Fall in Vanuatu

Our first school term has just ended and it made me realize how long it has been since my last blog entry. What a busy time! I want to share in this update a bit more about my day to day life here, about my life on Ifira Island. I have told of many of my wonderful experiences, including my visits from and my travel with my kids, and also my travels to Australia and to several of Vanuatu’s outer islands. Now I will tell a bit about a typical day in my life but first about my new house….

A month ago, I found out that my rent was being raised substantially. The school was already paying too much for the little bedroom I had in a house I was sharing with the owner. I had no sitting room or dining area so if I couldn’t eat outside due to weather, my only option was sitting on my bed! So, at the same time we found out about the increase, the headmaster had just heard about a little house near the school that available for rent. I moved in 2 weeks ago and I am thrilled to finally have my own space!! It is in the middle of a neighborhood with people passing by and stopping to chat or kids dropping in to, you guessed it, read books with me! So now on to “a day in the life…”

I have always been an early riser but this has gotten a bit out of hand here! Days here seem to begin by 5am for me; if it is not roosters outside my house waking me u, it is one of the many dogs starting a chain reaction of barking, with the whole neighborhood of dogs soon joining in! So, as it is impossible for me to go back to sleep at that hour, I am soon up and enjoying a cup of delicious Tanna island coffee and listening to the BBC or Radio Australia news. Being a creature of habit, coffee is followed by my usual bowl of oatmeal (yes, our market, Au Bon Marche, carries oatmeal and many other products that I did not expect to find here….but at a price. The store caters to the large ex-pat population here, with many imports from Australia and New Zealand.) Then off I go at 6:30 on my 3 minute walk to school where I usually head to our small staff room to use the computer to check my email. We have had internet at school this term which I am very thrilled about; my trips into town, Pt. Vila, are usually only once a week now, to shop and meet with my New Zealand friends on Friday nights for a local "Happy Hour."

Since there are always kids at school at this early hour and many waiting patiently at the library door, I open up at 7:00 to begin checking books in and out. I have many students who come every day at this time and I try to listen to each read a little from one of their books. By 7;30, when school officially starts, always have to kick kids out, encouraging them to head to class quickly to avoid being tardy. If it is Monday, I head out with them as the week begins with an all-school assembly in front of our primary building; the Vanuatu flag is raised and the national anthem sung, two events that have only been occurring here for what will be just 30 years on July 30, Independence Day. Then the headmaster usually has several announcements and I often remind the group, in Bislama of course, about reading at home and bringing back books to exchange (even though I use English in the library, except with the Francophone students, we use Bislama at the assemblies so that the French students understand; it works suprisingly well, this bilingual education. And I even get the chance to speak French and listen to the Franco-
phone students read!

I am teaching reading the first two hours of the day to two groups of sixth graders, kids who did not get what they should have in the primary grades and are still struggling readers; I work with six in each group and fortunately we have sets of books to use for guided reading; I incorporate phonics into every lesson and also have the students write every day. Progress is slow but steady and these groups are delightful to work with, so enthusiastic and funny and eager to learn. I also meet with each class every week for their ‘library hour’ where I introduce authors, discuss choosing ‘just right’ books, try to get students to share a good book that they have read (not easy as these kids are very reluctant both to answer questions or contribute orally in a large group) and share poetry. Then, using my rather primitive system of checking in and out (a notebooks for each class) they bring their books to me to return then go off to choose new ones…..

Besides having the library open before school, it is also open during our morning break, during lunch (I go home and eat at 11:00 so I can open back u at 12:00) and after school. The addition of this library has changed the school in so many ways; besides having the opportunity to take books home on a daily basis to read and share with their families, the students also use the library as a place to just come and read or look at books, to study, to catch up on homework, to draw when I get out art supplies and even to do a jigsaw puzzle or reading game…it has become a place where the kids love to be and this makes me very, very happy!! What a thrill to see all of these students loving books! And developing their own tastes in stories, like telling me how many of the Magic Treehouse books they have now read or wondering if we can get additional Gary Paulsen or Roald Dahl books!! And this is not to mention the improvement in reading skills which I have certainly observed in the last year! My greatest joy, though, is how the students of Ifira School have become lovers of reading!

A few items that I don’t want to forget….in reading my last blog again, I realize that I never mentioned that I had Dengue Fever in February, just a few weeks after getting back from New Zealand and right after the start of the new term. It was not a pleasant expereince, to say the least. I woke up one morning with a rash on my chest and arms and a horrible headache and headed straight to our Peace Corps doctor who confirmed the diagnosis with bloodwork. I went to bed for a week, aching everywhere and generally feeling rotten; after a week, I felt well enough to return to work but continued to suffer after fatigue for several more weeks. We are required to take medication to prevent Malaria but there is nothing to take for Dengue...
just somehow avoid the mosquitos!!

Lastly, I want to say a big thank you to those of you who have donated to grant to renovate the library. It has gotten off to a very slow start but I am hoping the donations will keep coming in so that the renovation can start in August; when my goal is reached, the Peace Corps will send me a check for the amount raised and we can begin; you may already understand that the Peace Corps provides none of the money, just the website and their non-profit status; a reminder to donate, go to the Peace Corps site, then click on Donate, then on Donate to Volunteer projects then type in Vanuatu or my name (and the info is there if you don’t want send in a check instead) Some of you continue to ask about sending books and other care packages but my re-
quest at the moment is that you use the money for a grant donation instead!!

I am very excited that Josh is ending his New Zealand adventure in mid July and returning to Vanuatu for another month on his way home; I am planning on using his wonderful artisitic abilities to have him direct the students in painting a 8' X 15' mural on one of the library walls, our first (and most colorful) step in the renovation process. Besides being a fantastic teaching tool, it will be visually beautiful...and, best of all, made by the kids! (you can find this project, started many years ago by a PC volunteer, by Googling WorldMap Project) Happy Spring to you all and bye for now from Vanuatu! Julie