Two Women, Two Worlds: Friendship Swept by Winds of Change

A U.S psychotherapist-writer adrift in a personal crisis meets Pirip, a feisty mountain dweller in Papua New Guinea (PNG) who is striving to lead traditional women into the modern world. They develop a compelling friendship that bridges their separation by language, eons of tradition, and 10,000 miles. The author's urge to understand Pirip's strivings fuels seven month-long journeys to PNG during thirteen years. Dense rain forests and precipitous mountains have spawned countless distinct cultures and over 800 different languages in a nation the size of California. The author and her husband see people existing in harmony with the natural world, living richly textured lives without manufactured goods. Yet wherever they venture in this young nation, the clash between ancient and modern is the central drama, played out against a backdrop of sexual tensions. At first, McCollum supports Pirip's goal of bringing rural women into the spreading cash economy. Then doubt began to stir. Rapid Western-style development is stripping influence away from women and a sense of significance away from men. But when Pirip finally confides her private story, McCollum sees why her struggle is needed. She also fathoms the central question for Pirip, for herself, for PNG and the USA; namely, how can the exhilarating possibilities of change be balanced with the sustenance of tradition? The author's friends are asking, "Why do you keep going back to New Guinea?" The effort to understand her attachment to Pirip pulls her into a quaking bog of childhood memories, and then guides her onto firm ground again. In the end, that courageous mountain woman's affection lifts a timeworn veil of guilt and brings the author a calming self-acceptance.

About the Author:

Audrey McCollum was born and raised in New York City, where turmoil in her family sparked her drive to become a psychotherapist and writer. Educated at the Brearley School, Vassar College, and the Simmons College School of Social Work, she became a family therapist and research associate at the Yale University Child Study Center and Department of Pediatrics. During those years, she married and began rearing her daughter and son--trying to combine effective parenting and professional life when that was still uncommon among women. Her first book, Coping with Prolonged Health Impairment in Your Child was described as "the best book in the field with the worst title!" Expanded and updated, it was later published as The Chronically Ill Child: A Guide for Parents and Professionals. A move to New Hampshire rekindled her childhood curiosity about personal transition. Her groundbreaking book, The Trauma of Moving: Psychological Issues for Women was followed by Smart Moves: Your Guide Through the Emotional Maze of Relocation, co-authored by Nadia Jensen and Stuart Copans. Still available, it has earned accolades in the media and is described as "the bible" of relocation.

An avid traveler, drawn to the beauty and mystery of tropical coral reefs and rain forests, McCollum became fascinated by Papua New Guinea -- a nation in the midst of tumultuous change. During repeated visits there, she and a mountain woman, Pirip Kuru, developed the complex and ever-deepening friendship described in Two Women, Two Worlds.

McCollum practices psychotherapy, writes, skis, hikes, and lives happily with her husband in Etna, New Hampshire.