Instalment 15; An Immeasurable Speed:

Time has been passing by at an odd immeasurable speed, which travels both slower and faster than time at home and can not be understood with clocks. This is the speed of time which can only be felt from the tiny islands of the south pacific. I have started to find my routine here, although I’m still unsure of what I’m supposed to be doing most of the time, have a lot to do but no idea how to arrange it and I get stuck spending hours completing menial tasks, at least I am in a routine of doing so, I am beginning to know what I can expect. A ship came in full of delicious produce. I first noticed something unusual when I saw ‘LCM’ milling with excited looking people. I went in and couldn’t believe my eyes. I found imported fresh apples, feta cheese, tasty cheese, butter, carrots and red ripe imported tomatoes. I rushed to the ATM and got out more of my volunteer allowance than I should have, then rushed back to buy the rare, ‘unseen before’ food. Apart from this the days are beginning to run together, many of the white people here have left, and we are awaiting the day we see new people walking aimlessly about in town to befriend.

 

I read in the paper today about ‘Tusuruce village’,  a remote community on this island that had converted to Christianity, and then all at once converted back to their ancient ways. The paper reporter had interviewed the chief about this unusual occurrence. The reporter asked the chief why after accepting Christianity, had they given up their clothes for grass skirts, and exchanged prayers to Jesus for the more traditional magic and ancestor/ earth worship. The chief replied that he had made the decision on behalf of the community and that they had agreed with him. He said he found Jesus ‘unreliable’ when it came to answering prayers and based on this, he was unsure whether we could trust him to be returning from heaven at all. He also found clothes quite uncomfortable and couldn’t see their purpose; they were creating more work when it came to washing them. I think this is a fair call. It is the first recorded case in Vanuatu where a chief has made the decision to reverse the conversion, and stuck to his guns.