MUSINGS AND MISCELLANY

Top Photo: This is how half the homes in Lelepa look. This structure is actually the kitchen. On the other side of the ripped white-ish fabric is a dining table, with the house on the other side of the table. The shelf area in the left half of the photo is the dish-washing area. there is a 2x4 raised just off the ground to stand on. Not sure why, but they are all have this. Then there is a wash and a rinse basin. Look closely and you will notice two or three chickens walking around all the clean and dirty dishes. Definitely getting thier dirty little feet on the clean dishes. Maybe pooping too.

Middle Photo: This is a Tanna nakamal (kava bar) near Matt's house in the bush. They usually choose a site between a 2 or 3 large banyan trees. Women are not allowed in nakamals and usually don't ever drink kava. When we want to drink kava with PC girls we have to fill up a water bottle and take it to another site. At our nakamal in Lelepa they would often run out too soon, so we got them in the habit of taking pre-orders with advance payment. This photo shows a particularly large and beautiful banyan. Tanna is known for it's chewed kava. Usually it's prepared in a meat grinder - but the traditional way is to have young boys chew it up and spit it out. They aren't allowed to drink the actual kava until they get older, but they let them chew the roots 'cause they think the purity of youth adds sweetness to the flavor. Whatever. It still tastes like dirty cucumber water.

Bottom Photo: This photo was taken directly across the path from the nakamal in the above photo. These boys are all wearing towels since they've all recently been circumsised in one of Tanna's famed circumscision ceremonies that were happening when we were on walkabout. Each weekend for about a month a small group of boys are cut with a special piece of bamboo and then hidden away in a special house in the bush where women are forbidden to see them for a certain period of time. When the time is up a huge festival occurs. Some men were telling us about this whole process one night at the nakamal. At the same time a bunch of little kids were running around the area. I asked the guy which kids were next on the list and he pointed out a kid here and a kid there. When I looked at the smiling, happy kids I turned to the man and said "gee... he sure doesn't seem too nervous about what's gonna happen to him in a couple days". The man said they had no idea and that it was a well kept secret until the moment it was to happen. I still can't imagine how, when other boys who were just cut are running around the same area, that it can be kept a secret. Just another Vanuatu mystery. We've already been invited to attend a circumscision ceremony. I'm not sure how i feel about it - one of those things that would haunt me forever (4 guys hold the boy down as he screams bloody murder while being cut with a sharpened piece of bamboo - holy christ i get queasy just typing this). On the other hand it's one of those things you might just kick yourself for not seeing when you had the chance.

Sharing a little culture:

Tawi - married men can't look at his wife's mother. Women can't look at the husbands father. Suppose one of these pairs is walking towards each other down a narrow path?? The women must defer in either case and literally will jump off the path and into the bush to avoid the situation - although it's just as likely the man will do the same. It's works in different ways on different islands, but this is how it is on Lelepa and I've seen it in action.

Uhmmm - they have a terrible habit of always saying "yes" despite occasions when they really want to say "no". We've all learned this one the hard way and now find ourselves asking a Ni-Van the same question in several different ways (very difficult with the limitations of bislama) and often you still don't know the straight answer. This happens ALL THE TIME and makes things very difficult. I guess it's in their culture to be pleasing and positive. They simply never want to say no, even if it's bad for them - like when Survivor TV film crews want to damage an ancient and humongous banyan tree just to make the shot a bit more TV friendly (those damn french).

Uhmmm pt.2 - along the same lines as above, they will regularly claim to understand something you've just told them, even though they really don't. Or they won't reveal to you important pieces of imformation for absolutely no good reason. We've heard countless stories of PCV's that asked their village if they'd like to have a co-operative store (for example) and they will always say yes (see above) but they won't voluntarily inform you that maybe they've already had several co-ops but they all failed because nobody would pay the accounts, or the village chief kept taking the money for himself, or no one wanted to staff the store. They no all the reasons it did't work, they just aren't gonna tell you this unless you ask the right questions. Or maybe you'll plan a workshop, and everyone will tell you they are interested, but on that day no one shows up. later you find out that was the day they all go into the gardens - why didn't they just tell you that so you could have picked another date? no one knows. it's just how it is here. You have to learn to work around that kind of stuff. Election results in Tanna so pissed off the locals, for unknown reasons, that they burnt down the provincial offices. New ones have since been built, but the charred remains of the old building linger on as a habitate for weeds and such.

Creeping - they have a very strong seperation of the genders. The men hang with the men, the women with the women. Rarely do they mix. We see the youth play volleyball together, but you never see them alone as couples unless they are married. There doesn't seem to be any sexual energy on this island at all, and you certainly don't see any flirting or dating/courting. Many marriages are arranged. As for everyone else, there's creeping. This is when a man (or very rarey a women) goes to the outside of a house and scratches on the door or screen or window of the person he likes. This only happens in the cloak of darkness, is very subtle and secretive, and has the intention of getting the other person to come out of the house and join you for a romp in the bush. There is no "hanging out" together. Just run off into the bush. Do that a couple times and marriage is right around the corner, usually 'cause she's pregnant. We've all been warned about creeping and how to handle the unwanted situation should it occur. Funny stuff.

$$ - The role, and power, of a Peace Corps volunteer is often misunderstood by the local community. Sometimes they think we are a money ticket and can get the village large items it might need - like a boat or a truck, or a solar-power system. The disappointment that comes from explaining the truth can be very awkward and difficult. I doubt this will be a problem for me, but I've already heard stories from others in my group who were met by extremely high expectations by the locals.

Black Magic - Rarely have I met a person that will admit they still believe in black magic but then they turn around and tell you a ludicrous story like the one about the guy on Epi who caused the last bad tsunami when, in jealous rage, tied a large leaf to a string and tossed it into the ocean. He pulled back on the string so fast and hard that the leaf pulled all the tsunami waters onto the land. And while you laugh at the this crazy little story they stare at you with all seriousness. And then when you say something like "gee, that's a funny story, but you don't really believe that's how it happened... do you...?" and they continue to just stare at you like you're the crazy one. More often than not, Ni-vans are quick to laugh at other islands and claim that other islands are the crazy black magic islands. They never want to admit that they still believe in that, at least not to the white man. Every time someone dies, though, doesn't matter if they were 86 years old, it must have been black magic.