The Mission to Find Something to Do

Dwindling Books and the Journey to the Westside

This all began with my first trip to the Health Center in Kerembei, with my Host Papa, back in November, when my Host Papa (head of the Dispensary Committee) was going to call Lolowai (Ministry of Health for Penama Province) and ask about our new Dresser, who still has not come. There I was invited to come back on December 1^st for the World AIDS Day Program at the Health Center; what a perfect way to get introduced to Vanuatu MoH Programs!

In late November I came back to the other side, this time coming in through Telise. The MoH Program was supposed to involve a tour up West Maewo, with all the officials from Lolowai. Meaning that I would observe the program in Telise first and then move with the program until it came to Kerembei (a 3-4 day program). Once on the other side, I learned that none of the officials came to Maewo and the program was reduced to one day at Kerembei. Fortunately, one of the programs was still on and I had reached Nic Thiltges’ site for the first time and was able to steal some books from him as half my luggage still hadn’t made it to Naviso/Maewo and that included my sole form of entertainment: books. As well, the other side has Coca-Cola and, a more recent discovery, Chocolate/Strawberry Milk (this is “long-life” milk, so it doesn’t need to be refrigerated before opening). This makes the other side something like a small paradise. After a few days of travel up West Maewo, I made it to Kerembei for the World AIDS Day program.

World AIDS Day: An Honored Guest and an Impromptu Speech

My original plan was to simply observe the program, but I shouldn’t really have expected that little. The program started with a small march/parade and was followed by a Introduction ceremony. The first problems with the program presented themselves in the schedule: an hour was allotted for the 10-15 minute march, for example. During the introduction ceremony I am introduced as an honored guest and brought into the little speakers pavilion and then presented with a microphone where I am expected to give an impromptu speech in Bislama to 100+ Ni-Vans; lucky day. Later the schedule became a problem and led to my next Bislama AIDS Toktok.

After lunch, which started 45 minutes early, there was still 90 minutes until the program was going to start again and people were growing restless. Paul Wren and I tried finding the Nurse running the program to start the program early, but she was nowhere to be found. What was Paul Wren’s solution? Entertain the crowd! This involves a megaphone and discussing AIDS in Bislama to the entire crowd once again. Luckily, this did keep the crowds in check before the program was able to start again. Just a Vanuatu MoH Program I was able to save.

  

Paul Wren Tari

Nuf said…

The former Speaker for Parliament, now living on West Maewo, in Berterrara, in the rough equivalent of a shack, yet still running a generator 24/7 with an array of various mobile chargers belonging to everyone else, jammed into one power-strip that looks about to short-circuit. The first time I met Paul, he asked me a lot of questions about myself and after asking my age he responded: 23? Fuck I’m old!

Paul runs the Post Office and is a community leader. He is a very effective leader-compelling and educated, but the problem is with Paul is that he is basically retired (and that means a lot more in Vanuatu, where life is relaxed to begin with). This means that some things just don’t happen unless Paul feels especially motivated. This isn’t too large a problem, but could present difficulties, but Paul is just too cool to really get frustrated with.