Back to Epi

Saturday, August 20, 2011

That's it folks. A small airplane will be taking me back to Epi at noon today. I think I'm ready. After two weeks of either training or running errands around Port Vila, it's time to get back to work. Truth be told, I think I've been in the capital too long. I'm starting to get used to it. While it's nice to have a shower, Internet access, and cups of flat white with Kiwi tourists, I'll have to say goodbye to all of that for several months.

This is also goodbye, again, to all of you. Before it's back to the bush, a few housekeeping details. Firstly, thank you once again to everyone who has written letters. Some of you know that I sometimes take on the role of area postal agent because if I don't open those incoming mail bags, no one will. It's always a delight to see a letter from the USA. I get something to brag about and a few of you are minor celebrities on my island. And I've been slowly going through a stack of e-mail over the past two weeks. I should be able to finish responding to them this morning. If you'd like to send me a letter, please send it the Peace Corps office private mail bag at:

Daniel Gerszewski, PCV

Peace Corps

Private Mail Bag 9097

Port Vila, Vanuatu

Some of the more assiduous readers may have noticed that I've never mentioned the name of my village on this page. This is a publicly accessible web-log and I'm not supposed to do that. If you send a letter to the address above, however, it will be forwarded to me. The return letter will have my super-double-secret Epi address. I believe I have written back to everyone who has sent me a letter or even a Christmas card. If you haven't heard back from me, odds are a dolphin ate it in transit over the Pacific.

Alternately, you can send messages to volunteer@vu.peacecorps.gov and put my name in the subject line. These will get to me with the next mail bag to the island. Be sure to include your return address. Ten months ago, I packed all sorts of unnecessary gear, but I didn't include something as simple as an address book. So, I only have addresses for people who have written to me.

Now, I've tried not to bore everyone with my work on these pages, but I remember when I was a prospective volunteer trolling through people's journals trying to find out just what the heck people do in the Peace Corps. To anyone who is really interested, here is what my “job” has consisted of:

• Work with four Area Secretaries and the island's District Administrative Officer.

• Build up the capacity of these SHEFA provincial officials on Epi.

• Wrote and began conducting a handicap persons survey of the entire island with the Area Secretaries.

• Provide small business advice and assistance to villagers.

• Help small business owners to create documents, spreadsheets, accounting sheets, and other business artifacts.

• Explain business concepts like profit versus revenue, the break even point, and money management.

• Be a good American abroad and answer lots and lots of questions.

• Do the stereotypical Peace Corps stuff you see in the brochures like helping kids read, talking about health and disease, and generally trying to be helpful.

Very exciting, I'm sure.

I've got some plans for the next few months. First, I'm finally going to catch a saltwater fish. It's easy enough to go to the stream with a coconut shell of worms and my soda bottle fishing rod and catch a small bucket of little fryers. Heading out in my outrigger canoe to the edge of the reef has been less productive. My host “uncle” has even taken me out a couple times and I still haven't landed even a long-mouth, much less a tuna. We use these little hermit crabs as bait and try to stay just at the edge of the reef where the fish congregate, but I've yet to snag one. Having just finished Hemmingway's The Old Man and The Sea, I'm eager to get back out there. I hear you can catch the occasional salmon nearby.

We've also got to finish this disabled people survey we're working on. I'm planning on visiting the rest of the island in the coming months. There are a few Peace Corps volunteers on Epi and I'm starting to learn that we each have our reputations on the island. I'm apparently “man wokbaot”, which either means I've been seen traveling around on foot or that I can't keep still. It's the nature of the job for me. Go where the people are.

Then, I've got to see if I can finally coax some tomatoes out of the garden. So far, only the sweet corn and bok choi have been much of a success. The carrots, lettuce, beet root, red onions, and bell peppers didn't pan out. I can't even seem to get peppermint to grow, though my basil and parsley have come up nicely. These tomato plants, though, are confounding me. I've got beautiful, thick vines on bamboo stakes, but after six months there's still no fruit.

Lastly, I've been working with bamboo a little. It's time I finally make some musical instruments. If I get a new camera, hopefully there will be pictures next time.

So, until that next time, ta-ta, leme lawo, poko lulan, pongwio, and good night.

-- Daniel --