airport and deported to Australia with their infant son on one of those TAA airplanes.
Gilman Hombega never saw his (white) girlfriend again nor his very first child, Gilsmith, since 1959.
Gilman’s amazing story doesn’t stop here. We shall later read about how he took on many wives and had many children.
…to be continued