Talofa! 

Happy New Year!! I hope you are enjoying the cold weather… JEALOUS! It is so hot here we wear as few clothes and do as little as possible. Mataio has taken to resting on the floor of the bathroom because it is 2 degrees cooler. Thankfully, I am not that desperate yet! ;o)

We have recovered from the holidays… the chiefs decided we would celebrate on Christmas Day and New Years every day until January 8th. Seriously!! We escaped to Taveuni to visit another volunteer for a few days and then came back to conclude the holidays. A typical celebration day on Kioa goes like this … 6am Church, 8am Breakfast and speeches, 10am Fatele and speeches, 12pm Lunch and speeches, 2pm Traditional Game, 7pm Devotion, 7:30pm Dinner and speeches, 9pm Dance. Every day, all together, sitting on the concrete floor of the Community Hall. Whew.

I love the fatele (traditional dance) and te ano (traditional game) but can totally live without the feasting and speeches!! ;o) The traditional game involves the whole village and can last for hours and hours. They have two balls that are really just a big rock wrapped around with leaves … it is very heavy and hard and there seems to be lots of bruising. Each team has a alovaka (captain) and pukepuke (catcher). My favorite part is the heckling and then the losing team has to sing a song. Below are some photos …

I am back in Suva for LifeSkills (Youth Development) workshop. Vakafa, the youth leader for the church, came with me. I am very excited about this because we have lots of youth (mostly boys) that have dropped out of school and are back on the island. We try to keep them busy with projects but they still have lots of free time and unfortunately, we recently had a 18 year old rape his 9 year old cousin. Also a church in Canada gave us money to build a youth center and we will start on that in March/April. So I am looking forward to working with Vakafa and spending time with the Lima Malosi in the upcoming months.

It is hard to believe we only have about 16 months left and there is still so much to do!! We miss you terribly and love you dearly. ~ Keli & Mataio

PS – thank you for the Christmas cards!!!! YEAH!!!

Lessons Learned
I want to be a part of producing not consuming the energy of others
You cannot give what you do not have.
Sanctification isn't a spa treatment.
It is impossible to go anywhere unless you have a vision of what it will look like when you arrive.
Our worth should be measured in what we give away not what we keep.
I want to be a bulimic Christian that binges on Sunday and purges Mon-Sat.
Sand and sunscreen turn into superglue.
Laughter is never lost in translation.
I'm not good outside or inside, only in Him.
You know it's hot when you are just as wet sweating as bathing.
It seems those who have little give more.
Kerosene makes a decent nail polish remover.
Am I reactionary or revolutionary?
Am I spending or investing my time?
I know we have the power to hurt, can we use that power to heal?

Kelly Roy
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visit us online @ http://www.kioaisland.org/

 
 This is me giving you a hug!

  
 
 Christmas Day … I think Mataio was hoping the festivities would NEVER end. ;o)

  
 
 The village. 

  
 
 Almost done carving!

My Indiana Jones!

 We hiked to swim in the waterfalls.

 Te Ano!

 Mataio priming his paopao.

 
 Mataio said he would paint it red because that is my favorite color… But it looks like AGGIE MAROON TO ME!!!

 
 Almost ready! Stay tuned for Mataio's first voyage …