Saturday, December 09, 2006

Island Gateway to Port Vila

For some weird reason we decided to travel from Santo to Port Vila on a boat – the Island Gateway. We won’t do it again. It’s new service (been running one year) that offers a quick comfortable trip, stopping at a few islands on the way, leaving either Port Vila or Luganville at 7AM arriving at the destination around 4PM. So last Saturday we were up at 4, on the bus at 5, at check-in by the required 6 and all ready to sail at 7 but for some reason the boat didn’t leave until 8:30AM.

From the outside the Island Gateway looks like a slick, fast catamaran, seating about 56 passengers in an air-conditioned cabin, with DVD’s movies played for passenger comfort during the 9 hour trip. Well after 20 minutes I wondered how we were going to survive the 9 hours. The air-conditioning didn’t work and the temporary fans cut out after 10 minutes. The DVD was a Karaoke of those poser English Boy Bands - every song sounding the same. Added to that the sea was rough; within half an hour Viv and the kids had all been sick - some more than once (and most of the passengers). After 2 ½ hours we arrived at the first stop - Malakula - normally a 1hr 15min trip. It was nice to be sheltered and calm for a short time. This also gave people a chance to dry out a little as a few of the many waves that went right over the front of the boat, some of them had sent water into the broken air-conditioning / vent system, pouring water over unsuspecting passengers. We were fortunate that it never happened over our seats.

We then sailed out for the next leg to Epi Island. Within 4 minutes of leaving the boat stopped and just drifted along for about 30 minutes. During this time a crew member jumped overboard helping onboard crew repair the steering, a great confidence builder; not that the trip seemed dangerous, the waves were big but not too big. Anyway, we were off again and within a few minutes back into the rough weather with more waves crashing over the front, more sea sickness. I didn’t get sick but felt rather bad putting the rest of the family through such a bad experience.

We arrived at Epi Island around 4 PM (the time we should have been at Port Vila). During this leg of the journey the sea conditions had deteriorated and after a while four main poles between cabin roof and floor slowly came loose - with the floor of the cabin visibly separating from the boat hull when going over certain big waves. We think this may have caused concern for the crew cos the skipper said we would stay the night at Epi because of bad weather; not wanting to sail in the dark for the last part of the journey. On arriving at Epi the crew cranked up a generator to charge drills and whatnot, getting to work doing a few repairs. We enjoyed the peacefulness of Epi. Later all the crew and passengers were fed at the Epi Secondary School and given accommodation in various rooms or dorms. We slept in the Secondary School guest house - it was great, no rats or cockroaches.

At 2:45AM we were woken and asked to head back along the road to the wharf to get on the boat, at 4AM we sailed out for Port Vila. The sea was a bit calmer with not as many peopel getting sick and finally we arrived in Port Vila around 8:30AM. So the 9 hour trip took 24 hours. The stop at Epi sort of made the trip worthwhile - but next time……..........we’ll fly!

Our stay at Port Vila was great. One day we went right around the Efate Island, visiting a few Talua students in their own villages. We could buy any food we wanted in the supermarkets - stuff we haven’t eaten all year. Perhaps best thing was the accommodation. We stayed in an SIL house; we had power, hot water, ceiling fans and plenty of space. A real blessing!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

graduation 2007 plans HIV-AIDS

Things are beginning to wind up here at Talua. Last week students finished exams, all papers and assignments have been marked, most pastoral care groups have had their End of Year feasts. On Thursday 23rd we have the Talua Graduation and then on the 24th most students leave. The graduating Certificate of Theology students normally return to their home parishes to serve, whereas the Diploma of Theology and Mission students are told at graduation their placements for 2007. Many visitors come to Talua for the special day so the past week has been busy, making bush shelters, tidying up the campus, setting up decorations and preparing. The night before (tonight) the generator will go nearly all night as kaekae is prepared - heaps of it. The generator will stop at about midnight, and then restart around 3AM as students and staff prepare to bake food in earth ovens (bit like a Hangi). Even though its busy here there is also a relaxed feel to this winding up period - all exams and assignments are all finished, students have time to hangout. Last Monday night we set our data projector outside with a big screen - about 60 people enjoyed watching Shrek Two. What our family enjoyed was sitting outside under the stars, the cool temperature of the outdoors, and listening to people laugh to parts of the movie we wouldn’t normally laugh at. It was a good time had by all.

For our family, we are winding down as well, the kids are finding it hard to settle into school work as the day we leave Talua for the summer draws closer. We leave on Dec numba tu, spending a few days visiting students at their home villages on Efate. Then we fly to NZ on Dec numba 6. We come back to Talua at the end of January 07 - although Phillip will stay in NZ for 2007, attending Marlborough Boys’ College, living with family in Blenheim. Viv and I felt he needed more social interaction and to be in a college environment before year 10.

In 2007 I will be the English teacher again at Talua, but it sounds like I will also be a kind of bursar as the current one is finishing next month. It will be a challenge as Talua is always strapped for cash, and due to poor financial management in the past, things are in a mess with a lot of over due accounts and no real understanding of how much it really costs to run Talua. So prayers would be appreciated.

Last week Jeffery Vutilolo (Medical Lab Technician in charge of all of Santo’s blood testing) and I ran an HIV-AIDS seminar at Talua. In some ways I feel this was the most important thing I have done this year at Talua. HIV-AIDS is a ticking bomb in Vanuatu with the STI rate climbing at a scary rate. Added to that, Jeffery has found it frustrating that in the past the church has been reluctant to know about it. Well, the seminar was very successful. The introduction explained how big the pandemic is globally, also outlining what is happening in the South Pacific and Vanuatu. The next section was medical information about what it is, how it spreads, and prevention and protection. The conclusion was what the church should do about it. After the seminar the Talua principal asked if Jeffery and I could take the same seminar to the PCV General Assembly next year. So hopefully the rest of the Assembly Executive will agree because it is important the pastors in the PCV know how to help Vanuatu deal with (and perhaps prevent) a disaster waiting to happen. Again - your prayers on this matter would really help.

God Bless
Jon

Friday, November 10, 2006

Phones down

If someone is trying to email us, or ring us.
The phone lines are currenlty up and down all the time.

God Bless
Jon

Saturday, November 04, 2006

blog blong mama vivienne - mango season

mango season

The long awaited mango season has begun here in Vanuatu. We enjoyed a few mangoes when we first arrived here at the beginning of the year, but that was the very end of the season. If you‘re ignorant of the joys of mangoes, like we were a year ago, then you may be interested in this description. Our previous experiences of mangos amounted to seeing (but not buying) expensive imported ones in the supermarket, eating the canned ones occasionally and tasting the juice in fruit juice mixtures. We hardly even recognized what they were when we first saw them in the markets in Port Vila.

We have a mango tree near our house here at Talua, the fruit of which is for the residents of these 2 houses. Glen and Rachael, our neighbours, said that last year they didn’t get to eat any of this fruit as the local pikinini raided the tree before the fruit was ripe ( fruit is very rarely eaten really ripe here - maybe there is too much competition from critters like rats and fruit bats to leave it on the tree too long).

This year our pikinini declared that they wouldn’t let that happen and repeatedly warned off anyone who showed too much interest in the tree! They wouldn’t even let anyone rebuild the tree hut in the tree when tree hut building was the craze in the last holidays, in case they should knock off the flowers or young fruit. Unfortunately their good work hasn’t resulted in a very good harvest. There was an extended spell of very heavy rain a while back and perhaps that resulted in a loss of young fruit, but anyway we haven’t had more than a couple of dozen off the tree. Mangoes flower over long period so there will be a few more fruit gradually ripening over the summer.

Fortunately other parts of Santo have heavily laden trees so we should be able to source plenty of fruit over the season. Different villages sell their produce at the market on different days so it’s a bit of pot luck what you can find there on the day you go.

Anyway, onto the actual process of eating a ripe mango.

1: Either position yourself over a sink or basin, or else go outside. Make sure you are not wearing white or light coloured clothing, as mango juice stains badly (and in case you intend to go climbing a mango tree the sap is terribly sticky and impossible to get out of clothes!)

2: Bite or cut a small piece from the non stalk end of the mango, then peel off strips of skin downwards. If the mango is ripe enough the skin will come off easily. If you want to get the most from your mango you will give the insides of these strips of skin a bit of a suck before you toss them.

3: By the time your mango is skinned the juice will be running off your elbows and you can take some big, luscious bites if you want to. If you want to cut slices from your mango cut one from each flat side. You will not get many bites which come off cleanly. Mangoes have a large stone and the flesh gets more and more fibrous the closer you get to the stone. It should be very tasty so you will want to bite and suck as much of the flesh off the stone as you can. You never get it all!

4: Wash the juice from your hands and arms and then spend the next 10 minutes or more getting all the little bits of fibre out from between your teeth!

So is it worth all the effort?? Well they do taste wonderful, so much nicer than the canned variety - there must be a tremendous amount of waste in canning mangoes. But I have to admit I am looking forward to eating some simple fruit like an apple or a plum - not so much hard work!!

Monday, October 30, 2006

blog blong viv

PWMU and the end of the year.

 

 

Yes, you know that you are getting close to the end of the year when you begin to have breakups and end of year feasts (that’s if you happen to live in Vanuatu!) These have started this week for me with the PWMU closing service. Vanuatu loves acronyms - PWMU stands for Presbyterian women and mother’s union (I think that’s right). I haven’t been to many activities with the Talua PWMU because they usually meet on a Wednesday afternoon when I am teaching at Tata School. I missed this week’s lesson so that I could attend this special service.

The service included all the obligatory elements of a normal Sunday service including Bible readings, a number of hymns and choruses (including a couple of hymns performed by special ‘choirs’ pulled together for the event), numerous prayers and a mini sermon slot. In addition to this, the women students/student’s wives/ staff wives who will be leaving at the end of the year were specially welcomed to the service with salusalus (floral garlands given on special occasions and worn around the neck) and sat at the front for the proceedings. They were also given special leaving gifts from the PWMU.

The next part of the proceeding was an end of year exchange of gifts. Some months ago all the women were given a name drawn from a hat of a ‘secret friend’ from among the women on campus. This was the person that each one was to give a gift to. I found out some time later, but fortunately before the actual event, that the way things work here is that you are expected to actually give 2 gifts. One to the person whose name you drew from the hat and another as a thank you to the person who drew your name!! It seems in this culture it is impossible to just receive without giving something back in return.

Another part of the proceedings that I found out about only shortly before the service, was the tradition to give a salusalu as part of the gift. My usual source of information on events such as these is my Australian neighbour, Rachael. This time, however, she wasn’t able to give me a full picture as there hadn’t been a gift exchange at last year’s closing service. She gave me a couple of hours warning about the salusalus but as the real, handmade flower version is rather time consuming to make, one of Connie’s friends who was home from school that day, made 2 for me. Unfortunately, I put them down beside some others when I entered the room and they disappeared! They were used in the opening welcome for the leaving women!

So that left me without anything to give, and as the gift exchange got underway, it was soon obvious that everyone was exchanging salusalus. Rachael whispered to me to get Connie (who had snuck into watch the gift giving) to run home and get some that we had there. These are the artificial variety made from what looks like shredded plastic bags,  ones that we had previously been given and fortunately it is ok to recycle them!!. So I was saved from a cultural blunder! Not a too serious one perhaps, but when you operate in a world where you only understand half or less of what is going on, you probably make blunders all the time without realizing it. Therefore it makes sense to avoid making any extra ones if you can help it!

Another interesting component of the gift exchange was the use of powder and perfume. Not everyone did it, but most women, in addition to giving their partner a salusalu and a gift, also showered her with baby powder. This was usually done by pouring a good handful into one’s hand and then smearing this onto the cheeks of the recipient. Sometimes powder was also shaken around head and shoulders a bit and sometimes even wiped on the lady’s feet. We have seen powder used before on a couple of occasions. One was when we were guests at wedding feast, when it turned into an all out powder fight! And other times when special guests were honoured or farewelled from Talua. I have never found anyone to really explain to me why it is done, but I like to think of it as visible demonstration of showering someone with blessing.

The perfume was similarly used by some women on their secret friends. This was usually sprayed in a few points on the recipient’s body. Interestingly, these usually included in the general underarm area! Rachael and I commented that this would never be done in either of our countries. Can you imagine someone you hardly knew smearing your face with powder, or spraying your underarm area with perfume?! What an invasion of personal space, and what are you really trying to say to me?!! It was fine and even enjoyable in this setting, though and added to the general atmosphere of fun and celebration of the day.

My secret friend gave me a new island dress in shades of bright pink and mauve ( a bit nicer than it sounds!) and a wok - type fry pan ( These are usually used here for cooking a deep fried, 8-shaped,doughnut type bread called gateaux - pronounced cato). The other friend gave me a set of nice glasses. I gave (thanks to Granddad’s recent visit) some NZ tea towels, a NZ pen and some biscuits I had baked. Other gifts ranged in size and probably value, and included lots of handmade dresses, hand woven baskets and mats and plastic bowls. I imagine that lots of the students have very little spare money to spend on gifts and it could have been quite embarrassing, except that no one actually opened their gifts in front of anyone else. This is done later in private. All except for difficult to wrap things like baskets and mats, and dresses which are usually put onto the recipient when they are given.

As you can imagine with a room full of people this all took quite a long time. There were also a few awkward moments when someone forgot or didn’t know who they were to give to. Hopefully a master list will be kept next year!

The next part of the afternoon’s activities was refreshments - a range of snacks and a drink served to everyone by the executive, followed by a bit more singing, a bit of dancing and general hilarity, and a couple of skits. A skit here is usually a song performed with actions to the words, done to a tape. The whole afternoon went off very well, although it did take the whole afternoon - over 4 hours! We will have to wait and see how many more feasts and gift exchanges we will have before the end of the year. Fortunately Granddad brought plenty of tea towels!!

 

Friday, October 20, 2006

excitement walk more walking vsa variation

over the past week the children have been getting more and more excited in anticipation of granddad visiting us. Last Wednesday evening at the airport we had an almost surreal experience of watching him walk off the plane, carrying two suitcases, one filled with goodies for us. We had dinner at a local Chinese restaurant before the 45 minute drive back to Talua. There were big smiles all round.

The next day on I decided to show dad around Navota Farm. Thinking it would about 2 hours to go up to the middle of the farm and back, we ended up walking for 5 hours. When we got to the first terrace on the hill, dad wanted to get to the top. It took a while but we got there after walking halfway around the hill to find a sort of track up. Needless to say we were both a bit stiff and sore on getting back.

Last Friday we had another big walk. The family and I visited Madelyn’s home for lunch. It was a 1 hour walk to Najingo, a short canoe ride across the water to Tangoa Island. After arriving at Madelyn’s we spent about 1 ½ hours exploring Tangoa Island. We then had lunch – which included “Laplap Worm”. In October, about four nights after full moon many people in South Santo head to the sea when it gets dark, looking for sea worms that apparently only come out at this time of the year. Viv and I were relieved we ate them before seeing the left over worms in a sack - slimy and disgusting. As for the flavour, the Laplap took away some of the flavour and they were not too bad, not too strong. It was a good day, but we were all tired that night after three hours walking. On the canoe trip back, one of Madelyn’s sisters who was paddling our canoe, told us they have a shark following them about once a month - some big and some small – one never swims between Najingo and Tangoa Island.

Last Saturday Viv and I hired the farm Ute and picked up two NZ VSA representatives who were visiting Santo on reconnaissance work. They wanted to have a look at Navota Farm for possible opportunities. It was good to meet them and show them around and have visitors for lunch. I was impressed with their ability to quickly understand the issues for a particular area. They do their homework well before sending someone. If you have ever thought of spending two years on a VSA placement – don’t hesitate – give it a go.

My class topics have changed a bit over the past while - I do enjoy the diversity and variation. I have gone from teaching Lukan Christology to teaching the Navota students small business skills like receipt books, cash books and cash flows. I also continue with the English classes and on two evenings each week teach computer classes. So the variation is enjoyable and other things pop up as well. For example last Tuesday morning having just got home from teaching at Navota Farm, the Talua accountant Ps Frank arrived asking me to help him with the Talua Cashbook. (I had mentioned to him a couple of months ago I’d help him with the monthly financial reports for Talua). There were five months of transactions to process. After a while it was all sorted – except I will need to spend a lot of time reconciling everything. He did have a hand written running balance but the computer had a different result - this slowed my progress down significantly as I had to double check each transaction. I have yet to discover how he came up with his balances cos they don’t add up.

In general we are all well, and are enjoying having granddad been here with us.

God Bless
Jon

Sunday, October 08, 2006

note to the photos

Hi all, there are a few photos below, the relate to Vivienne's blog. So enjoy, have a look and a good read. I am feeling a bit tired - the water pipe line we fixed today is about 6km. But at about 8pm tonight the water started to flow again.
cheers
Jon


William investigating flight - school work.

Finally the road is a bit smoother from Canel to Talua ... well slightly.

Simon being part of the marble craze.

Connie adopted by Shena, Georgiana and her family, wearing traditional Pentecost clothes and musical instruments.

Church service at BP Burn - World Communion Sunday

Ps Frank and Kalmara fixing the water line.

family happenings - blog blong viv

Family Happenings

October has arrived. We are into the down hill run to the end of the year.

Jon has finished lecturing on The Gospel of Luke. This course, for which he prepared all his own material, was for only half a term. He very much enjoyed it, especially the opportunity to lecture/preach on some of his favourite themes. Now that is finished he will have a bit more time to go up to Navota Farm and teach the boys there. There are prospects for a 2 years appointment for the farm from VSA. The NZ co-ordinator will be visiting next week to discuss this with the farm manager and Jon, among others. They need to ensure that the job is a realistic proposition and achievable. We get rather frustrated at times with the farm operations and what is or isn’t done around the place. The wild peanut weed problem is just shooting away again since we have had recent rain and the weather is warming up. Soon you will not be able to see the grass for the shoulder high weeds, as it was when we arrived at the beginning of the year.

We understand the farm will be visited by at least one NZ work party next year. Jon will be pushing for specific, achievable projects to be assigned to them. We would dearly love to see the farm run to meet its potential. It has a long history of NZ connections and investment – both of labour and manpower. It has the potential to be a very productive operation, a good witness and educational model to surrounding farmers, and the students who study there, as well as a good money earner for the Presbyterian Church.

Another side interest of Jon’s that he will be able to devote a bit more time to now, is running some computer classes. This year he has set up a small computer suite for students to use some second hand computers to type assignments, etc. Some of the lecturers also have their own laptops. He would like to help the lecturers to make the most of their computers and also give some students the chance to get to know the computers better. He has started a weekly class, but with limited facilities only a few can be taught at once. He has also enlisted the tutoring aid of the whole family (some of us being more useful than others!) Even Connie is helpful in putting some things into Bislama, and of course she knows her way around a keyboard and a mouse better than most of the students. After the first night we feel there may need to be 2 different classes as the lecturers know a bit more than the students, most of whom are at a very basic level. Jon, of course does not know how it feels to be afraid of the computer and doesn’t find it very easy to simplify it enough (this from my slightly techno phobic point of view!)

For the rest of us our correspondence work continues. NZ schools have just had 2 weeks break, but as we work to the local school timetable, to enable our kids to be on holiday when their friends here are also around, we are well into the 3rd and final term of the year. The kids have been running low on booklets lately and the variety of work available to them to choose from has been limited. This has resulted in motivation issues for all of them to varying degrees. William had some more work arrive a few days ago, so he is set for awhile. I hope that Connie and Simon get some soon. Phillip will be right once the NZ term starts this week as he gets fresh tasks regularly over the internet. During the holidays he has to mainly do maths, which is just about all he does on paper. Last term most of his work had a food theme which was enjoyable and interesting. I hope that this term’s work will also have an interesting theme.

We are hopeful that when we leave here at the beginning of December, we will have done enough work to be able to stop for the year at that point. This will be easier than carting extra material around with us, and we will be travelling around a bit before we settle down in Blenheim for most of the holidays. The local kids have just had a ‘midterm break, around one of the many statutory holidays that Vanuatu has. We have also taken 2 days off and hope that we will all return to our work with renewed vigour and enthusiasm this week. Well, we can hope, anyway!

Kids are the same all over the world in lots of ways. The kids here are more easily entertained and find a lot of enjoyment out of simple things. Their game of the moment goes in cycles or crazes just like elsewhere. The current favourite is marbles, which the local kids are very skilled and competitive at. You even see little guys of 2 or 3 practising with rocks, so it’s no wonder they are so good at it. The game has a number of variations and is almost always played for keeps, so our kids have tried to come up to speed quickly! Sometimes the marbles are thrown at each other with so much force and accuracy that they smash!

Another recent popular activity was bubble blowing. While a couple of kids had ‘real’ bubble blowers, the majority used the ‘local’ version: pawpaw stalks. These are hollow and can be used to blow huge bubbles by a skilled practitioner. It was commonplace for a few weeks to see big groups of kids with 1 or 2 blowing bubbles from a container of soapy liquid. They would be surrounded by many others trying to blow the bubbles higher up into the air, or trying to catch them in their mouths!! Great simple fun.

For a wee while the game of choice was all out water fights. The weather has been warming up so this may have prompted this activity. These fights are usually boys against girls and involve lots of running, lots of yelling (most games here involve that!) and lots of water. Any plastic bottle or container may be used and it’s easy to see that a bucket can be a more effective ‘super soaker’ than any water pistol!

Speaking of the weather, we are pleasantly surprised how long the weather is staying coolish. We feel if anyone is thinking of visiting Vanuatu, then a good time of the year would be September. The weather has been very variable, however and you can never guarantee that it will behave for visitors as Bob and Barbara found out when they visited us in August and as a group of Australians here last week found out. We have just had a rather wet, miserable week, but yesterday the sun came out and it was again hot and clear. When the skies are clear it will be hot no matter what time of the year it is, but across the middle of the year there are a lot more grey days that keep conditions cooler. The main difference now compared to summer and autumn, when it seemed that the hot weather would never cool off, is the humidity. On the hot, sunny days the heat isn’t yet accompanied by too much stickiness. Even last week with the rain, there weren’t the oppressive conditions with heat and lots of thunder and lightning. I’m not sure when these conditions return but we are enjoying the temperature as it is at present. There are also plenty of gentle breezes at present to help keep us cool. These have kept us cool enough at night to keep our light blankets on the bed, as we have windows open to the predominant winds.

 

This year will be memorable in our family for many, many reasons. One more unusual one is that this is the year that Simon learnt how to whistle. He had been very frustrated by his inability to whistle, but then a wee while ago it clicked into place and he has hardly stopped whistling since!! I can always tell when it is him approaching as I hear him coming. Sometime we have asked him to stop whistling in school time as the others get a bit sick of it! He is becoming more tuneful with the practise. Sometimes he and I even whistle duets!! Lately he has been trying out whistling and humming at the same time. The results are not as pleasant sounding!

 

Life here can be very unpredictable as we have found out on the last 2 Sundays. Last Sunday morning Jon got up to a knock on the door at about 6.30 (this isn’t particularly early here where the bell goes at 5am!). It was the principal asking Jon to go and preach at a town church because it was World Communion Sunday. Why he didn’t know about this sooner, I don’t know, but Jon is able to pull old sermons out of the files for such an occasion so he was able to oblige. We enjoyed a change of scenes and the people were very friendly.

This morning(Sunday again) at 6 am there was a knock on the door and Jon went with others up into the bush to try and effect temporary repairs to the dam from which our piped water is sourced. The tap water had stopped late in the afternoon yesterday because of a leak in the dam.  So Jon accompanied a group of students and staff up to the dam and together they blocked the hole with some plastic and then followed the pipeline back to try and find the any other problems with the flow.  They got back about 12.30pm. Hopefully the tank will refill overnight and we will have some water tomorrow. There have been short interruptions to the water supply before.

We are not short of drinking water which is rainwater runoff into a tank nearby that we then bring to the house in containers, but we are now carting water for everything. The students are using bush toilets (long drops) and many people went down to the river this afternoon to wash. We usually live in 1st world conditions, even though we live in a 3rd world country, but we are occasionally reminded that this is the 3rd world! This is the way many people have to cart their water most of the time in the villages.

I am sitting here typing this in the half dark before the generator turns on, but we usually have enough power through batteries and inverter to have a light on when we need it and to keep the fridge running and the computers, of course! We are indeed privileged to have sufficient running water and electricity - most of the time! And we appreciate it a little bit more today.

 

 

Saturday, October 07, 2006

The Mangos are all go

The Mangos are all go. Viv came home from the market yesterday with a basket full. It’s good to have another fruit cos lately it’s been only bananas and grapefruit.

With only few months till spending Christmas in NZ - the kids are beginning to ponder that time and our return to Talua. Thoughts like ‘what DVD’s should we get for 2007’ and ‘what will be the first thing I do when back in NZ’. Phillip has been searching the net for the latest CD’s by his favorite music groups. Simon intends buying a 1kg block of Cadbury Chocolate as soon as we land. The first thing William wants to do it ring up some mates. Connie wants meet up with friends but first get some chocolate skittles and buy a certain book. For Viv it’s some new clothes (being sick of Island Dresses) and strawberries and apples (fresh fruit). For me, I am not sure what I miss as we can get most things here, there are times when we can’t get a good supply of fresh fruit, or fresh vegetables or something else. But most of the time we wait till going into town, we either get it or if its not there, we wait till next week when it might be in stock. One of the beauties about this is simple things have become special again. We can only buy small blocks of chocolate - so we only get a few pieces each, each piece becomes important. Perhaps for Christmas 2006 - the meal will be truly special, sure in the past it has been a good meal - better than normal but because every meal, every day of the year, is good - the Christmas meals (yes plural) loose their significance. So Kiwi food is one thing I miss, but most things are sort of available here. I do miss being able to blob in front of TV to chill out and slow my mind - some nights we watch DVD’s of TV programs we’ve never watched (Lost, 24) or old reruns (MASH). IN all thought, I think what I miss most is convenience. In NZ, we can just pop down to the supermarket and get whatever. We are never out of anything cos of the convenience and because of that, we never have to think much. Also there is a sense of security. Think to Christmas time and the supermarkets being shut for Christmas Day, “oh…we will have to stock up just in case”.  There are other ways at Talua we miss convenience; we had hamburgers last weekend. We had to make the patties, make our own buns, cook on a small fry pan etc. Not a meal of convenience whereas in NZ, if feeling knackered, we just pop down and get some Chinese or Turkish or Indian or burgers etc. So after giving some thought to it - I miss convenience most.

I finished teaching the Gospel of Luke yesterday. I really enjoyed it; found Luke very challenging (this is one of the reasons I like Luke). Today I mark the exam papers.

We are all well, it’s a bit cooler - I guess somehow linked to the blast of cold weather NZ just had; wore a shirt in bed last night and had two light blankets on the bed.

Take care and God Bless
Jon

Saturday, September 30, 2006

A typical day - Simplicity - Candles Bush Man Style (by Simon)

Introduction:

The following bits of news were written for a CWM newsletter back in July and also as short articles for the GMO Global Mission Gazette. If you have not had a chance to read them – you are welcome.

 

A typical day at Talua (by Jon)

 

Life in the community of Talua Ministry Training Centre, South Santo, Vanuatu.

The clang rings at 5AM to let everyone KNOW its time for personal devotions. Between 6AM and 7:15AM the daily timetable sets out times for swim (bath – which means shower), breakfast and family devotions. The wooden Tam Tam is hit at 7:15 to tell everyone community devotions have begun. 

7:30AM lectures begin – with four, 55minute classes ending at 11:30AM. This is followed by the lunch break. For meals the married students and staff eat in their own homes and all single students eat together in the dining hall (also used for church on Sundays).

Lunches are often cut short with meetings of various groups - pastoral care groups, prayer groups, Presbytery groups – to organise some event, perhaps a community social night, or creative worship for a Sunday evening, or whatever.

From 1PM to 2PM is study time and then till 4PM it’s either Garden (students walk up bush to their allotted garden to work in it), Choir and Sunday School Prep (students prepare for next Sunday), Work (students do caretaking work around Talua Campus) or Sport (female students play volleyball and male football). 4PM to 5PM is tidying around homes / living quarters, then its swim (bath – which means shower), evening meal and family devotions. The power comes on around 6PM and from 7PM to 8:30PM its study time. Class devotions are held till 8:45PM and the power goes off at 9PM.

Staff use the afternoons for lesson preparation. Also there are monthly meetings for the many different committees (they are not called workgroups yet). Evenings for staff are a mixture of more meetings, professional reading, lesson preparation, watching DVD’s or correspondence.

There are also one off events, for example last Friday/Saturday Talua held an all night prayer, a time to celebrate the anniversary of the PCV with prayer. I was woken at 1AM by a student telling me it was our prayer group’s time to meet for prayer (I didn’t hear my alarm go off). The night before we had a repentance service – two hours long – culminating in each Presbytery Group asking the community for forgiveness over various matters. Then all night prayer began. When praying in community here it is easy to be lazy, or at least hard to concentrate because most of the praying is done “Korean Style”. That is, everyone out loud at the same time (some very loud). So it’s a chance to fall asleep or to try to pray, but as you can imagine, all the noise gets in the way.

Other one offs include various fundraising events, for example, the Talua Open Day. This was an organised football and volleyball competition for two days with teams from around South Santo coming to compete for prize money. During that time a lot of Lap Lap and other food was cooked and sold, which was the main source of money raised. The small petrol generator was cranked up so a very old stereo could play plenty of string band music to accompany the sport. 

There are many other happenings as well – it’s community life.

 

Simplicity of Life, South Santo, Vanuatu. (by Jon)

Looking out the window there is a group of boys walking back from school, singing at the top of their lungs. The songs are worship songs but that’s not the point. It is the simplicity of lifestyle and the ability to find pleasure in simple things like singing at the top of ones lungs for the sheer pleasure of it. Kids in the west need to watch movies that cost $US200 million to produce for simple fun. Kids in South Santo need a road to walk on and some imagination… “quick…lets jump the fence and grab some Nakatambol” (fruit), or the make popguns from bamboo, shooting out flower buds (our kids thought they were very cool).

A couple of weeks ago Talua had a community games night. The fun had by all was a delight – what was noticeable was a lack of sophisticatedness that hinders fun. Adults were playing simple games like musical chairs and laughing their heads off, laughing at innocent things. On another evening our pastoral care group played Wink Murder at our house (read our blog http://talua.blogspot.com) - there was much laugher and fun in the simple things. It would seem that back in NZ we can’t even sit still through halftime at a rugby match without entertainment, and loud music is played whenever someone is down injured.

Yesterday, our four kids were playing with fire with other local kids, melting wax to make candles. The moulds used were from various bits and pieces they found – including fruit. In the weekends we hardly see Connie (7) as she spends all day playing simple games with her friends, coming in for food and toilet stops and then out again.

And so I must confess that from an experiential perspective, I am glad we came to Talua. Of course there is satisfaction to be gained from being able to help people, but the chance to participate in the spirituality of simplicity is deep, a treasure, and a joy.

 

CANDLES BUSH MAN STYLE (by Simon Parkes)

Its been great over here, yesterday we made candles and it was fun…we made some really cool ones.

HOW TO MAKE CANDLES BUSH MAN STYLE: 1st - you gather up as much wax as possible (the night before was a praying night and heaps of candles were used and thrown out). 2nd - make a small fire. 3rd - find a can that has been thrown out and put it on the fire. 4th - put all the wax into the can and wait for it to melt. 5th - while waiting, get a small, empty, plastic container. 6th - when the wax becomes a liquid pour a little into the bottom of the plastic container to make a seal to stop wax from running out the bottom. 7th -wait for it to dry. 8th - get a string and put it at the bottom of the container (the string is the wick) 9th - pour the rest of the liquid wax into the container while someone holds the string to make it straight. 10th - once finished pouring wait for it to dry. 11th -carefully cut the plastic off, so its just wax and string. That’s how to make it.

Last night we tested it and it was as slow as a normal candle, and a cool shape.

 

God Bless
Jon

Saturday, September 23, 2006


The big news! Simon is a dad. Yes - this is his chicken given to him by the people of Moru Village for helping paint their church roof.

action shot

...and the girls begun to conquer...

It was boys verse girls - after while more girls turned up to reinforce their numbers

Yesterday the kids had a great water fight

And Jon - well watching The Edge and Bono of course - yeah - the important things in life.

Connie weary from full on day playing with friends, Viv reading.

three lads, three PCs, three games.

What do we do at night when the power comes on.

Its a battle - bugs, heat, chickens and whatnot, but here are some rewards from Viv's garden.

The small boat taking us back to the mainland. Further out the sea was a bit choppier along with the ocean swell.

Some of the fury little critters - small aye.

Viv with bats flying overhead.

As you know, we went to Araki Island. After church we explored a large cave. See the bats.

some sad news - some good news - some current news

Some of you reading this already know this - others don’t. Two and a half weeks ago, Diploma One (D1) student, Bridley Toa died at his home in Luganville. He was going to come back to Talua the next day for the new term.

As you would expect, it came as a real shock to our community. At around 10:20 the morning after he died the Tam Tam started being hit at a slow solemn beat. I was teaching the D2 class, and asked what is happening - the students knew it must mean bad news. Then Father Tieone came into the room and explained Bridley had died. The whole community met in the meeting hall (dining room) where Father George and Father Tieone lead a time of prayer and some thoughts etc.

Bridley was a COM student (Church of Melanesia - Anglican), hence the "Fathers" leading things. All work for that afternoon was canceled and lectures for the next day were cancelled as well. All the students and most of the staff including myself went into town that afternoon to pay respect to the family. We had been told the funeral would be the next day - but in this culture it is considered more important to visit the family instead of being at the funeral.

In town we all walked together to the house, about 100 meters away our group started loud wailing etc. We arrived and went inside and spent about 20 - 30 minutes in loud wailing. Bridley was wrapped up in blankets etc. We the Talua community gave a few bags of rice and other food to his family. Then after a few words, a song and prayers we went outside. Soon after we were given a meal.

The meal reminded me of going a marae for a Tangi, perhaps it reminded me more of the differences. Here we ate sitting around outside on wherever we could find, be it a branch or stump or perhaps a chair - we were not in the wharekai. Also there was no powhiri, no walking in line pass the whanau and mate, and no custom of washing hands. Because of this I found it difficult, there wasn’t a chance to say good bye to Bridley one on one. Also this was all happening so fast, it was within 18 hours of his death.

During the meal we heard how he died. The night he died he drank too much Kava. According to the doctor who came and investigated, it would seem he slept on his stomach, head in a pillow and was out cold from way too much Kava - possibly numb in the throat, without any control. He vomited and the food got stuck in his neck/mouth? He died from asphyxiation in his sleep. Very Very sad. We will miss him (nearly three weeks later we still miss him). My memory is his smile, his leaning against a wall, a smirky kind of smile, the laid back Bridley - with so much ahead for him to live and experience - so very tragic.

After a while we were told they would have the funeral that night due to the fact he was beginning to smell bad, so at around 5pm we went to the funeral at the local COM church. It was a short service and then family and COM students went to the burial. The rest of us slowly found transport back to Talua.

So a very sad day (and week), and kind of weird as the funeral happened the same day...without us westerners having chance to sleep on it and think about it and grieve. The next day it felt like it was all over, a new day began, new things happening, with the only difference being Bridley no longer in my classes. One less copy of notes and handouts to print out, one less……………..

A prayer issue at Talua that has come out of the tragedy is that some students are breaking the Talua bylaw of drinking Kava. No doubt this will be talked about. So please pray that the talk is helpful and not damming of Bridley or others. Pray that those addicted get help, and those who drink just the occasional shell, stop while at Talua. Pray also that they think NOW about what their stance will be when they are ordained.

some good news - many know this already but for those who don’t. We are coming back to Talua in 2007. I will be lecturing the same topics as 2006 as well as being the Talua accountant for the year. So it will be a tricky year trying to run Talua on the smell of an oily rag.

Being a training institution in a 3rd world country is difficult. We can’t charge students much as they don’t have much. But things like books, printers, photocopy toner, fuel for generators, staff wages, paint and plumbing for “western buildings”, all cost 1st world prices (not the staff wages), and therefore more often than not this year Talua has had little cash for things. On a few nights the generator has not run because there was not enough cash for Talua to purchase diesel - the sad thing is if the generator does not run, the combined value of Kerosene used in lamps in the student and staff housing is more than the diesel cost for 3 hours of power.

About the decision to come back. Before arriving in Vanuatu we decided as a family we would all make the decision about 2007 once we had settled and understood what living in Vanuatu was really like. Also it was agreed that the decision had to be unanimous. So I think the principal found it frustrating that I could not let him know if we would be here for 2007(he asked after a few weeks of being here). I explained that as a family we would make the decision and that would be later. Anyway, Council for World Mission agreed to fund us for another year (with a bit extra from the Global Mission Office of the PCANZ), and as a family we decided to stay. We will go back to NZ for Christmas 06. While in NZ I hope to visit a few churches that are coming over to Vanuatu in 2007.

some current news - week three of term three is nearly over. I think we are more used to the weather as it doesn’t seem as hot. The kids are having a ball - most of the time. Last weekend Viv suggested they make a mountain bike track through the bush. So we didn’t see them for ages. Yep - they came back with cuts and bruises but also all excited because they had seen their first snake in the wild. I still don’t know how big it really was as no one says the same size. They all agreed it was big but now I am not so sure.

Simon can climb a coconut tree (not the really tall ones) and get himself a free drink. Just like in NZ where there are crazes at school when everyone plays this game, or buys that toy for a few months / weeks until a new craze hits. Crazes happen here as well. During the school holidays one craze was slingshots - with birds and whatnot being shot; only a few people were hit. The kids also built plenty of tree huts, lately it’s been marbles and yesterday a massive water fight broke out. The innocence, the laughter, the smiles, the tears - it’s a great place to be.

Once the term started it was back to correspondence school. Viv finds this challenging as there are four kids at once, on different topics, using different material, all wanting her attention at the same time. With Viv being their mother as well as the teacher, subconsciously the ‘students’ do not think of her as their teacher - this also makes it problematic, when they get grumpy they say “but you are not my real teacher”. And then there is William. He does like to sit in a chair and day dream. The others get through their work fast but William takes forever. We even noticed yesterday when making sandwiches for lunch he was still crafting his sandwich, considering what to put in it next, when we were already chomping. So Viv finds the teaching hard work, as she feels very responsible for the kid’s education.

I am enjoying teaching the Gospel of Luke. I think that church here tends to focus on looking good, that the “church service” has to be “how the missionaries taught us” about a million years ago. So in Luke I really enjoy pushing all the Lukan themes that have nothing to do with “church service” but with caring for the poor, of how Jesus had run in after run in with the powerful of the day and how he lifted the powerless, how he lifted women up, how salvation is meant to be for all - but there still needs to be repentance, that Jesus was God’s son, was the Messiah the Old Testament spoke about and not just some “nice prophet intelligent fella”, its real kingdom of God stuff.

Its great - and what is even better is the students are beginning to see this. They are being spiritually challenged - Luke emphasises the role of the Holy Spirit heaps (Luke and Acts) and they are beginning to see the importance of obeying the Holy Spirit. They are beginning to see that being religious is wrong, and that it is the inside (our hearts) that counts, and this is proved by how we treat our neighbour, not by how well the church service went. So as you can tell - I am enjoying the teaching.

I am learning heaps as well. I think when I finish I’ll be a better bible teacher, I naturally incline towards preaching and not teaching so this is helping me. Also I am much more aware of my English - not that its perfect - but I now understand a lot more of the rules and whatnot.

So thanks for your prayers - no matter if they are only a thought or a good deep petitioning to God for us, we appreciate it.
God Bless
Jon

Monday, September 18, 2006

Talua Sunday

Yesterday was Talua Sunday, a day when all students and staff led services around different churches in Santo. So Talua spread to churches as far away as Hog Harbour (2 hr bus drive north east), some in the Canal and a few west of Talua. The Parkes family went to Araki Island. It was a great day - the boys found the service a tad boring - but apart from that it was interesting, new things to be seen and new experiences to be had. We all got home tired.

The return trip. After an early breakfast, at 6:45 we started walking the 45 minute walk on the road to Najingo. Then we piled on to a small wooden boat with a 25 hp outboard. We dropped off one group on Tangoa Island and then on to Araki Island. The trip was slow, and fortunately for us, the sea was not too rough - no white caps - just a big gentle ocean swell. After about 35 minutes we arrived at Araki. Then it was another 25 minute walk to the third village on this isolated island where we met up with the chief, saw the new church that will be completed by Christmas 06 and made final preparations for the service with the local elders.

The service started at about 9:30 and by 11:15 it was all over. The two Talua students led most of the service. Viv read the bible reading and I did the pikinini talk (really a game as an object lesson).

The only differences on the return trip was the sea was rougher, for that reason the boat travelled a lot slower taking about 50 minutes. No waves broke over the boat though but some of us got quite wet from the sea spray. The other difference was once getting back to land; most of us had to carry additional boxes of Laplap given from the people of Araki to Talua staff and students. So it was a slow and heavy 50 minute walk back to Talua. We all woke this morning rather tired.

All in all, for us this Talua Sunday we walked over two hours, spent over 1½ hours in a small boat in open sea and had a great time.

Araki Island has a population around 225, three villages with one chief for the whole island and as per usual - all the people are friendly. They are a very united people - I presume because of the small population and having one chief for the whole island. It is a world away from the rest of the world being very peaceful and tidy. The gardens and general layout was well presented, everything seemed to have an ordered way about it, and even the toilet by the church was clean and not falling down. Many houses had been painted, there were plenty of flowers and of course the view back to the main land was stunning.

The Island has three terraces, being a similar shape to a three tier wedding cake. From the sea level which is mostly cliffs with a few beaches, it goes straight up about 30 meters to the first terrace. This is a flat terrace about 400 meters wide encircling the whole island. Further up about 70 meters is the 2nd terrace – the climb to this terrace is not as steep or pronounced with the terrace not as flat as the top of the island or the first terrace. We didn’t walk up there but it looked to be about 400 meter wide encircling the whole island. Beyond that it is another 70 meters up to the top of the island. From a distance it looks like a flat table top – the top being perhaps 1000 meters in diameter. On each terrace and the top, locals have some gardens and coconut plantations.

Possible Projects: After church I spent a lot of time talking to locals about various things on the island. If any church in NZ would like to help. There is plenty that could be done. It would also be a great chance to form long term relationships. 

Water supply: Recently they had two 38meter deep bores drilled – with the current water level only 10 meters deep. The problem is they can’t afford any pumps. Perhaps a church could fund raise for a windmill pump, cement to build a water holding tank up the hill and for some pipe so as to supply water to the three villages using gravity. Currently they use rain water and at low tide they can get water from a spring below the high tide mark. But that is a steep and long walk. 
Paint the new church: Another project could be to help them paint their new church – the roof and walls inside and out. If a NZ church could supply paint and even come over helping them paint - it would save them money for other things. This kind of project is a good introduction type project into the world of sending work parties. Buying paint and painting is easy. The main part of this would be meeting the people, learning cultural stuff, having a good experience, eating Laplap, drinking from coconuts and learning how to say no to further requests (or saying you will pass the idea to the GMO office). Why not give it a go!

Small Primary School: A very easy and enriching project could be to create a friendship with a NZ primary school and Lehilehina Primary School. It is a small school with only 23 children. From the outside the school looks similar to much of the island. Very tidy and well organised with an island sand pit and island (wooden) jungle gym. There is one government paid teacher and also a parent teacher. Speaking to the head teacher she said thought it would be a good idea for her school to have a friendship with a NZ school. This would involve the NZ and Vanuatu children exchanging letters, hand made cards, photos of each other and stories about their homes and life in NZ/Vanuatu. Possibly the NZ School could send a few items such as small sports equipment, books (old journals) and writing material. Give it a go –the current PCANZ person at Navota or Talua can take photos and help with the correspondence. Invite your church and local school into a cross cultural, life enriching experience.

Deep freeze and power system: Another very helpful project could be for a kiwi church to raise funds for an energy efficient deep freeze and solar system. This would help the island run a small fishing business. They have recently purchased a small fishing boat but because they live so far from Luganville, any ice they buy from town melts and therefore any fish they catch go off before getting to town. They found that having to get their daily catch of fish to town on the day they catch them was cost prohibitive. Therefore a solar powered deep freeze would make their dream of a fishing business viable as they could catch fish, freeze them and only have to pay for transport once a week. This would truly bless the island.

Any kiwis coming over to help would fall in love with the island. It has an X factor about it; it is peaceful and remote with stunning views. The only issue would be the 30 minute boat trip to the island.

Bat Poo and whatnot: After lunch we also visited a big cave on the island. We had to write our names on the cave wall using bat pooh before going inside – a local tradition. Once inside it was fascinating to have bats flying around our heads. It was not at all scary like the movies enjoy portraying. There was an almost silent fluttering sound as they woke up and started to fly - hundreds of them. While clinging to the ceiling of the cave they look as small as a mouse and once flying with their wings stretched out they look much bigger – more bat like.

So it was a good day. Last night for dinner and this morning for breakfast the students of Talua ate lots of Laplap, and other cooked food given to them from the villages they visited.

God bless
Jon