So here I am faced with the endless options of technology, plumbing, and refrigeration that Vila town has to offer! Too soon indeed. I was only at site for 10 days and now I’m back in Port Vila for another 10. The GAD (Gender and Development) Committee is facilitating some activities with the new group of volunteers G27 that arrived in January. A year ago when I was in training, the GAD sessions were my favorite because they were relevant to Vanuatu life. Although it is moving towards a more progressive way of life, Vanuatu still has many defined gender roles, gender based violence, and as a result, unequal participation in development. I liked the sessions so much that I applied and joined the GAD committee and here I am today as the training/programming lead! Yahoo! So I’ve been really looking forward to the training and even though I was just starting to get resettled at site, I’m so happy to be back for it! This year we’ve got two new members, Brittany and Dave from my group G26, and before our May meeting, there will be two new G27 group members joining us as well.
On Friday we’ll be leading What is GAD and the Leadership Compass sessions. On Saturday we’ll be hosting a mini camp GLOW/BILD in the training village, and on Monday and Tuesday we are trial running the TokTaco activity! In Vanuatu, a toktok is a discussion. Because of my undying love for wordplay, I designed (and got approved!) a training session based on discussing the components of GAD while making delicious tacos! In three stations while we roll out tortillas, whip up salsa and guacamole, and season the fillings, we will have toktoks about camp glow/bild, the gender-based violence prevention workshop, participatory project planning, and how volunteers can encourage gender equality in their communities. Quite a big plate to fill! But all important information to pass along, plus the best part: tacos! How did I swing this? Well the underlying message, which will be grandly presented while everyone enjoys their creations, will be that a taco isn’t a taco without all of its parts. A community cannot function successfully without all its members – women, men and children. The individual fillings have to be held together with the concept of community, the tortilla. And in order to make something delicious, whether it be a project or a Mexican dish, you must work together to reach your goals. Amen! Of course hoping for this all to go down smoothly, but anticipating some bumps in the road. However messy the process gets, at least at the end we’ll be enjoying the good stuff.
Life at site has been so nice. I got to Ambae on Saturday and was welcomed back with too much kava and plenty of storian. We had a month of catching up to do! It was wonderful to see my family, the community, and to see that my puskat Kwen is still a rat-hunting extraordinaire. On that note, the rats didn’t destroy my house, the rain didn’t spoil my thatched roof, and mold didn’t get too cozy while I was gone. The spiders assumed I was gone for good and took advantage of the situation by multiplying. I’ve gotten used to them, too, and only go on occasional shoo-ing and shoe-ing sprees, the latter always being fatal. Only a handful of people in my community told me I was fatfat gud (it’s a compliment here to be “fatfat good.” It simply means that you’re healthy and full… shame on westernized thought for ruining that term for us!) which was far less than I expected. I enjoyed every bite of America and the Vanuatu summer heat has helped me detoxify big wan. I came back to rainy season’s heat of the heat and it’s brutal! It makes me appreciate a breeze and a dip in the ocean a little bit more, though. We’ve had a few days of rain, downpour rain, which has cooled off the land. One night the rain came and my mama and I knowingly looked at each other underneath the verandah’s protection and then went out and hopped around! It felt wonderful- cold rain on a hot day has no comparison.
Due to the elements and my lack of being present, my backyard was an overgrown jungle. Nothing a dozen kids during school work party can’t handle! Those guys are machete masters! And they were kind enough to let me join the efforts, though I was clearly the weak link. After an afternoon of chopping it all away, we all took some sugar cane and chowed down in the shade.
So happy for the days I'm here in country and can't wait to get into year 2 groove!
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