I’ve thought about posting a couple of times in the last couple of weeks but everything here (and in my head) feels like such a disorganized mash-up of good and bad, overwhelming and (barely) manageable, frustrating and unexpectedly sweet.
And complicated. Everything seems to be more complicated and time consuming than it feels like it should be at the moment.
I like to have a point when I write something—a bit of a theme. And we’ve got too many important balls in the air to at the moment to pinpoint one, so I’ve temporarily tossed out my need for theme and I’ll just update you on the mishmash.
The surprising: Being here has felt much more similar to being in Africa to me than in Asia, and I guess I expected it to be the other way around. It’s in the state of the roads (as Alex says in the car every day, “little bit bumpy!!”), the pace at which things happen (about as slow as the traffic needs to go to cope with the roads), and the look and feel of the shops, clothing, restaurants, and markets. It’s also in the heightened need for vigilance around our security—although, thankfully, not as heightened as most places in Africa.
The good: The boys are loving the swimming pool and the trampoline, and it’s a sweet thing to see them jumping in the pool, then running to the trampoline, then playing in the big dirt pile we’ve fashioned in lieu of a sandpit. They love to be outside, and here we keep all the doors in the house wide open all day. They wander in and out at will.
The bad: It’s costing us more than you would believe possible to build an ugly chicken-wire fence around the pool, and yesterday the contractors who are putting it up (at approximately the rate the Egyptian pyramids were constructed—Alex will have learned how to swim before the monstrosity is in place) cut through something electrical leading to the pool. I discovered this shortly before they tried to pour concrete down the hole and cover everything up. Today I need to confront the head of the crew about getting it fixed. I also need to call the person who tried to fix the pool pump last week, because it’s clearly not fixed yet.
The good (at least, I am choosing to continue to believe this next item is good): We’re buying a house!! We haven’t settled yet, but the process is moving forward. I still can’t believe we’re actually doing this, but being here in a house we intend to own has a totally different feel to it than moving into another rental. It certainly ups the stakes. I’ve found myself tackling this move differently—being more proactive about trying to get things fixed and learning how to get around town independently.
The bad: There’s a lot to get fixed at the moment. On top of moving in and trying to unpack our shipment we’ve had major leaks in pipes located under the house, tricky door locks, broken pool pumps, broken car doors and mirrors, a solar hot water heater that wasn’t working, repeated shorting out of the electrical circuits in the house, and running out of gas for the rickety old stove.
So far, this week’s unpleasant discoveries have included leaks in the roof and (we think) backed-up septic tanks. And if the septic tanks turn out not to be backed up, then either we need to replace a poorly designed toilet or a giant is sneaking in here at odd hours and leaving a huge poo behind in the boy’s bathroom. The boys, of course, think the periodic and mysterious appearance of enormous poo deposits in their toilet is hysterical.
The good: The boys are sleeping in a room together for the first time.
The bad: When I say they’re “sleeping” in a room together, I really mean they go to bed in the same room and then usually take turns waking up all night long. Two nights ago Dominic was up demanding a drink at 10:30, 12:30, 1:30 and then came and crawled into our bed at three. Alex woke up for the day before 5am. I keep reminding myself that they are in transition and that this sort of sleep deprivation is just a season, but Dominic is approaching four, folks. It’s been an awfully long season.
The good: The Mama’s Market is reopening after the cyclone. I went for the first time yesterday with my cane bag to load things into and bought bananas, eggplants, ginger, grapefruit, and beans. I also saw sweet potatoes, and I’m told that tomatoes and island raspberries are also on offer in season. I’m feeling a bit more cheerful about the state of our budget and our vegetable consumption now that I have a couple of alternatives to paying $20 a kilo for imported broccoli.
That’s some of what’s going on at home, so I’ll end on a good note and stop there. Mike’s work is a whole other complicated story. He and the World Vision team are continuing to do good work here to help communities start to recover, and it’s no small task they’re chipping away at. They are all very tired. To be honest, it feels more than a little weird putting up pictures of our kids in the pool when so many in this country are facing what they’re facing. Mike told me the other day that the cyclone wiped out an estimated 50% of Vanuatu’s GDP. Some of the quick-growing crops will hopefully be back within 3-4 months, but it’s going to take a very long time for the country to really recover at a deep level.
Cynthia and Harry have started the process of rebuilding their house. Thanks to generous assistance by many of you, they have bought the cement and tin roofing they needed and the process has begun. The foundations are in place Mike and I took a couple of pieces of furniture out to where they live last week. Cynthia lives several kilometers off the main road, up a small bumpy track. We could only get the truck close to their place, and then a bunch of men had to carry the stuff down into a ravine and up the other side. It makes our own house headaches a lot easier to put into perspective when you are reminded again that the person who is helping care for your house and kids during the day lives without electricity or running water.
And on that happy note, I hope your electricity, running water, and septic tanks are all in good working order. More from this small island, coming soon.
2 comments
Hello Lisa, I came across your book, Love at the Speed of Email, quite by chance on my kindle. I loved it and it was at a time when I was in training to do mentoring to year 10 students, in the hope that they would remain in school and pursue beneficial goals. So much of your writing inspired me and gave me useful tips and ideas. Thank you so much for sharing your adventures and story.
Being of the “older” generation I do not usually engage with “blogs” so this is another first experience for me – always good to still have some firsts!
Good luck with your new “home” and experiences in Vanuatu.
Cheers Genny
Dear Genny,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment. What a treat to know that something I wrote found it’s way to you and struck sparks. I hope your mentoring goes very well. All the best!! Lisa
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