Photos from Epi Part 2

Good Morning,

It's Saturday morning in Port Villa and although I have long list of little tasks and chores to take care of before going back to Epi, I want to take advantage of this brief window of internet availability to post some more picture.

It's hard to tell, but we are standing on the side of a steep hill in the picture. After chopping down the tree, the first step in building a canoe is to carve away the sides as my papa is doing here. My papa, my uncles, and I worked on this canoe for a whole day before carrying it back to the village to dry.

More canoe building

Here's the view from the side of the hill where we were working on the canoe. The flatter tree-less area at the bottom is now cleared and I've planted corn, cabbage, carrots, and tomatoes there.

Sometime after lunch (roasted bananas in the bush), the rains started to come from across the valley. Unfortunately, they didn't show up in this picture, but a swarm of bats was flocking at the top of the hill in this photo.

Here we are in the rainy season of Vanuatu. If you're high enough, you can see it coming, but usually you don't get much warning and then everything is soaked.

When it rains, you can hide under the eaves of a tree like I am or you can ignore it and keep working.

Uncle Alek (not Alak) takes a turn cutting out the inside of the canoe with an axe.

More carving. I helped a little, but this was early enough in my stay on Epi, that they still thought I was too fragile for much physical labor. That's changed whether I like it or not and I am no longer given a five year old to accompany me if I head out to the bush.

Papa's land is inland from Rovo Bay. There's an area before reaching my garden that looks like a well maintained park. Papa ties his cattle to the coconut trees and the cattle eat all the grass within about 10 meters of the tree until Papa comes and ties them to another one. So, the area always looks like someone mowed it a few weeks ago.

Another view of the cleared coconut park where my family ties up their cattle.

Here is my host papa Daniel with his two daughters Melanie and Josephine under the obligatory mango tree next to my house. We've been looking over my little world globe. This little area between my house, my parent's house, and Robinson and Seesie's house is like our living room. There are a few benches and when not planting yams, or playing Rambo in the jungle, this is where you'll find my family.

Melanie will be starting seventh grade this week and Josephine will be starting grade six. Both were are the top of their classes in December.

On the other side of the little clearing is Robinson and Seesie's kitchen (on the right). Papa Robinson, posed here, is an agricultural officer for Shefa Province and somehow part of our family. He's one of the more educated people in Alak and his Bislama is peppered with words like "how" instead of "olsem wannem" and "bench" instead of "ples wea yumi save sidaon".

Like most of the women, Mama Seesie never seems to stop working. Once everyone is fed, the garden is taken care of, the kids of allright, the church is clean, and the cows have been moved to new grass, it's mat making time.

Papa Robinson on the left and Morris on the right. This is one of the few times Morris is wearing a shirt so it must be Saturday morning before church. Sometimes called "Morris Australia", he wasn't able to attend school as a child due to what I think was a heart condition that required a lengthy stay in Australia for medical attention. He's continually amazed when I work in the garden, prepare manioc, or clean a fish.

More mat making in front of Seesie and Robinson's house.

Thanks for visiting and I'll try to post more pictures when I can