Tales from the Diplomatic Corps 13

Hey folks!

If I counted correctly, the Young Ambassador video portrait of Shannon Andrew is already the last one to be featured on the Olympic homepage. This suits me quite well since I not only have one, but two very special memories about Shannon to share with you. By the way, fun fact about Shannon: Being nicknamed "Nani" for his close resemblance with the Portuguese footballer, he is challenging Mansour for the Ambassador with the most given names ;)

As you can maybe see in his video, Shannon is wearing a beautiful necklace around his neck. During our week in Singapore, you could always see him wearing it. I noticed, because I am myself a big fan of necklaces, wearing a Celtic symbol of life my mom gave to me every day (Actually, not today since the lace broke a week ago. So anybody who has a spare leather lace will be showered with pins, stickers and thank yous!).

For most people, wearing a necklace is just a simple adornment to their outfit. They just wear them because they make them look and/or feel good. However, Shannon is definitely not one of those people. On our last day, we were sitting in the lobby of our hotel, ready to explore the city. Shannon was there as well and some when in the conversation, we were talking about family, brothers and sisters. From that topic, the following excellent story evolved:

"I have one younger sister. She is the Queen of my heart, I love her so much. Every time I travel abroad, she gives me her necklace, to protect me. It is a very valuable necklace. Where I come from, in Papua New-guinea, we believe that such a necklace protects you from evil things and demons. So people pay a lot of money for them. Like, where I come from, I could easily get an acre of land in return for my necklace. In other regions, people would trade it for a pig. You have to know that for them, pigs are the most precious things in the world. They are even more important than their wives! However, most likely, I wouldn't get anything for it. If I wore this necklace back home in the streets, just for fun, people might kill me, because it is so valuable."

I think it's remarkable how things can differ. Here in Austria, people are crazy about big houses, fancy cars or posh clothes. And if you saw somebody on the street wearing a necklace, you might think that it is pretty and suits the person well. However, where Shannon comes from, in PNG, people's biggest treasure might be a pig or a protecting accessory. And although it might appear bizarre at first glance, I don't think that it is at all. After all, I wouldn't trade in my mother's necklace either...not even for some land or a pig!