Hi Yufellas,
The last two weeks have been typical of our stay here so far – new adventures every week and yet more examples of just how friendly and kind the people of Malekula are.
The week before last was dominated by the Independence Day celebrations. We spent part of the week at Walarano. There are two small islands here – Wala and Rano and the mainland village area is called Walarano. We stayed on small island Rano for the first night and were privileged to be given two tours of the islands by locals. We were shown cannibal sites and holy places and were told the stories of each of these places. The last recorded cannibalism was in the 1970s and it was a relief to be told that they didn’t eat white people – only local men from other islands.
The second part of the week we went to Lakatoro and were treated to an amazing football game – 2 all at full time, still a draw after extra time and still a draw after a 22 goal penalty shoot out. By this time it was almost dark and the game was called a draw. The pitch was surrounded by a large enthusiastic crowd who applauded and cheered madly every time a penalty went in. The result was appreciated by one and all. The evening for us finished with a spectacular fireworks display although we were a bit concerned for the safety of those lighting the huge array of fireworks.
This week we have been to Uripiv Island and Vao Island for Maryann to do checks of the kindys. On VaoIsland we found an amazing Kindy Teacher who would have been at home in any country. Maryann said it was as good as she had seen anywhere and the teacher, Juliet, was making terrific use of local materials as teaching resources. We stayed on the Island with Juliet for two nights and once again were overwhelmed with the generosity of these people.
Hopefully I’ve been able to download some photos from the last two weeks that might give some idea of what we are experiencing.
I am going to finish this report with my “Dog Poo” story which I think illustrates the point that we have been making over and over again about the generosity and kindness of these people ….
At the sports field at Walarano I managed to tread in some dog poo and I was trying to clean it off my sandals with a twig. A young man I had never met saw me doing this and came over. In Bislama he told me to come with him and he would help me clean the sandal. I followed him for some distance to the back of his family’s stall. He spoke to some people who were obviously family and next thing he had a bowl of water, had taken my sandal and cleaned it off with water and a stick. Now isn’t that just incredible. I know in NZ we are happy to help people with directions and things like that but would you go over and help someone you don’t know to clean dog poo off their shoe! I don’t think I would have before I came over here. I think the lessons we are learning from the people here are more profound and meaningful than anything we are teaching them.
Makes you think huh?
Cheers
Vic and Maryann