Kandep: A Land of Hope and Resilience.
Welcome to one of the last frontiers in Papua New Guinea; Kandep, a place only whispered on Facebook, shrouded in tales of Vikings and Warlords. Yet beyond these stereotypes that we see on social media, lies an unseen paradise nestled amidst the swamplands. According to a famous traditional myth, Kandep is where the legendary figure Opone settled. The myth begins with a man named Andaita and his sister, Itame, who had an incestuous relationship and bore three children. The firstborn was Tita, who came from the west and settled in the Kiunga area near the Ok Tedi Mine Site. It was there that Tita's wife gave birth to a son named Hela. Hela, in turn, fathered four sons: Hela Kuli (Huli), Hela Opone (Obena), Hela Dugube, and Hela Duna. These four brothers shared a house until the day Opone and Kuli discovered that their brothers were consuming human flesh. In that instant, they began speaking different languages and separated. Dugube settled on the Papuan Plateau, Duna at Lake Kopiag