In Tok Pisin the word “Lewa” means “heart” or “love”.
In the case of the seven mothers in Papua New Guinea’s national women’s cricket team, the PNG Lewas, it is love imbued with dedication, heartbreak, and mental toughness.
The Lewas mums are away from their babies and young children for long periods and in some cases have sent children to be raised by extended family.
Returning to training just months or even weeks postpartum is common.
All the mothers are enormously proud to represent Papua New Guinea, but their primary motivation is financial survival in a country where nearly half the population lives below the poverty line.
All feel that despite their sacrifice, their lives are better playing professional cricket than otherwise.
Grueling schedule makes cricket and parenthood tough to juggle
It is rare to have more than one mother in an elite team of any sport, but especially cricket.
The gruelling tour schedule required for international cricket is unique.
Megan Schutt is the only mother in the Australian women’s cricket team.
The 2023 squad lists show New Zealand and Pakistan with one mother each in their ranks (Lea Tahuhu and Bismah Maroof)
India and Bangladesh have no mums, and South Africa has two (Lizelle Lee and Masabata Klaas).
An international cricketer can travel overseas for months and to several different countries in any given year.
PNG captain Kaia Arua explains her difficult decision to send her daughter to live with her mother in another province.
“When I looked at the calendar and saw we have three or four tours a year, I didn’t want to disturb my daughter’s education going back and forth,” she says.
Despite the usual hurdles of Pacific sport, such as torrential rain for a quarter of the year and limited equipment and funding, the Lewas are world class.
They’re currently ranked 12th in the world for the T20, and they dominate cricket in the Pacific Islands.
In the last two qualification rounds, the team has come close to a T20 World Cup qualification. They’re quietly confident next year in Bangladesh will be their Cup debut.
Cricket allows PNG women to be breadwinners
All the mothers ABC Sport spoke to primarily play cricket to financially support their family.
When a player becomes a mum, there’s even more pressure to stay in cricket so she can provide for her children.
Most of the team have even forfeited completing high school so they could play cricket and earn a coveted contract.
Cricket PNG (CPNG) CEO Greg Campbell says the players’ contracts are not enough.
But the resourceful Lewas support their own families, and often their extended families with their contracts.
“Cricket is my bread and butter to put food on the table,” Lewas bowler Geua Tom says.
“This [is a ] big sacrifice to support my kids and for my grandmother who raised me — I want to help them.”
Some of the Lewas mothers supplement their cricket income with a market shop selling tobacco or betel nut, or by catching fish.
That is usually the husband’s domain, in addition to caring for children with the help of grandparents or extended family.
Campbell says CPNG is continually trying to improve the players’ situation and is working towards pay equality for its men and women.
“In 2022/23 the Lewas received a 25 per cent pay increase compared to the men who received 10 per cent,” he says.
“By 2025, we will have everyone on the same pay, and sooner depending on finances.”
CPNG runs a bus for school drop-offs and pick-ups. The bus delivers the children home or takes them to the cricket ground where their mother or father is training.
Campbell says CPNG is also looking into a maternity policy but there’s nothing in writing yet.
“If one of the players fell pregnant, as long as I’m there on the board, she will get paid,” he says.
Star all-rounder doing long stints away from baby
Lewas opening batter and spin bowler Sibona Jimmy first met her four-month-old baby in Port Moresby airport surrounded by her family and teammates.
After unsuccessfully trying to fall pregnant for years, her sister-in-law promised Jimmy her second-born child.
Iga Igua was born while Jimmy was on tour at the T20 World Cup qualifiers in Abu Dhabi. She met her one month later at the emotional airport homecoming.
Tour money helps pay for expensive baby formula
Jimmy was briefly home in December after a six-week cricket scholarship in South Perth.
She spoke to ABC Sport from Canberra, where she is on tour again, before heading back to Perth for another six weeks.
Agreeing to go back to Western Australia was a gut-wrenching decision for the new mum, but the tour allowance makes a difference to her family.
“It was another opportunity for me to provide and save money for my child to give her what she needs. So I just took it. I sacrifice to provide for her,” a tearful Jimmy says.
Jimmy says baby formula is a big expense.
One can costs 40 PNG kina, or $16, which is about a quarter of the average weekly income in PNG.
‘I tell the girls what kind of life I went through and to choose wisely’
One of the most heartbreaking stories of motherhood in the team comes from the captain.
Arua has an eight-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son.
Her daughter recently returned to Port Moresby to live with her, and her son has been raised by her mother since he was two months old, far away in the Western Highlands.
He does not know Arua is his mother.
Arua brought her daughter home because she was afraid she “might lose her too”.
Following a difficult divorce, Arua now has a stable environment with loving support from her new partner.
“Sometimes when I’d call she (Arua’s daughter) didn’t want to talk to me,” she says.
“It really hurts me as her mum.”
“But I know she’ll understand later why I kept her with my mum.”
Arua’s mother was also a cricketer.
“She understood what it takes to represent your country, so she understood what I’m trying to do for myself and my children,” she says.
“I didn’t want my kids to have a life of nothing at all.”
Arua sometimes gives advice to the younger players in the squad.
“I try to be honest with them. I tell them what kind of life I went through and encourage them to choose their partner and when to have kids wisely,” she says.
“Enjoy your young life, follow your heart, but make sure you know what you’re doing.”
Self-isolating for months after first-born baby is a strict cultural practice
Nearly all of the Lewas are ethnic Motu from the southern coastal region of PNG, specifically, the largest Motu village of Hanuabada.
The Motu have a custom of not leaving the house with their first-born baby for at least three months or sometimes six months to a year.
Mum and baby will finally emerge to a big celebration before returning to everyday life.
Five of the mothers in the Lewas followed the practice. Opening batter Ravini Oa stayed inside for three months.
“It was not easy to just sit there … oh my God, it was so hard for me. I got so bored,” she says.
Straight back to the pitch after second or third baby
If it is the second or third-born child, the Lewas mothers return to cricket one or two months after having a baby.
For vice-captain Tanya Ruma, it was just weeks.
“After two weeks they asked me to go back and train. It was very hard for me. My body felt so weak,” she says.
When a player falls pregnant the pressure to return early is just financial. The Lewas’ talent pool has been shallow, requiring players to fast-track their return.
The popularity of cricket has largely been confined to Hanuabada.
But Campbell says CPNG is seeing an expansion of the game into other parts of PNG.
“There’s a little area called Popendetta that sits in the eastern tip of PNG. There are more female cricket players than men coming out of there at the moment,” he says.
The trailblazing Arua passionately believes in the growth of cricket for women in PNG.
“I know there’s a lot of girls out there in the village who are just like us,” she says.
Source: ABC.Com