Wokabaot

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Our week long "wokabaot" in Maewo rocked our little niche in the Pacific Ocean (quite literally as we experienced about six small earthquakes our last night there). Even though we were only there for one week, we absorbed so much that it is difficult to channel the experience into writing. That being said, our trip included three flights, two of which landed in grass fields. When we touched down in Maewo and got off the plane, it was hard to pick out the road from the thick green "bush." One of my favorite perks about the island itself is that it, in fact, only has one road suitable for driving, and even that is a hit and miss commodity. Depending on the rain, trucks may or may not be able to pass on "the" road. We drove through several rivers on their way to the ocean as we made our way to the village. We hear and look forward to following them up as most have waterfalls at some point. (For any potential visitors or worrywarts, don't worry, boats can get to most places when the road is out.)

Justin and I have two separate host families in Maewo. We found this out when we got there and had about two minutes to barter about who got the soap and toilet paper for the week before splitting up. Even though it was unexpected, by the middle of the week I was grateful for the newly experienced autonomy that I didn't realize I was lacking. In training, one of us sort of can vouch for the other, but being on our own made interactions more personal and empowering. I say this especially for me as a female, trying to do the culturally appropriate thing when in company with my husband (which often means letting him talk for the two of us). As we have swapped stories afterwards, we are realizing that is going to be a blessing to have twice as many connections as our respective families each have their distinct differences.

Justin's host parents are both natives of Maewo. They are very familiar and proud of the strong custom, tradition, and local language unique to the island. His family has four children as well as a nakamol (kava bar). My host family, by contrast, is from two islands. My host mother moved from Ambae to Maewo when she was married. As a result, both she and her husband speak a different local language, so they communicate with Bislama. Because of that, their children don't speak the local language. This presents an interesting challenge as the kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 and primarily taught in the local vernacular. Also, my host father works on a boat and is more often away from the house. They have three children of their own as well as a niece and nephew who are staying with them to attend the secondary school there. It is a very different dynamic as their house and interactions in the community depend heavily on Bislama while Justin's are strongly linked to the local vernacular.

Gambule School is where we will both be based for our projects. The school grounds have a primary and secondary school. The primary school is grades 1-6, secondary grades 7-10 (11 next year). The secondary school is a boarding school, so the students live on campus as well. The volunteer that we are replacing has secured funding for a resource center that is in the process of being built. He has also budgeted for computers. Justin's project will entail him seeing the construction of the resource center through and training teachers on how to use and maintain the computers. He also may extend that resource to the community and students. The teachers are very interested in basic keyboarding and internet skills. The possibilities that the internet would open up for the school would be amazing!

My role is yet to be defined. During the week I visited a kindergarten class taught completely in the vernacular. Then, as I observed the first grade class, I was surprised to see that the kids were speaking the vernacular but learning vocabulary and spelling English words. This presents a huge disconnect because for most of these kids, English is their third language (the first being the local dialect, second being Bislama). Even though the national board of education mandates that year 1 and 2 are taught in the vernacular, actual curriculums for each and every vernacular (there are 100+ in Vanuatu) have not been developed. I hope to help bridge that gap by developing a curriculum in grade 1 and 2 that focuses on teaching phonics and reading in the local language before moving on to English. I also will be trained in the coming weeks to give workshops to the teachers on phonics, classroom management, and student centered learning. That part may also entail traveling to other schools as well.

A secondary project that both Justin and I are excited about is becoming very fluent in the local language and starting to preserve some of the custom stories of the island. Justin found out during his week that many traditions are lost or forgotten as the generations pass on. With the growing interconnectedness of the islands in general, more marriages are happening between islands, sometimes at the price of not passing on a local language or traditions. As we are becoming more comfortable with Bislama, we are realizing that it is a very vague language. Its main purpose is to communicate generally between islanders, but the true local vernaculars are far more descriptive and specific. An example: to describe a child as cute you can use the words "nice" or "really nice" or "really really nice." Same goes for a sunset, same goes for good food. In the local languages, there would probably be very different words for these, just as we say "cute" "beautiful" and "delicious" in English.

So, we cannot wait to get through our last three weeks of training and jump right into our site. There is no school in December and January, so we hope to get a jump start on learning the language during those months. I have also spread the word to a few mamas that I want to learn to weave island baskets. Comparatively, I tell them that my aunt (Hi Lish!) knits with sheep wool and makes all sorts of bags, so I want to do something similar. Of course, wool would be entirely too hot and ridiculous for me to be knitting here, so island baskets it is! They seem to connect with that and have sent me back to training with the suggestions of buying dye so my baskets will look "flas we" (translation - think Fergie's "flossy flossy").

Oh, and for my agriculturally inclined readers, you must stay tuned for more information on the gardens of Maewo! As I mentioned earlier, the island is full of water and streams and rivers and water water water. The people have strategically set up terraces that hold the water at different levels for their main crop: water taro. An amazing feat. The gardens are immaculate. Layers of terraces stack behind on another as the water funnels through them all. After a few years, the gardener moves up or down the mountain, changing the course of the water accordingly, to allow the soil to replenish. The volunteer we're replacing has started a water taro garden that we plan to take over. Luckily, all the hard work of terracing is finished and we'll just have to glean information on how to maintain it now.

Water taro is all over the island and is a staple crop for the people there (us!). It is a root vegetable similar to a potato. In fact, when I think back to my "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" vacations and our very special chips, I think water taro accounts for the purple-ish ones, as water taro itself is rather purple. Another plus - it has significant amounts of protein and fiber, a fact I can personally attest to as I was more regular in my week there than I have been in the last month and a half of training. Dr. Oz would be so proud, if only he could stand the conditions of the toilets here. Anyhow, in addition to being good on the bowels, the island food on Maewo is superb! I also have big plans during December and January to learn to cook some local dishes in our kitchen...

Oh yes, our lovely future abode. Our house rocks! It was built by an RTC program of a previous Peace Corps volunteer, so it has cement floors, two bedrooms and a living room/kitchen. There is a full size bed in one room and bunk beds in the other, so pack your bags, there's no excuse for you not to come visit us! Our bathroom is comparably nice, a lovely cement long drop toilet featuring the close up availability of a tree with large leaves. There is even an outdoor kitchen ready for cooking over the fire! Lucky for us, the volunteer has agreed to sell us a lot of the supplies he has acquired over his three years of service, so many of our shipping consternations are solved as well.

Our house is behind the school, close to the beach. Most of the secondary teachers are from different islands, so they live on the school grounds as well. This will present another level of diversity in our relationships as we will meet and learn from people from other islands. Our closest neighbor and his family are from Pentecost, the island known for land diving. We have already gleaned all sorts of tidbits from chatting with him and he offered to take us to his home village for the land diving ceremony.

To say the least, we are excited about our site and the endless potential for our being there! The people are very open and excited to have us there as well. During our stay, we heard details about all of the past volunteers and their time here. It really has made me think about the legendary effect that our presence could have on this island as few "white men" visit it. The people really remember every idiosyncrasy of their past volunteers. Hopefully the lasting impression we leave will be a positive one!

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Photos

Gwasis
The custom way of making kava on Maewo is to grind it by hand with a stone. This guy is part of my host family in some way, grinding kava in our future kitchen.

Host Family
Cousin Carl, Host Mom Lily, Sister Sophie, and Cousin Kathy

Nafele
My little host brother, Aldai, and mother opening nuts with a rock. Not quite pecans, but they're good!

Smells like home
Luckily the familiar smell of cows wafts through the school grounds. Cows here graze on coconut leaves, what else?

School Grounds
Some of the primary classrooms with a beautiful background.

Monkey Brother
If I could only climb trees like a Ni-Van kid... Seriously, I have seen one the equivalent of three stories high in a coconut tree with a bush knife.

Farewell
Our host mamas came to the airport to see us off. It was my little host brother's first time to see an airplane!

Comments

[Kelsey Larson]

Hey!
Hey Sher and Justin, I enjoyed reading your blogs and seeing what you were up to... I'm sorry I haven't got a letter written back to you, have to do that asap. I hope you guys are enjoying your self. It looks like it! Haha... well hope everything is going good. Lots of Love.

[mark]

campin ?
A long drop toilet with leaves ?? hmmm, must be similar to the pecando facilities, I'm couriouis, not enough to come see it, and not sure pictures are necessary.