By Cara Dodson

A ST ANDREWS woman has completed a 15-year mission to help cannibals in a remote Papua New Guinea village translate the Bible into their native language.

Judy Routamaa, (pictured) who moved to the dense rainforests in 1990 with her husband and two children, volunteered to live with the Kumala headhunting tribe after her church asked for willing helpers.

Learning the language from scratch, Judy (43) helped translate the first Bible in the village along with local translators.

Judy, who is sponsored by the Wycliffe Bible Translators, finally finished this week and a huge party was held to mark the event.

She said, “The first time I saw the Kumala Bible was totally indescribable. I had a lump in my throat.”

The completion of her mission marks over a decade of adjusting to a new way of life and customs.

Although the former Fifer was horrified to discover some of the tribe’s more gruesome eating habits, including devouring female breasts for supper, she and her family have decided to stay on with the people they now call friends.

Judy said, “The Kumala have been cannibals for generations. Apparently women’s breasts were one of the most tender parts, and if the men were in a hurry after a raid on another village, they would just lop off the breasts and take them back to the village.”

She added the villagers would eat “anything that moved” including rats, snakes, bats and slugs and on a trip to a neighbouring village, she was offered a bush-fowl chick complete with feathers and beak.

She added, “We stopped for the night, to eat and rest. The women had been finding bush-fowl eggs as we had walked, which are four times the size of a chicken egg. They made a fire at the camp-place and said they would cook my food first.

“They took one of the eggs they had found and cracked it open, whereupon a chick cheeped and jumped out of the egg. They simply cut the chick up the middle, and laid it out on top of the sago, wrapped it in banana leaves and put it on the fire.

“They then all gathered round to watch me eating it, so I stoically munched my way through bones and feathers, saying how delicious it was.”

Many of the Kumala people in the remote western part of Papua New Guinea had never seen a white person until the late 1970s.

Judy revealed they even used to hide from aeroplanes believing the huge “smoking bird” would swoop down to eat them.

When Judy and her family first arrived, the tribal leader, Dekapowe, travelled for days to a mission outpost after hearing stories about the “new tribe.”

Despite their initial differences in culture Judy praised the villagers for their attempts to help them settle in.

“They got a house ready for us to live in and brought fruit and white grubs which are highly prized.

“They were fascinated in particular by our sons, Benji and Peter who were the first whiteskin children they had ever seen.

“They found us very funny in our initial attempts to speak Kumala, and found everything we did fascinating.”

But one of the saddest days during her 15-year stay was when tribal leader Dekapowe died.

“He was a dear friend and would entertain us for hours sitting on our veranda telling us stories of his childhood.

“The night he died, we were woken by loud wailing which carried on all night, sending shivers up our spines. We ran over to the long house, which was full of people crowded round Dekapowe, all wailing, holding him, begging him not to leave them.”

Now the Bible is finished the family plan to stay a little longer and return to Scotland in 2008 after the boys finish school.

Judy said, “I’m the only Scot out here and I do miss the accent as well as the scenery.

“I also miss my Irn Bru and vanilla slices! It will also be nice to drive on paved roads once again.”