At Aore SDA School

22-May-2010
While the schools have been on holiday this past week, the principles and head teachers of the SDA schools across the Vanuatu archipelago have been gathered at Aore for teachers’ training. Several presenters from the Union education office in Fiji and the Division Office in Australia held the sessions. So, even though the students were gone, the church was quite full when we arrived for services, damp and rather bedraggled.

After church we meet several expats including Naomi Turnbull. She and her husband, Dr. Mark, have a medical outpost on one of the smaller northern islands of Vanuatu. You may remember I mentioned them prior to our leaving the USA (their website is http://www.4hishope.com/ ). They found that there was a need for a school in the area, so stepped out in faith and started one. They have 45 students and 4 teachers. Naomi is functioning as the principal. Since this is not where here personal education lies, she is out there getting all the assistance she can get including the seminar just completed on Aore. We had recognized their little airplane out at the airport when we landed on Santo earlier in the week. People we had met in Vila who had been presenting at the seminar were on their way flying out when we were arriving, and they told us that she was out at the Aore school when our paths crossed in the terminal.

Naomi and I had a great visit, ate together at lunch and just yakked.

While on campus, Karl was also able to see where they were going to put their double ODC, which will be used as a chapel for the boys' dorm.

I love retirees. We met an Australian couple, well that is not totally correct, they are native New Zealanders (better known as Kiwis) but have claimed “Aus” as home all their adult life. Donald and Isabelle Paget worked in the Solomons and Vanuatu for years. He is a builder and mechanic, she is a nurse educator and midwife… two very readily needed skills. They have spent their retirement with 3-6 months out in the islands, then back to Aus to raise funds and rest up. They have a wealth of stories and they just spill over with them. Both love to “story” (the local term that roughly equates to visiting).

When Karl told them that he had been on Tanna last week erecting a One Day Church at the Kwataparen School, they told us they had been a part of the group who did the original buildings for the Kwataparen school decades ago. (See 27-May post Re: Kwataparen)

Stories:
The first SDA school in Tanna was in Port Resolution. There was some opposition that continued to foment until the church members learned that a group had decided to tear down the school and kill the teachers and the children. The students were determined that God would protect them while they learned and continued to attend school. One day, the pastor heard that the talk had turned to action and the school was surrounded by a big group of angry men planning to carry out their threats of vandalism and murder. The pastor quickly went to the school and sure enough, it was surrounded. He prayed and begged God to make the men sleepy and blind their eyes. Then, with trust in God’s providence, he quietly eased into the school. He told all the students to not make a sound, but follow him out of the building. Without a peep, the entire school, students and teachers, followed the pastor on soft footsteps past the men that surrounded the school who appeared to be groggy and unaware of anyone passing. After all the students were safely home, the men surrounding the school suddenly became aware that the school appeared deserted. Upon investigation, they found not a person in sight. They destroyed the school, but all the people had escaped and were safe. It was after this that they moved the school farther west around the south end of the island and set up the school at the present day site of the Kwataparen School.

However, opposition did not completely disappear. Donald told us that while they were building, the water would stop flowing in the pipes they had bringing it from an excellent up land source. He would go up and clear out what ever vegetation had been used to stuff the pipe and stop the flow. Some days, he would go up there 2 and 3 times.

In constructing the original buildings, a volunteer group had come in from New Zealand, I believe. Upon reassurance that all was ready, the group came, only to find the ground not cleared and only a small amount of cement block. A little discouraged, they and the local church members set their backs to clearing the land. More block trickled in bit by bit… the crew laid the block as quickly as it was handmade with wood forms, still green and uncured. Next there came word of a cyclone skirting their area. They debated what to do, but decided with the local members that they would not flee, but pray and stay with the work. Everyday for 5 days the heavy rains came across the land, but when it reached the school site, it split, raining on either side and then beyond, but the building site stayed dry and the winds low.

Isabelle told of a Fijian physician/surgeon that came to work at the hospital when they were working on Santo. This man was not only dedicated to his profession, preforming brilliant surgery, keeping up with things through professional journals, etc.,but he was also a devout spiritual man.

One day, they came into the offices of the small hospital. Though it was darkened, they could hear the doctor’s voice. They called out, but got no answering call back. Still they heard his voice. Upon investigation, they found the doctor on his knees on the floor, his head resting on his Gray’s Anatomy, pleading aloud with God for wisdom in a diagnosis and surgical procedure he had no experience with or had ever read about. Isabelle said that they soon found that this was not an isolated case. This was how he confronted the unknown that would crop up in his practice of island medicine in a primitive setting.

The expatriate physicians that came to the city to practice medicine for the governmental agencies of France and England, who jointly governed New Hebrides in those days, got pretty lazy when they reached the islands. They spent a lot of time boozing and taking it easy; they didn’t subscribe, nor keep up with any of the medical journals. Sooner or later, they would get into a difficult situation and would come looking for the Fijian physician at the little SDA hospital all in a panic and a dither. When someone would tell him that one of these guys was in an emergency situation and was desperately looking for him, he would smile and say… “oh, they just have come to get caught up on something they need to read in one of my journals.”

trip To Aore

written 22-May-2010
Today took us to Aore Adventist Secondary School. It was an adventure, a very damp adventure. The weather has changed and rain, rain, and more rain has descended on us.


First thing this morning, Brandon's cousin who drives a pickup for public transport, came by to pick us up.  Supposedly, he knew where we could catch a boat to take us across the channel to Malo island and then on to Aore island.  Karl has wanted to go see the SDA school at Aore and has been talking about it since before arrival.  We get out to what looks like the middle of nowhere and our driver, Glifford, pulls off his t-shirt and starts waving it at a boat that is already well on its way across the channel.  After a bit, they apparently see the flagging and turn around to come back to pick up another fare.  Around the point, a second boat hoves into view and the two boatmen reach some kind of understanding... and the second one comes closer while the first turns and heads out again.  When close enough, the boatman shouts to us to go farther along the coast to another spot where he will pick us up.  So, we jump back into the pickup and change venue.

When he boatman gets in at the new site, guess what... he is low on fuel and we will need to wait while he runs up to his place and gets a bit of a refill.  Of course all this will be faster if our driver takes him.

They eventually return and surprise, he doesn't have enough fuel to take us all the way around the island to the school, but if we are willing to walk on a foot trail that leads from a beach on the closest side, we will come into the school property through the farm (cattle and coconut groves).  In the mean time it has started to rain.  Glifford pulls out a blue tarp from the back of the pickup and we grab a couple umbrellas we brought from the transit flat.  We slosh on board and are off.

Within just minutes we are pretty much wet all over.  But hey, it is an adventure.  We reach the beach and our "captain" makes arrangements to come back over to the school's jetty to pick us up in the late afternnon.  And then, surprise, surprise... he finds someone on the shore that he can bum a little fuel off of so he'll have enough to get back to Santo.

When the time comes for us to head back that afternoon... no boat and driver.  We call his cell and he says he is about half way there.  When he arrives... surprise, he needs extra fuel, because it is getting dark and he will need to travel faster and therefore use more fuel.   Brandon manages to pull out another "hat trick" with one of his many relatives that we keep running into since arriving in Santo, and more fuel appears. 

With the day heading into late afternoon and rain continuing to fall, our captain (name of Fudie) gets into some shallow water and the engine gets yanked up to save the prop.  Now we need to move the boat out of the shallow area, but how do we do that?  Easy.  The floor boards are not bolted down next to the edges, you simple lift up the 2 x 6 plank and voila, you now have a divise to push you along.  Finally, we are out of the shallows and the motor is down and pushing us on our way.  Then Captain Fudie says that he will need to go back to where he left us off earlier in the day and return the fuel he borrowed from them.  Okay.  We go back toward the Aore shore after about 15 minutes and he hollers to a kid on the bank.  Then tosses a gas can (plastic) into the shallows for the kid to pickup and pulls back out.  Then the man has second thoughts.  He turns around and heads back into shore, takes a quick run down the beach, disappears into the bushes for a minute then comes running back up the beach, jumps in and we are off. 

Of course we get soaked again on the way back.  Via cell phone, we know that Glifford is on his way, but not there when we reach Santo.  Captain Fudie insists that we really must go up to his house an not stand out in the rain.  About that time, Glifford's lights shine through the lush growth above the beach.  All's well that ends well.

kj: a touch of the doldrums (missing home might be a factor)

Written 21-May-2010

We have arrived on Santo. Our living arrangements here are, uh, interesting. The “transit flat” is under one end of the area director’s house (father of Graham, our IT guy at the mission). We are sharing it with the rest of the crew. This is way out of my comfort zone.

Behind our lodging is the area mission office, which supposedly occasionally has internet service. They also have a book store (ABC). I’ll have to check them out next week to see if they have any CD’s of island a cappella music.

We do have running water (one temperature only, tepid); a flush toilet which always seems to have a little residual left in the bowl no matter how often you flush (you also have to walk past our bed to reach it); a propane stove (Karl had to repair due to dirty flame that blackened the bottom of the cooking pots); and a small refrigerator that is non-functioning.

Karl offered my services to food shop and cook for the crew…oh, my word. This is in the outer limits of beyond comfort zone. Why that should be, I’m not sure, but there you have it.

Breakfast, a pretty big meal for Karl, is only peanut butter or avocado on a little bread and sweetened hot tea with milk for the guys. Don’t know why I’m whining, they take care of their own breakfast and I don’t need to worry about a noon meal which the church mothers are scheduled to provide. However, supper is a different story. I have no refrigeration for leftovers, so when I calculate wrong they either don’t have enough or I have to toss out what doesn’t get eaten. And believe me, with my foreign cooking, the potential is high.

Everything is so pricey. The produce is a little cheaper than in Vila, but not significantly. I am too far from town for walking, so must use a taxi, which must be called, for which, with my lack of ability with Bislama and the heavily accented English, I require assistance. Taxi is $2.00, $4.00 round trip. Somehow, the money just melts away one way or another.

We asked Brando what it cost a month to feed his family of 4… $600 US! And believe me, that is with very simple food and very little meat…a chicken once in a great while and fish a little more often.

Farther north equates warmer weather. We have been spoiled up to this time with either a/c at night in the mission guesthouse in Vila, or the cooler weather in Tanna. They have a fan in the Santo “transit flat”, which may have helped last night, but then again, perhaps not. Yesterday I was rinsing my face and arms every hour just to get the sticky, salty feel off for a few minutes…ugh. Yeah, yeah, I know I’m spoiled. Today is overcast and a bit cooler, I stay with the fan blowing on me as much as possible as I go about my day.

Since our potential internet access is a bit iffy here, this may not get posted until we are back on Efate for a few hours prior to flying home next week.

The Katie Jo whine is over.

ODC Project begins next step on the island of Espiritu Santo

Written 21-May-2010  @0900

When we arrived from the airport yesterday at mid-day 20-May-2010, the crew hit the ground running. They had to find transport for themselves and the church components, have someone round up the church members who were on the list to assist, and then find the site.  All that took a rather long time, but by 2:00 they were laying out the building with posts and strings.

By 3:30 they were digging the first holes for the anchor posts.

At quitting time two hours later, all the posts were in concrete. When they took a group photo to document the event was starting to get dark, so the camera naturally went to flash… one of the church members was wearing a reflective vest…looks like some shining being is a part of this crew!



The men got out of here at shortly after 8:00 this morning. That is the earliest I have ever seen them get going of a morning. It will be interesting to hear the report if they actually were able to begin work 10 minutes after leaving the flat (which is how far away the site is)! They have rental scaffolding available here in Luganville, so once the crew gets started on making trusses and raising uprights, Karl and Brandon will go into town and hopefully obtain what they need.

Project plans continue to unfold into reality – island #3

Written 20-May-2010

Today 9:00 am found us at the airport in Vila. That was much nicer than the 5:00 am time originally scheduled!

Pictured is our group while we were waiting to board our flight to Santo. Peter Ranguani, our trainee from the island of Malakula. He is employed by the mission as a minister (non-ordained). Morris Tasso, a layman from the second church built (nambatu Wan De Joj-Teuoma 2) skilled in construction and quick to grasp new concepts. It took some talking, but Karl got him on this trip. And with thumbs up, delightful sense of humor and infectious laugh is Brandon Dick-a mission employee and the man Karl is mentoring to be head of construction for the One Day Church Project in Vanuatu.

If you are interested in the interpretation of the cellphone billboard behind them – Talk a lot, no more worry, it’s easy.

The 45 minute flight north was through fairly clear skies, so we could see the islands of the archipelago as we flew over them on our way north to Espiritu Santo.

Tanna's SDA boarding school - Kwataparen Secondary School

19-May-2010

A few photos of the school site where the One Day Church is built.

Bell: the top of an old oxygen bottle (very likely an American one of WWII vintage), hangs from the ridge pole and is hit with a rod to sound the bell. 

Shower/toilet block, actually quite new

boys' dorm with mosquito protection in whatever form the boys can supply.

classroom

science lab

girls’ dorm

staff housing

school store

library

school auditorium a la banyan tree – back stage and the green room are located in the Multiple trunks/roots. This is fairly typical.

Right now at the Vanuatu booth in the Pacific Pavilion at the World Expo currently being held in Shanghai, China, they have recreated the base of a banyan tree as a background for their dance performances. It made the front page on yesterday’s news paper when the dancers from Malakula were not allowed to perform in their usual dancing attire (or should I say, lack thereof) and were required to don grass skirts!

food service facilities.. block section=dining, tin sheeted section=food prep kitchen, woven bamboo sided building=cooking facilities

cook shack for cooking over open flame

Tanna scenes

Written 19- May-2010

Local auto supply shop (look out NAPA and PepBoys)

Community use of Kwataparen classroom as a one day clinic by Presbyterian volunteer optometry team from Australia

 A new stripmall in Lenekel, Tanna… Vanuatu Post Office, cell phone shop, offices for a couple other businesses

The One Day Church at Kwataparen Secondary School minus only a few roofing sheets.... not bad for only a few days and slogging in the rain and mud!

Island customs of the Pacific... ministers, respectful titles, tithe houses, etc...

Written 19-May2010

Pastor Tomas is the only ordained SDA pastor on the island of Tanna. In this part of the Pacific, a man that is not ordained is called a minister, it is only after ordination that he is given the title of Pastor. So far it appears that all the pastors are in leadership with several ministers serving under them and rather than having their own churches, they oversee a large area (a group of islands). The ni-Van are very respectful and they address people in leadership by their job… Pastor Tommy, Minister Peter, CFO Tom, Mission President John, General Secretary Pastor Damien, etc. Pastor Tomas has 6 ministers that he oversees and mentors on the island. Between them they take care of 12 organized churches and 54 companies with a total of around 1,650 members.

The people on Tanna have very little, but with the clean sea air and the variety and abundance of things they eat from the land, they are healthy. You see smiles and acceptance everywhere, they appear to be a very happy people. They are also devote in their worship of God. They believe in tithing… but how does that work when you do not have money? Each church has a tithe house, for the faithful to leave a tenth of their increase…It is all on the honor system, anyone can come and get the produce and leave cash in a little receptical that is also in the tithe house. We have found that it is not always well maintained, left over produce allowed to sit and rot and the money not picked up for days. Supposedly, this is the purview of the head elder or head deaconess.

Now to catch you all up on what's been happenin'....

We are back in the USA!  I am looking at stuff I have in word documetns that I wrote while we didn't have internet and my word, does that all read like ancient history!  Well, it is written, so I think I'll post it to catch you all up on what we've been doing while I haven't been posting to this blog! 

Yes, it is good to be home...and dry!  My membranes might have loved the humidity, but the rest of me is enjoying the arid desert air!

back from Santo

We are crazily trying to tie things up since we arrived in Vila, Efate 3 hours ago.on our return flight from Luganville on Espiritu Santo island.

Karl quickly unloaded his suitecase and headed out with the driver to make a check on the two churches they had completed while we were on Tanna a week ago.  I took his cloths down the hill to launder.  Everything was wet and/or muddy, not enough consecutive hours between rain showers to dry anything while we were on Santo and no washing facilities that would at least spin out some of the moisture!  The clothing he wore yesterday was simply embedded with mud, and there had been no time, nor did it make sense to make them more wet rinsing them out last night... they were going to be packed wet in a plastic bag reguardless.  I have a few things written and photos lined up to post.  We will see how things get pulled together before bedtime, I might get one or two posted.... We will see how it goes. 

We are ready to return home (and get dry).  There is so much more we could have done here, and the ni-Van have been so welcoming... we really wouldn't have minded staying longer.  But now the time is up, so we look at the positive side and are rather happy to be heading home in less than 12 hours.

volcano

Written 9:30pm 18-May-2010-Tuesday

We just returned from Mt. Yasur. Oh, my! That was incredible. I wish you could have all been there to share it with us.

everyday living…

written Monday-17-May-2010 @ 9:00pm

Karl isn’t getting much time with the sea. We both love to just sit and watch the waves break on shore and shoot into spray on the rocks.

When he came in just as the sunset, he suggested we go down and sit on our rock to enjoy the serenade of the sea. As we got out onto the beach, I saw there was still a little color in the west so ran back to get my camera…

We watched the waves until all we could see was the white when they broke into spray and the stars were bright above us. What a nice way to begin our evening!

Supper prep has been interesting since we have only the electric kettle, refrigerator, and the bathroom vanity for amenities. We have eaten a lot of ramen, avocado sandwiches, canned baked beans and cucumber salad with whatever fruit might be around. Not bad, but a little boring.

In self defense, I wash out the socks every night. The rest gets washed out in the morning, so it can go out on the verandah to dry right away…but the socks can’t wait that long. After Karl showers, his boots get relegated to the farthest corner of the bathroom!

As Karl eats supper, I down load the day’s photos onto the computer and he talks about his day. Constant in the background the waves alternately swish and boom. A quick inventory of what the larder still contains and a mental shopping list and our routine is complete. Simple, basic, uncomplicated…not a bad life.

Project moving right along…

Monday morning, and it is off to work. Though the second morning to dawn without rain, there are still muddy patches, but is it so much drier than it was.

Scenery along the half hour ride (3.5 miles) to the school where they are erecting the One Day Church (Tanna nambawan).

On the job by 9:45 am. How it looks in the daylight.

The last truss is up before 1:00 PM.

Karl works in the school shop with teacher Ivan’s* very nicely maintained saw. By early afternoon, he produced a new ladder to help speed up the process of putting up purlins

 ...which Pastor Tomas immediately puts to use.

*Though names are sometimes a challenge for Karl, this one has been easy.  We have a friend in AZ who is also an educator, shares the same body build, several mannerisms and speach patterns... also with the name Ivan (however, the AZ Ivan is very German).

3:00 pm comes and goes…no driver appears to pick up Tommy and Karl. I guess that means a trip to the volcano isn’t happening on this day. Oh, well. However, when the time gets close to the 4:30 end of work hour and no driver has arrived, Pastor Tommy keeps an eye on the road to spot any likely vehicle to take home the crew from Bethel area (the village where our lodging and Tommy’s home are located; top carpenter, Robert also comes from Bethel, see Tanna map in 14-May post). Finally, a truck comes by…and it is one of his parishioners, how great is that? They pile in quickly and are off, bouncing down the road.
No, the spots are not from Lawrence Welk’s bubble machine. Karl has been fighting the effects of moisture on his camera, in one form or another for weeks. He just hopes it stays functional to the end of the project.

Project on Tanna in full swing

Karl’s day started later than planned… I don’t know why I bother to say that, it happens EVERY day. I’ll let photos tell the day’s events...

Loading up components from the stock pile. Pastor Tomas’ house in back ground.

The church that sits on the other side of the stock pile of components.

Pathfinder club learning to tie knots… using string, rope, telephone wire, coaxial cable, electrical wire, homemade banana fiber rope, you name it.

The facilities for pastor’s house

A quick stop to fuel up at the local gas station - self-starting siphoning to get it in your tank.

On the way

Volunteer work force

Assembling trusses

Local ladies provided meal they prepared over wood cook fires in the school’s cafeteria at mid-day.

First truss is up using new scaffolding.

Using the last daylight to get purlins on for bracing. All self-respecting ni-Van quit work by 4:30pm... Karl talked them into an extra hour and a half so the structure would be adequately braced.

Fellow workers leave Karl off at our lodging and head home.