June 17, 2009

Vanuatu Variations
Since we moved out to Havanna Harbor, on the N coast of Efate, I haven't been spending a lot of time at the computer keyboard. I think of something interesting to pass on a couple times a day, but having told the villagers that I'd be happy to go over their mechanical and electrical equipment, I've been going about as hard as my body will allow. Between jobs on generators and chainsaws, I've been reading. I've never read much of LeCarre's series of novels about the British spy service and when I found one at an exchange, decided I should take a look at his style and character development. I can see why he's sold a lot of books. Pretty good entertainment. Now I'm working through "1968, The Year That Rocked The World" by Mark Kurlansky. It's pretty good history, especially interesting to those of us who lived thru it. Even for those too young to remember, there are a lot of explanations and insights that help explain how we got to where we are now. Great background on the USA, Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Germany, France, Mexico.
Karen told you all about the 4 hour church service we went to last Sunday. I had some questions about the Vanuatu brand of Christianity when we went. From our first night in Port Vila, almost every night, I could hear what sounded like a revival meeting going on near the market, from late afternoon until dawn. Continuous, intense preaching interspersed with hymns. The vocal intonation and the volume (they do love amplifiers) left me with the impression of a religion heavy on the hellfire and damnation. Most of it was in Bislama language (a pidgin English that is the official language here), so with the distortion of the amps and speakers I couldn't follow a sentence, but the inflection of voice invariably dripped scorn, hatred, disgust. Hard for me to figure carrying on like that all night and still having an audience in the morning.
The church service in Tassarrikki was shared among 5 preachers, and was a lot more varied in tone. The woman who was the lead pastor of the event took a more even tempered and somewhat rational approach, reassuring and explanatory. One of the men went for the "ecstatically happy" impression, interspersing statements with a whooping laugh reminiscent of a Disney cartoon character when he runs off the edge of a cliff. And then came the guy who has to be the one preaching on the Port Vila waterfront. Big, serious, uncompromising, scowling, he excoriated the congregation for not expressing the overwhelming joy they should feel at the offer of redemption. A fascinating character for a psych study, but unable to hold my attention for very long. Not very dynamic, and functionally irrational.
Church aside, the community started out friendly and became even more outgoing when we showed an interest in spending some time with them. Part of it clearly is their appreciation of the repair facility. One "customer" watching me do a carburetor cleanup yesterday on the side deck of Sequester told me I have "Nambah Wahn shop here". The procession of equipment includes several units covered with spider webs and dust, with wires nibbled off by rodents. They've been sitting unusable for up to a couple of years. They have interesting side issues too. As in the Marshalls, I follow Spike's Law; Pay no attention to the diagnosis the owner gives you. Check for repairs they have made and repair their repairs. Then look for the original problem. I am astounded to have now returned to service 7 generators and a chainsaw, using no parts other than odd screws, epoxy, a soldering kit, some wire, and some fuel tubing. There's a lot of cleaning going on here. They often watch, and are getting the importance of clean fuel and wire connections. They desperately want the power, for entertainment, lighting, and power tools, and they're paying attention. They'll get better at technology pretty quickly. I started a little course in solar panel and wind generator installations too, working on the non-functional system someone sold the chief. I'll be evaluating math skills this week, to see if I can teach someone how to determine charging requirements for different types of equipment.
I was a little surprised to see the chainsaw, not having heard one running since we arrived. Now I know, it's not because they don't want them, or don't have them. They just don't have many that run. A visual impression of Chief Robson's ancient Husquvarna saw makes it hard to imagine that it would still run. But after shovelling the sawdust out of the carb, jury rigging the muffler back on, and redesigning the air cleaner, it fires right up, ear-shattering and authoritative. Looking at their dugout outrigger canoes, it's clear why it's such a valuable tool. About 4 years is as long as a dugout will last here. By then the thin wall of the hollowed out log is checking and splitting, and there's a lot of bailing going on between paddle strokes. So there's a lot of shaping and hollowing going on all the time to keep the village in boats. Without boats, they can't get to the gardens. The gardens provide most of the food, and virtually all of the cash income.
In common with most other Pacific Islanders we've visited, these people aren't comfortable taking something without reciprocating. We're getting an increasing stream of pamplemousse (big, sweet local grapefuit), coconuts, chinese cabbage (bok choy) papayas, bananas, lemons, and long beans. The bananas as usual came as a stalk of a hundred or so, and all ripen within a couple days. Banana pudding, banana bread, bananas sliced with other stuff, and a few a day just peeled and eaten. We're down to the last 20 now. May take a short break before we get another stalk. One generator owner brought us a very nicely made model outrigger canoe, detailed and accurate. A couple of guys I did work for invited us to dinner in the village. They made a party of it, showing videos of some local string bands, one of "my" generators puttering behind the house, the TV surrounded by about 30 children, all eating and singing along. About half the songs were written about the social issues they're trying to deal with; pollution, sexually transmitted diseases, integration into the global society. We were pretty impressed with both the message, and the quality of music and video production. There's some talent, commitment, and intelligence at work here. I figure in a couple more days I'll have caught up with most of the generator work, and I think I'll take a couple days to work on Sequester, and refurbish my canoe. This so far seems the best climate we've been in for years to allow for repair work outside. Enough words for now, but I hope this gives a taste of what it's like here. More soon. Ted