Bauer Field International Airport in Port Vila, Vanuatu sounds like a big place, huh – well, let’s just say that there are no jet ways…or air conditioned lobbies here! After 25 years of visiting the South Pacific, this is the first time where I’m told to complete the customs form as a “resident” and cue up in the “resident” line for a passport check. I think it began to dawn on all of us that we’re here to stay…no turning back now!! Since nearly everybody brought spices and teas, all of us had to endure a bag check through Customs. Everybody’s spices were confiscated – but after 10 minutes of searching and pulling things out of my 2 duffel bags, the customs agent finally gave up with a smile and said “I OK – you mo spice blong you go naoia! (It’s OK - You and your spices can now go!)
With that we headed outside to a huge welcome from the Vanuatu PC staff and volunteers. And what a welcome it was – hugs, flower leis, sarongs for everybody, and fresh coconut juice in the shell. I’ve gotta tell you that it was a teary, emotional moment for many of us. After such a long wait, we were HERE…ACTUALLY HERE!! It was a beautiful sunny, hot Sunday morning in Vanuatu – yes Sunday the 12th. Since we had crossed the International Date Line, we had missed Saturday! We chatted with everybody, had a group photo shot, and then boarded vans for a quick drive-through tour of Port Vila and headed for the IDS Camp in Pango…wherever the heck that is! Pango, as it turns out is a small village on the outskirts of Port Vila – and the Peace Corps had arranged for “lodging” at the IDS Bible Camp for our first 5 days in Vanuatu. The camp was very close to the ocean on a wide expanse of green with lots of towering palm trees.
Reality about our PC service hit us pretty quickly when we realized that the women were being housed in tiny bungalows consisting of an entry room and 2 other small rooms. Two people slept in beds in the entry room, while 4 of us shared each of the small rooms in mosquito-shrouded bunk beds. The men we were housed in an Army barracks-type building in bunk beds. We thought we were roughing it when we realized there was no hot water – just cold showers (3 for the women) – and electricity for just a few hours in the evening. Without realizing it, we were being “eased in” to the Vanuatu lifestyle.
We spent the next 5 days at Pango with classes from 8:30 – 4:30 each day. Bislama language class started, and it dawned on me that I was a total idiot when it came to learning a foreign language. Fortunately, many of us felt the same way, so at least we had somebody to commiserate with! Much of the classwork focused on Safety and Security – we learned how to discourage the custom of “creeping” – which means that we could be awakened at night by a local man appearing at our window – or calling to us from outside our house.
We also started learning about all the medical things that we need to understand – things like choosing a malaria-prevention medication, starting our inoculations against things like typhoid, hepatitis A&B and Gawd knows what else – not to mention the likelihood that we will all have worms at some point in our service…and probably even head lice!! Oh yes, we were also issued two extensive PC-issued medical kits that contained just about everything a small dispensary in the states would have – including deworming pills – as well as a malaria test kit with which to test ourselves for malaria at the first signs of illness – complete with sharps and a glass slide on which to smear one’s blood. Each of us had to do the test in class…complete with piercing our finger and spreading the blood onto the slide. Thankfully, none of us tested positive for malaria at this point – although the nurse said it was likely that some of us already had the malaria “bug” already in our liver – but that the anti-malarial medication would keep it from manifesting itself into full-blown malaria. It was at this point when I began to wonder just whose bright idea this was for me to join the Peace Corps anyway??? We also learned a good bit about each other as part of our frank and candid lessons and discussions related to sexual health and STDs – and how to avoid any problems during our 27-month stay in this island paradise.
One of the good things about the training was that each of us got a short medical check while we were being given our vaccinations. The doc listened to my cough – and finally diagnosed me correctly with an ear infection in both ears as well as a sinus infection – and promptly started me on a 10-day routine of amoxicillin. I started feeling … and sounding… better within a few days, so my fears of being sent home with whooping cough were totally unfounded!
Reality also hit me in the face late one afternoon when I headed into the shower only to be greeted by a “bigfala spyder” (huge spider) on the wall. And I do mean BIGFALA – it’s body was about the size of a half-dollar and it’s leg span was as big as my hand span. After running out of the building fully terrorized I realized that there was nobody there to run in and kill the spider for me – and at last I went back in and took my shower. Bigfala spider was still on the wall after I left – and I was none the worse for the terror!
The other big adjustment at Pango was the food! Local “Mamas” came to IDS each day to prepare breakfast, lunch, and supper for us. Breakfast usually consisted of tea or hot chocolate with either bread or breakfast crackers – and sometimes some fresh fruit. Lunch and dinner usually consisted of steamed rice, some kind of “soup” to put on the rice – and usually some form of “lap-lap”. No that wasn’t a typo…it was lap-lap – a local dish made of grated manioc (cassava) mixed with water, and then steamed inside a banana leaf. There was no seasoning in it – and I’m here to tell you that it tasted and chewed kind of like a piece of soft rubber. Now anybody who knows me knows that I am pretty adventurous when it comes to food – but I’m not sure this was food!! At any rate, we all smiled, ate it, and swallowed! However, we were all counting the days until we got to our village where we would get “real” food.
During our 5-day stop-over at Pango, Eddie Stice (the PC Country Director) and his wife had all of us to their home one evening for a wonderful dinner – topped off with a kava ceremony. Now kava is a uniquely-South Pacific beverage. It is made from the ground…or chewed-up…root of the kava plant – which is then mixed with water and served. I’ve had kava several other times in the islands, so I opted not to indulge this evening. But, stay tuned – I’m sure there will be more about kava later!
After a wonderful evening, it was back to Pango. All of us were counting the days until we left Pango for our respective villages.
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