19:31.523S 169:29.757E - The Villages of Vanuatu #1

Irene IV - World Adventure
Louis Goor
Tue 26 Jul 2022 07:07
The Villages of Vanuatu #1

The guidebooks tell us that to understand the true nature of Vanuatu and its
people, Vanuatuans, one must visit its remote villages. We are fortunate
that right at our doorstep here in Port Resolution lies an authentic village
operating as it has done for generations - community based, led by a
hereditary chief along side many sub committees, with churches and a school,
a community field and meeting areas.
Having hung an Oyster World Rally flag in the yacht club which was signed by
the crews of Seabird, Infinity, and us on Irene IV, plus those OWR boats
that arrived later too, we set off to explore the village and get to know
its inhabitants. We had been forewarned to dress modestly and respect local
customs and expectations.

The village consists of circular, mostly grass roofed huts. The huts are
placed close together, with a separate hut for cooking and for sleeping.
Communal eating areas are dotted here and there throughout the village.
Locals gather on coconut woven mats wherever there is shade to chat or
snooze. Each family has its own lavatory hut, which has a deep hole in the
ground with a lavatory seat. When it is full, a new hole is dug. A separate
shower hut provides some privacy, however one must lug water in a bucket
from the well, quite far away. Bamboo is used for the wooden struts which
frame the huts, strapped together with bindings fashioned from bark strips
taken from another native tree. These bindings are soaked for several days
and immediately used before they dry and harden. We are told that they last
at least 10 years before they need to be replaced. The struts hold the roof
with its wooden frame and tough grass hairdo. The walls of the huts are
woven with an intricate coconut matting, similar to the flooring inside.
Like the villages we visited in Fiji, the huts are dark and cool inside,
divided into 2 areas. Some huts have hard raised sleeping platforms, others
have their inhabitants sleeping on the matted floor. Increasingly, houses
are being built of cinder blocks and concrete - rudimentary, but functional.
All the huts are surrounded by landscaping, with flowers, shrubs, decorative
rocks, and coconut hulls. Clothes are seen drying on washing lines and on
the grass roof tops, adding a colorful splash.

Everywhere we walk we are greeted with welcoming wide smiles and
conversation. We hand out some gifts we have brought, of clothes, canned
food, jewelry, solar lights and more. The villagers are so very grateful and
shower us with gifts of vegetables, fruits, and stories. Donna and Lucy from
Seabird are enthralled. Lucy wants to come back and spend some time in this
charming village as a volunteer, learning the ancient ways of these
delightful people. Donna is giving away even her most favorite clothes; she
is so taken by these friendly and gracious people.

We wander over towards the school, always a favorite of mine, and meet
James, one of the teachers. We ask if we might come and play some music for
the children and share some of our stories. He is delighted and mentions
that later that day they will all be gathering to practice their song for an
upcoming parent presentation. We will come and listen first and then play
for them. In chatting to James, we discover some school items they are
lacking. We promise to send as much as we can as soon as possible. Between
the 3 boats in attendance, Seabird, Infinity, and Irene IV, we have vouched
to send a package from Australia.

We had a very successful interchange that afternoon - some Irish jigs from
Louis on the bodhran and me on the fiddle; a few introductions from the many
OWR countries represented, a look at the world map, showing where we have
come from and where we are going to, and lots of fun musical games - a
connection of voices, smiles, and souls - the stuff of great memories.

Let me take a moment now to ask any of you who may be reading, if you feel
moved to send much needed school supplies to any of the villages we have
visited in French Polynesia, Fiji or Vanuatu, please email us at:
irene4 {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com and we can send you a list and the address.

The next day, Donna, Lucy, and I go back to the village and the school,
while the "boys" go swimming and hiking. The "boys" return with freshly
picked yams, cassava, and sweet peppers, a gift from a local, French
speaking farmer.We eat the yams, roasted with olive oil and Malden Sea Salt
at a potluck dinner that night aboard Seabird, we all wax lyrical about this
utterly delicious vegetable. I read in "A Produce Reference Guide to Fruits
and Vegetables from Around the World" (a very useful Christmas gift from
Johnny back in Napa), that the vegetable we call yams in the USA are in fact
sweet potatoes. True yams from the South Pacific are measured in 2-man,
4-man, or 6-man sizes, referring to how many men are needed to pull the
tubers out of the ground. Our yams were probably 2-man; however, they fed a
group of 11 people to complete repletion. The raw flesh of these yams is
white, crisp, and mucilaginous (viscous and gelatinous), when cooked it
resembles a very white potato.

In the village, the "ladies" from Seabird and Irene IV and the 3-person crew
from Infinity, presented an eye clinic with the locals, starting with Ben,
the school principal. We and Infinity had bought a special kit from a
humanitarian organization, Sea Mercy, to distribute to needy villagers
(http://www.seamercy.org/oyster ). It is a lovely way to get to know
villagers and chat about their lives and their dreams. We meet Nancy, a
retired nurse, she is fitted with glasses. A very old woman, I'm guessing in
her late 80's, is called over to the chair. We start investigating the glass
strength she might need. Our methods are crude, but effective. Luckily, Ross
from Infinity is a doctor, so he keeps us on track. This old lady cannot
read but needs glasses to thread her needles as she is a seamstress and a
weaver. Many attempts at threading with endless glass strengths, brings her
to exhaustion, always with a sweet smile on her face though. We hand Nancy a
bag of various glasses of different levels of magnification and ask her to
help the charming old lady when she is fresher and does not have a large
audience of onlookers egging her on. Likewise, in the school, we give Ben a
quick lesson in how to test and hand him a bag of glasses. We are sure a
glasses clinic with school kids will have all the children in the school
claiming blindness, so they can be the proud owners of a shiny new pair of
glasses! We leave the procedure in Ben's capable hands.