Today we conducted the community needs assessment for the men’s work
force, or otherwise known as the ‘youth’ as they consist of men age
16-49. Since they were working on an addition to a teacher’s house it
made sense to meet in a classroom. We arrived and the teacher wasn’t
informed of the decision but it wasn’t really a big deal as it was a
good excuse to leave early. Before going, though, devotion had to be
held. They sang an English praise and worship song, followed it up
with a prayer, and then skeedattled. The men came in and I explained
the matrix scoring system. It didn’t compute as Samalu had to break
in and explain what we where doing. I think he also promoted his
preferred projects in the process. Regardless, they caught on and the
scoring proceeded nicely.

I really enjoy the community needs matrix ranking process promoted by
the Peace Corps. It is one of the few processes that is simple and
makes sense that we’ve learned during our stint so far. It also is
very democratic and transparent, which is always good when filtering
through the village politics.

Today is the anniversary of the original group of settlers arriving in
Kioa. Every year the Kioans celebrate at least a couple of days.
Sometimes the celebrations last all week. It is all up to the three
chiefs to decide the length and program.

This year the festivities will last two days to give the men more time
to farm and fish in preparation for Christmas. Yes, they are already
thinking of Christmas and New Years. We’ve heard it is quite the
ho-down. The men have been working hard on community development
projects and several more as scheduled between now and the end of the
year so the chiefs wanted to keep the workforce’s time away from
making money for their family to a minimum.

This morning’s activities started with a two-hour church service.
Several of the elders, including the only surviving member from the
original group of pioneers, gave impassioned speeches. I tried to
follow along but after an hour my brain starts to hurt and I read
Proverbs. Today I diverted course and read the entire book of
Nehemiah.

After church we went home, changed, gathered our food, and headed to
the Falekaupule. Before arriving we had to adorn the proper apparel
including a foa and garland. Kelly’s made her itch so she had to take
it off. Foes don’t do much to hide my large noggin and make me sweat
profusely. We endured the uniform and marched diligently to our spots
in the great hall. After several speeches from many of the same folks
who spoke earlier the preacher prayed and we ate in typical
Falekaupule fashion.

The Falekaupule is a large rectangular building that closely resembles
a horse barn. It has a tall peaked roof in the center with smaller
sections on either side. A colonnade runs down the sides of the
center section and there are 16 posts. At these posts sit elders and
leaders of the community. Nobody sits in the center of the hall. The
women and kids sit along the outside areas behind the men at the post.
The youth don’t come to communal events unless they are needed for a
specific function like entertainment.

The women serve meals by bringing the men their plates of food covered
with cloth. After removing the cloth they sit aside and fan the plate
keeping the flies at bay. Men quickly eat and often don’t even make a
dent in the copious amount of food. The more food you have at your
feet the more prestigious it is. After finishing the cloth is placed
back over the food and everyone starts wrapping up about the same
time. Then in sudden synchronized fashion the women quickly remove
the plates to the side sections where the other guest proceed to eat.
This eating takes place for about an hour while the elders give
various speeches on topics from why the youth are going to hell in a
hand basket and what the latest community developments are. Of course
I don’t know for sure what they are because I can only pick up a few
words but the villagers usually fill us in on the highlights in
English when asked. The best speeches are the ones with jokes because
everyone laughs heartily and it breaks up the monotony.

After this is all over the entertainment typically begins.
Yesterday’s entertainment was dancing by the school children. They
performed a variety of dances including Indian traditional dances and
the popular Fijian Meke. Mixed in between where some less desirable
scenes of small boys and girls grinding on each other to pop music.
My grandmother would have had a heart attack if she’d see some of the
moves these youngsters where making. For such a traditional, Mayberry
type community it is odd that they enjoy such acts. Other than that,
it was a wonderful morning of entertainment and the kids really put a
lot of time in preparing.

The lunch event followed the same pattern as the morning with most of
the same people who spoke at church and breakfast speaking… again.
Rewind and play for the evening’s program. The only difference was
the entertainment following the soapbox dissensions. The sunrise side
and sunset side of the island had a fatele face-off on either side of
the hall. One side, with their big box drum and dancing entourage,
sang a few songs and then gave the floor to the other side to see if
they could be outdone. This lasted about an hour with each giving
forth their best effort. Without having a clear understanding of the
language it is hard for an outsider to distinguish the difference
between the songs. They all have an intense drumbeat that slowly
increases in vigor throughout the performance, which tends to drown
out the unintelligible lyrics. We hope to get a songbook soon to
learn the words and sing along. The fatele is definitely my favorite
cultural entertainment experienced on the island so far.

102909

Talofa! E a koutou?

Whew! We just finished celebrating Kioa Day which marks the
arrival of the first settlers in 1947 and then 13 American students visited us
from their exchange program at the University of South Pacific. We are partied
out and have a slight case of island-fever as we haven't been off the island in
weeks! But most importantly, we miss you terribly! 

Lessons learned this week …

Your dream needs to become a reality when it
haunts you like a nightmare.

You can't lose your salvation because you
never deserved it in the first place.

If you plant the spike top of a pineapple
than another one will grow!

When there is no such thing as a
"store" you tend to use what you have.

Some people look for fights because they
don't believe in anything worth fighting for.

You know you go to bed too early when your
neighbor asks if you have problems with your generated electricity.

I get a little nervous at all the chicks checking out my man!!

Mataio building compost bin #2!

Kioa DAY!! She was one of the original settlers.

Just one of the reasons I am currently a vegetarian!!

A group photo of the study abroad students from University of the South Pacific and our Kioan ladies!!

102009

Well, the honeymoon is over! We have been
here 150 days and most of the big projects
are underway. Only 86 weeks left, so it is now time to work on the real projects – just having simple
conversations … Needless to say, we are ready and excited for the next
phase of our service!! But we couldn't do it without your prayers, support, and
love. We miss you!

Lessons learned this week …

Potential is paralyzed without passion. 

Every time I finish another tube of
toothpaste I am closer to coming home.

When your husband cuts his ear open with a
crowbar – grab the nearest menstrual pad to stop the bleeding.

In Fiji, I am more likely to die from a
falling coconut than a shark attack.

The Lima Malosi (strong arm) workforce getting the water project done!

Mataio resting after all his "ear" injuries!

The Tuvaluan Church Choir!

101409

Talofa!!

We just finished a very busy week and weekend. We completed a tourism
workshop and then celebrated Teacher Day, Children's Sunday, and Fiji Day.
Every week the Kioans find something to celebrate – but 3 in
one week was a little more partying than I can handle!! Back to reality
today… working on developing a strategy plan for tourism after the input we
received from the community, computer tutoring tonight, and Mataio is working
hard on the water project because rationing makes me cranky and in his spare
time figuring out proper electricity charges since we are losing $5,000/year on
the generator or maybe we should install hydro-power?? He has also been busy
working in our garden planting not only veggies but a banana tree, 10 papaya
trees, 10 pineapple plants, etc. And last but not least, we also are
celebrating the fact that we got our trash down to one grocery bag per week –
even without recycling!

We are staying busy and doing our best to stay cool – but you are
constantly in our thoughts and prayers. We miss you!! Love, Kelly

Lessons learned this week …

Mosquito nets also keep out falling gecko poop.

If you feel like you have bugs crawling on you – than you do.

Without Jesus, you may be in the church but you aren't in the kingdom.

You know the prayer is too long when more than one person is snoring
(longest heard so far in Fiji 19 minutes)!!

Unfortunately tourism exposes inequalities. 

Nothing cures homesickness like Elevate and Round Up!!

During tsunami warnings, I am more likely to die from a
heart-attack while hiking to the top of the island than a wave hitting the
bottom.

Just chilling at the top of the mountain during the 2nd tsunami warning!

Ahhhhh! Coconut juice – just what the doctor ordered!

Me and Taku

Mataio doing a little measuring for the ROCKET STOVE!

100509

Talofa!!

I hope you are having a great week. We have
just returned from Suva
for a training. The training was at the level we have begun to expect from the US government
in a third world country but the best was getting to see all the other
volunteers and hear their stories and projects from the last 2 months. We also
had a chance to restock – yeah! The only items available on our island are
fruit, veggies, fish and then we can purchase the basics – flour, sugar, eggs,
and powdered milk from a family-run canteen. So when we go to Suva we stock up on beans, nuts, dried fruit
and soap! Lots of soap! Two cold showers a day will keep the boils away! 

I was amazed at how much we missed our
island. I was so excited to leave but more excited to come back! We missed our
neighbors, the kids, and the "simple life". Mataio and Samalu seem to
think they have been successful in transforming me from a city-girl to a
nature-girl… but they don't see me hugging my non-working iPhone every night
before I fall asleep!

We love you and miss you!! Keep the updates
coming!

Lessons learned this week …

Fear is the boundary of your freedom.

Wearing a money belt makes me feel fat but
Matt feel safe.

Christians aren't malnourished, they are
constipated.

During water rationing, we pray for rain but
don't have enough faith to bring the umbrella.

When traveling to the big city concentrate on
the 3 C's … cheese, chocolate, and cold drinks!

Thanks for all the goodies Mom, Dad, Rhonda, Linda, and Tom!!!

Kelly Roy

gigglepic.com

vaportrail.typepad.com

mobile 011.679.937.5958

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

I mustered up the energy to start the bamboo compost bin yesterday. I
am using the thinner type of bamboo that splits easier. I would
prefer to use the stronger type but Samalu’s son cut a ton of it for
my fence and I had better put it to use for something constructive.

The joints were easier to make than I expected. The trick is cutting
the bamboo with a saw instead of a cane knife so you don’t split the
ends. Once this happens it tends to crumble and create long seams
thus weakening the end of the bamboo.

The hardest part is figuring out a good way to tie the joints. At the
moment I am using wire, but this will soon rust. I cut some vines and
am letting them dry out to have a go at this method. Nails won’t
really work as this would spilt the bamboo even more and there isn’t
much meat to grab the nail like a block of wood.

I have been meaning to write up some pointers for volunteers planning
their trip next spring so here goes at some lessons learned my first
few months in Fiji:

1. Phone: Don’t purchase the Sagem phone from Vodafone stores.
Instead purchase a phone with a recognizable name like Nokia or
Motorola. The off-brand phones are crap and don’t have near the
features main line brands due.

You can also purchase an EasyTel phone that is cheaper to use. Calls
back home are $.30 cents a minute verses $.70 on Vodafone. ET service
is more reliable also. The only draw back is the phone is twice as
big. But if you got a lanyard and wore it around your neck it would
be a nice fashion statement: “I have a huge phone and don’t care.”

For married couples I recommend one getting Vodafone and the other
getting EasyTel. The EasyTel also connects to the internet, if you
have a PC (reference earlier blog for rant on this subject). Sorry
Macs, I guess there is a limitation to your superiority. We all need
to be humbled every once in a while.

The last tidbit on phones is be prepared to pay a lot to communicate.
Calling in Fiji is very expensive in relation to the allowance you
will be receiving.

2. Clothing: Unless you plan on hiring out your laundry duties to
somebody, don’t bring much cotton. Everything I read prior to coming
said bring sturdy cotton clothes. Cotton is a hollow fiber and traps
moisture and sweat creating odors. It dries slower than synthetic
fibers and stretches out. Cotton clothing is also much harder to wash
as it is very heavy wet and hard to wring out. Therefore go the
synthetic route in all articles.

The only exception is if you hire Fijians to do your laundry. In this
case cotton makes sense because when Fijians wash, they don’t mess
around. The clothes are scraped and scrubbed to within an inch of its
life and synthetics will simply not endure this torture for long.

3. Socks: I read a lot that said good socks are hard to find. I have
discovered that they are not worth finding because they aren’t needed.
Unless you run a lot, most of the time I wear flip-flops and don’t
need socks. I don’t know the quality, but on just about every street
there is a vendor selling socks in Suva. I brought ten pairs and need
two.

4. White Clothing: Another misnomer communicated to volunteers
heading out to Fiji is don’t bring white. Fijians love white and
often you will be required to wear white to social functions,
especially church. Although it is hard to keep clean, it is even
harder to find a nice white shirt or blouse. The only thick white
t-shirt I could find at the used clothing stores without stains all
over it was one that said ‘Show Me Your Boobies’. The new shirts are
very thin material and expensive.

5. Ties: Men should bring a nice tie. I wear one twice a week and
it is a zip up tie. This it the only cheap tie I could find. Most of
the ties at used clothing stores have Santa Claus on them or look like
they were once used for cargo straps.

6. Clothes Pins: Bring wooden clothespins. The ubiquitous plastic
clothespins tear your clothes and break easily. We’ve only found
wooden ones at Cost-U-Less and it is hit or miss when they are in
stock.

7. Coffee: Bring a good stainless steel coffee press if you like
coffee. Very expensive ones are available in Suva but they are all
glass. Real coffee is only obtainable in Suva and not available in
the outer island super markets.

8. DVDs: Yes, everyone knows pirated DVDs are prevalent here and very
cheap. The problem is often they contain viruses and are either cheap
camcorder recordings of the movie from within the theater or a draft
version without the final special effects. As an example, I was
watching Wolverine at a friend’s house and the jets in the special
effects scenes where computer animated gray boxes. Often when the
characters started fighting they would magically convert to manikin
like figurines clad in monotone colors. And lastly it is illegal. I
know, I know, the movie industry makes a bajillion dollars and is
ruthless, but it is still illegal do buy pirated movies. Plus it
promotes dishonest business practices among locals and the spread of
malicious viruses. O.k., I will get off my moral soap box…

The bottom line is I wish I had raided the $5 movie section at
Blockbuster prior to coming over. Even bad movies are worth watching
(except the ‘Lords of Flatbush’, that movie is terrible) when it gets
dark at 6:00 and your only entertainment options are re-reading a book
for the fourth time, sharing dirt water in a communal cup with a group
of men who haven’t washed their hands in three days, or sleeping.

Here are some things I heard to do but didn’t do them and wished I did:

1. Pictures: I wish I had brought more hard copy photos. Photos are
expensive here and showing them digitally on your laptop isn’t a good
idea for several reasons… Fijians love pictures and seeing your
family.

2. Bags: We did a lot of research on bags and the choices I made
weren’t that good. I brought a pelican lap top case (1090CC Hardback
Laptop Case) and although it is sturdy, the strap is uncomfortable and
the space is limited to only your laptop and nothing else. It is also
kinda flimsy and not so airtight. I recommend Timbuktu bags as they
give Peace Corps volunteers a 50% discount and most are somewhat water
resistant, a major feature needed on any bag brought over.

Things I am glad I brought prior to coming over:

1. Laptop: From work to pleasure, a laptop is essential gear. The
internet café computers are often slow and randomly lock up. Plus the
cafes are often very crowded and hot. If you are on an outer island
the cafes are very expensive. Although Macs don’t work with most
internet providers, hopefully this will change soon, they are still
more resilient to the beating computers receive from not only nature,
but viruses, here in Fiji. I don’t regret bringing mine.

2. Snorkel Gear: Although it is laborious bringing over the snorkel
equipment, it is well worth the effort. The gear available here is
expensive and low quality. There is nothing worse than trying to
enjoy some of the world’s most beautiful underwater scenery and
battling leaky face masks, broken straps, and poorly designed
snorkels.

3. Insurance: The policy offered by the Peace Corps third party
insurer is crap. There are way too many exclusions and requirements
to make filing a claim in a third world country worthwhile. If you
can get USAA insurance do it. It isn’t that expensive and the
limitations are reasonable.

As an example, our camera was damaged beyond repair and they covered
the loss within 10 days, and all we had to do is email them what had
happened.

4. Leather: I didn’t bring hardly anything made of leather and am
glad I did. Our leather luggage tag rotted in 60 days. My leather
checkbook holder rotted in 20 days. It is hard to avoid all leather
items, such as hiking boots (which are another much needed item), but
if you keep them well ventilated and brush the mold off regularly they
will last.

5. Sandals: We bit the bullet and bought good sandals and they have
paid off handsomely. Keen and Chaco offer 50% PC discounts and both
are great quality. But again, stay away from leather ones.

6. Ear Plugs: Sleep the first few weeks in Fiji will be very
difficult. From birds, to chickens, to patio bands, to you name it…
There is often some sort of noise keeping you up at night. After
awhile my brain adapted but it took a good 12 weeks. I brought ear
plugs but not good ones. If you can find custom ear plugs designed
for your ear and easily cleanable bring them. You will be glad you
did when that pesky rooster decides to sound off outside your window
every morning at 3:30am.

Here are Kelly’s notes:

Toiletries – deodorant, razors, individually wrapped hand-sanitizer wipes,
Electronics – USB drives, batteries, extra headphones
Kitchen – really good knife, garlic press, can opener, nalgene bottle,
or aluminum water bottle

PC provides – face soap, aloe, sunscreen, mosquito repellant,
vitamins, female products, dental floss and all the medical items you
can think of.

Bring your crappiest clothes and mostly shirts because you will wear
sulus everyday and will want to burn everything that is left when you
leave.

Workout equipment – bands, ball, DVDs, etc. Fijians don’t exercise and
they will make fun of you running.

Note to females from Kelly – the PC provides plenty of tampons and
pads, so you only need to pack enough for a week. Sports bras are more
comfortable than regular bras when you are sweating your brains out.
And yes it is unfortunately true – you have to wear a sulu or skirt
every stinking day in the village. I can only wear shorts/pants in the
cities and when hiking.

Good fences make good neighbors, and prevent dogs from dropping loads
on your footpath. Well, at least that’s the idea. That in addition
to the herds of midgets that like to poke their slimy fingers in my
nursery of half cut oil bottles perched on my front porch trying to
produce a resemblance of an edible vegetable.

I decided last Saturday to construct a hedgerow and fence. Our
neighbors, Fani and Filo, both have rather nice shrubbery and I
thought it would be a nice addition to the compound. After procuring
fence post from the tree Samalu’s son’s cut down across from our house
I laid out the dimensions and commenced to dig the holes. The soil is
rather rocky around our house and packed hard from the weeks of no
substantial rain. Therefore I was using the next best thing to a
posthole digger, a 5’-0” iron crow bar that could take the smile off
King Kong’s face. The process is rather simple, just lift the bar and
thrust it into the hard earth. The only problem is when rocks are
encountered. This sends the bar wayward and on one such occasion it
made contact with the tip of my upper right ear. Feeling like I had
just been walloped by a ‘76 Buick I stumbled into the house to check
the damage. Sure enough, my ear was grazed like Wyatt Earp had just
winged me. O.k., I’ll stop the analogies. Let’s just say it hurt and
looked very bad.

Hoping for some consolation and constructive medical attention from my
wife, I instead received belly laughs and queries into what had
happened. After she finally stopped ridiculing me she tended to the
wound and I went back outside to continue the hedge construction
project.

The next phase involved getting starter plants to make the row along
the fence. This is pretty simple and involves snipping the tips off
larger shrubs. Filo allowed me to take several samples and I
proceeded to trim. About 10 minutes into it I heard a bee buzz for
about three seconds and then it struck me hard. It’s stinger landed
on the opposite ear and this time it felt like my head had been
slammed by a Mack truck. I haven’t been stung since elementary school
and forgot how bad bee stings hurt. After picking up the bucket and
garden spade, which I had hurled several yards, I made my way back
home for another round of doctoring. The laughs this time where even
louder and I thought Kelly was going to wet herself before pulling the
stinger out. She finally regained some sort of conciliatory composure
and inspected the wound. The stinger was gone and the pain subsided
enough to continue with the work.

A herd of children had gathered outside our house to see if I had died
from my wounds, and they seemed surprised when I walked out on two
feet. The braver children had assembled a bee search party, and they
quickly informed me two bee casualties had been taken while I was
recovering.

I continued with the collection process and started digging more holes
for the starter plants. This attracted a group of onlooker youngsters
rather quickly. I wasn’t sure why – as I was just shoving a large
pole in the earth. When I looked up from my work they just grinned.
I continued on and they continued watching. I felt like I was quickly
becoming a TXDOT crew working on I-35, one guy working with 10
watching. They just stood there mesmerized by this palagi working a
rod bar. I finally stopped and handed the bar to one of the boys and
he immediately started making holes. Another one would exchange with
him every other hole and I made good speed with the planting bed.

This didn’t last long, however, and the children around here have
about the same attention span as American kids, and they where quickly
off to the next adventure. This process of children congregating
around my work area happened several times during the day. I made a
point to sometimes not say a word or even make eye contact just to see
what their reaction would be. Amazingly they just stood there, inches
away, intensely gazing at my activities. I guess if I was 10 and some
white man came to my island and started planting stuff I would be
kinda curious as well.

The day ended in success and I was able to finish the fence, plant 80’
of hedges and three coconut trees. The yard looks much better and
will be a nice boundary for the wayward pooches and mischievous
children.

As much as I was impressed with the foundation, I was even more
impressed with the ingenuity and speed of the walls. The day after
the foundation was poured the crew erected the inner formwork for the
tank wall and installed the bracing. The form materials were tin
roofing iron hammered out to form a radius. The bracing were 2×3 and
2×4 wood planks.

The next phase was reinforcement. Here the workers used 2.5mm thick
chain link fencing installed in two layers tight to the form. Across
this they strung 2.0 mm galvanized tie wire in double layers about 12”
on center. The forming and reinforcing took about 3 hours.

Plastering followed this work and they knocked it out in about 4
hours. So by the end of the day the outer edge of the tank was fully
formed, reinforced and plastered. The inside plastering will be done
on Monday and the roof will start Tuesday.

Samalu called at 1:15 and said they are dedicating the foundation of
the new tank at 1:30. I quickly grabbed Kelly’s camera and headed out
to meet him. When we joined up I saw that he was wearing a sulu and
tie so I went home to change into more formal gear. On the way to the
construction site the wind was whipping my dress around exposing my
briefs. I pondered how ironic it was to be traveling to a concrete
pour wearing a dress and thought of the hundreds of pours I’ve watched
back home and how quickly my butt would have been kicked if I had
showed up to the site in a sulu.

We arrived at the construction site with Samalu, the Vice Chairman,
three chiefs, and the pastor. The men had cleared the ground,
excavated the beams, formed the sides, and installed the reinforcing.
I was impressed at their hard work in five hours. However it was
difficult looking at the foundation knowing the means and methods used
where violating just about every rule there is to building
foundations. I reminded myself I was in the deep in the south pacific
with no power tools (or for that matter proper hand tools), no
hardware store, no concrete batch plants, and no engineers or plans.
Given those facts I was impressed with the end product, actually.

The pastor made his way to the center of the tank foundation along
with a chief. He said a prayer and quick message. Everyone then
joined in a song celebrating the momentous occasion. Chief
“Cries-A-Lot” gave the closing remarks so it was quite an emotional
affair. After his speech he shoveled a mound of concrete from a half
drum into the foundation and the work was on. Soon the workers
swarmed the area like rabid ants mixing and pouring concrete.

Four half drums where placed inside the formwork with two to three men
working shovels at each drum. Other workers where carrying feed bags
full of sand, cement, and gravel while others carted buckets of water.
The foreman walked around and seemed to be checking mixes for proper
ratios but after the second or third barrel full it was quite a sloppy
affair. I once again cringed at the practice, but knew my place in
the affair so I kept my mouth shut. They had no means of properly
vibrating the concrete anyway. I then witnessed workers tossing large
rocks into the concrete. Once again I wanted to stop them but caught
myself.

In about thirty minutes they had poured 75% of the slab. Everyone was
contributing and even the old men where helping out by mixing grog and
passing it around. It was really inspiring seeing the men come
together and give their time freely for community development.

Much progress has been made lately on the water project. The main
reservoir new supply pipe has been installed in addition to the small
spring catchment structure. All that’s left is burying the pipe and
finalizing the new connection to the main reservoir.

The cuba tank supply catchment has been enlarged and now matches the
design of the new source for the main tank. The spring catchment
consists of a small damn with a square box about 18” x 18” in the
center. The box has ½” entry holes along the perimeter with a
stainless steel mesh protecting the entry points from leaves and
debris. A concrete lid encloses the box, which feeds water to two
pipes. Both pipes have valves. One pipe is for draining the small
reservoir and the other feeds the tank.

Environmental impact is very low as the existing creek contours are
utilized for the reservoir body. Only about 3-4” of dam is required
to get a good flow of water through a 2” pipe.

After a brief consultation with the land-owner about which trees were
most valuable, quick clearing was made of the spot for the new tank.
In about 30 minutes, four trees fell and the vegetation cleared. The
engineer from Labasa quickly measured out the circumference and the
day’s work was done.

Workers don’t have to worry about going hungry as each time a coconut
tree fell the bountiful harvest of the young nuts where quickly
gobbled up. The mature nuts where also sliced and diced for their
tasty meat.

After several weeks of delay the water project has finally started.
The Rural Water Supply Department of the Fijian Government is
providing the materials and 6 workers for the project. The islander’s
are providing the manpower of about 50-60 men.

The project consists of two phases. Phase one is building a 25,000
gallon water tank for one half of the village, and phase two is
installing a new supply pipe for the existing large tank. Yesterday
the village workforce, also known as the Lima Malosi (translated at
strong arm), hauled gravel, sand, and cement to the site of the new
tank. When this group decides to do something don’t get in their way.
There was a steady stream of men hauling materials most of the
morning and they made short work of the task.

Today, the Lima Malosi group was allowed the day off to harvest food
from their gardens. Sunday is Children’s Day and much preparation is
needed for the upcoming feasting. The Fijians worked on building a
water collection box at the new supply spot feeding the existing tank.

Yesterday was children’s day at the church. The service started with
what appeared to be sprinkling of the younger children by the pastor.
It was very packed and I grabbed a seat in the back to give room for
the cell-phone-picture-taking parents (as a side note I find it a
bizarre paradox that some villagers have nicer phones than most
Americans but don’t have a flush toilet). Kelly nudged her way to the
front row to get her own pictures. After the sprinkling, the children
sang a few songs. I thought they did very well, but afterwards Samalu
said their pitch could have been a little higher. Kioans take their
music very seriously.

After the songs one of the older boys said a prayer at the pulpit and
the children then began reciting their memory verses. I’m not sure if
each had their own verse or if they where all saying part of a long
verse. Regardless it was very entertaining watching the youngest of
the group recite their part.

After about 45 minutes of recitation it got pretty boring. The
younger children were starting to get restless and began to make a
commotion. Complete pandemonium was averted however with a sharp poke
of a long stick to the misbehaving midgets from a nearby teacher. I
then noticed that each teacher had a similar instrument and were
strategically placed at the end of each row to inflict quick
discipline. After watching a few trouble makers get the business end
of the rod, the recitation finally ended and a song followed thus
ending the service.

After lunch we napped. The heat is really starting to come full on
now. Yesterday I may have gotten a mild form of heat exhaustion from
the intense sun and sultry heat while working in the garden. It got up
to 85 in our house and today was not much better. So napping was
about all the activity we could muster up.

The church bell rang early and we proceeded to church for part two of
the children’s services. This time the service was mainly skits. The
Sunday school teachers had made a make shift curtain from string and
fabric and brought it to a close after the introductory songs. Behind
this was a flurry of activity for about 15 minutes.

It resembled a mass herding of cats through thick grass. The tornado
of activity behind the thin veil soon tempered a bit and out sprang a
young girl in a black ferry dress. She stated something in her native
tongue and then the curtains were brought back and onward proceeded a
wavy line of equally young boys and girls. I think they where
supposed to pretend like they where falling over dead as they
approached the dark ferry as immediately after they began marching a
young boy dropped solidly to the ground in the prone position. Soon
thereafter another fell and thus the pattern began. Some weren’t so
willing to sacrifice for the performance and soldiered on much to the
dismay of the teachers. A quick backhand though solved that problem
and down went the disobedient marchers. One lone soldier stood
against the black ferry, uttered something with a huge grin, and then
slayed the foe with his wooden cross.

That performance was the highlight of the show. The rest lumbered
along in sloppy and unorganized fashion for about 45 minutes. It was
all very painful to watch and later Samalu commented it is typically a
much more organized affair. He said that even though Tuvaluan is his
mother-tongue, he had no idea what was going on most of the evening.
Regardless, it was a welcome change to the shouting bonanza that is a
typical Sunday sermon.