Rain catchments, Tanna & Efate

Tuesday & Wednesday, December 8-9, 2015

This morning it was business errands again and then we stopped by the marketplace where everyone comes to sell their vegetables.  I was craving them, so when we got home we made a salad with lots of goodies in it—it tasted so good.  I slept, she worked a bit, and then we went to pick up the men at the airport.  We stopped off at the plot where they’re going to build the rain catchment here, and listened to their tales of their two days on Tanna and the rain catchment there.

We shopped at the huge open air local market where we could buy fresh vegetables.  The place is very large.  Next to it is a place to buy local souvenirs.  We had a great salad after we returned to their home.

Jim & Matthias stayed in a Tanna resort hotel that had bungalows.  They didn’t have a working fan, no TV, no pool, no nearby beach, no Internet, but a hot shower for $160 a night.  Things are ridiculously priced, including the flights and things to do because it is a tourist spot.  But they got a good start on their base for the rain catchment tank and roof.  Jim saw little evidence of a drought.  It rained some every day and it was green and the streams were full of water.

 

The hotel on Tanna; a bit overpriced. 

Wednesday: They began their work on the rain catchment here in Efate while Sister Leben and I went to the home area of a large family, which started out to be teaching the women English.  In a short time, they were only being taught how to read and write in Bislama.  We had a great time there with this grandmother and grandfather, their 4 married daughters and their 2 sons and a bunch of grandchildren, 23 in all she said.  At the end of it I got a large wrap around like what they use here and in Africa—it was a map of all the Vanuatu Islands and of course very colorful.  The grandma also gave me a bag of tomatoes, which I can’t use at our bungalow so gave them to Sister Leben.  We had a good time with the children afterwards taking pictures and visiting. 

                  Sister Leben teaching this extended family to read and write in Bislama.      

             

                         

Laying out the rain catchment base in Tanna.  Jim is wondering if they can build it without him.  

Here in Efate they have a good idea how it is to be done with some guidelines from Jim.  When the lumber did not show up today they had to go and get their own, deliver it themselves, and cut it the right length—the man said ‘the truck broke down…’