Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler - Radelet came to visit Vanuatu!

Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler - Radelet came to visit the Vanuatu post. Every Peace Corps volunteer has to fill out an "all volunteer survey" - a survey that asks questions about how we would rank our experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in our specific country of service, like how safe we feel or how well we think we are able to integrate etc. In the 2014 survey, Vanuatu became one of the best rated countries of service, so she decided to come check it out for herself. The director was previously a volunteer in Samoa, so probably already understands why we love the pacific islands so much.

One of the many reasons that we love Vanuatu and it's people is because they continue to choose to be happy in the face of various challenges. Here is a fun video that the current Peace Corps volunteers in Vanuatu made in order to try and illustrate this idea. 

Back in Vanuatu!

We have all successfully arrived back in country. We are all excited to get back to work but we know it's going to be a bumpy ride. We've been going back to our sites on different days, depending on when our site is livable and the amount of work we need to get done in the capital.

Here are all the volunteers and trainees currently in Vanuatu.

We tried to have fun in Sydney...

...but are ready to start getting work done. The Australian army is here to help rebuild and the government of Vanuatu's Natural Disaster Management Organization is sending food in shifts to the outer islands as many gardens were damaged. 

Some Custom Food on Maewo

fried fish

roasted taro with coconut milk inside

kumala

taro and lap-lap 

Gato, grapefruit, mango

home-made bread

A Custom Wedding in the Village of Gwotewol

Maewo has similar traditions to the US when it comes to marriage, like a church service and cake. But there are also customs that make us unique, like the custom dances that follow the cutting of the cake.

This is the village of Naone doing a style of custom dance unique to their village. 

Here is the northern Maewo mother's union doing a women's custom dance. 

This is Peace Corps volunteer Steve, who lives on the east side of Maewo, joining in on his village's custom dance. Because he "made custom" which involves killing a pig, he is allowed to join the dance. There are still certain leaves that he is not allowed to wear though because he has only killed one pig. The more pigs you kill, and the longer teeth that they have, the more important you are in the community and thus, the more leaves you can wear in dances like these. 

Cyclone Season

All of the volunteers throughout the country are currently in the capital because of a cyclone. Here is a pretty cool tracking map. The amount of time that we spend in the capital depends on the cyclone itself - how bad it is and how long it lasts, so more updates to come.


https://www.windyty.com/?surface,wind,now,-6.272,-176.221,4

All of the volunteers in Vanuatu have been evacuated to Sydney, Australia. We are all fine, but our thoughts go out to all of locals caught in it's direct path. Hopefully we will be able to go back and help with disaster relief.

My Pets

When I got back from my last trip to the capital, a Christmas present was waiting for me on my porch - a white dog with brown spots that followed someone up north from the southern village of Narovorovo. Since she literally followed me around everywhere (even to the toilet), making it very hard for me to get rid of her, I just decided to adopt her.

Penny joins my cat Alo...

...as my two pets at site! They like eating tin tuna, instant noodles, eggs and rice (and of course Alo also helps keep my rat infestation at a minimum). 

Layovers and Christmas

Recently it has been hard to travel here because many people, locals and volunteers alike, are going back to their respective islands for the holidays. In America we experience this as well, but living in a country that is an island chain makes travel quite slow when multiple forms of transport are required any time we go anywhere. A fellow PCV and I are currently experiencing a 1 and a half day layover in Luganville, Santo due to a missed flight. However, instead of being frustrated we view it has a treat, getting to see the volunteers currently on Santo, as well as getting internet and pizza for one more day.

I am excited and anxious to see what Christmas will be like on my outer island though. Wish me luck and I will let you know how the festivities turn out in the new year!