Thursday, March 24, 2011
March stories
March 1, 2011
A Father and a Healer
I’ve gotten pretty used to my host dad’s lectures, usually about marrying a ManTanna and staying here forever or about how the US is good and Vanuatu is bad. On Sunday afternoon, I was feeling bad about skipping church so decided to pay him a visit. He was lying on a mat in his front yard wearing only a piece of calico around his waist (the usual). He asked me what kind of sick I had last year that made me go all the way to Australia. I explained what kidney stones were and how Peace Corps has rules about certain illnesses. He then went on a 20 minute lecture about how he is the best doctor on Tanna. Not the kind of doctor that puts poison and bad chemicals in your body and uses machines like in the US. He is a doctor sent straight from God and heals by using natural things that God sent to us. And this kind of doctor is the only good kind of doctor. He ended by demanding that next time I’m sick, I must only come to him.
March 12, 2011
Tsunami Scare
Yesterday, after shopping a bit in town, a PCV and I went to charge our electronics and sleep at another PCV’s house. She is currently in New Zealand but left me the key for charging purposes since she is the only one out of the three of us with power. After watching some Modern Family and scoring some meat at the market across the street my friend’s phone rang. I found my phone and saw I had missed a voicemail. When I heard my sister’s voice I immediately got worried as the family only calls when there is an emergency. In the voicemail, my sister said that an 8.9 earthquake had just devastated Japan followed by a tsunami and the entire South Pacific was on red alert. My friend and I immediately called our Safety and Security officer in the capital who confirmed this information. She told us to get to higher ground before midnight as that was the projected time of the tsunami. I walked across the street to the store to start spreading the news of the tsunami to the locals. Luckily I ran into a truck driver who was headed to a boxing match on the beach but decided he could take us up the hill. The other men headed to the beach spread the word quickly on their walk. My friend and I grabbed our belongings and jumped in the truck. We stopped on the way to inform another PCV and pick her up. On our way we passed the meteo truck that was driving along the coast yelling the news over his megaphone. On our way up the hill, the truck driver’s phone ran constantly as other folks were needing a taxi to higher ground. If we hadn’t gotten that ten minute head start thanks to my sister’s call I don’t think we would have found an available taxi driver. Just being on that hill away from the solwota I felt relieved and safe. I said some pretty intense prayers before going to sleep. Thankfully we were spared this time but I am afraid since nothing happened that folks will take it less seriously next time.
March 20th, 2011
What a crazy week! I’m completely exhausted and tomorrow is Monday…A PCV whom I visited in January came to Tanna to visit for a week. I met her at the airport on Monday morning and we got a truck to my school. We took a short walkabout the school and the neighboring village and I showed her the hotspots (like the water pump). We had dinner and storied with my neighbor for a bit before turning in.
Students presenting their papers
On Tuesday, we went to each classroom and did a toktok on diarrhea, how it spreads, and how to prevent it. Then each class did drawings of ways to prevent diarrhea and the best drawings got an award. The students really enjoyed this as it involved lots of hilarious pictures (like of men relieving themselves in the gardens). A neighboring PCV came over in the afternoon and we made manioc tortillas with rice, beans, and avocado for lunch (tortillas over a fire take forever).
On Wednesday morning we ventured over to Black Man Town, as they call it here, for some shopping and lunch. We met the two male PCV’s for lunch and planned to reunite at my school in the evening. The guys agreed to help with a health talk we were planning for Thursday. We made our way back to school and started preparing a big meal for the guys. Just as we were finishing up, my phone rang and the guys said they were at a Nakamal taking kava for a bit. Instead of getting annoyed, my friend and I realized that this is probably how every local female feels each night her man goes to the Nakamal. Our wait was worth it however as the boys arrived with sausages and fish…..like a Christmas meal! After strorying and a delicious meal which we flattened, the boys slept next door in an empty house (in order to remain culturally appropriate).
The next morning we did 2 reproductive health/ knowing your body toktoks with classes 5 and 6. The two guys took the boys down to the solwota and my friend and I brought the girls up to my house. We taught them about sikmoon (their period) and how reproduction works. At the end of the talk we passed our papers and pens for the girls to write down questions they were scared to ask out loud. I was amazed at how these girls didn’t know about their own body and about how much they did know when it comes to sex. This kind of health is not in any curriculum books in this country and teachers are scared to discuss it in class. It is also taboo to talk about these things at home so most of the students were hearing it for the first and last time.
In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day we made avocado manioc pancakes…and then had stomach aches. My PCV friend painted a sign on the library door and helped make another one to go inside the library. Then we hauled some coral to put around my house and swam. We of course made the mandatory trip to the volcano.
Truck to volcano
At Mt. Yasur
A Father and a Healer
I’ve gotten pretty used to my host dad’s lectures, usually about marrying a ManTanna and staying here forever or about how the US is good and Vanuatu is bad. On Sunday afternoon, I was feeling bad about skipping church so decided to pay him a visit. He was lying on a mat in his front yard wearing only a piece of calico around his waist (the usual). He asked me what kind of sick I had last year that made me go all the way to Australia. I explained what kidney stones were and how Peace Corps has rules about certain illnesses. He then went on a 20 minute lecture about how he is the best doctor on Tanna. Not the kind of doctor that puts poison and bad chemicals in your body and uses machines like in the US. He is a doctor sent straight from God and heals by using natural things that God sent to us. And this kind of doctor is the only good kind of doctor. He ended by demanding that next time I’m sick, I must only come to him.
March 12, 2011
Tsunami Scare
Yesterday, after shopping a bit in town, a PCV and I went to charge our electronics and sleep at another PCV’s house. She is currently in New Zealand but left me the key for charging purposes since she is the only one out of the three of us with power. After watching some Modern Family and scoring some meat at the market across the street my friend’s phone rang. I found my phone and saw I had missed a voicemail. When I heard my sister’s voice I immediately got worried as the family only calls when there is an emergency. In the voicemail, my sister said that an 8.9 earthquake had just devastated Japan followed by a tsunami and the entire South Pacific was on red alert. My friend and I immediately called our Safety and Security officer in the capital who confirmed this information. She told us to get to higher ground before midnight as that was the projected time of the tsunami. I walked across the street to the store to start spreading the news of the tsunami to the locals. Luckily I ran into a truck driver who was headed to a boxing match on the beach but decided he could take us up the hill. The other men headed to the beach spread the word quickly on their walk. My friend and I grabbed our belongings and jumped in the truck. We stopped on the way to inform another PCV and pick her up. On our way we passed the meteo truck that was driving along the coast yelling the news over his megaphone. On our way up the hill, the truck driver’s phone ran constantly as other folks were needing a taxi to higher ground. If we hadn’t gotten that ten minute head start thanks to my sister’s call I don’t think we would have found an available taxi driver. Just being on that hill away from the solwota I felt relieved and safe. I said some pretty intense prayers before going to sleep. Thankfully we were spared this time but I am afraid since nothing happened that folks will take it less seriously next time.
March 20th, 2011
What a crazy week! I’m completely exhausted and tomorrow is Monday…A PCV whom I visited in January came to Tanna to visit for a week. I met her at the airport on Monday morning and we got a truck to my school. We took a short walkabout the school and the neighboring village and I showed her the hotspots (like the water pump). We had dinner and storied with my neighbor for a bit before turning in.
Students presenting their papersOn Tuesday, we went to each classroom and did a toktok on diarrhea, how it spreads, and how to prevent it. Then each class did drawings of ways to prevent diarrhea and the best drawings got an award. The students really enjoyed this as it involved lots of hilarious pictures (like of men relieving themselves in the gardens). A neighboring PCV came over in the afternoon and we made manioc tortillas with rice, beans, and avocado for lunch (tortillas over a fire take forever).
On Wednesday morning we ventured over to Black Man Town, as they call it here, for some shopping and lunch. We met the two male PCV’s for lunch and planned to reunite at my school in the evening. The guys agreed to help with a health talk we were planning for Thursday. We made our way back to school and started preparing a big meal for the guys. Just as we were finishing up, my phone rang and the guys said they were at a Nakamal taking kava for a bit. Instead of getting annoyed, my friend and I realized that this is probably how every local female feels each night her man goes to the Nakamal. Our wait was worth it however as the boys arrived with sausages and fish…..like a Christmas meal! After strorying and a delicious meal which we flattened, the boys slept next door in an empty house (in order to remain culturally appropriate).
The next morning we did 2 reproductive health/ knowing your body toktoks with classes 5 and 6. The two guys took the boys down to the solwota and my friend and I brought the girls up to my house. We taught them about sikmoon (their period) and how reproduction works. At the end of the talk we passed our papers and pens for the girls to write down questions they were scared to ask out loud. I was amazed at how these girls didn’t know about their own body and about how much they did know when it comes to sex. This kind of health is not in any curriculum books in this country and teachers are scared to discuss it in class. It is also taboo to talk about these things at home so most of the students were hearing it for the first and last time.
In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day we made avocado manioc pancakes…and then had stomach aches. My PCV friend painted a sign on the library door and helped make another one to go inside the library. Then we hauled some coral to put around my house and swam. We of course made the mandatory trip to the volcano.
Truck to volcano
At Mt. Yasur
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