two kinds of fellowship

One Sunday in September was the Melanesian Brotherhood graduation. The Melanesian Brotherhood (which I jokingly call the Aryan Brotherhood, but the other Ambae vols never actually laugh) is a group of men on the religious path to Anglican priesthood. They are split between the aspiring, the novices, and the brothers and they all wear different colored robes. They live in a compound in an area called Tumsisiro, affectionately called Tumsi. I always ask what place names mean because they are usually descriptive and interesting. Tumsisiro is the word describing a rock that has a shallow dip in it and when it rains, it fills with water and you can see your reflection in it. I love that! 

There was church service and then graduation ceremony. They fed the whole flock of us tea and bread, and then lunch a few hours later. I saw a cluster of 3 white unfamiliar people, an unusual sighting on Ambae. I started chatting with them and learned all about their adventurous lives traveling around the world via sailboat! 

Karen and Larry have been sailing around on their boat Panta Rhei for many years and have invited their Seattle marina mates, Jeff and Brenda, to tag along for a bit. Jeff and Brenda are retired (and in their 40s! and badasses! wow) and planning their on around the world rendezvous once their boat is all set. These folks are some of the friendliest people I’ve met so far. They radiated with relaxation and ease and I hope to take a page (or a chapter) from their books. 

Sadly the yachties (a surprisingly non-pretentious name in most other parts of the world) headed back to the boat before the kastom dances began. Throughout my service I’ve seen my share of dances and am always in love with what I see –a group of Ni-Vanuatu chanting, stomping, and preserving a beloved tradition. It’s one of my favorite aspects of Vanuatu and I really treasure each chance I’m able to participate in and observe such a joyful, sacred thing. This time was no different except!! a group from Gawa (an island in the banks, a northern set of Vanuatu islands) shared their jig with us. They had these badass, colorful headdresses (that’s not the right word, but neither is hat or helmet) that had long flexible sticks (coconut frond leaf spines) with white fluffy cotton-esque flowers that whimsically floated around while they danced. It was mesmerizing! And made me really excited to for my visit up to Jessie Rae in the banks in October!

bumbu joyce

a great place to practice your handshake

thom and marj

ambae kastom dance

for shits and giggles, this man flas'd up his kastom suit with a sequin skirt

gawa caps!

 On Monday I took over my mama’s class for her while she went into town to get medicine. She wasn’t feeling well and was planning on doing the 1 ½ hour walk in the sun to save some money. She was sick and I knew her birthday was sometime at the end of September, so I told her those two things and gave her the money to charter a truck to the hospital in town. Two birds: an easy early birthday gift and one less sick mama (specifically my sick mama!) walkin the streets.

After morning break a truck pulled up and off hopped the 4 yachties! When we were chatting in Tumsi, I had invited them to my site, but never expected them to make the trek over. What a lovely surprise that was! They came to class 2 and introduced themselves, along with their favorite color and animal. We blew up a bigfala globe (this was an event in itself) and Larry showed the kids their winding route around the world. At lunch break, he gave the same toktok with the school’s world map so that all the kids could hear about their adventures.

They treated me to PBJs and potato chips. We wandered around the school and I answered their questions about bush life. We spent some time soaking in the hot spring and I was the lucky recipient of their insight and advice.  They went back to Lolowai harbor in the afternoon and the kids left them trails of fans and figures made of coconut leaves for an entertaining walk to town. So so grateful for their visit and all the wonderful donations they left for the students and for me!

My mama got home around dinnertime and as storied about both of our days. I asked her what day her birthday was so I’d be prepared (we already missed my brother OB’s back in August!) and she said the 21st. Well.. we checked, and it was indeed September 21st that very day. Haha we almost missed her birthday too! So it turns out that the money for the truck was an on time birthday gift. We watched Home Alone and I passed along some of the donations that the 4 had just left- a purple skirt and some hair accessories. She was thrilled and we were tickled at the perfect timing of it all, including our urge to check the date. A funny little universe we live in.

Here are the links to their travel blogs. They lead very fulfilling lives and are pretty damn good at documenting them. If you’ve got time, check out their tales!

Brenda and Jeff:  http://www.svadventurer.blogspot.com/

Larry and Karen: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/pantarhei/

took these from karen - larry and class 2

hot spring foot soak plus nuggets of wisdom