Stories I Never Posted

Lina’s Birthday!

Lina is a fifth grade student at my school. Her mother has been teaching kindergarten for over 15 years now. They live in one of the smallest kastom houses I have ever seen. They don’t have a kitchen but cook right outside their one room hut. Lina’s father is a fisherman and used to bring some money by selling his catch of the day. Last year, he was sent to prison for raping three young girls…his daughter was one of them. Lina doesn’t spend much time with the other kids at school because she is always doing house work. She is a wonderful student and really cares about her studies. On several occasions she has come to ask me for help with her homework.

One day I was teaching Lina’s mother some kindergarten songs and she started talking about Lina. She told me her birthday was coming up soon but that she didn’t have any flour to bake a cake. I told her that on Saturday evening I would prepare a cake if she made a meal. I invited my neighbors on both sides to Lina’s party but neither family showed up. I made her a banana cake and a bracelet. Then she opened her toothbrush and toothpaste that I had wrapped in newspaper. I wasn’t sure what her reaction was going to be…I mean what kid wants that for their birthday. A few days earlier, after noticing her rotting teeth, I had asked her if she ever brushed her teeth. She told me she had never done it before. When she opened it, she seemed pretty excited but I couldn’t tell if she was just being polite.

The next morning I woke up to Lina knocking on my door around 5ish. She had her toothpaste and toothbrush in hand and wanted me to show her how to do it. So we brushed our teeth together. I guess she really did like her gifts.

Lamen Airport Pictures

Oh traveling adventures just keep getting better and better. We canoed from Lamen to Epi...my arms are still sore. I thought I had already been on the smallest plane possible but then I saw this one land. A four passenger plane with only one pilot. Wow. The pilot actually had to rev up the propellors before taking off. The winds were so strong that we landed completely off the runway. I was so terrified at one point that I grabbed the hand of the lady behind me. She was just as scared as I was so we squeezed each others hand until we hit the ground. I don't think I will ever get over my flying anxiety...especially not as long as I live here.

Lamen Island Highlights

We were extremely productive during my week on Lamen. Besides hanging out with the locals and eating a ton of island food we did a few little experiments as well. We made soap with some mamas by mixing lye, water, coconut oil, and bit of lavender. We made 6 bars in coconut shell molds. The only hard part about this process is that you have to wait 6 weeks before using the soap on your skin (lye is a pretty potent chemical). I'm going to take the materials back to Tanna with me and hopefully do a soap making workshop with the mamas in my village. While ManTanna swims (showers) everyday and sometimes even twice a day, soap isn't often used. So this project is really great for the island mamas.


My friend and I also made chocolate! Some kids helped suck the cacao seed off the fruit....and probably all got sick afterwards. The cacao seeds then dried on the roof of the swim haos for 8 days. We made a kranki contraption with a milk tin and a piece of iron to roast the cacao over the fire. Once it cooled we took the skin off each seed and then crushed them up into powder. Finally we mixed in a little powdered milk and sugar and drank some delicious chocolate milk. We were wired that night. I also hope to do this with some of my students on Tanna.

Lamen Island Adventures

After waiting a week for cyclone Vania to pass, my PCV friend and I were finally given the okay to go to her site by plane (original plan was to take a little passenger boat). We boarded another small plane which landed on Ambryn firstaem and then proceeded to Epi. The landing on Ambryn was pretty rough....let's just say we swayed back and forth through trees before hitting the grass runway. We landed on Epi and scouted out a boat to take to Lamen Island.

The solwota was still really rough when we arrived and we got drenched on the ride over. It was pretty amusing however since we were on a boat with some chiefs...we all laughed at how wet we were getting.

Lamen Island is a small island of about 1 km in diameter and a population of 500. It is surrounded by bigger islands which protects it from tsunamis and cyclones. The people on Lamen take canoes to Epi to tend to their gardens. They spend most of their days making mats, laplap, and keeping the island clean and polished.

The island was so well groomed I felt like I was walking into a movie set. Apparently everyone rakes the road and around their house on Saturday...which explains why it was so clean. Everyone pretty much lives on top of each other as you can imagine with a population of 500 in such a small area.

Quick Sydney Trip

Headed to a small island off of Epi with a PCV on Monday. Pics and stories to come! Happy New Year to everyone!