Goodbye to Anatom (Aneityum)
Trust
Richard Martin
Tue 19 Aug 2014 06:27
We have had a few days here now getting ready for the big haul south. We
plan to leave tomorrow, Wednesday. The weather window looks OK for that
departure - not the best but acceptable. We may strike some southerlies as
we work our way south which may slow the trip somewhat, but it should get us
back by our end of August 31 deadline.
When we were last here I thought it would be useful if we could give some of
our time expired yacht medical kit to the local nurse. I spoke to him and he
gave me a list of medicines that he most needed. He also talked about the
value of glasses to some of his patients. From there it all grew a
little and Dick brought 20 pairs of reading glasses and some old medicines
up with him and Chris brought out some dental stuff from the UK to add to
the boat material.
So we assembled all our goodies and went off to see the nurse - a chap who
revels in the name of Roger Peter. A lot of Vanuatuans introduce themselves
with an English Christian name, but Roger has gone one step further. But his
choice has just made it difficult to remember whether he was Roger Peter
or Peter Roger. So in the interests of simplicity we decided to call him
Roger Roger. That was much easier to remember.
Anyway, Roger Roger is a lovely guy, very humble and in his 30s, with good
English and obviously trying hard to do a good job in difficult
circumstances with few resources. He copes with all sorts of emergencies
with little backup or support. As we unpacked the stuff his eyes got wider and wider and he was
very obviously pleased to have it. So that was nice that we were able to
help. Just as we were about to leave he asked us to stay a moment while he
scampered off. Roger Roger came back with a carved wooden spoon which he
proceeded to present to me. I guess the subtleties of awarding me a
wooden spoon award are lost on Vanuatuans - But it was a 5 ft long spoon
of the kind I presume that was used to stir the pots in which they used to
cook the missionaries. It was a very nice and heartfelt gesture
.
Dick and Chris went snorkeling in the very large lagoon that sits inside
the reef at Anelghowhat on Monday. The wind was up a little so conditions
weren't perfect. Chris decided to try out his fancy new movie camera which
operates at depths of up to 5m. Being the careful person he is, he tied a
lanyard between the camera and his trousers. Trouble was that when he
finally got in to the water, his shorts wouldn't stay up and the lanyard got
free. Down went the camera, to be followed by a few minutes of frantic
searching underwater - thankfully at a depth that could be dived to. The
story had a happy ending however and Chris finally surfaced holding the
precious camera! I'm not sure what his strategy will be when he next wants
to do some underwater filming. It was suggested that he tie the lanyard to
another part of his anatomy, but I'm not sure Chris appreciated our input on
that one.
Finally late afternoon Tuesday we went through the boat again looking for stuff that we didn't need and which the villagers might want. We came up with 2 items. The first was a 5kg packet of dried milk (we had more than enough to get us home) and a bundle of kava root left over from Fiji and the sevusevu custom as well as a bundle of coins. So Dick and Chris went ashore again determined to do more good deeds as well as try to get a sim card for the only cellphone provider here. They drew a blank with the sim card, but the money went to the school master and the milk powder went to Roger Roger. The kava root was a bit problematic. In fact Chris felt a bit like a drug runner with the kava bundle sticking out of his backpack and everyone looking at him oddly. But finally that went to a home of sorts and we were ready to go.
ETD is 0900 tomorrow. We will keep you posted on progress.