AROUND THE ISLAND

March 5, Thursday

Today was a national holiday.  All Chiefs Day or something like that so all the businesses were closed.  We took half a day and traveled around the island.  We wanted to go find the Paonangisu chapel because we are going there on Sunday afternoon to visit with the Branch President and some of the members who want to take the Education for Better Work course that we are going to teach. It’s a 12-week course they have to take before they can apply for a PEF loan.

along the way, we found some beautiful beaches

Always one of VaLynne's favorite things

and some lush vegetation

We then went to see the WWII museum.  Vanuatu was a major staging area for the 

allied forces and the island of Efate where we live had a Marine air base and lots of other support units.  In fact, just east of Port Vila was a huge bomber airstrip. Vanuatu (or The New Hebrides as it was known at that time) was the last defense to keep the Japanese from reaching Australia and New Zealand. This is where the battle of the Coral Sea was fought. Most of everything is now overgrown, but there are still some leftovers, such as the remains of a plane that crashed on the beach and a bunch of other odds and ends.

This is the road into the museum.  Absolutely beautiful (and no potholes)

leftovers

     Notice the flags of the countries that were here.

                                                               and here it is

Believe it or not, although it doesn't look like much, we found it to be quite interesting and the setting is just about as calm and peaceful as anywhere we have ever been.  The owner greeted us, then went and sat under a tree in the shade and left us to ourselves.  As we were leaving, we noticed his wife and two or three children lying and playing in the shade of another huge tree.  What a great way to spend the day

We drove up and down the road a few times, made many wrong turns, and finally called the Elders who work in the area.  They guided us by phone until we found the Chapel we were looking for.  It sits up a road that's hard to find, around a bend that's hard to see, and it's worth it.  Small, open, humble, and just being there we had a special feeling of peace and comfort.  We can't wait until Sunday when we will have a chance to come and worship with these wonderful people.  The more we know them, the more we love them.  It's no wonder they have been recognized as "the happiest people on earth".  We walked up the trail about 75 yards and found the house of the Branch President.      He wasn't there, but we heard talking a little further on and found him, machete in hand, clearing an area to build a new house.  We had some materials to deliver to him, so he walked back with us to the chapel

                  President Eric and I in front of the chapel.  We'll get a better picture of it later

One more fun thing.  It was a hot day, and as we were driving along the highway, we noticed one lane had a bunch of cones out.  We naturally slowed down, moved into the other lane and as we drove by, we found that it was just a bunch of guys that wanted to have their lunch in the shade.  The trees and grass grow right next to the road, so it's the best place to be.  They happily waved as we drove by and nobody, including us, thought anything of it.  This was the only time with cones, but a number of times we would see a group of people lying in the road.  As we approached, they would move out of the way, smile and wave as we drove by, and go back to business as usual.  Everybody waves as you go by,.....and we wave back.

Second Week +

February 24

Busy, busy, busy.  It’s great.  In order to qualify for the Perpetual Education Fund (PEF), the students have to take a course called Planning For Success, so we spent two nights this week in those classes and another night we had a meeting scheduled with the District Self Reliance Committee.  During the days we are spending a lot of time in the office trying to learn all we can about what we are here to do.  The public schools only go through grade 6, and they don’t even start until they are 6 or 7 years old.  Many of the schools are overcrowded so a lot of the children have to find private schools, which can be very expensive.  Consequently, it is very difficult to attain a high school level education.  The more we get to know the people of Vanuatu, the more we love them, and want to do all we can to help them further their education. We’ll keep you posted on our efforts.

This is an amazing place.  When the young people of Vanuatu go to some other countries on missions, they see something they don’t see here. When they see people who are starving and having to beg for food, it is very shocking to them.  Although Vanuatu is among the least economically developed nations in the world, nobody goes hungry here.  They know how to live on what they catch and grow and look out for each other. 

On Sunday we attended our assigned Branch for the first time.  We arrived about 10 minutes early and heard singing when we got out of the truck.  They don’t have an organ or piano, so for the prelude music they sing hymns; and they do it beautifully.  At home, when we have to sing without a piano, we can hardly find someone to hum a starting note to get us going.  Here, the chorister will sing the first measure or two, and then say “ready, sing.”  The first time we saw that happen, we just sang with her when she started and gave everyone a good chuckle.  Bislama is a language that is mostly derived from a part French and mostly a pigeon English.  I tell people the English part I can understand if I listen very closely, but I’m having major problems with the pigeon part.  Our Church meetings are interesting in that we only understand a small part of what is being said, but there is such a wonderful feeling of peace and love that we don’t have to understand the words to know what is being said.  After the last meeting it was raining so hard everyone just stayed and visited until the rain went away.  It was fun and gave us a good chance to get to know everyone.

 This is a picture of the chapel as we were leaving after it quit raining.  Notice the separation of the buildings.  This allows the breeze to move more freely and keeps the rooms a little cooler. 

The building on the right is the chapel/activity area (as they call it –we call it the cultural hall), and the one on the left is for classrooms and the Branch President’s office.

You would think that in a place with so much rain, you would have a clean truck.  Not so.

It seems that the more it rains, the dirtier it gets.  Can’t have that.

We were looking across the lagoon one evening and VaLynne noticed a wildcat in the trees.  See if you can find it

             Something you don’t see in Wyoming in February.  This is a combined ym/yw activity

                                      A picture of us with President and Sister Brewer