From lepers to giant clams...
Kokamo's Pacifc Meanderings
Tom and Rachel
Tue 6 Jul 2010 10:15
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Kokamo is at 17:26.5S
178:57.1E
We are anchored in a beautiful bay
off the island of Makogai, and it turns out to be a fascinating place,
quite different from any islands we have visited so far. It is owned
by the Fijian Government, having been assigned as a leper colony in 1911 and
funded jointly by the French and British to look after the lepers from across
the whole South Pacific.
At its height there were apparently
5000 patients here, with many impressive buildings. It is no
longer for leprosy sufferers - now only 14 families live on the whole
island, and the jungle has reclaimed much of the evidence of it's former
existence. But having met Suli, Inoch and Jim when we went ashore to
present Sevu Sevu (the giving of a bundle of kava root to the Chief by
way of introduction, whereupon we were accepted as temporary members of the
village) we were shown around the remains. The only evidence of the main
hospital is a set of grand steps, but more intact are
some solid walls, hemmed in by bush, which apparently made
up the first cinema in the Pacific. The projector room at the back, and
wall for projecting on to at the front are clear to see. Inbetween, Suli
explained, the men and women were kept strictly apart, as on all other parts of
the island (a strictness supported by the remnants of the hospital prison, also
still standing); the medical authorities being fearful of the consequences of
any intimacy. When one lady did become pregnant, and the baby was born
without leprosy, the doctors were apparently amazed.
Today, the site of the hospital is a
Ministry of Fisheries research centre, with their focus being the seeding and
growing of giant clams in a series of tanks. A couple of dozen of these
are kept in the bay where we are anchored, and are used to father/mother
(they're hermaphrodites I think) their fostered offspring. We went snorkelling
to see them this morning, and they are vast: a metre and half long, and probably
seventy cm high, it takes five or six of the guys to lift one and bring it to
the research station, and all with amazing patterns in their insides. Pics
to follow soon...
This afternoon we walked 5 km along a
road carved into the rock and supported by drystone walls (another of the
"patients'" projects no doubt), but now totatly overgrown, to the other village
on the island. We visited the school where the husband and wife teaching
team - Adam and Mary - teach the islands 23 kids between 5 and 14.
Having done our best to talk about London and about what it was like to sail
from New Zealand to the kids, it turned out what Mary wanted us to tell the kids
about most was the life and death of Princess Diana. I did my best to
weave it into a kind of fairytale, but - perhaps hindered by the dismal
ending - I'm not sure I did a great job. Anyway, we ended up taking the
school photo (which we will post back to them) and recording the kids singing a
few songs (which we'll put on CD).
Back at our anchorage Inoch has given
us an indepth lesson in dehusking, opening, and scraping out coconuts, before
making luscious coconut cream... All very welcome, as our attempts with a
cheese grater and seive have proved amateur in the extreme. Jim then
presented us with our very own coconut scraper. So should we become
shipwrecked on a desert island, we just need to remember to grab it, and with a
little practice, we should be able to survive for
months...!
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