The first picture is some of my family. Starting on the left and going clockwise: Marta, Rehab with Charlie (Silvie, the French teacher is his mom), Wendy, Tom, Mama Jenna, Pilot or Jackson. Rehab, Wendy and Pilot are Jenna's children. Tom is my "son", and Marta is a relative staying with Jenna while attending school. Not pictured are Samson Jr. and Sr. and Ester whom I've never met.
The second picture is Ellen in face paint for the circumcision ceremony.
Watching trucks - it is a national past time. Whenever anyone hears a truck they stop, look, wait, watch and then pick up the conversation where they left off. Sometimes people just sit beside the road and wait and watch the trucks, sometimes I do too. But, watching trucks is definitely something I'm getting good at. Along with walking long distances. I don't think twice about walking an hour to get someplace and I only think briefly about walking 2 or 3 hours.
Once I arrived back here, a lot of people asked me what I do. So, let me tell you. I do a lot of talking - storian (story on) and am building relationships. Sometimes we talk about how their business can come antap (on top) or improve using a basic budget and something that explains cash flow and profit. Other times we talk about how to start a business. And at others it is how to build up businesses, the local economy in such a way that it doesn't degrade the essential qualities of kastom and community living that makes Vanuatu and Tanna a place like no other. I also teach at the local school three times a week, help write letters, give workshops, help write grant applications, help develop business plans, and help people with their college class homework. I try to facilitate and not do. I do what they ask me to do and try not to tell them what to do or how to do it, although I will tell them what I think. I've talked with 13 people with existing businesses and another 10 who want to start businesses. In addition, there are existing projects (battery project, cultural center, Hurricane Ivy school rebuilding to mention a few), that require my support in various ways. I even teach a little about computers when the laptop is charged and people stop by - like at 9:00 pm the time the headmaster just got his laptop and the battery ran low and the message wasn't very clear and he was afraid he had broken it somehow.
Other people ask me if I am enjoying it in Vanuatu. Enjoying isn't exactly the way I would put it, but I can say that there isn't anywhere else I'd rather be or anything else I'd rather be doing. There are very, very good days and some very, very bad days and a lot that are just good or just bad and even some days where all of these things happen. I'm not sure I can explain how this happens because it is the little things that make the biggest highs and lows. There are some things I don't like, like worrying about rats. And some things that always make me smile like at night when every spider reflects my flashlight - glow in the dark bugs! Or when the land crabs just put their shell right where you always walk and make you trip or the way Jenna wrinkles up her nose asking me what I want without words. I'm learning to ask for more help and discovered the power of lollies (candy). If I want or need something, all I have to do is ask one of the pikinini and they'll take care of it for me - for a lollie. And, I learned that no one expects me to do everything that the mamas do - like cook, make roof panels, do my own laundry, work in the garden, clean my own yard. They respect me for doing it but tell me I don't have to!
I have a cat name Targe (like the way we say the name of the store, Target, when we're trying to make it sound fancy) and Tusker. Targe finally learned how to kill rats and so I think I'll keep her for awhile - and I hope she's still there when I get back. I knew she discovered rats when I came back from my once-every-three-week trip to Lenakel and found what looked like the largest, ugliest hair ball I've every seen on the floor of my house. It wasn't and then I knew what it was and my rat problem has been minimal since. Tusker was Larry's dog and as long as I feed him some meat he is my dog. For the most part though he belongs to Jenna and my host family first.
One last note on kava. When the men do any work on my house or garden, I buy them a stumpa of kava (a big root). When the women do any work, I cook something they haven't tried before and feed them.
There are 3 main religions in Port: John Frum, Presbyterian and Seven Day Adventist. There are some others in the area like Beloved and Living Water, but I don't know much about them. John Frum is an interesting religion and I suggest the following websites for a brief description. http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/196.html
See the next post for the last of my notes
Watching trucks - it is a national past time. Whenever anyone hears a truck they stop, look, wait, watch and then pick up the conversation where they left off. Sometimes people just sit beside the road and wait and watch the trucks, sometimes I do too. But, watching trucks is definitely something I'm getting good at. Along with walking long distances. I don't think twice about walking an hour to get someplace and I only think briefly about walking 2 or 3 hours.
Once I arrived back here, a lot of people asked me what I do. So, let me tell you. I do a lot of talking - storian (story on) and am building relationships. Sometimes we talk about how their business can come antap (on top) or improve using a basic budget and something that explains cash flow and profit. Other times we talk about how to start a business. And at others it is how to build up businesses, the local economy in such a way that it doesn't degrade the essential qualities of kastom and community living that makes Vanuatu and Tanna a place like no other. I also teach at the local school three times a week, help write letters, give workshops, help write grant applications, help develop business plans, and help people with their college class homework. I try to facilitate and not do. I do what they ask me to do and try not to tell them what to do or how to do it, although I will tell them what I think. I've talked with 13 people with existing businesses and another 10 who want to start businesses. In addition, there are existing projects (battery project, cultural center, Hurricane Ivy school rebuilding to mention a few), that require my support in various ways. I even teach a little about computers when the laptop is charged and people stop by - like at 9:00 pm the time the headmaster just got his laptop and the battery ran low and the message wasn't very clear and he was afraid he had broken it somehow.
Other people ask me if I am enjoying it in Vanuatu. Enjoying isn't exactly the way I would put it, but I can say that there isn't anywhere else I'd rather be or anything else I'd rather be doing. There are very, very good days and some very, very bad days and a lot that are just good or just bad and even some days where all of these things happen. I'm not sure I can explain how this happens because it is the little things that make the biggest highs and lows. There are some things I don't like, like worrying about rats. And some things that always make me smile like at night when every spider reflects my flashlight - glow in the dark bugs! Or when the land crabs just put their shell right where you always walk and make you trip or the way Jenna wrinkles up her nose asking me what I want without words. I'm learning to ask for more help and discovered the power of lollies (candy). If I want or need something, all I have to do is ask one of the pikinini and they'll take care of it for me - for a lollie. And, I learned that no one expects me to do everything that the mamas do - like cook, make roof panels, do my own laundry, work in the garden, clean my own yard. They respect me for doing it but tell me I don't have to!
I have a cat name Targe (like the way we say the name of the store, Target, when we're trying to make it sound fancy) and Tusker. Targe finally learned how to kill rats and so I think I'll keep her for awhile - and I hope she's still there when I get back. I knew she discovered rats when I came back from my once-every-three-week trip to Lenakel and found what looked like the largest, ugliest hair ball I've every seen on the floor of my house. It wasn't and then I knew what it was and my rat problem has been minimal since. Tusker was Larry's dog and as long as I feed him some meat he is my dog. For the most part though he belongs to Jenna and my host family first.
One last note on kava. When the men do any work on my house or garden, I buy them a stumpa of kava (a big root). When the women do any work, I cook something they haven't tried before and feed them.
There are 3 main religions in Port: John Frum, Presbyterian and Seven Day Adventist. There are some others in the area like Beloved and Living Water, but I don't know much about them. John Frum is an interesting religion and I suggest the following websites for a brief description. http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/196.html
See the next post for the last of my notes
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