How you can help!

If you are interested in sending things my way here are some ideas for things we can definately use! If you use flat rate boxes from the post office they seem to be the best deal. Send used items as well because even second hand to them here is much better than what we have access to!!

• books, books, books (esp. easy readers, picture books, and reference books)
• file folders
• notecards
• clear contact paper
• clear packing tape
• jigsaw puzzles
  
• games
• construction paper or colored paper of any kind
• stickers
• old magazines to cut up
• dollar store prizes
• silica gel packs to absorb moisture

Also here is my most up to date address if you are sending small packages or letters. For bigger packages still use the Peace Corps office address.

PO Box 33 Volovuhu School
Ndui-Ndui Post
West Ambae
Republic of Vanuatu

Thank you so much for all of your support and help so far! If you are unable to send items my way letters are always appreciated!

Meet the Natives

I heard about a TV show called "Meet the Natives" that is on the Travel Channel that features men from Tanna Island in Vanuatu while they visit places in the US. Check it out!! I know how much many of you hate reality TV but this one might be interesting. Enjoy!

Bae mi wok longsaed blo wanem? (What will I be working on?)

Well my "vacation" in Vila is almost coming to an end! I have enjoyed the luxuries of hot showers, clean clothes, cold beverages and delicious food! Training was informative and fun. I loved hanging out with other PCVs and talking with family and friends back home! Now back to the real Peace Corps experience of dirty feet, hairy legs, killing cockroachs, outsmarting rats, eating rice, and talking in Bislama!

I will be coming to Port Vila again in May for in-service training with all of the teacher trainers around Vanuatu. Until then for the next 4 months I will be working on a variety of things.



School starts on February 15th so I will be:

• teaching in the Volovuhu Centre School library with each class coming once a week and time for the community to come as well
• working with individual classrooms on literacy pre and post assessments
• doing workshops on formative assessment
• classroom observations and model teaching
• making tippy taps for hand washing (see picture on the right)
• teaching computer skills and typing to the staff

Here are some of the other ideas I have discussed with my counterpart but do not have immediate plans for yet:

• Ways to dispose of garbage and batteries (we currently burn everything! eek)
• English Club
• Working with students in small groups that need more assistance in literacy
• Help find grants for getting our solar panels up and running again
• Re-opening the library in Ndui-Ndui that has not been used in a year due to a political issue
• Creating manipulatives and classroom resources out of local materials
• Vision and Hearing Screenings and finding ways of getting glasses for children
• Making bread with manioc flour instead of white flour
• Workshops on anything and everything

I am excited to go back to site and actually start doing what I came here to do! When I was on the truck headed to the airport 2 weeks ago to come to Vila a few of the villagers asked me "Where are you going?" I joked with them "Oh, I'm going back to America now!" They said "But you haven't done anything yet!" haha

I guess I better get back there and start making a difference!

A day at the "soltwata"

When the weather gets hot we head to the ocean! West Ambae is full of black stone beaches. As the "soltwata" tide comes in and out the big black stones capture it and make small pools to swim in. They aren't deep so it makes it very safe. No sharks allowed!






This is one of the many places we go to swim. Here is my host Papa and some of my sisters and cousins enjoying the refreshing coolness. The kids usually just swim in their underwear or naked. Everyone else just wears shorts and t-shirts.

The names of the kids starting from the left are Noella (6), Charlotte(5), Selena (6), Christiano (4), and Joylynn (5).

Here are Michael (12) and Jerekslynn (12) (not sure how to spell that one!) climbing up the rocks to look at the ocean. They are the oldest kids in our family. They are both my cousins.



This was baby Jenny's first time in the salt water. That is my host Mama and youngest sister (8 months)!





And apparently she wasn't a fan!











I look forward to more days at the beach to come!

Launching of our Health Promoting Program

I will be working at Volovuhu Centre school in Tavala. Our school is K-8 and has plans of growing to continue up to year 9 and/or 10. Here is the school's logo. They had a drawn version and I made it into a computerized one for them.

Mid November we celebrated the launch of our plan to promote health education within the school. The first step was for the school to build an aid post. This building is a short walk from the school and is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday during school hours. It has two rooms inside but is quite small. The first room is Andrea's desk and basic supplies for first aid. The second room has a bed as well as shelves for the rest of her supplies.



The aid post worker was trained in first aid and the basics related to malaria, infections, and is able to give out medication. Her name is Andrea and she is quickly becoming one of my good friends! Here she is receiving a gift of banana lap-lap to thank her for working at the aid post. She is in the brown island dress.

She is going to Pentecost island for 3 months of training and when she gets back we are going to make plans to climb to the volcano's crater on our island!

The ceremony to officially open the post was lots of fun!

One of the teachers (Mr. Vira) and some of the students performed a skit to demonstrate how in the past the villagers were not always receptive to visitors coming to their islands. The boys dressed in leaves and pretended to block the invited guests as they arrived by holding up pretend bows and arrows.


Here they are also banging a beat on the tamtams. These are hollowed out tree trunks and are used to form the beat for dancing as well as to announce many other things such as births.










These are the salu salu's that were made from fresh flowers to give to the invited guests. This is the National Flower of Vanuatu and many of you may have seen it on stamps that come when I send letters. I call it "friendship honey" because that is how it sounds but the name is spelled something like "Fragipane." It smells BEAUTIFUL!! The come in white and pink.




With every ceremony that I have seen so far in West Ambae there are generally the same order of events. The invited guests arrive (probably about an hour or two late...this country takes fashionably late to a new level!). They are given salu salus and sometimes fresh coconut water to drink.



Here the chief of Tavala is giving a fresh coconut to the doctor that works at the only hospital on West Ambae.


The ceremony is opened with a prayer.






There is always an MC. Then there are multiple speeches followed by presentation of gifts. Here is my counterpart Chris who I will be working with at the school. He was the MC and loves the megaphone!










Now the plan is to encourage members of the community to use the aid post. There is a very small fee to get a sore cleaned and bandaged. I think it is either 50 or 100 vatu (aka 5o cents or a dollar American). Also, the school will be doing more health education and I hope to be a part of that as well. First goal...get them to wash their hands!!!

One of my many new skills!

As I am settling into my new home, each day brings new stories, people, as well as things to both teach and learn. Part of being a Peace Corps Volunteer is building friendships within the community which then will lead to teamwork towards accomplishing goals of positive change. My first two months at site have been very VERY laid back. At times I find myself so bored that it makes me doubt my time in Vanuatu and it's purpose. However, in those moments I realize that I need to get up and out into the community. One particular day I was struggling and forced myself to go to the market stall and "storian" with anyone there. They told me that some of the Mamas were making thatched roofing for a local custom house. This is called pinning "natanguras" which are leaves from a special kind of tree. One of my sisters brought me up to the house where the Mamas were working.

The Mamas quickly cleared a place for me to sit on a bench (while they all sat on the ground!) and welcomed me. After sitting there for 5 minutes watching them all work hard I asked them if someone would teach me how to do it. They looked at each other shocked and almost speechless. My host Mama cleared a spot next to her and the other Mamas gathered all the supplies I would need.

Step by step my Mama showed me how to take the leaves and weave them onto the wild cane. You take a big leaf and 2 small ones together, you fold the leaves 1/3 of the way down around the stick of wild cane. They using a dull knife you cut a slit in the leaves and weave the "bun" of a coconut leave to hold it into place like a safety pin. The "bun" is the hard part in the middle of the leaf. They use this to make brooms as well.

This is Mama on the right wearing the purple shirt. She is my Mama but is 29 years old! :)

Here is the wife of Pastor Joel and their son.

As they showed me I modeled what they were doing and slowly but surely got the hang of it. As I made 1 they each made 2 or 3!

Here I am finishing one. The woman with me is Mama Sunny. She is my Bubu because our Bubus' (aka grandparents) are siblings.

The finished products will be overlapped onto the roof of a house or bush kitchen. Roofs made with these leaves can last 20-30 years and amazingly keep the houses cool on hot days.

Some challenges with them is that spiders, lizards, hornets, and other critters enjoy them as homes. Also when the lizards or rats walk around on them it is noisy. Luckily my kitten Puss has scared away the rats for now!

Here is my finished handi-work! I made 8 in total. They count 2 for 1 so using their counting method I made 4. The family that the finished natanguras was going to was very grateful that I helped. They told me "you win" because many of the younger women and children do not know how to do this!

The family that will be using these for their roof did all of the preparation work of collecting the leaves and cutting the wild cane and "bun" from the coconut leaves. They also provided lunch and dinner for everyone that was involved in making them. I ate dinner with them that night too. It was quick cook noodles and spam over rice...yum huh? All together that day the women made 150 (aka 300). WOW!

I really enjoyed being able to take part in an important process in building a house or kitchen. Since that day as I meet more and more people they frequently say "I heard you helped pin natanguras!" This is one of the many things I will learn over the next 2 years. It is a great way to integrate into the community, learn something new, and get me up and moving or at least out of the house!