Hey Everyone,
OK - so you might be wondering where I went. I was intending to "blog-it-up" on the way home on Saturday with Margaret, when I got this splitting headache, which basically made me sit there and moan all the way on our flight from Brisbane to Sydney (on the plus side, we made it through customs in Brisbane in absolute record time!) The headache subsided by the time I got home that night, but when I woke up the next morning (Sunday) I was really sick!!! And I didn't stop being sick until about lunchtime Monday. Margaret and Jenni have had a similar thing, so we're reasonably sure it's food poisoning, although we haven't identified the dish yet.
Anyway - so I need to catch you up from Friday morning until when we left on Saturday... I'm at work now, probably shouldn't be caught blogging, I'll try and make some time over the next couple of nights. Apologies for the delay :)
Katherine
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Traditional Vanuatuan Break-dancing
I don't have much time to write this morning as we've got a hugely busy day ahead. We're about to head up to the school at Paama Seaside and hand out some little pencils and stuff like that.
Last night we went to a melanesian feast. The actual food was quite good, although the "sumptuous seafood" was one fish for 100 people. I had a taste of Kava (the local moonshine) which was just awful. And after dinner there was some cultural dancing, some of which was traditional, but I was a little surprised to see break-dancing (rap) on the programme. The overriding feeling for me was that I should have done the crass-commercialist stuff before I went and actually met the Vanuatuan people, because I didn't feel genuine warmth from the people last night, not that I really expected to. Still, it was good for what it was...
Hmmm ... earlier in the day Pastor Allen came and took us to Paama seaside, where school had just finished for the day, but we had a great chat to the headmaster there. There are two kindy classrooms, and he teaches both grade 1 and grade 2. They are planning to get an extra teacher next year. Pastor Allen took us to the local high school, where classes had also finished, but we managed to speak to a teacher who told us about the curriculum.
In the morning yesterday we had a meeting with the higher-ups in the PCV. I think we have agreed to continue to work out an agreement, and much of that agreeing will have to be done from back in OZ, but we have email addresses now :)
Need to have a coffee before we head off.
Katherine
Last night we went to a melanesian feast. The actual food was quite good, although the "sumptuous seafood" was one fish for 100 people. I had a taste of Kava (the local moonshine) which was just awful. And after dinner there was some cultural dancing, some of which was traditional, but I was a little surprised to see break-dancing (rap) on the programme. The overriding feeling for me was that I should have done the crass-commercialist stuff before I went and actually met the Vanuatuan people, because I didn't feel genuine warmth from the people last night, not that I really expected to. Still, it was good for what it was...
Hmmm ... earlier in the day Pastor Allen came and took us to Paama seaside, where school had just finished for the day, but we had a great chat to the headmaster there. There are two kindy classrooms, and he teaches both grade 1 and grade 2. They are planning to get an extra teacher next year. Pastor Allen took us to the local high school, where classes had also finished, but we managed to speak to a teacher who told us about the curriculum.
In the morning yesterday we had a meeting with the higher-ups in the PCV. I think we have agreed to continue to work out an agreement, and much of that agreeing will have to be done from back in OZ, but we have email addresses now :)
Need to have a coffee before we head off.
Katherine
Thursday, July 9, 2009
We're in the paper!
Hey - check out the paper in Villa today! Is there anyone you recognise?
An excerpt from the text:
"The uniform set was handed over by four members of the Wesley Castle Hill Uniting church who are currently in Villa to have discussions with the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu ..."
Katherine
An excerpt from the text:
"The uniform set was handed over by four members of the Wesley Castle Hill Uniting church who are currently in Villa to have discussions with the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu ..."
Katherine
You talk about rights, we talk about respect
Well, due to the rain today we had a bit of a change in plans. We headed to the Museum and cultural centre which is about 5 minutes walk from the hotel (but we caught a taxi because we had one umbrella between the two of us). We were first treated to a display of sand drawing, where the guy drew in the sand while telling a story. You could really see how it would be an effective method of telling stories. We then saw a video which talked a lot about how pigs are currency in Vanuatu. They are used as a bride-price, they're used to atone for crimes, to seal legal deals, as a sacrifice when making a new chief. I found I was really interested, but quite grossed out, partly by the pig killing, partly by the skinny whiteness of the foreigner who has been studying the Vanuatu culture for 30 years. Hmmm...
I found I was getting a bit better at reading Bislama. For instance, if you see the sign, the first thing I saw was “BIFO” which meant that I immediately thought “biffo”. But of course “OL STAEL” is “old style”, and “SEL” is “sail” (I was helped a bit my the pictures of sails below the sign), and “BLONG BIFO”, once you know that “BLONG” is short for “belong”, and if you say “BI-FO”, it sounds like “before”. So the sentence means “Old style sails from history”. Phew, that was a mouthful.
I headed down into the centre of Vila and had lunch out of the pouring rain. My lunch included the best cappuccino that I've had in Vanuatu so far.
At about 2pm, Pastor Allen picked us up and we went to see the building which is the headquarters of the National Council of Chiefs. The man who was there had a really interesting couple of stories that helped me to understand a bit more of the culture here. He told the story of a young foreign teacher who had volunteered to go work on a remote island. The chief warned the woman that living alone was not a good idea in the village, that it never happened. He said that she should either move in with a local family, or that she should bring friends to stay with. She said she'd be alright, but a couple of months later she was raped. The man who raped her is now in a Villa gaol, but he's now got a pregnant wife back on the island and the whole community is broken. The woman is now living in the US. The man's comment on that story was “You talk about rights, we talk about respect” - respect of the local culture and of the chief. Incidentally I wasn't sure if he was excusing the man, it didn't sound like he was, it wasn't clear cut for him either.
The next story was prefixed by the statement “You talk about Justice, we talk about Peace”, the example he gave for that was a young pregnant girl who claims that Boy A is the father, Boy A denies all responsibility. Boy B is brought along and after being spoken to by his father and the chief, takes responsibility for the baby, even though it's clear to everyone that Boy A is the father. Now that's peace, not justice. Incidentally, he did say that that situation would not finish there, Boy A would continue to be worked upon until he was ready to take responsibility.
OK – that's quite a bit of info there. I might have to speed up on the next couple of things. Pastor Allen then took us to the National Women's Council, where they run programs to raise awareness about women's issues, and help women who are in need. We then went to the Youth Challenge building next door, which is funded by UNESCO, and has programs to help young people skill up and apply for jobs.
In the evening elder Johnny took us to Paama Seaside church. This is the church that Pastor Allen has in mind for us to partner with. It's not far from the hotel, but it's in a slum area, and once you're off the main road the first thing I noticed is that the roads were AWFUL. It was like a mini version of the grand canyon. We were warmly welcomed. They sang a song in their Paama dialect (Paama is an island in Vanuatu), and we were given lei's of leaves around our head. I was speaking to some of the girls who are doing confirmation classes at the moment, they are very bright.
We then stopped for dinner, and we found it a bit weird that no-one ate with us except Pastor Allen & Elder Johnny. We expected them to let us go first and start eating after us, but no-one moved. And we got up and had a look inside their new church which is a bit of a cement shell at the moment, but it has a roof and windows. They think it will take about a year to finish. But it's an amazing building, and they've built it all by themselves. Then we we joined the group in the hall we still expected them to get up and help themselves to food, but they didn't! They covered up the food and we continued the meeting. Very strange.
We had some speeches. First from our group, and then from the people in the church, Elder Johnny, Pastor Allen, and a woman named Lucy who is the head of the Presbyterian Women's association for the parish. Then Margaret, Jenni and I decided was hadn't quite made enough of a fool of ourselves yet, and we sang Amazing Grace, just the first verse, and then got them all to join us as we sang it again, and it sounded ok with just us, but it sounded brilliant once they'd joined in with lots of harmonies. We were left with a feeling that we had been truly welcomed and that we could have a very fruitful relationship.
We came back to the hotel and had a bit of a debrief. We can see big possibilities, and things seem to be taking shape now, and it all seems to be happening quite fast. Personally I'm finding it's a big responsibility to be talking to them on behalf of the church at Wesley, and walking that fine line between talking about possibilities and actually making commitments, but I sure am looking forward to talking with the people back home about this because it's been quite an experience!
Katherine
I found I was getting a bit better at reading Bislama. For instance, if you see the sign, the first thing I saw was “BIFO” which meant that I immediately thought “biffo”. But of course “OL STAEL” is “old style”, and “SEL” is “sail” (I was helped a bit my the pictures of sails below the sign), and “BLONG BIFO”, once you know that “BLONG” is short for “belong”, and if you say “BI-FO”, it sounds like “before”. So the sentence means “Old style sails from history”. Phew, that was a mouthful.
I headed down into the centre of Vila and had lunch out of the pouring rain. My lunch included the best cappuccino that I've had in Vanuatu so far.
At about 2pm, Pastor Allen picked us up and we went to see the building which is the headquarters of the National Council of Chiefs. The man who was there had a really interesting couple of stories that helped me to understand a bit more of the culture here. He told the story of a young foreign teacher who had volunteered to go work on a remote island. The chief warned the woman that living alone was not a good idea in the village, that it never happened. He said that she should either move in with a local family, or that she should bring friends to stay with. She said she'd be alright, but a couple of months later she was raped. The man who raped her is now in a Villa gaol, but he's now got a pregnant wife back on the island and the whole community is broken. The woman is now living in the US. The man's comment on that story was “You talk about rights, we talk about respect” - respect of the local culture and of the chief. Incidentally I wasn't sure if he was excusing the man, it didn't sound like he was, it wasn't clear cut for him either.
The next story was prefixed by the statement “You talk about Justice, we talk about Peace”, the example he gave for that was a young pregnant girl who claims that Boy A is the father, Boy A denies all responsibility. Boy B is brought along and after being spoken to by his father and the chief, takes responsibility for the baby, even though it's clear to everyone that Boy A is the father. Now that's peace, not justice. Incidentally, he did say that that situation would not finish there, Boy A would continue to be worked upon until he was ready to take responsibility.
OK – that's quite a bit of info there. I might have to speed up on the next couple of things. Pastor Allen then took us to the National Women's Council, where they run programs to raise awareness about women's issues, and help women who are in need. We then went to the Youth Challenge building next door, which is funded by UNESCO, and has programs to help young people skill up and apply for jobs.
In the evening elder Johnny took us to Paama Seaside church. This is the church that Pastor Allen has in mind for us to partner with. It's not far from the hotel, but it's in a slum area, and once you're off the main road the first thing I noticed is that the roads were AWFUL. It was like a mini version of the grand canyon. We were warmly welcomed. They sang a song in their Paama dialect (Paama is an island in Vanuatu), and we were given lei's of leaves around our head. I was speaking to some of the girls who are doing confirmation classes at the moment, they are very bright.
We then stopped for dinner, and we found it a bit weird that no-one ate with us except Pastor Allen & Elder Johnny. We expected them to let us go first and start eating after us, but no-one moved. And we got up and had a look inside their new church which is a bit of a cement shell at the moment, but it has a roof and windows. They think it will take about a year to finish. But it's an amazing building, and they've built it all by themselves. Then we we joined the group in the hall we still expected them to get up and help themselves to food, but they didn't! They covered up the food and we continued the meeting. Very strange.
We had some speeches. First from our group, and then from the people in the church, Elder Johnny, Pastor Allen, and a woman named Lucy who is the head of the Presbyterian Women's association for the parish. Then Margaret, Jenni and I decided was hadn't quite made enough of a fool of ourselves yet, and we sang Amazing Grace, just the first verse, and then got them all to join us as we sang it again, and it sounded ok with just us, but it sounded brilliant once they'd joined in with lots of harmonies. We were left with a feeling that we had been truly welcomed and that we could have a very fruitful relationship.
We came back to the hotel and had a bit of a debrief. We can see big possibilities, and things seem to be taking shape now, and it all seems to be happening quite fast. Personally I'm finding it's a big responsibility to be talking to them on behalf of the church at Wesley, and walking that fine line between talking about possibilities and actually making commitments, but I sure am looking forward to talking with the people back home about this because it's been quite an experience!
Katherine
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
It's a small world after all
The weather has turned a little sour here in Vanuatu. It's still lovely and warm, but it's raining and very humid. Still, it's nicer than cold.
Yesterday Pastor Allen took the four of us around the island of Efate. We started off a bit late because he had some difficulty getting the bus, so we ended up heading off around 12 o'clock, but that wasn't particularly a problem. We went anti clockwise around the island, starting off with some truly terrible roads. Apparently the US government supports Vanuatu with aid in the order of $63M a year because they like that Vanuatu has a very stable democratic government. So that money is being used to build a road around Efate (using contractors from NZ). We saw some evidence of that in the northern parts of the island, but it hasn't quite taken hold in the east and south bits yet, so it was quite bumpy. There are quite a lot of tourist developments along the coast, quite a few of which are still being built. Once the road comes full circle they should be able to do a roaring trade.
We found out that there are 14 parishes in the presbytery of Efate (and six presbyteries in the whole of Vanuatu), and Pastor Allen seems to know about half the people on the island.
About halfway around the island we had a toilet stop at a Pastor's house. I was overcome by the smell of the toilet, but even more overcome by the welcome we were shown and the lovely conversations we had with Alice, the Pastor's wife, Max, her son, and their dog Blacky. We were entirely unexpected but they welcomed us with open arms. We told Alice where we were from, Sydney Australia, and she told us she's spent 3 weeks at Alan Walker College in Parramatta doing an “Empowering Women for God” course. We were quite amazed. Pastor Allen spoke very highly of Max, it seems he's a well spoken young man who has finished his theological course and he's about to go back to college to do some more training on the island of Santo.
The rain cleared a bit as we went around the top half of the island and were were able to see some beautiful scenery. Then as we headed into Villa we went down some of the steepest road I had ever seen. It was very clear why we had to go anti-clockwise around the island because there was no freakin' way we could have got up that hill. I'm thinking they will modify that road a bit when they make the road around the island, but I could be wrong.
We returned to the hotel, by that time it was raining again. We had Pastor Allen around for a drink and had a short chat about the plans for the rest of the week. Pastor Allen kept saying we should take things one day at a time. We're meeting with some Pastors tomorrow, and I'm particularly looking forward to meeting the congregation of Paama tonight. We do seem to be developing good relationships, but sometimes the pace is strange, mostly, for us who are used to scheduling everything to the half hour, it's frustratingly slow. Please pray that the path will start to become clearer for us as we develop more relationships over the next few days.
Margaret and I are now more than half way through our visit, and we have a free boat ride that we probably should have taken a few days ago, I'm not that keen on taking it now that it's raining a lot. Oh well, we've got lots of excellent reasons to come back next time.
Katherine
Yesterday Pastor Allen took the four of us around the island of Efate. We started off a bit late because he had some difficulty getting the bus, so we ended up heading off around 12 o'clock, but that wasn't particularly a problem. We went anti clockwise around the island, starting off with some truly terrible roads. Apparently the US government supports Vanuatu with aid in the order of $63M a year because they like that Vanuatu has a very stable democratic government. So that money is being used to build a road around Efate (using contractors from NZ). We saw some evidence of that in the northern parts of the island, but it hasn't quite taken hold in the east and south bits yet, so it was quite bumpy. There are quite a lot of tourist developments along the coast, quite a few of which are still being built. Once the road comes full circle they should be able to do a roaring trade.
We found out that there are 14 parishes in the presbytery of Efate (and six presbyteries in the whole of Vanuatu), and Pastor Allen seems to know about half the people on the island.
About halfway around the island we had a toilet stop at a Pastor's house. I was overcome by the smell of the toilet, but even more overcome by the welcome we were shown and the lovely conversations we had with Alice, the Pastor's wife, Max, her son, and their dog Blacky. We were entirely unexpected but they welcomed us with open arms. We told Alice where we were from, Sydney Australia, and she told us she's spent 3 weeks at Alan Walker College in Parramatta doing an “Empowering Women for God” course. We were quite amazed. Pastor Allen spoke very highly of Max, it seems he's a well spoken young man who has finished his theological course and he's about to go back to college to do some more training on the island of Santo.
The rain cleared a bit as we went around the top half of the island and were were able to see some beautiful scenery. Then as we headed into Villa we went down some of the steepest road I had ever seen. It was very clear why we had to go anti-clockwise around the island because there was no freakin' way we could have got up that hill. I'm thinking they will modify that road a bit when they make the road around the island, but I could be wrong.
We returned to the hotel, by that time it was raining again. We had Pastor Allen around for a drink and had a short chat about the plans for the rest of the week. Pastor Allen kept saying we should take things one day at a time. We're meeting with some Pastors tomorrow, and I'm particularly looking forward to meeting the congregation of Paama tonight. We do seem to be developing good relationships, but sometimes the pace is strange, mostly, for us who are used to scheduling everything to the half hour, it's frustratingly slow. Please pray that the path will start to become clearer for us as we develop more relationships over the next few days.
Margaret and I are now more than half way through our visit, and we have a free boat ride that we probably should have taken a few days ago, I'm not that keen on taking it now that it's raining a lot. Oh well, we've got lots of excellent reasons to come back next time.
Katherine
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Official Business
We're sitting eating breakfast, waiting for Pastor Allen, who will be taking us around the island today. We don't actually know when he's turning up, although he was supposed to be giving us a message yesterday, but we didn't get one.
Yesterday morning we went to the PCV office and met with Meto, as well as Pastor Allen and the Clerk of the Assembly. We started with some general discussion about our visit. The Assembly Clerk was giving us a lot of confidence by saying that our visit, and the partnership we want to enter into, was within the plan. And by that I presumed it was the church's plan, and by implication God's plan. We spoke of ways that we (Castle Hillians) can benefit from the relationship – for instance
- the Vanuatu people have a very community oriented approach to living and worshipping together, this is contrasted with the very individualistic society that we have in Australia
- They regularly have evangelistic meetings (National Bible Week for example) and they are always attended by Heads of state and the prime minister, who are more often than not members of the church.
- That we can learn how the Vanuatuans do church in a different culture.
- Materialism has an impact on the church (roughly 80% bad) and we can learn from how this is impacting the Vanuatuans..
And they said that they could also benefit from our understanding of Materialism, since it's such a new thing to them, and how it fits into our life and our faith.
After we'd done some basic intros, Ian pulled out one of the wind up MP3 players that we'd brought over here. After a little bit of time spent winding it up and turning it on, we saw their faces light up as they heard the readings and recordings in Bislama. They reckon they can use the wind up MP3 players on the outer islands where they don't have electricity, so we'll have to arrange for some more! (The three that we've brought over will probably be going over to the island called Santo)
After we'd finished the meeting and taken some photos. We arranged to meet the elders of the church at Paama, which is apparently the church we might be partnering with. Pastor Allen took us down to the Bible Society where we picked up some bibles to donate to the church. I also picked up a Bislama hymn book so I can challenge the people back home with more fun Bislama singing. At the shop I also met Georgina who is part of the youth at Paama. She said she'd been helping out at National Bible Week, but would be at the youth group on Friday night. So we've been invited :)
After that we had lunch at a cafe that had been recommended for those who need Gluten free food, but they didn't have any gluten free food … so that was a bit unexpected. Then Margaret and I went shopping in the clothes shops. We both bought a skirt, mine is purple :) I also bought some nice new thongs, but they have a heel so they're a bit upmarket.
Then we trotted back up the hill. I fell asleep and when I woke up I was late for happy hour!!! We went to a nice little restaurant called “Le Cafe Du Village” and thoroughly enjoyed our dinner, although I am beginning to think that things are quite pricey over here, well food is, the rest is quite reasonably priced.
Definitely looking forward to seeing more of the island of Efate today. Please pray that we'll continue to develop good relationships. Oh and it's a bit overcast so pray that it clears up. Or at least that we don't get bogged :S
Katherine
Yesterday morning we went to the PCV office and met with Meto, as well as Pastor Allen and the Clerk of the Assembly. We started with some general discussion about our visit. The Assembly Clerk was giving us a lot of confidence by saying that our visit, and the partnership we want to enter into, was within the plan. And by that I presumed it was the church's plan, and by implication God's plan. We spoke of ways that we (Castle Hillians) can benefit from the relationship – for instance
- the Vanuatu people have a very community oriented approach to living and worshipping together, this is contrasted with the very individualistic society that we have in Australia
- They regularly have evangelistic meetings (National Bible Week for example) and they are always attended by Heads of state and the prime minister, who are more often than not members of the church.
- That we can learn how the Vanuatuans do church in a different culture.
- Materialism has an impact on the church (roughly 80% bad) and we can learn from how this is impacting the Vanuatuans..
And they said that they could also benefit from our understanding of Materialism, since it's such a new thing to them, and how it fits into our life and our faith.
After we'd done some basic intros, Ian pulled out one of the wind up MP3 players that we'd brought over here. After a little bit of time spent winding it up and turning it on, we saw their faces light up as they heard the readings and recordings in Bislama. They reckon they can use the wind up MP3 players on the outer islands where they don't have electricity, so we'll have to arrange for some more! (The three that we've brought over will probably be going over to the island called Santo)
After we'd finished the meeting and taken some photos. We arranged to meet the elders of the church at Paama, which is apparently the church we might be partnering with. Pastor Allen took us down to the Bible Society where we picked up some bibles to donate to the church. I also picked up a Bislama hymn book so I can challenge the people back home with more fun Bislama singing. At the shop I also met Georgina who is part of the youth at Paama. She said she'd been helping out at National Bible Week, but would be at the youth group on Friday night. So we've been invited :)
After that we had lunch at a cafe that had been recommended for those who need Gluten free food, but they didn't have any gluten free food … so that was a bit unexpected. Then Margaret and I went shopping in the clothes shops. We both bought a skirt, mine is purple :) I also bought some nice new thongs, but they have a heel so they're a bit upmarket.
Then we trotted back up the hill. I fell asleep and when I woke up I was late for happy hour!!! We went to a nice little restaurant called “Le Cafe Du Village” and thoroughly enjoyed our dinner, although I am beginning to think that things are quite pricey over here, well food is, the rest is quite reasonably priced.
Definitely looking forward to seeing more of the island of Efate today. Please pray that we'll continue to develop good relationships. Oh and it's a bit overcast so pray that it clears up. Or at least that we don't get bogged :S
Katherine
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The Sabbath in Vanuatu
I'm currently sitting beside the pool awaiting my cocktail, the sun is setting and I'm enjoying the concept of “Vanuatu Time”, where everything is a bit slower and more casual than usual. So I'll take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about my day...
We were picked up by Meto at about 9am. He had his wife Eileen, and their eldest grandson Jordan with him. Jordan piled into the boot and gave Margaret and I plenty of room in the back seat. He had excellent English skills and enjoys playing tennis.
We got to the village church at Mele about 9:30am, and had a bit of a tour around. They're preparing for the General assembly of the PCV and they've just built a massive hall. I'm trying to think of a comparison … the inside of it would be at least as big as the hall at Wesley, I'd probably say double the width and double the length as well. The conference is next month and they've just got the roof up last weekend, so it still looks a bit cement-y, but they're on track to get it finished. They've also got a school on the premises, and then you can't quite tell where the school ends and the village houses begin, but we had Eileen with us so she filled us in.
Then at about five to ten we went into the church building. It's a lovely large building, with coloured glass in the windows. Along the left hand side of the church were drawings of Moses, David, the garden of Eden and Noah's Ark. Along the right hand side was a focus on Jesus, as a baby, at his baptism, healing Jairus' daughter, on the cross and as the lion of Judah. (And for those who have been doing the ELM centre course with me, yes – I was definitely thinking about the Christology of it all.)
The absolute highlight was the singing. Oh my goodness I nearly cried during the doxology. There were a couple of led songs at the beginning, but I think my favourite was trying to sing along with some of the songs. I read the hymn book and it really was as easy as reading the words. For instance, try and sing this bit to the first verse of “O for a thousand tongues”
Oltaem mi glad tumas blong sing
Blong prasem Jisas Kraes (x2)
Mi glad blong talem nem blong hem
Long fes blong evri man (x however many times you sing it)
We listened to the preacher, and he was making jokes, and a couple of them I even understood, or at least I thought I did. Then we came to the Lord's supper, which was served with Raspberry cordial. Mmmm. There were about 250-300 people at the service, and I think it ended up going for about 2 and a half hours. Towards the end we had announcements and Margaret and I were asked to stand up and we waved.
We then went on a mini-tour of the village, Meto showed us a place where we could go snorkelling, and then took us to see the other churches in the area which have been built for communities of people who have moved up from the island of Tanna. It was lovely to see that the churches are really the most beautiful and well kept buildings in the villages.
On the way back we went to the supermarket and picked up some water, then we were back at the hotel, where Ian and Jenni had just arrived. I was so awful, I thought they were arriving later! We could have picked them up from the airport. Anyway, at that point it was an opportune time to hand over the netball uniforms, so we handed them over and took some photos, and then we gave Jordan some tennis balls as a gift.
---
OK – I'm writing a bit later now. The four of us went off to church, but on the way we went past a rally for National Bible Week, anyway, apparently because of that, the Presbyterian service wasn't on, so we went back to the rally where there was an awesome mosh pit and this guy who was leading the worship was doing some rather impressive energetic moves on stage.
So now we've come back to the hotel, we had some dinner (and my plans for a holiday to Peru are taking shape based on our conversations), and we're now back in the hotel room and about to go to bed. It's been a big awesome day.
Tomorrow we're meeting up with some people from the PCV to talk about what we're going to be doing during the week – wish us luck!
Katherine
We were picked up by Meto at about 9am. He had his wife Eileen, and their eldest grandson Jordan with him. Jordan piled into the boot and gave Margaret and I plenty of room in the back seat. He had excellent English skills and enjoys playing tennis.
We got to the village church at Mele about 9:30am, and had a bit of a tour around. They're preparing for the General assembly of the PCV and they've just built a massive hall. I'm trying to think of a comparison … the inside of it would be at least as big as the hall at Wesley, I'd probably say double the width and double the length as well. The conference is next month and they've just got the roof up last weekend, so it still looks a bit cement-y, but they're on track to get it finished. They've also got a school on the premises, and then you can't quite tell where the school ends and the village houses begin, but we had Eileen with us so she filled us in.
Then at about five to ten we went into the church building. It's a lovely large building, with coloured glass in the windows. Along the left hand side of the church were drawings of Moses, David, the garden of Eden and Noah's Ark. Along the right hand side was a focus on Jesus, as a baby, at his baptism, healing Jairus' daughter, on the cross and as the lion of Judah. (And for those who have been doing the ELM centre course with me, yes – I was definitely thinking about the Christology of it all.)
The absolute highlight was the singing. Oh my goodness I nearly cried during the doxology. There were a couple of led songs at the beginning, but I think my favourite was trying to sing along with some of the songs. I read the hymn book and it really was as easy as reading the words. For instance, try and sing this bit to the first verse of “O for a thousand tongues”
Oltaem mi glad tumas blong sing
Blong prasem Jisas Kraes (x2)
Mi glad blong talem nem blong hem
Long fes blong evri man (x however many times you sing it)
We listened to the preacher, and he was making jokes, and a couple of them I even understood, or at least I thought I did. Then we came to the Lord's supper, which was served with Raspberry cordial. Mmmm. There were about 250-300 people at the service, and I think it ended up going for about 2 and a half hours. Towards the end we had announcements and Margaret and I were asked to stand up and we waved.
We then went on a mini-tour of the village, Meto showed us a place where we could go snorkelling, and then took us to see the other churches in the area which have been built for communities of people who have moved up from the island of Tanna. It was lovely to see that the churches are really the most beautiful and well kept buildings in the villages.
On the way back we went to the supermarket and picked up some water, then we were back at the hotel, where Ian and Jenni had just arrived. I was so awful, I thought they were arriving later! We could have picked them up from the airport. Anyway, at that point it was an opportune time to hand over the netball uniforms, so we handed them over and took some photos, and then we gave Jordan some tennis balls as a gift.
---
OK – I'm writing a bit later now. The four of us went off to church, but on the way we went past a rally for National Bible Week, anyway, apparently because of that, the Presbyterian service wasn't on, so we went back to the rally where there was an awesome mosh pit and this guy who was leading the worship was doing some rather impressive energetic moves on stage.
So now we've come back to the hotel, we had some dinner (and my plans for a holiday to Peru are taking shape based on our conversations), and we're now back in the hotel room and about to go to bed. It's been a big awesome day.
Tomorrow we're meeting up with some people from the PCV to talk about what we're going to be doing during the week – wish us luck!
Katherine
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Greetings from Vanuatu!
We're in Vanuatu, slightly exhausted. The time here is one hour different from Sydney, so if it's 2pm there, it's 3pm here. We had a safe couple of flights, first to Brisbane and then a two and a half hour flight to Vanuatu. Margaret and I both enjoyed listening to the two twin boys sitting in the seats behind us who reminded us how amazing flying is with comments like “Woohoo we're flying!” and “Are we in Vanuatu yet mum?”
Once we arrived, after filling in our swine flu declarations, we came through customs. We told them we had netball uniforms which we were bringing as gifts. Apparently the letter didn't have quite the same magical effect as on the way here though, but they let us through with a warning that we'd better get the church to write a letter to customs next time. I am not sure whether they specifically took our names though. Margaret likened the situation to Brother Andrew's – where he smuggled bibles behind the iron curtain in the 60s, 70s and 80s I think. I would say that's a little bit of a stretch, but I was a little afraid she wasn't going to let us through at one point and then I would have been praying the smugglers prayer which goes something like "make seeing eyes blind Lord" - although they may have been a bit suspicious when the developed massive cataracts in order to avoid seeing hundreds of pieces of clothing.
On heading out of the airport we found our transfer company, and then as we were heading towards the bus, who should pop out of the shadows but Meto! He's our contact from the Presbytarian Church of Vanuatu (PCV). I recognised him from when I met him (possibly in November?), he had Pastor Allen with him (great name), and a couple of others. There was a bit of confusion as we tried to deduce whether they'd come to pick us up from the airport, but once we'd said our hellos we raced to the bus. Meto will be picking us up at 9am tomorrow morning to take us to his church.
So we're at our hotel. The people are super friendly. The internet access is quite horribly slow from our room, but for free - I'll cope. I was interested to note that the internet access is actually better if you go and sit at the side of the pool. So I just might do that sometime :)
Until next time
Katherine
Once we arrived, after filling in our swine flu declarations, we came through customs. We told them we had netball uniforms which we were bringing as gifts. Apparently the letter didn't have quite the same magical effect as on the way here though, but they let us through with a warning that we'd better get the church to write a letter to customs next time. I am not sure whether they specifically took our names though. Margaret likened the situation to Brother Andrew's – where he smuggled bibles behind the iron curtain in the 60s, 70s and 80s I think. I would say that's a little bit of a stretch, but I was a little afraid she wasn't going to let us through at one point and then I would have been praying the smugglers prayer which goes something like "make seeing eyes blind Lord" - although they may have been a bit suspicious when the developed massive cataracts in order to avoid seeing hundreds of pieces of clothing.
On heading out of the airport we found our transfer company, and then as we were heading towards the bus, who should pop out of the shadows but Meto! He's our contact from the Presbytarian Church of Vanuatu (PCV). I recognised him from when I met him (possibly in November?), he had Pastor Allen with him (great name), and a couple of others. There was a bit of confusion as we tried to deduce whether they'd come to pick us up from the airport, but once we'd said our hellos we raced to the bus. Meto will be picking us up at 9am tomorrow morning to take us to his church.
So we're at our hotel. The people are super friendly. The internet access is quite horribly slow from our room, but for free - I'll cope. I was interested to note that the internet access is actually better if you go and sit at the side of the pool. So I just might do that sometime :)
Until next time
Katherine
A piece of paper worth $200
Yay!
I'm writing from inside Sydney Airport where Margaret and I have just had our first big answer to prayer!
I was writing yesterday that we are taking about 15 (maybe 25?) kilos of Netball uniforms, but, knowing there would be excess charges (maybe $200+) we'd called Virgin Blue a couple of times trying to get them waived. No luck.
BUT! We showed the check-in attendant a letter that we'd received from the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu, saying that the Netball uniforms were a gift (well actually, Margaret showed her the letter - oh me of little faith!) and the girl's exact words were - "I wouldn't charge you excess, not with a letter like that"
She did sound a bit under the weather, so please pray for her to be better.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Tomorrow
Hi Everyone,
Only 1 sleep to go!
I'm quite excited, although I'm not too ecstatic about the 4:30am start tomorrow morning. Last night I packed up my bag and weighed it. 19.4 kilos, but that doesn't include shampoo or some other important things like that. Probably about 10-15 kilos of that is Netball uniforms. And I haven't even packed the skirts yet - actually I was planning on trying to wear the skirts around my neck - it could even be quite lovely and warm! However my temptation to not look like an idiot may be too strong... and there are an AWFUL lot of them!
So if you do read this, please pray that the scales at the check-in are broken, or that the person at the counter is in a particularly good mood.
Katherine
Only 1 sleep to go!
I'm quite excited, although I'm not too ecstatic about the 4:30am start tomorrow morning. Last night I packed up my bag and weighed it. 19.4 kilos, but that doesn't include shampoo or some other important things like that. Probably about 10-15 kilos of that is Netball uniforms. And I haven't even packed the skirts yet - actually I was planning on trying to wear the skirts around my neck - it could even be quite lovely and warm! However my temptation to not look like an idiot may be too strong... and there are an AWFUL lot of them!
So if you do read this, please pray that the scales at the check-in are broken, or that the person at the counter is in a particularly good mood.
Katherine
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Getting ready to go ...
OK - so let me share with you some of the details of what's happening. I've been telling my friends I'm going on a mission trip, but I don't think that's actually what it is. But it's not a holiday either :) We're going over to Vanuatu to make some relationships with the people, and if we can help out, then we're more than willing to do that to - but it's taken me a while to get used to the idea that we're going to go over there and chill out with the local people.
Some details. Margaret and I are going to head over on Saturday, we're flying to Brissie and then to Port Villa in Vanuatu - and we'll get there at about 2pm in the afternoon. Ian and Jenni are heading over on the Sunday, and they'll arrive in the early evening I think.
We're taking some gifts, the great bulk of which are Netball uniforms which is a popular sport in Vanuatu, we're also taking some other things, coloured pencils, torches, that sort of thing. And I definitely plan to take the great game of UNO to introduce to the citizens of Vanuatu. I hope I don't start a war.
Now partly I'm showing you the picture on the right because I wanted to test my capability to upload a photo on my camera and then upload it to this blog. But I won't deny it, part of me is showing off. To the right is my new toy - an Acer Aspire One (it's red!). Ostensibly I have bought it specifically for the blogging, but it was just so cute and little and ... I had to have one. :) If you're so inclined, please pray that:
1. It doesn't get stolen
2. God will cleanse me of my consumerist ways
3. I manage to finish the rest of my packing rather than stuffing around on this machine for hours on end.
So it's Tuesday now - only four more sleeps until I fly out! So far I'm getting a wonderful amount of support (by the way, if you do want to see the comments then click on the heading of this post (or any other post) and it should come up in a new window and you'll be able to see all of it.
Some details. Margaret and I are going to head over on Saturday, we're flying to Brissie and then to Port Villa in Vanuatu - and we'll get there at about 2pm in the afternoon. Ian and Jenni are heading over on the Sunday, and they'll arrive in the early evening I think.
We're taking some gifts, the great bulk of which are Netball uniforms which is a popular sport in Vanuatu, we're also taking some other things, coloured pencils, torches, that sort of thing. And I definitely plan to take the great game of UNO to introduce to the citizens of Vanuatu. I hope I don't start a war.
Now partly I'm showing you the picture on the right because I wanted to test my capability to upload a photo on my camera and then upload it to this blog. But I won't deny it, part of me is showing off. To the right is my new toy - an Acer Aspire One (it's red!). Ostensibly I have bought it specifically for the blogging, but it was just so cute and little and ... I had to have one. :) If you're so inclined, please pray that:1. It doesn't get stolen
2. God will cleanse me of my consumerist ways
3. I manage to finish the rest of my packing rather than stuffing around on this machine for hours on end.
So it's Tuesday now - only four more sleeps until I fly out! So far I'm getting a wonderful amount of support (by the way, if you do want to see the comments then click on the heading of this post (or any other post) and it should come up in a new window and you'll be able to see all of it.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Welcome!
Hi! Thanks for taking the time to take a look at this page.
A few of us from Wesley Uniting Church, which is in Castle Hill in Sydney, Australia are going to Vanuatu in July. I'm going to be writing a blog about it - my name is Katherine :)
I've heard the internet access isn't too good over there, but I should be able to get something happening, and hopefully some photos as well.
Anyway - I leave next Saturday, July 4th, which means in one week I'll be in Vanuatu! Yay! It also means I had better get packing.
I'll try and get you some more details before we go.
Katherine
A few of us from Wesley Uniting Church, which is in Castle Hill in Sydney, Australia are going to Vanuatu in July. I'm going to be writing a blog about it - my name is Katherine :)
I've heard the internet access isn't too good over there, but I should be able to get something happening, and hopefully some photos as well.
Anyway - I leave next Saturday, July 4th, which means in one week I'll be in Vanuatu! Yay! It also means I had better get packing.
I'll try and get you some more details before we go.
Katherine
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