Happy Halloween

10.27.07

Here it is about three on Saturday afternoon. Have a few things to report. Two about me and one about the host village Mangaliulu. It’s been a fairly lazy day. Although I got up at 6:30 Am and pushed my morning walk another ten minutes to an hour. I wasn’t hard, just the time it took. Really enjoy the start to the morning. I was up fairly late the last two evenings. Thursday night because I made a now famous batch of Kalowia bread. I purchased a half pound of raisin (sultanas from Australia) and another half pound of US walnuts. I chopped the walnuts, cut up and hand squished a dozen bananas, added the raisins and some cinnamon to the second rising of the dough and made a dozen loaves of local bread. It was a big hit among both the Ni-Vans and the PCTs and staff. I raised the price to 120 vatu. Actually the extra went directly to the family. It actually wasn’t enough to pay for the additional ingredients but I figured too much of a price increase might not be well received. I probably could have asked another 20 to 30 vatu as everyone is asking when I’m going to bake some more. Having learned the process I wanted to show Ricky (my host brother) the possibility of diversifying his craft. When we make the next batch I think we will use only local ingredients, bananas and maybe another fruit or a local nut of some sort. The only big difference in the process is that we found that the baking took about twenty minutes longer. I think because the batter was wetter from the bananas.
The baking kept me up until almost eleven. Earlier in the afternoon half of the PCTs got the opportunity to finally do some work. We all felt incredible good to get away from just classes. We used our bush knives and cleared the vines and brush from about 500 square feet of growth. Some went into the brush and came back with long thin poles. We used some to create posts and the longer ones for railing. Then we again went into the bush and came back with another kind of pole (suckers from a tree) from which we peeled the bark to make our lashing. We had just cleared a new garden area and set the fencing for it. Later we will be setting dry coconut leaves in the double rail system to keep, chickens, dogs, goats and pigs from getting into the garden. Although we probably will never taste the results the experience was refreshing.

10.29.07
Friday the village had a big meeting regarding won of the biggest issues affecting all of Vanuatu. Land ownership and the leasing or sale there of. This is a convoluted issue. When Vanuatu gained independence in 1980 their constitution returned land to its indigenous owners or stewards. It also made some stipulations regarding the sale of land. After having read the constitution I can say that while it starts with a beautiful preamble and philosophy of the Ni-Vanuatu’s responsibility to the country (something our US Constitution fails to do) it is fraught with lope holes and there is relatively little checks and balances in the three branches of government. Basically the legislature delivers the chief executive (prime minister). While there is a President, he is basically just a figurehead. And the judiciary has no real overriding of constitutionality of law passed by the parliament. So back to the land problem. There are now foreign investors (primarily Australian) who are throwing quick money at Ni-Vans and by passing the paramount village chief. There was a very big convention in 2006 in which a thousand recommendations were made. Those have been distilled to twenty. But as of yet they have not been enacted into law. So there is a sort of land grab going on. Right now the typical Ni-Van subsists on their land. They can feed their family, live with mortgages, little or no utilities, no property tax and give the land to their children. But if they sell for the quick buck and then they buy the truck and DVD player what will they have left? They are without the awareness of where that may lead them. Its not that there should be no development period, it is just that there isn’t enough critical thinking skills to ask the questions and look down the road.
Here in Mangaliliu the issue is even more complex. This village with the two small islands across from is a major historical site for the whole country. This is the home, death place and burial ground of the great chief from four hundred years ago, Roi Mata. Some land owners have signed agreements to sell or lease land that may endanger the potential World Heritage standing. They have gone around the chief and so there is big toktok (talk) happening. Stand by. I’ll report more down the road.

10.31.07
In Vila now for the day. May not be here next Wednesday. I’m heading to Epi, the island where I will be cited on Saturday morning. It is a medium size island just at the center of the Y in the archipelago. I’ll be there for either three or seven days to meet everyone, explore the layout and ascertain what I should bring back with me when I return three weeks later. I’m very excited to be getting close to the end of training and getting on with my new life. See a lot is happening in the states. World Series sweep, new Attorney General, my daughter got her first full-time job as a social worker. Life goes on everywhere. I’m loving it. Feeling real good. Up early every morning. Walking an hour and starting to feel all my clothes falling off me. My beard is now totally white. No more coloring left.