Learn more about internship and study abroad oppotunities for Mays students at cibs.tamu.edu .

by Tiffany Tyer

A world away on the islands of Papua New Guinea, a vibrant sunset swirls with a rainbow of breath-taking purples, oranges and pinks overlooking green landscapes, soaring mountains and endless crystal waters. Tucked into the South Pacific and the Coral Sea, the land is dotted with 800 native tribes. Any given night, fire dancers kick at the flames with their leaf-adorned ankles and Mud Men disguise themselves in heavy, fragile masks of mud.

It is a place where not many business students – or Aggies, at all – would choose to venture. But for senior marketing major Lindsay Malecha, the journey into a land of unspoiled beauty and a struggling economy provided the dynamic for a once-in-a-lifetime summer job.

A fellow intern borrows a heavy, delicate mud mask from a tribesman.

One of Papua New Guinea's 800 native tribes.

With ancient traditions and widespread crime and economic problems, most would shy away from Papau New Guinea. But not Malecha, who chose it for those reasons. “All the other islands over there are growing in their economy, and Papua New Guinea was declining, so that was my interest in going there.”

Malecha, a business honors student from Fort Worth, spent last summer interning with the U.S. State Department in the capital of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. She had already seen parts of Asia studying abroad in Hong Kong during the spring semester of 2005. “I’d gotten over the homesick thing,” she says, explaining that she was ready for what she would encounter in Papua New Guinea.

Malecha attended diplomatic events such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees banquet. With only six staff members at the embassy, she says she was able to work in the Consulate office keeping track of the Americans in the country, help to develop housing policy and work with security.

Aside from work, Malecha went scuba diving in the resort area of Tufi, traveled to a village outside of Port Moresby for National Book Week and attended cultural shows. Tribes from all different places put their cultures on display. “That’s a big push with the Papua New Guinean government, to show off the cultural factor and make that a tourist attraction.”

Malecha experienced a sharp contrast to the city in the mysterious world of Duk Duk legend, based in tradition and spiritualism. The enigmatic Duk Duk tribe, resembling “dancing bushes,” dress in pointy masks with leaves on their bodies and only their legs exposed, performing their methodical dance. “It’s very secretive. You get elected, and then you’re not allowed to let anyone find out who you are. Their way to fight is to cast spells on other people.” She was privy to another world, she said. “It’s not something you could get anywhere else.”

Security within the city was an ongoing concern. A shooting at a bank near the embassy and student riots at the University of Papua New Guinea over the summer and burglar bars on every window exemplified the tumult of the changing society. But because of positive interactions with Papua New Guineans, the constant security of an embassy driver and bullet-proof cars at night, Malecha said she wasn’t worried. “I never felt threatened. You learn to look past it so it doesn’t feel so confined.”

Some of the local staff the marketing major worked with had been to the U.S. for training. “The people that have that opportunity just really see the need for change more in that country than people who haven’t had it,” she explains. “The people who have seen the outside are the ones pushing for change, but since so many of them haven’t because of the poverty, it’s tough for the country to move forward.”

The Aggie Network has been vital to Malecha’s opportunities abroad. She contacted the presidents of A&M clubs in Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia in pursuit of her interests to work abroad in Asia. “If not to find a job, it’s great for networking and not to feel quite so alone,” she explained. “Aggies are everywhere.”

With graduation just a few months away this May, Malecha is keeping her options open. She’s interested in working with the government and the State Department, and hopes to work overseas in the future. Although opportunities are limitless, she says, “I think Latin and South America are going to be really big markets.”

As Malecha prepares for the next phase of her life exploration, she reflects on what she’s done so far. “This was an amazing time of really getting to experience the world culturally,” she says. An anthropology course gave Malecha a glimpse of what life is like in a tribal society.

“But,” she says, “seeing all that in action was so much cooler than reading about it in a book.”