Tanna, Vanuatu. Part 1 - A tour of the village
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Tue 8 Jul 2014 08:36
The rather bleak view on our first day in Tanna
Tuesday, after a rolly, windy, night did not look much better. Despite the huge swell coming through the anchorage, we managed to find a gap in the waves to launch the dinghy. By lunchtime, when we were due to go ashore to the yacht club and clear in, things had definitely started to improve, that said, we all went ashore in foul weather gear!
Arriving at Port Resolution yacht club.
The volcano tour for that afternoon was cancelled due to the bad weather and the conditions at the top, so we went for a tour of the village instead.
World ARC has built a great relationship with the village over the years and has participated in some of the village projects, both in sponsoring them with monetary donations and also with practical help with the building work itself when the fleets are in port. The last time they were helping to lay the foundations of a new school building. Money is obviously a big issue here, but also getting the building materials to the village is a major issue. The main town, where the boats come in is on the other side of the island, a 3 hour drive away over dirt tracks. There is also an organised gift exchange between the boats and the villagers, more about that later.
The village has about 300 inhabitants and quite a large school. The school struggles for books and other vital equipment some of which we were able to help with. We met some of the children who were keen to show us how they could read. Unfortunately, due to a lack of books, they seemed to know the words off by heart which was very sad to see.
The main village area is based around the football field. When we arrived, lots of young men were playing football. World Cup fever is alive and well here in Tanna and many people, both villagers and yachties, travelled by truck to the next village to watch the semi finals, when the television in Tanna refused to work.
The football pitch, and centre of village life
The main roads out of the village - all the roads on the island are like this one
Walking towards the beach, there are flowers everywhere
Traditional style housing
Shivering on the beach!
Tanna's answer to Starbucks!
The people here are incredibly friendly and keen to meet you, talk to you and share their way of life. The closest likeness I can think of, to describe the village to you and give you a feel of it, is that is like the village depicted in the Jorvik Viking Centre back in England. The houses are all huts, with walls and roofs made of pandanus leaves. The roads are all mud tracks. They cook over wood fires in their huts. There are children everywhere, all keen to say hello. As we walked though the village we passed the local coffee shop. In Tanna, there are coffee plantations in the middle of the island and the coffee is ground and sold here - a much nicer experience than Starbucks, you even get bananas and custard creams to have with the coffee!
On our way back from the beach, we passed the bakery, a small hut where they light a fire each day and bake the bread in a large metal box placed over the fire and a local restaurant, where we booked to have lunch the next day. The beach was very windswept, grey and cold, just like England - here's hoping for better weather tomorrow so we can start to properly enjoy what looks to be a wonderful place.
Johnson at work in the bakery - the oven is the half oil drum at the back, full of firewood and burning away.
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