Observations: A Problem of Perspective

Besides the obvious frustration of failing to get my Parents to Maewo – I mean we could SEE the island! SEE IT!!! – after getting them all the way to Vanuatu, I have also had to tell the sad story to every person on Maewo (word spreads fast). Retelling the tale over and over again has resulted in me reliving the frustration constantly. While this is, at times, trying, the real problem arises in the Ni-Vanuatu lacking a sense of time. Americans fear time. We constantly live in time’s shadow, procrastinating and loathing the passage of time as we near deadlines. From the time we’re born we start counting the days until the end. Some even choose to spend their lives counting down to the end of the world (December 20, 2012. Duh!). Ni-Vanuatu do not share this dread of time’s passage. I believe they actually appreciate the passage of time – time passes very slowly out here. The island life, day to day living, never hurrying is at complete odds with the American life of planning months and years in advance, always rushing to meet deadlines, and sticking to stringent schedules. Nic Thiltges later recollected to me that his host family was completely shocked and could not understand my hurry as I rushed out of the village on my way to Naviso and eventually back to my Parents on Ambae.

Many times, Ni-Vanuatu will travel between the islands because of work or family. Transportation in this country, to use a cliché, will cost you an arm and a leg – it’s severely expensive. This, obviously, is a disadvantage for a nation filled with 83 small islands. Luckily, following the various cargo ships from port to port is cheap. Unfortunately, riding on a cargo ship might be the single most unpleasant experience ever. Cargo ships here are not glorious modern marvels, but usually a decommissioned Chinese-owned ship used in the Solomon Islands that was shipped down here and fixed up-to-grade for cargo. This is not to say all the cargo ships are like this, some are newer ships and all are locally-owned, but these are not ships that exude comfort and relaxation on the open sea; more often these ships exude bad smells, hunger, and vomiting. Almost every Peace Corps in Vanuatu has a horror story of ship travel. Everyone tries at least once, if not multiple times because it is significantly cheaper than all other forms of travel (Plane, Boat, Truck, etc.). But we must remember that the cheap costs are because the owners of the ships don’t care about you – they care about their cargo and profit. This is not to say they are inhuman, but they have a profit-motive and your schedule or rumbling belly doesn’t mean much in comparison. Thus, your ride will never be pleasant. You might have to sleep on a bag of kava; your trip might go from an expected 4 days to 2 weeks and with a lack of food your husband might have to call his friend, who happens to be the chef on the boat, so that you and your 1-year old don’t starve to death; you may spend 30-hours continuously rocked by the South Seas just wanting to vomit; you may find that, after going Number-2, the ship does not stock their toilets with toilet paper; you may find that running water in the faucets of the toilets was not thought important enough; you may find that comfort is much more important than saving money; you may find that being a badass riding a cargo ship in the South Pacific is a passing feeling. Ultimately, riding a ship is a majestic feeling, but is short-lived when confronted with living on a boat for more than a day. To get back the point, cargo ships can take excessive amounts of time to get places: Schedules are flexible, break downs happen frequently, and it takes a long time to traverse Vanuatu in these ships. Thus, when Ni-Vanuatu travel from the outer islands they rarely have a set schedule and never know when they will come back. In one instance I met a man from my village at a Maewo Kava Bar in Port Vila in August – I had no idea he had left Naviso, the last time I saw him was in March on his way to Lolowai Hospital on Ambae and he apparently jumped a ship to Port Vila – and he told me he would be back by September; upon taking my Dad to his first kava at the same kava bar, in later October, the same man hands me my kava – he eventually got back to Maewo in late November. Basically, very frequently, Ni-Vanuatu leave for unknown extended periods and just come back whenever.

Well this kind of leisure is not afforded by Travel Agents and thus my Parents were stuck in a Don’t you dare try changing me or the fell agents of the Travel Industry will fall open you like locusts and the rivers will run red with blood  Travel Schedule. Just trying to shift the entire package ahead a day, months in advance, risked incurring the wrath of the Galactic Empire known as Azumano Travel and the Collective Airline Agencies, but fees were the least of the problem: everything had to fall into place exactly as the Travel Agency had planned it – this can be problematic in the developing world, especially in an island nation with less than satisfactory transportation and unpredictable weather (we’re on the Ring of Fire people!! Check a map – we’re a disaster zone). Vice versa, the Ni-Vanuatu do not grasp this kind of stringent, no excuses, no tardiness schedule. Thus my biggest problem with telling everyone that my Parents couldn’t make it is the constant questions of when will they try again and why couldn’t they wait on Ambae until the weather was better. Well, the exorbitant prices and my Mom would kill me, to answer those respectively. Unfortunately, those don’t really sate their questions. I’ve tried and I’ve tried, but the idea that they only had a small window of time to get to Naviso and that the window passed and they missed it has been nearly impossible to convey. I believe some people understand that it was a one-shot deal and wasn’t possible, but the majority cannot grasp why they could get to Vanuatu, but not to Maewo – the Peace Corps Volunteer got there, why not his parents? I’ve found that this is one of the biggest cultural barriers I’ve confronted while trying to reach understanding. After being here for a year, I too do not understand why travel schedules are so stringent and inflexible. While the cost in Vanuatu for transportation is highway robbery, at least they don’t make you pay fees every time you need to change your schedule – at least you can change your schedule. I think flexibility is something America could benefit from – just an observation.