Game Fishing

Geoff (from Seascape Charters) helping William bring in a massive Barracuda. Vivienne and Liz watching on. South Santo in the background.











The 18kg Yellow Fin Tuna


















Liz with her Mahimahi. It was a good day. For more infomation see the blog called Clay Pots and Tuna

The Journey.........to Wusi and back

Marshall's Ute - thats THE UTE!














The rugged West Coast between Tasiriki and Wusi, Santo Island, Vanuatu.











The famous Wusi Clay Pot (ground pot)













Back at Tasiriki, looking back up the coast line and that is the dinghy we went in. Wow - what a journey!

Clay Pots and Tuna!

Ulcer update: Your prayers are appreciated as the ulcer is nearly closed over - only a few more days of changing the dressings regularly and wearing surgical stockings.

It’s the trip, not the destination! It was great to have my sister (Liz) visit a couple of weeks ago. One reason being it was a good excuse for us to get out and about and do some of the tourist stuff. One adventure was a trip Wusi village. I’d had it in the back of my mind for a year or so, it’s just the getting there as that is not easy. Wusi is a very remote village halfway up on the rugged west cost of Santo. Accessible only by a 12 hour walk from the end of the road or a 2 to 3 hour precarious journey in a small dinghy up the dangerous coastline, from the end of the road. We took the dinghy option.

Over all - the destination was not the highlight - it was the actual trip, the getting there and back that was such an experience, it was fun, new, scary, wow, weird, friendly, beautiful, breathtaking, and real-good-to-get-back-in-one-piece sort of an experience!

First was the Ute trip to the end of the road. One of the current Bush Mission students, Ps Marshall Ray (of the Protestant Church), drove us the 2 ½ hour trip to the end of the road to a village called Tasiriki. Early on the Saturday we jumped into Marshall’s Ute and oh………what a Ute. The deck was tied on by one piece of rope (or the deck would tip up); there were no windows (so when it rained we got wet); the windscreen wipers were not there (so when it rained Marshall stopped in a creek to wash the screen for our 2½ hour trip back in the dark); the radiator leaked and did not have a cap (so when passing through a creek Marshall would refill the radiator and a spare water bottle); there was only one headlight (it had to be switched on from the outside by twisting a few wires and giving the fuse a bit of a shake, at least the headlight worked!); some of wheels would come loose (every now and then Marshall would get out and tighten the wheels), the starter motor did not work (Marshall never turned the ute off until we got to the end of the road and then he parked it back up the hill a little); and then there’s them breaks, Marshall stopped at one village in the middle of nowhere and replaced a break drum part he had left at this village previously. The part had no break mechanism inside of it but at least it meant the wheel stopped coming loose. I asked Marshall how many breaks were working and he replied one on the front and one on the back.........no worries!

On arrival at Tasiriki we asked around for a dingy and skipper for hire. After waiting two hours a 5meter dingy turned up (had a 25hp outboard) and we set off in the ocean up the rough West Coast of Santo. It was a highlight to see the coastline, with villages scatted along here and there, (some that Talua students come from). On the hills, halfway up certain ridges in the jungle we could see smoke rising where people were no doubt clearing new gardens. Along the coast, in places there were beaches with the occasional dugout canoe pulled up above the high tide mark, other places sheer cliffs with nowhere to land.

We were fortunate because our boat was the fastest one based at Tasiriki and that meant only a two hour trip. Some boats take up to four hours for the journey, we past two other dinghies that were also heading north. None of us wore lifejackets, we were exposed out the ocean and yet it was just a normal journey. After two hours of hugging the coastline (most of the time) we arrived Wusi.

Wusi is just another village, but very dry compared to anywhere else in Vanuatu. Why go to there - it is the only place in Vanuatu where they continue to make clay pots the traditional way. So we spent time watching a pot being made. Clay is gathered from land near the village - an alluvial plain. There are no potters wheels spinning, just the shaping of the clay into a ball by hand, then hitting the clump onto ones knee to get the basic pot shape, then using a bamboo spatula to create the rest of the pot including patterns and decorations. They leave it to dry for a month or so before red coloured clay (found high in the mountains) is used for colouring. Then it is time for the firing process in a earth oven. For this a heap of wood it burned to heat up rocks in a hole (like a NZ Hangi), the pots are place in the hole on top of the hot rocks before being covered with a heap of Bamboo - the Bamboo ignites, there is a huge fire and the kilning process is finished. We purchased a number of pots, had a bite to eat and then began the intrepid journey back to Tasiriki. 

The trip back was into the waves and therefore more uncomfortable. When the waves were at their biggest I did turn around to gage the expression of the driver, and he had a huge smile and gave me the thumbs up. Obviously this was normal weather although Liz and Vivienne thought I was trying to drown them and Connie was freaking out for a while until Vivienne turned counting the bigger waves into a game. Simon, William and I just enjoyed being "out there", as well as the rugged coast and feelings of remoteness, we saw a Turtle swimming by and flying fish with one in mid air for a over 30 meters. It rained a bit of rain. When we got back I lifted up the fuel tank it was empty - the driver judged the amount of fuel needed to the last drop! We were all smiles and a tad relieved.

After that it was the return 2 ½ hour drive in the dark to home. On the way we stopped at Marshall’s village so I could take a family photo for them. In some ways the ute trip was just as dangerous and eventful as the dinghy trip. The road was incredibly rough, at times the wheels spinning and slipping flat tack to get us up a steep section of the “main road”, there were river crossings, ford crossings and careful monitoring of on coming vehicles with only one headlight shining - in fact if you see one headlight over here, it means a ute, not a motorbike. We also stopped for each oncoming vehicle to talk to the driver, this is the custom whether on foot or in a vehicle, to exchange where one has come from and where one is headed.

In all a memorable day with the journey being the highlight rather than the destination.

Tuna! The other tourist activity we experienced during Lizz’s visit was game fishing - we went out for an 8 hour charter. It was a tad rough at times - one of us managing to spray the skipper with vomit, he was working at the stern of the boat when the seasick person was leaning over the side halfway up being sick, the wind spraying the skippers. But in all, we thoroughly enjoyed the day, catching plenty of fish that we brought back to Talua for all students and staff to have a good feed that night. All of us caught fish with a total of 11 Yellow Fin Tuna (one was 18kg), one Mackerel Tuna, three big Barracuda, and a Mahi-mahi. I also hooked up a huge Marlin - I couldn’t believe how hard it was to wind in with my arms were getting tried. After several minutes winding the Marlin was off again, with plenty of line going out further and further. I started again bringing it in when some of the others in the boat saw it jump out of the water about 500m away (just like on the fishing programs on TV), then the line broke, right up by the trace so perhaps its own sword cut it, that's what the skipper seemed to think - he lost his $150 lure. It was a great day!!! At one stage when heaps of fish (including Yellow Fin Tuna) were having a surface feeding frenzy, we saw a very big Shark enjoying the easy prey, its fin poking out of the water as it swam around. Later we also saw a pod of Dolphins - they were smallish so we think they were Hector Dolphins - they swam with us for a while.

Add to all that - Liz being is a top chief - she cooked us up a treat that night!

Mate its hard work working for the Boss.

Boss bless

Jon

Blog Blong Jon: Bali / Ulcer / Term Two

It has been a long time since posting to this blog. The main reason is I had to go to NZ to get the Tropical Ulcer on my ankle under control and before that, we had the difficult task of just having to go to Bali for a conference - such a hard task! We are all well and my ankle is slowly getting better.

The time in Bali was great. Thank you mum and dad (Judith and Basil) for coming to Talua and putting up with hot humid conditions and looking after the kids so we could relax at a hotel in Bali. We thoroughly enjoyed the Council for World Mission (CWM) Global Missionary Gathering. There were 65 missionaries present from UK, India, Caribbean, Pacific Islands, Taiwan, Africa, Singapore, Korea, New Zealand & Australia, of which 2/3 were non-white! Having so many different cultures and ways of being gave the gathering a depth and richness that spoke of the Kingdom - and to be honest - gave a glimpse of the truly colourful display of cultures and peoples that are and will be gathered-around-the-throne. Being white it was great to be among the minority.

One themes of CWM is ‘Everywhere to Everywhere’. So at the gathering there were people from UK working in Africa, people from Africa working in Caribbean and people from Caribbean working in UK and so on – a full circle.

Even though my ankle was very sore during that time, Viv and I got to see parts of Bali, Viv saw more than I did (she even had a go at paragliding one day) and CWM organised a tour for us to see various places of interest. We enjoyed convenience of hot water, power, air conditioning etc. and managed to see some of the scenery and experience the hawkers telling us we need to buy this or that because it would bring us good luck!

At the gathering various people spoke, it was good to learn more of the history of CWM and future thinking. There was also time for conversations. It was special to hear so many different stories of the good things the CWM missionaries are doing, and hear some of the hard conditions they have to work in - life at Talua is a picnic. It was sad to have to say goodbye and yet we are all thankful for the rich experience of the gathering.

At the time my ankle was still very sore and even though the idea of going to NZ to get it checked had never occurred to Viv or myself, some of the doctors at the gathering advised us my ankle needed more specialised attention. We travelled back to Talua and after a few painful days decided I should go. The three weeks in NZ coincided well with the Talua exam week and two weeks term break.

The highlight in NZ was spending time with Phillip, he is doing really well, going to three different youth groups, and enjoying the lively singing at Elim Church in Blenheim. I also enjoyed meeting up with so many old friends and family. It seemed a long time to be away but the ulcer only started to reduce in size during the last week before coming back. Since then thankfully the ulcer has reduced in size each week - ½ml and 1ml respectively - so at that rate it will be cleared up in 4 - 6 weeks time. Viv is great, patiently changing the dressing twice a day and I have the privilege to dress in ‘Drag’, wearing a surgical stocking to keep the circulation pumping down on the ankle. Another good thing is it is no longer painful.

Term Two has kicked in and we can’t believe two weeks have gone already. Last week has been a lot of fun doing special “tourist” like things because Elizabeth (my sister) visited us. More on that action in the next blog!

God Bless and thanks for your prayers.
Jon

In Bali

Hi everyone
We (Jon and Viv) are in Bali at the moment for a CWM Global Missionary Gathering. It is great except Jon has a major health problem, a "tropical ulcer" on his ankle and he might have to go back to NZ for it to come right. Please pray for Jon.

We get back to Vanuatu on 23rd April.

God Bless
Jon and Viv

Tsunami Warning 2nd April

Tsunami Warning
I do not want to take away from the sadness of what happened in the Solomon’s last Monday as a result of the earthquake and following tsunami………that was tragic.

 

The following is our experience of the tsunami warning for Vanuatu on Monday 2^nd April 2007.

Last Monday I was in the middle of teaching a class when mama Cindy came to the room looking all worried and asked me to take the old Talua truck to the local school (Tata) and collect all the kids blong Talua students......as there was a tsunami warning.

This warning message arrived around 10:40AM from a nephew of the principal – not an official warning. He said he had heard on the radio a tsunami was expected around 11AM. So it was off to the school in the old blue Talua truck driving it as fast as possible with one eye on the ocean in between the coconut palms. Got to the school to find they had just heard as well……not from the Government Disaster Centre but the boyfriend of the school secretary had rang from Luganville.

Luganville was totally shut down, all shops, banks and whatnot closed for the whole day. On Tuesday when chatting with a few Luganville shop owners, one had known about the tsunami warning from around 9:30AM while another was working in her shop at 10:45 when a friend walking past asked her “why are you still open……..” Rather sad really……..what if there had been a big one.

At the school I asked the teachers what their tsunami warning procedure was...they didn't know, so I suggested they get all the kids up to the medical centre quickly, there was about 5 minutes before the 11AM deadline, the medical centre is on a rise about 10 - 15 meters higher than the school and only a 3 minute walk away. Well in the process of the teachers telling the kids, about a third of them (and some teachers) tore off into the bush helter-skelter back to their homes - potentially serious if there was a big one coming. It was emotionally upsetting seeing the kids run off towards their villages as if it was a big one…….……..their houses are along the beach (up a few meters but still at risk).

I drove the Talua kids back to Talua and we waited. Viv listened to NZ radio and it sounded like the wave would have hit by the time we had had the warning - the earthquake was 7:30AM Vanuatu time…..we later found out the tsunami tidal surges actually arrived around midday.

When talking to folk in Luganville on Tuesday, some people went down to the wharf to see what would happen (not clever)…….about midday there was a strong unusual tidal movements, with the tide going out and then coming in, all much further than normal etc. It sounds like this happened about three or four times.
Back at Talua around midday, some staff and students took to the hills. Monday night some staff and students were still frightened and stayed ether in the hills or they went to Luganville to sleep in the hospital or houses on the hill. Later during the day we heard NZ radio say the wave would hit NZ in the late afternoon, we figured it was well past. Pastor Fiama (Talua Principal) was frustrated with the National Disaster Centre (he said it was the disaster), as he tried to ring them all day and never got a definite answer - either way, so he was quite worried all day not knowing what was happening.

The last time a big tsunami hit the Talua / Tangoa region in South Santo (sometime in the 60’s), it was during the night and no one was hurt. Back then it sounds like most people around here lived on Tangoa Island - which is reasonably high. People got up and went to the main land to work in their gardens and instead found fish and whatnot lying inland about 500 meters on the road. Today many of these people live in villages along the stretch of land where the water washed through………..where the school kids went running off to.

God Bless

Jon

couple more photos

Getting ready for the movie Storm Breaker (part of Williams Birthday party). A good name after having Becky visit last Tuesday. The actual film was great, plenty of action and heaps of gadgets……the only problem was the DVD we had was a dud with the last 5 minutes of the movie missing.




So now it is quieter and things are kind of back to normal. In theory the bursar work should become more straight forward with less students around…….but I am discovering that things are not as simple as that and in the process of trying to help fix past financial errors I am finding it more and more weird. If you are the praying kind of person -wisdom would be a good thing to pray for me. Also health as I have an infection on my ankle (slipping over when checking the water supply a few weeks ago). The rest of the family are well. Yesterday Simon and William went catching fresh water prawns – they came in at tea time saying there was no need for tea as they had already had it, then they shot out the door again to watch Flubber at Mama Linda’s house. Connie was out most of the day, swimming and playing. Viv, Connie 

Becky visited

We had a visitor this past week. She arrived without warning around midday on Tuesday and left just after midnight. Becky was her name. She wasn't too bad. She caused a rough night with plenty of wind and rain but all in all she was a mild cyclone that ended up passing us on the west of Santo. A few trees fell over, knocking out the power at 8pm. But by midnight the wind was calming down. After dark the male students were split into 6 groups patrolling Talua until the storm settled. When they knocked on our door to check we were prepared.....it all seemed a bit of a joke to them. At least it was a mild one and we all slept fairly well.
In these two photos we are checking things for Becky. One photo we are about to go onto the roof to ensure the solar panels are fastened securely. The other Andy and I are sliding a sheet of timber along a window to protect it. Our own windows were not protected and if there is a next time I would find something to protect them from flying debris of branches, iron and whatnot. With only louver windows and fly screens for protection - they didn’t seem very secure against a cyclone. We even had water coming in through a porous section of the concrete block wall.


William turned 10 on Friday so we had pizza for tea on Thursday and lunch Friday (bought them from the Beach Front Resort this side of Luganville). American Hot Dogs for Friday dinner and Bacon and Eggs for Saturday breakie. Added to that William had friends around for a movie Friday night.
Its been a quieter week at Talua as Friday 23rd March the 67 Short Course Lay Ministry Students graduated and have left campus. Our water supply is now working properly again with about 70 less people consuming water. There is now room to sit in the dinning hall /church for services and devotions.

Graduation Day was a special day, starting at 4:45AM, taking photos of food (pig and bullock) preparation, teaching my normal English Classes and then after lunch the Graduation Ceremony. I took nearly 100 photos that day (and another 100 of students during the 6 week course) and spent until very late on Graduation day printing photos for students. The next morning I was woken by a student at 4AM and thought it was a tad early for more photos to be printed. But instead I was asked to drive the bus into town to drop students off……the bus driver was sick. So by 9:30AM I had completed two trips into town, and also spent an hour at the airport waiting for an arriving Certificate Two student – a tiring few days.  

Its good to be back - sort of

I am unsure why but I thought I uploaded this blog 4 weeks ago. Cos the internet is so slow out at Talua, we rarely check out our blog....instead we just send stuff to it, but during the last week we were asked if "parked" could be linked to www.laplap.com so I checked things. My initial blog for 2007 was missing. So have a read of 4 week old news.

 

Today we are OK. It still seems weird having Phill in NZ. Viv and I head to Bali for a Council for World Mission - Global Conference early in April, so we are starting to get ready for that (or at least think about it). My parents will come and look after the kids.

 

Anyway - here is the old blog that never made it

----------------

It’s been a while since writing to this blog. I am very grateful we had a long break in NZ cos it’s been flat tack once getting back. My job has changed, I am also the acting bursar, and it’s taking a while to suss everything, and reconcile who owes what, and a heap of other things.

What’s it like getting back”? This time round its all about commitment - there was no excitement on arrival (except it was good to get back, get back to work and back into “normal life” and meet familiar faces). In some ways I wonder if we noticed the differences more this time round because last time it was all exciting and so the differences were exciting but perhaps we didn’t fully realise what the differences meant, this time coming here life is normal, but vastly different to NZ and so the differences seem more acute. Even getting of the plane from NZ, the first thing to hit was how outside the heater had been turned on to high - the air was heavy and damp. I couldn’t remember that last year - although the kids said they did. Perhaps last year I was too stressed with taking the family on the wild adventure.

Regarding the weather, we have adjusted quickly this year - and to be honest it’s not too bad. Sure we sweat heaps - the bursar’s office does not have much air going through it and so just sitting buckets of sweat fall off - no need to go to a gym!

The day after we arrived in Vila from Auckland, we bumped into friends who live on Pama (translating the bible into local language). It was very good to meet up with them - we had lunch together - it really helped in feeling OK about coming back, because there are days when we wonder. Why? It can be lonely and hard, you know the kind of day you can’t be bothered to cook and takeaways would be sweet - we can’t have those days. We can’t jump in the car and pop down to see our mates. Perhaps Sundays are one of the hardest. Church is not innovative here and in NZ it’s a day to visit, touch base with mates at church and the beach and/or do other family things. Well Phillip is in NZ (enjoying himself from what his emails tell us), so we aren’t not a whole family anyway, and the number of “family things” we can do are limited. Walk to the beach or walk down the road or walk up the road - that’s it.

I am the fortunate one as I am busy. I don’t have time to miss western convenience. If you are the praying kind, pray for Viv and the kids. Pray that the kids make the most of this last year here and that they really enjoy it. Also pray for our health. Connie and William have sore throats and runny noses; and Simon and I have toe infections. About school, the new online correspondence school course for William and Simon is going well, but the learning curve is high for all of us - a few prayers for all this to be sussed quickly would be good.

Final thought
We are very grateful to people in NZ who made our NZ break so good. You have been such a blessing. Mum and dad - thanks for the use of the bach, it was good. Team Wright - thanks for shouting us to Parachute and the host of other things you helped us with. Diane (and John) you have a gift for thinking what would be useful - thanks for the things in the envelope. Bob and Barbara, your help saved us and the GMO lots of money, thanks for your great hospitality, you guys are amazing. To the GMO office - you guys keep us going, thanks. To many other St.C people and others I have forgotten about - thank you.

God Bless
Jon

 

 

Kids fun

Connie and some of her friends dressing up.


As you can see - we have had plenty of sea food. A student borrowed our mask and snorkel the other day. The next morning he gave us this.
The kids still have plenty of fun. Here they are in the middle of gymnastics 

Mould and fish

This photo is of two IBM laptops I have brought for the students computer suit. One of them was stored on a shelf here Dec / Jan when we were in NZ. The other one we brought over with us in Feb. Look at how fast the mould grows. One wonders what’s happening inside. Anyway – they both work and I’ll will be setting up the computer suit next weekend after all the Short Course students leave Talua – with nearly 70 Short Course students, there is no room for the PC lab. By the way, if you are ever going to donate a laptop to somewhere like Talua, an 3rd world institution based in a humid climate. Don’t donate a brand new laptop – it’s a waste of money, the laptop would never be used to its full potential and the climate might kill it too quickly. Instead – donate a refurbished one – they are about a 1/3 of the price, get one that runs Windows XP so memory sticks work fine with no need for extra drivers. They work fine over here – that’s what we use.



Some fish we brought, (we just wish the supply was regular). Only NZ$14 dollars. Not bad. We had half and the Williamsons the other half. We also boiled the head to get another meal of fish meat. Talua brought another one for the singles. The day before Talua brought two more for the Short Course students – that was two weeks ago. Sadly there have been no more. 

A good day at Aore

Last Thursday we took the day off, spending the time at Aore Resort. A free boat trip over the canal from Luganville. If we have a meal at the resort we can swim in the pool, rest and go snorkelling around all the topical fish in the sea. It was good to get a way.

I have been flat tack with acting bursar work. People coming all the time for things to do with the bursar, light bulbs, nails, fuses, money and whatever else. Regarding the bursar work of sussing Talua’s finances (the cash flow), the cash flow physically is not good but at least we now know what is happening and what to expect.

The new focus at the moment is a healthier diet for the single students. When buying one of those big fish (see the photos I hope to put up soon), I spent sussing how much the singles meals cost, and discovered that last year they ate tined meat for every lunch and dinner. What is strange is fresh meat works out cheaper – of cours refrigeration is the problem. But with the bus goes into town every day – the new aim is for fresh meat for the single students each evening – and we can store a little meat in our 100 litre 12 volt fridge. No doubt this “change” will cause major problems cos any “change” here is-just-so-hard-to-deal-with. I do get tired of that.
Anyway – it was a good day at Aore! 

some photos

The photos below.

Some of the lads, getting the food out of the earth oven, ready for the opening 2007 feast. It is interesting how much food these guys eat -not a lot made it to the table. Perhaps that is why the guys eat last at the "feast"

The church/dining room was crowded for the opening service so some students and other people sat outside.

Back to new tricks, a banana tree fell on the power lines, stopping power to a part of Talua. Here I am fixing the problem - now which wire is + and which - ?

We had coconut crab for a meal - not bad at all. The restrictions on catching and eating coconut crab have been lifted this year for the first time in several years. Notice how brown they are before being cookd.

 

A few photos so far this year

 

First Blog for 2007

First Blog for 2007

 

I am sitting in the bursars office frustrated by the slowness of the internet and the fact that we don’t have our own phone line yet and now there is no dial tone at all so… time to write a blog.

It seems that we are straight back into life as we knew it at Talua a year ago. Straight back into the frustrating internet conditions described above (If Jon were not so busy that he hasn’t had time to be on the internet much, I’m sure that he would be pulling his remaining hair out by now), straight back into stifling heat with high humidity, so hot that you don’t want to step out the door, back into careful monitoring of our power use so that we still have enough electricity to run our wee fridge and computers, etc. Jon is straight back into infections on his toes and has some kind of a bite that has swollen up his foot and lower leg, and we are all back into treating every little cut and graze as if it will turn nasty because it probably will. We are also back to people knocking on the door and asking for things or needing help at all hours.

          But I really should not have started with the negative things that we have come back to because we are also back to a whole host of good things as well. We arrived back at Talua on a beautiful clear evening just on sunset. Many of the views on the drive here were postcard perfect.  The kids arrived with great delight to see their friends again and were met with shrieks of greeting. They have loved being out playing with their friends again and always having someone around to play with, other than their siblings for a change. We have all enjoyed getting back into the wonderful warm water and the kids went to the nearby reef 3 days in a row, enjoying getting back into snorkeling. It’s just a few degrees warmer than the cool waters of the Marlborough Sounds! For me it is lovely to come back to having Madelyne working in our home and garden and to find it has been kept so clean and tidy over the summer. We are also very pleased to be able to return to the same house that we spent the year in last year as it is relatively cool and tidy.

          Some things are of course different on our return. The major and saddest difference for us is the fact that our family here is missing one member. As I write this Phillip is having his first day at Marlborough Boys College. He is living in Blenheim for the 2007 with Jon’s sister Raewyn in order to attend face-to-face school and have a wider range of activities and stimulation. We continually feel that we are not complete at the moment and feel such along way from our boy with our irregular email contact.

          There have been staff changes, too with our friends and immediate neighbours Glen and Rachael Conner returning to Australia for the birth of their baby. They will come back to Talua around the beginning of term 2. In their place next door to us are the Williamsons, also from Australia. They had hoped to come during 2006 but never made it because of Andy’s PHD commitments. We expected to have to move out of our home during the year to make room for them but didn’t need to in the end. We are thrilled that we haven’t needed to move and that they were happy to shift in next door. They have 2 lovely daughters aged 10 and 8, so needless to say Connie is happy to add to her large group of friends. Our kids are also quietly thrilled that they brought with them a large selection of books and a variety of other toys and games. Andy and Rosemary intend to be here for a number of years as they work on moving Talua towards a degree programme and work on producing a Bislama study Bible.

There is also a new COM Father/ lecturer and his family to get to know, and of course a whole host of new students yet to meet.

          Another major change for 2007 is Jon’s role at Talua. He will continue with his English teaching but adds on the complicated task of Talua’s Bursar. He really hit the ground running arriving just in time to start taking fees from registering students. He is developing a database to keep clear and accurate records of fees and allowances paid or owed, and an automatic spreadsheet for wages paid, etc. Nothing is straight forward in Vanuatu, however and this is proving to be a convoluted task. A challenge for him!!

          So 2007 will see new challenges for us as a family and some things will be easier because we know how things work, at least to some extent. We intend to enjoy this our second and final year in Vanuatu and make the most of all opportunities that come to us.

A few days break around Port Vila

Before getting back to NZ for the summer, we had a few days in Port Vila. We never had any of these visitors when at Talua. 

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!

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 23^rd we have the Talua Graduation and then on the 24^th 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

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

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!!