Survivor Auki

Scarce blog entries and emails may or may not have alerted you that we are currently undergoing our own ‘survivor Auki’. Initially Telekom employees staged a national strike as they wanted their CEO to resign. This resulted in no internet or mobile phone usage, in addition to this the emergency numbers for the police and ambulance in Honiara did not work. This situation has been resolved and now Auki is experiencing an electricity shortage as the power board is unable to pay its fuel bills.

To start with power was rationed to night times only, now it has stopped altogether. A knock on effect is without power water can not be pumped into houses so water supplies are under threat. Currently Rob & RAMSI personal are working with the hospital to find a solution to their water crisis as they have run out this morning.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to the businesses and organisations around Auki like the hospital and ice cream shop who are suffering during this time. We have been informed by a local this occurred last year and lasted for 3 months! We wait with baited breath and hope things are sorted out sooner!

Another feature in the month of the family

As it has been fairly difficult for us to access a computer lately, I am very sorry that this entry has been so slow in making it to the blog. It is certainly not due to the lack of importance of my family’s visit, just the logistics have been tricky. So, as I alluded to above, we had a visit from my parents, Jan and Karl, and my brother Antony, at the end of last month. This was their third time to the Solomons, but their first time to the provinces. So really, it was like their first real visit to the Solomons, as previously they had only been to Honiara.

They arrived on one of the wee Solomon Airlines flying matchboxes, not even too late by Solomon standards, touching down onto the grass runway, dodging the chickens and SolBrew cans (the pigs stayed on the adjacent soccer field, fortunately), close enough for me to see Mum waving to me from the window. After some screeching and hysteria (from me), we cruised back home on the Sol Air shuttle bus, and I felt a decent flicker of pride as they pointed out different things along the way and how extravagantly green all the surrounds were.

We treated Mum, Dad and Antony (hereafter MD&A) to a traditional cooking lesson with our friend Jerry and his family up at Dukwasi village. We got to consume the fruits of our labour the next day for lunch after watching some traditional dancing (with a few modern touches, such as the gold wristwatch of the male leader – a little incongruous with the grass skirt!). Dad had a large audience of goggle-eyed kids astonished at seeing a white man swing a bush knife to cut firewood.

Antony got very well-acquainted with the hammock, and ensured he had at least a couple of hours in it each day we were home. The onset of the power crisis meant that we had some enforced relaxation time, and Antony had a full afternoon in the hammock one day. MD&A endured a lot of walking up a lot of hills, but only Mum was able to hobble away from the experience with a black-and-purple toe…we’re not sure exactly how she managed that!

It was fun for Steve and I to get to do some “touristy” things with MD&A (not that there is heaps to do), and we finally made it up to the limestone caves with our friend Jerry. We had heard quite a bit about them from other visitors, and it was all true – the bats (they really stink!), the mud, the water…. but also some spectacular parts that you’ll have to come and see for yourselves: cathedral-like chambers with beautifully arched ceilings, and one part where the cave roof collapsed that has now become a lushly-overgrown clearing with hundreds of trailing vines, and you might see Gollum slinking by if you look very carefully..

Another big highlight of MD&A’s visit was our two night down at Langalanga, at Serah’s Lagoon Hideaway. It was so good, in fact, that it deserves an entry all of its own. Stay tuned..

Guest Blog: Dr John's Island Holiday

(The following has been written by Lara’s Dad. Disclaimer: we accept no responsibility for anything parent’s write!)
“Me hapi tumas fo stap long dota blong me Lara an Rob. Two weeks holiday on a tropical island (my first time)! Lara and Rob’s house certainly has a wonderful view of Auki township, wharf and fishing village. Only problem is a steep rocky drive up to the house goes with the view! Lara obviously concerned about her Dad’s fitness made sure we did the trip up and down frequently and also several walks including one to a water hole in a river and another to two large limestone caves one with hundreds of bats and a stream running through which suddenly disappears into the flour of the cave. Awesome experience! So much reminded me of Thailand – wet all the time from sweat or rain, coconut and banana trees, tropical vegetation, gravel roads, houses very similar to those of the hill tribes in Northern Thailand, the church consisting of concrete floor and roof, otherwise open, no overheads or powerpoint as they know the songs!

It was good to be at the hospital when the first shovel full of dirt was shifted for the building of the Maintenance/CBR/ Prosthetic workshop which is the major project at the moment, particularly for Rob, and an exercise of faith as AU$35,000 has to come in from somewhere for it to be completed. It was also good to share the frustrations, particularly for Lara, of having few opportunities at present to use her many gifts and abilities here. The trip ended with three days snorkelling on one of the Florida Islands. Thanks so much for having me and allowing me to experience some of your Island life and share some of your joys and frustrations. It meant so much.”

The month of the family

June has been a wonderful month with the unexpected visit of Jamie – Rob’s brother, whom we spent three wonderful days with before he started his job as the engineer aboard a private yacht.

We then proceeded on our 8 day holiday in Gizo with friends – Antony, Kasey and Kasey’s sister Shelley (who was visiting from NZ). It was an amazing time with great company, delicious food, awesome snorkelling and romantic surroundings. We seem to attract wild life wherever we go as we shared a room with a rat, snake and mozies. Further down from our abode we spotted 9 sea snakes!

On our way back to Auki we picked up my wonderful Dad who spent the next two weeks with us. We had a great time with him at Auki and then 3 days in Maravagi. Unbelievable snorkelling there! We saw sharks (Rob touched one!), a turtle, octopus, sea snake (luckily only one) and thousands of multi coloured fish, it looked like a massive shower of confetti underwater!

Great bus service

As mentioned previously the local bus system around Auki is great. Everyone piles in, pays SB $2 and jumps off wherever they like. We discovered children were free one day when a small girl in school uniform stopped the bus, looked in with her lovely eyes and cheeky grin. Then suddenly we were ambushed by 8 other gorgeous giggly girls who acquired the remaining 3 seats. That was a very fun ride!
The buses themselves are mini vans with a driver and collector in charge of the sliding door. They come in a variety of conditions, often adorn with soft toys, CD’s hanging in the windscreen, rust, stain marks on all surfaces, with noises ranging from the radio, grinding of gears, to the psssssst of a local approaching his stop. On a journey to work one day the door of the van slid right off. It took both the driver and collector a wee while to replace it using two jandles to plug it in. At the next stop the sliding door preceded to fall out again. Meanwhile the driver had his own problems, while trying to drive off (he had no first gear) he rode the clutch leaving a much to be desired smell of burning.

Weapons of mass destruction

The battle of supremacy in the kitchen continues. We have brought out the big weapon – our ant-proof pantry! The concept was mine based on a childhood Thai cupboard, and the craftsmanship Rob’s! The tuna cans ideal size; filled with water at each foot are the key to its effectiveness. Vigilance is still required as we discovered an invasion after a piece of cellotape fell close to the wall and the ants formed a bridge to launch a counteract!

Unfortunately we have found this pantry is not rat proof! Much to my discomfort my first encounter with the rat was alone at night, when reading a book he appeared right under my feet! To my credit the scream was not vocalised and Rob was not notified of our new adversary until morning. The next encounter resulted in his eviction. As you can see from the photos a new method (as we have no traps) was designed. Cornering him by the fridge, one route to the front door was formed and when all was ready, Rob ‘encouraged’ him to exit. Rob did say it was an amazing sight to see the rat launch himself off the balcony into the dark! (As you can also see I took the safe advantage point – for recording purposes. Unfortunately the rat moved too fast to be photographed).

Thought it might also interest you of another weapon we use to great affect – the sieve!

Of greener grass

I don’t know how else to say this, but I am in love. We have just been to the most beautiful and idyllic place I have seen yet in this country; it was everything that I hoped the Solomons would be, really. And now I am suffering from a fairly severe case of “grass is greener” syndrome. It’s all relative, I suppose, we liked Honiara well enough until we got to Auki. Now we think Honiara is a hole. We liked Auki very much until we got to Atoifi. Now, well, fill in the blanks I guess!

Steve, his trainee Willie, and I travelled over to Malaita’s second hospital over on the east coast last week. Atoifi Adventist Hospital has no road access, like most of eastern Malaita, so for us it meant a good couple of hours getting over to Atori by truck, and then a half hour in a boat to Atoifi. I felt mildly unwell after the rough ride in the truck (I’m sure the potholes were enough to induce a slight concussion), so I hate to think how the patients feel when they make it, via whatever means they can, to the hospital.

We didn’t know what to expect of the place, and thought we should prepare for the worst-case scenario – three days of sleeping on the floor, being stared at and not spoken to, eating whatever we were able to purchase locally (perhaps an exclusive diet of bananas, seeing as they don’t require cooking). What we got was a lovely (by Solomon standards, and I am okay with this!) self-contained flat, multiple warm welcomes from a number of staff, vast quantities of lovingly prepared food from several local families, and requests for further visits. As if that isn’t enough, the surrounds are peaceful, the people are friendly and the staff really want to take better care of their patients and would like our help to achieve that. More than a volunteer could hope for, really.

The evenings are even more serene than the days, and as the sun sets and brief twilight settles over the bay and its artificial islands*, the locals walk down to the small wharf (built by the EU). People set off over the quiet waters in their dugout canoes, children splash in the shallows or jump off the wharf. Somehow this doesn’t frighten the fish, who are quite content to flip around and make ripples across the mirror-like inlet. Many of the makeshift rigs (metres of line spooled around plastic bottles) still reel in enough for a little bit of protein with the evening meal. And most importantly of all, people sit down, or stroll together to engage in the national pastime, “stori stori” (talking).

When the sun departs for the day, and only the moon is left to light the sky, even then Atoifi is peaceful. The trilling of the crickets seems somehow more muted than Auki, and the silence is palpable between their songs. Only the occasional cry of a cat can be heard, and the mangy dog population I would put at less than three. I slept without ear plugs, and it was bliss.

Ah yes, the grass is very green on the other side at Atoifi, and I am very pleased to report that this first liaison is only the beginning of a beautiful friendship. There are lots of lovely things that we look forward to doing with the team there, but I won’t bore you with work talk, rather I’ll just revel in the knowledge that we get to go back.

*Malaita (and probably a number of other provinces, I’ll let you know when I’ve been there!) has many man-made islands dotted around its coast. They have been built on top of areas of reef by some very enterprising people who were struggling for land. So they made their own, out of rocks they collected and deposited at low tide. These people are the “saltwater people”, who, naturally, tend to do most of the fishing. They depend on the “bush people” for root crops such as taro and kumara, as the soil on the artificial islands is not generally amenable to growing these. There is a huge amount of anthropology and history literature available, about most of which I’m not that well informed, really. But Roger Keesing is one of the gurus, so if you’re interested, he would be a good author to look up.
Kel.

Taking the heat

After six months in the tropics, I’d say we’re about as acclimatised to the heat as we’re ever going to get. Unfortunately, I still sweat profusely with quite low levels of activity, talking to a patient, for example, or slicing our home-made bread on a Sunday afternoon. I am convinced that I sweat more than my fellow volunteers, although Rob thinks he rivals or surpasses me. That we sweat in the heat is not surprising, however we have noticed of late our increasing sensitivity to cold. Of course it never gets “cold” here in the Solomons, but our goalposts have certainly shifted.

Departing Australia in October, I remarked to Steve that it would be another 18 months before I had cold feet again. I and the other females in my family are rarely without our fleecy slippers at home, trying to prevent iciness of our extremities. Walking on chilly surfaces such as tiles in a Melbourne or Auckland winter borders on painful, but surely there would not be such problems for me in Solomon Islands? It turns out that twenty four or twenty five degrees these days is practically Arctic, and the kitchen lino in these temperatures is cold to the point of being mildly painful!

Sitting down in the evenings sees the temperature drop below thirty degrees, usually, which is comfortable. Lose a couple more degrees, and, with the fan running, I start getting cold. Steve thinks I’m crazy, and won’t let me turn the fan off, so I have been resorting to long-sleeved shirts and light trousers recently. I am not quite resorting to the winter woollies that the Solomon Islanders do, but all the same, would never have dreamed of feeling chilly here.

Our coffee and tea consumption has risen again as we have acclimatised, and we now think nothing of having a cuppa in the afternoon despite it being thirty one degrees or so. Steve’s favourite coffee mug, his Greenlane Christian Centre mug, has just lost its handle in an unfortunate fall during Steve’s haste to get himself caffeinated. He is distraught but consolable, and refuses to drink coffee from anything but the handle-less vessel. I may not be able to convince him to leave it behind when we go.

In nine weeks time, my mum, dad and brother are coming to visit. I’m hoping that they will sweat more than me….and maybe bring me a few more long sleeves.

River Fiu Adventure

Many a discussion had been made on floating down the Fiu river on a tyre and finally today was the day. After being assured by our contact the night before that the truck inner tyres required would be ready at the local work yard the next morning, we arrived to find . . . surprise, surprise, they weren’t. In fact there was only one truck tyre, the other three were hylux tyres plus a car tyre and all needed repairs and pumping up.

2 hours later, a bit despondent we assembled at the starting point. The truck tyre had become flat during the 15 min ride to the river so that left Kelly, Steve & Rob with the hylux and Lara with the car tyre. John & Dave well prepared, both had their truck tyres.

The first part of the journey was spent experimenting with positioning in the tyres and how to manoeuvre them in the current while attempting to avoid the rocks and branches. There is only one way to ride the car tyre – on your tummy like a boggie board, knees and legs up to avoid the rocks! Two of us (guess who!) became rather chilly. I was able to scavenge a thermal top and gloves off Dave and Rob ½ way. The rest found the temperature rather pleasant.

The peaceful tranquillity was often shattered by John’s rendition of “That’s why I tell you . . . you’d better be home soon” (Crowded House) The water was so clear you could see the crocs coming a mile away!

Despite sore and hungry bodies, the 4 hours & 20 mins was totally worth it. Although an increase in water flow would have created additional delight. Unfortunately due to the isolation of the river route we fear we have inadvertently caused many a pikinini to have nightmares of whiteman floating down the river!!!! One wee fella was so terrified of the 6 whitemen he sat frozen in his tree petrified crying!

Cooking Class

When accepting a request to provide a cooking session for the woman’s group, I was unsure what exactly that would involve. After extensive questioning in pijin, I continued to remain in the dark about how these sessions usually operate, how many attend, with the only expectation verbalised – make a fish curry.

Rising to the challenge I delved into my cookbook, searching for enticing, healthy recipes that can be made with readily available ingredients. Keeping in mind the local kitchen consists of a fireplace so usual forms of cooking are via frying pan, pot or steaming with the food wrapped up in banana leaves. Selecting four recipes I proceeded to translate them into pijin. I did try to have these checked by a local woman.

The anticipated day arrived. 30 mins before intended commencement time, the 3 recipes (one I had never made!) had been mentally sequenced; ingredients and kitchen had been prepared so I was able to relax with a book. 8 local women appeared as well as Kelly. And so the fun began. I launched off with sweet and savoury pinwheel scones, followed by the requested fish curry, and while it simmered created a stir fry. I had not written out the stir fry recipe figuring that it’s such a flexible dish. This was however asked for. I hesitate to suggest that the session will be recalled for its fine cuisine as I suspect the most memorable incident was when the lighter didn’t turn off, causing the container I threw it in, to alight. Blissfully focusing on the fish curry, I turned just in time to see Kelly putting the fire out! Oh well. . .