Cyclone

Last Tuesday, 6 March, we were off to Malekula.  It's the most basic and less developed island in Vanuatu that we visit.  The plane we were on carried maybe nineteen passengers.  We were in Malekula six months ago for the audit, so this was our second time.  Once again, we were met by the district president, President Vanu. 

 We loaded up our stuff in a truck and away we went.  Greg sat in the bed of the truck with President Vanu and I sat up front with the driver.  We were able to communicate "smol." We were taken to the Ameltoro bungalows to drop our luggage off, then headed for the district office for training and audits.  The district office is located in a building that the church rents.  It's actually a triplex, with the district office on one side, a couple of elders living in the middle and a family on the end.   As always, it was fun to see elder's that we haven't seen in a while.  The district clerks wife, Fiona, was there at the office.  It was fun to see her again because I met her the first time we were there. I asked her if the handicraft market was opened, she said that it was!!  I was anxious to go there because the last time we came it was closed.  I was disappointed because I had heard the mama's in Malekula were very good weavers, and that they had a nice shop.  Since it's  only about a mile down the road, I just walked. The people get around in vans, just like in Port Vila.  You just pay 100 vatu ($1.00) one way.   As I walked down the street, I passed a few woman, we smiled and said hello.  There were alot of people at the market because it's also where people sell their produce.  There isn't alot going on, so people just sit around and visit all day long.  Everyone was so sweet, they say "halo," and are so friendly.  As I walked toward the handicraft shop, I had to leap over a small little ditch that was maybe a foot wide.  Well, as I stepped across, my foot slipped and I did a face plant!  The only thing that was hurt was my pride!  I quickly jumped up and said, "ta da" and started laughing.  As soon as I laughed, the people started to laugh too.  They also came over to see if I was okay.  So embarrassing!  

About a minute after I walked into the shop,  Fiona and the ladies I saw on the way, showed up.  It's probably fun for them to have new comers in town.  They asked me where I was from, what I was doing there, and how long I was going to be there.  Even though I know only "smol talk talk" of Bislama, I can still understand them pretty well.  They also know English farely well.  I bought a bunch of cute, woven, fans and a few necklacles. I ordered a small woven mat to be made that will say "Vanuatu."  I'll  pick it up in July when we go back for the last audit.  The mama's on the island of Ambrym weave the most beautiful mats.  That is also the island that does most of the beautiful wood carvings.   I'm not sure how much weight we are allowed to go home with, so I can't go to crazy until I find out!  As I started back to the office, Fiona said, "come on, let's go this way."  So, I trecked out through the jungle with her.  If anything would have happened to me, I would never have been found! It was so interesting.  She was showing me all kinds of plants and trees and what they were used for.  What a great experience!   I wasn't a bit afraid.  When we got back to the office, I could here a pig squealing.   We walked the direction of the noise, and there was a truck with the family in it ready to go.  In the bed of the truck was a wild pig in a gunny sack. I guess they had just caught it and probably taking it home for dinner.  

Greg finished for the day at about 4:00 pm, having done four of the seven audits.  It was nice because he was also able to train someone to be an auditor.  The plan was to start again at 9:00am, the next morning, to do the last three  audits, then return home to Port Vila on Thursday.  We took a van back to the bungalow for the night. Rona, the owner of the bungalow, had dinner ready for us.  

We were the only ones staying there.  We wanted to stay at her bungalows because she would fix meals if you wanted her to, you just pay extra.  The Granger's always stay there for that reason.  When we were there six months ago, Granger's were there  for district conference and stayed at Rona's.  We met them one night there for dinner, so we had already met Rona.   Rona is a no nonsense, French woman.  She can be a little curt, but she was great.  We each had a nice piece of fish, yam puffs (deep fried yams),  cucumber salad, and rice.  She is a good cook.  She has three bungalows on her property, and just finished having a small restaurant built for her patrons to eat their meals in.  It had a kitchen, a bar, and about 5 tables, very basic though.  Her home was also located on the property.  She lives there with her boy friend, a brother, and a young man that helps her.  The bungalows are pretty basic.   They have a bed, a shower, and a toilet.  What more do you really need, right? It was about 30 feet from the front door to the water.  There was no A/C, but it did have a fan.  The ocean breeze helped too.  We had solar lighting inside that  wasn't very bright, so we just opened up the ipad and read until it was time for bed.  It's always good to have mosquito netting above the bed.  You don't always see the little buggers, but you can hear them and they're hungry.  

That night it rained hard.  The roof started to leak a little, but only in the shower.  When we woke up in the morning, I had a text from sister Tucker in Port Vila.  She asked how the weather was, and if we were doing okay?  She said they told the Elders to just stay inside for the day.  I texted her back and asked what was going on.   We were experiencing a tropical storm that was looking like it might turn into a cyclone. President Vanu showed up to tell us that he couldn't get hold of the others for the audits because the cell tower was down.  Greg told him not to worry about it for now. The ocean was churning and the wind was kicking up, but it didn't seem too bad.  We left our bungalow to go eat breakfast, and within an hour, "holy cow!"  The winds were crazy and the rain was going in all directions!  Phew!   Greg ran down to the bungalow to get our stuff.   Rona was really stressed and worried about us.  She told us that we would have to find somewhere else to stay because the bungalows were too dangerous to stay in, plus they were leaking.  When the storm calmed down, Greg went with John, the young man that was staying with her, to President Vanu's, so that he could help us find a new place to stay.   While he was gone I prayed to Heavenly Father asking him to help Rona have a change of heart.  There was nowhere else for us to go.  When Greg returned, he had some canned food, noodles, and crackers with him.  There was damage to the other bungalows as well.  President Vanu's home was also damaged, a huge tree fell and took out the corner of his home.  He had a chain saw, and men there trying to clean it up.  Greg told Rona that we needed to stay.  She agreed to let us stay in her restaurant.  The building was built to withstand a good amount of battering.  We felt pretty safe.  We thanked  her a thousand times over, and told her not to worry a bit about us, that we had food and would take care of ourselves.  It blew and rained and carried on all day long and night.  It was really something.   There was a three foot wall around the building, so we were protected and able to stay outside and watch.   I'll attach a video clip of the storm.   We were so happy to have that little restaurant for cover.   Rona brought us a  three inch foam mat, along with sheets and pillows.  We were slapping ants, and whatever other bugs were crawling on us that night.   It poured and the wind blew all night long.  The roof was aluminum, and talk about noisey.  There was a bathroom, but you had to go outside and around the corner to get to it.   All that mattered was that we were safe and out of the rain!  We were so grateful!! We were suppose to fly home the next day, Thursday.   We woke up the next morning with hardly a change in the weather.  We had a feeling we might not get home.  Trees were blown down all over the place.  We asked Rona what we could do to help.  She told us not to worry.  There wasn't much you could do until it stopped.  It was dangerous to be out doing too much.  The weather started calming down, we were suppose to fly out at 3:00 that afternoon.  The cell towers were damaged, so we couldn't call to see if our flight was still going.  If the plane could get in, it would.   Rona gave us our bill, minus the cost of the food.  She felt bad about the weather.   We asked if we could come back if the flight was cancelled, she said, of course we could.  When we got to the airport, we still had a few hours before the plane would come.  President Vanu showed up to check on us.  He said he would come back at 3:00 to see if we  were still there, and take us back to Rona's.   One other guy showed up and waited too.  It became pretty obvious the flight  was cancelled.  President Vanu didn't come back for us, he was probably busy cleaning us the mess at his own house and forgot.  So, we hailed a truck and went back to Rona's knowing that she probably wouldn't be happy to see us.  It turned out that Rona had a mighty change of heart.  She welcomed us back and said, it's not your fault this is all happening.  I told her how grateful we were for her help, and that she would be blessed for helping us out.  She didn't have us eat our noodles and crackers even though we wanted to.  She made meals for us and was so sweet.  She was truly a "good samaritan."  The next day was also stormy, but not as bad.  Rona called Air Vanuatu to see if a flight would be coming.  If the flight could get in, it would be there, so we headed to the airport.  There was an employee there to check us in, we just hoped the weather would cooperate, but it didn't.  Back to Rona's we went.  We finally got out on Saturday afternoon!  We were so happy to get back to Port Vila.  Malekula lost many trees such as coconut, mango, banana...They will struggle for several months until they grow back.  The people are hardy, and can soldier on, they have to.  We're finished with the audits for this cycle.  President Vanu and his new auditor feel like they can finish the last few audits for this cycle.   

We love visiting the people here in the islands.  We lovem ia tumas (we love them much).  We hope all is well with you at home.  
We love and miss you all.  
Take care,  Love Greg and Ann