Instalment 19; More Rasperry Cordial

 

Filling in the forms for study has been quite an adventure. I trapes out to the school and lye on the floor with the forms. We look at the first question: Name? The teachers go off to ask their husband what name would be best to use, the family name, the custom name, there are many to choose from. Thirty minutes will pass by. Next question: ‘Date of Birth’; Most people don’t quite know their date of birth, but put the month and year. This takes about 20 minutes to think about. Question three: ‘Address’; Nobody has an actual address. You only have an address for mail if you pay for a P.O box number. Some settle on using the church but must go to find out what the address is. I lye down and wait patiently, it wouldn’t be done to try and rush things, and its best to forget about anything else that you might have had to go and do.  If worst comes to worst we put my address. ‘Educational background’; Most don’t have any records of an education, as they left school at the end of primary school, you must get in the top 30 percent of the class in the exams at the end of primary school to graduate to high school. Do you have a copy of your birth certificate? “I was born before we had birth certificates in Vanuatu”. You will be starting to get a picture of what fun it is to fill out these forms.  I went to three schools today, equipped with my forms, which I stuck in my island basket, it slings over my shoulder and has the Vanuatu flag weaved on it in different coloured flax (very flash). The days are getting very very hot, and in this area schools must be walked to. I would say in total I walked for about four hours. The first time I went to the Kindy in ‘Pepsi’ I went with George and he powered along, today I did the walk along the dusty track at snail speed. I walked past little grass huts and people standing outside, they look fascinated and as if they are wondering what on earth a strange white girl is doing walking along their track. I always pick a flower and put it in my hair, the flowers are huge and come in every colour, sometimes I change the flower after a bit if I find a better or brighter one, by the time I get home I usually have a pretty big magnificent flower in my hair, which probably looks a bit silly, but there are no prospective boyfriends around to see.

 

At Pepsi Kindy I was given a delicious glass of warm raspberry cordial (extra syrupy), a bowl of rice with baked beans on top, and a quarter of a giant cucumber. The children sat beside me on the muddy wooden floor and shoveled the food in their mouths from their rusty metal bowls with their fingers, I got the honorary spoon. We all randomly waved our hands in front of our faces and across our ears to ward off the cluster of flies that had gathered around us. They come so close to your face I am often worried I will accidentally eat one.  I could tell from the children’s expressions and eating styles that the baked beans were a treat. After lunch I did a walk up to Matafunga Kindy and got a half of a juicy pineapple and a big chunk of papaya, which a little boy scurried up a tree for. Everybody loves to feed me, lucky I am walking so much.