June and July in Vanuatu

What good news I had last week, news that the Peace Corps Partnership Grant that I had written to renovate the library at my site is now fully funded, meaning that donations totaling $4000 from many of you had been received and a check will soon be sent to me from PC Headquarters in Washington DC. We celebrated at a school staff meeting; I brought fresh pineapple and shortbread cookies and a sign that said “Wonderful news!” I am now working on a timeline so I can get started!! I can’t believe this is really going to happen; when finally finished writing the grant, I had no idea that the needed $4000 was within reach. What a difference it will make!! I do have one favor to ask: I just received a donor list from PC so I can begin to write notes of thanks to many of you but I can tell by reading the list that some of you did not check the box when sending your donation that said "permission given reveal your name" so I don't have a complete list to thank. Please, if you don't think or are unsure if you gave your permission and you want me to know that you donated (they don't tell me amounts, names only) please email me so I can send a proper and huge "thank you." And be patient...the notes will come!!


It is also hard to believe that I am in my last five months here. I have no doubt that I will be ready to come home in mid-November but that doesn’t mean that it will be easy to leave. I especially cannot imagine saying "good-by" to all the wonderful kids who I have come to adore, even the secondary boys who give me a hard time sometimes!! So much will be happening during the time I have left. Josh arrives in seven days. He will stay for four weeks, helping the secondary students with the painting of a huge, 5’X8’ world map mural on one wall of the library as part of what is known as the World Map Project which, if you are inclined, you can google and find the website. I decided to do this project when I discovered how little these kids know about the rest of the world; they know so much about their islands, their customs, their family histories but don’t know much about the world, even about their Pacific Island neighbors. And they are very interested…our library atlases are favorites, especially the ones that contain all of the countries’ flags. I would love to include, maybe around the perimeter, a small flag of each country; yes, the students could make them but I already have too much on my “plate” so if any of you have an idea of a source of small flags (2"x3"?), please let me know.


Also during Josh’s time here, after the map is finished, the library renovation will begin. We will first need to move everything out fo the library; needless to say, it concerns me, closing it for an extended time but I know no other way to make this work. The ten new windows will be installed and then the painting and the tile floor. Cement will be poured to make our new covered front porch which will be about 8’ X 25’, length of the library; I am especially excited about this as it will serve as a place for students to “hang out,” to come in out of the rain, to sit and read on the benches I intend to put there, and serve as an overflow area during my library sessions with each class; the library is only the size of a classroom and the bookcases take up alot of space. We will have two ceiling fans and four overhead lights installed and also a new door...and, to finish it off, twelve new chairs for the tables I received from a Kiwanis New Zealand donation. I promise photos soon of the before and after!! I plan to have an opening celebration sometime during the ten days that Amy is here visiting in early October.


June and July are the months of weddings on Ifira Island, coinciding with the yam harvest, a long-time tradition around which marriages are celebrated. And I do mean celebrated!! Basically a week-long party occurs, complete with endless island food like the traditional laplap, manioc, yam, bananas, taro and always a lot of rice on the side. During the week, the volumne of the music accompanying the meals increases each evening, culminating with an all-night celebration on the eve of the wedding. The ceremonies are usually held on Fridays with a church wedding followed by a custom ceremony at the Chief’s Nakamal or meeting house where the “bride’s price” is paid in the form of pigs, both alive and dead, woven mats, fabric, yams, manioc, banana and some cash. Two weeks ago I went to the wedding of the Chief’s two sons and one daughter and what an event that was! There were 30 bridesmaids, all young girls and all dressed in lovely satin, very colorful dresses. It was a not-to-be-missed occasion!!

As I wrote in my last blog, because of an increase in rent for my room at the Chief’s compound, I moved into a house just a few minutes from the school that had just come available. What a great decision!! I had forgotten what privacy is!! I have been there now for over two months and love the "neighborhood," which is in the middle of a lot of village activity; students shout out, "Hello, Ms. Julie," everytime they pass by and some stop in for a little one-on-one reading time with me...I am never without books just in case!! It will be great to have room for Josh and Amy when they visit and hopefully the next Peace Corps volunteer will get to live in the house; I am the second volunteer at the site and we have requested that a third replace me, often PC's practice and certainly needed to insure the continuation of the library when I leave; during the following two years, the new volunteer will need to begin training a community member to take over running the program when he/she leaves.

Josh will be working, helping me, most of the time he is here and therefore we have decided to have a bit of "vacation" together as he leaves; since his flight takes him through Fiji on its way to Los Angeles, I am going to fly to Fiji with him, where we will spend a week; then he will continue on his way. Since we both love sailboats, I have just booked a three day sailing adventure around some of the outer islands, where we will swim, snorkel, and stay on a remote island in a grass hut...and take cold bucket showers, nothing new for me!!

I must get this off; I promise a new slide show, with Josh's help, within the month!! It wil include "before" and "after" pictures of the library! I did manage to include two photos in this blog: the first photo was taken when the U.S. Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu visited my site last year; the second is me in the middle of a class of second graders!!

Take care and keep me posted on your lives at home by email...I love hearing from you and hope that all is well and that you are having a wonderful summer!! Love, Julie