Wewo Kotokay

Wewo in one of the Melanesian languages in Western Province means, nothing, nothing-ness, The the World's Famous and Admired Bird of Paradise. 

Wewo a species of the bird of paradise that has a very long tail, that flies on straight line, that has no return, that does not eat a lot, but traditionally mostly hunted due to its rare appearances of existence.

Scientifically, this species is called "Ribbon-tailed AstrapiaAstrapia mayeri"

The ribbon-tailed astrapia is distributed and endemic to subalpine

forests in western part of the central highlands of Papua New Guinea. Like many other ornamental birds-of-paradise, the male is polygamous. The ribbon-tailed astrapia is the most recently discovered bird-of-paradise. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon-tailed_astrapia>

Kotokay is in Tanna language of Vanuatu means the roof of house, that functions to protect those inside the house, to carry out daily life activities inside, with primary task to protect humans inside from sun and rain.

Wewo Means

The name "Wewo" in Walak and Lani languages of West Papua contain some meanings as follows:

1. A being that does not eat a lot of food, does not choose so many varieties of food and do not consume so big amount of food. A person who does not eat a lot is called, "a Wewo person".
2. "Wewo"  means "no turning back", never born again, never regret but always surely move forward, progressive and never step back.
3. "Wewo" means when it progresses, Wewo never takes revolutionary or sudden actions, but does many things slowly, but surely.
4. "Wewo" also means always stay calm and hidden, not show off, not make noise, rarely, the direct opposite of commonly known, "Bird of Paradise, that is colourful and noisy.

Kotokay Means

Kotokay means I have to function in my life so as to protect the commons

1. Common needs 
2. Common interests
3. Common wants and aspirations
4. Common trends

"Kotokay" is quite sacrificial name. Kotokay gets the sunshine, get burned and when it rains, Kotokay is the one to block the rain coming into the house. Yes, Kotokay is the roof of the house, not the fence, not windows, not doors, but the one that stays on top of all living beings inside.

Yes....

Wewo Kotokay is present here ONLINE more as I am passionate about Online Presence.

I was in 1999, at that time, I believe no other Melanesian knew about the Internet, because the world community was introduced to the Internet but it was not so common for public.

Of course, the Internet went public on April 30th, 1994, however, not many people knew about it.

I gave a talk at Oxford Brooks University, Oxfordshire in April 1999, and after the talk, there was a computer expert who asked me this question, 

• What do you need right now to protect what you have in New Guinea Island?

Right now, when I am typing this, I am surprised that my answer was that, "I need the Internet, it is the Internet that we need in New Guinea!"

Then Mr. Tim Murphy, who asked me that question asked further, 

• "Why do you need the Internet, because so many indigenous peoples of the world refuse anything from modern world, including the Internet?"

Of course I had no clue that there were other tribes in the world, and they were coming to western countries and speaking to them as I was doing at that time. I replied to him, 

"I need the Internet so that I can speak to the world when to come and when not to come to my Island, so that you only come to my village and island only when you are invited. Not like now, many of you come uninvited and all of you come when unwanted!"

I will use the Internet to communicate with you, and that way I do not need to come here again all the way from New Guinea just to tell you, "Just Leave Us Alone, please!" If I had the Internet, I would have had said "Stop! and Don't Come!" right from my village!

Of course I will never say this if they ask me this question right now in 2000 or, 2021 or 2022. Certainly I will be more polite and more politically correct today. Modern statements will be made today, of course.

Anyway! That was me in 1999. This is me on January 3rd, 2022. Of course, I am a different person today than in 1999. I was more Melanesian. I am now more modern.

Ribbon-tailed astrapia

This particular Bird of Paradise species has the longest tail feathers of any other bird of its size. In fact the tail feathers alone can grow to over three times the length of the bird’s actual body. It is a near-threatened species, due to it being hunted for its tails and loss of habitat.