Kaiapit is a small area in the Morobe District of northeastern Papua New Guinea. It lies in the Markham Valley and its people are known as the Adzera. The name refers to a hill on the northern side of the valley where an important battle took place during World War II. That hill, Kaiapit station, was where the missionary for the area lived with his family.
Kaiapit had been home to a magician who was a self-appointed lord or god. By locating himself there, the missionary effectively substituted himself as the power to be reckoned with. The name itself is a corruption of gai iabit, meaning “snagged by a twig or branch.” What was snagged was skin, not cloth, since Adzera men wore not a stitch of clothing, and the women only grass skirts.
Kaiapit had several missionaries, but the one who was there by far the longest was Karl Holzknecht. His wife Helene was well known in Lae, being the daughter of pioneer missionary Gottfried Schmutterer. The Holzknechts had five children who grew up at Kaiapit in a mixture of European heritage and Melanesian culture, leaving only to go to boarding school or when the family left on furlough.
Beyond filial ties, Kaiapit defines us and binds us children together. In that sense, Kaiapit will always be home.