**This is the blog post that would not load. Now that we're home, it was easy.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Going to bed so early makes me an
early riser. I was up at 5 AM, dressed,
and went to reception, which was closed, to get the Internet. After a long while the owner’s wife came
downstairs to greet us. She was so
accommodating that in the end she had me sit at the reception desk, got me a
plug adaptor, and unplugged something or other so that I could keep my computer
from dying till I got all my e-mail taken care of. The gal from the day before said how fast the
Internet was—the only explanation to that would be that things and people move
so slowly around here that it appears to be fast to them. It is not.
If I have plenty of time I eventually will be able to send an e-mail,
some pictures and load my blog. I was up
so early this morning that I had time to do this.
A complimentary continental
breakfast is served at 7:30 AM. By 7:45
we inquired as to where it was—well, we
have to order it, even though it
comes with the room. If you want a hot
breakfast, you have to pay for this. You
just have to learn the rules, you see…
In talking to the owner’s wife,
who is from Auckland, she said that her husband was a leader in Rotary for the
Pacific Area. They are building cyclone
shelters that people can be safe in during an impending storm, or at other
times use them to make their wares or other such uses. According to Leben’s though, they have not
joined the other large group of NGO’s working on the cyclone recovery and
drought to coordinate their efforts.
At 8:30 Elder Leben picked us up
and we went to their place to discuss our strategy while we are here. Even though they have asked us (the office)
to work on the structures, Leben’s have it well in hand and so we will be concentrating
most of our efforts in developing water projects to assist them with their
drought.
I was so tired still from waking
so early, that afterwards we came back and I took a nap and Jim went swimming
in the ocean and in the pool. The ocean
was like a ‘bathtub’ he said.
Leben’s met us for a late lunch
here and afterwards we traveled the entire distance on the road that goes
around the island. We saw many trees
that had been downed and some with new leaves that had grown back after having been
stripped by the cyclone, but most of the destruction was quickly cleaned up by
everyone. We got going a bit late so we
got home at dark, about 7:00. But we saw
some beautiful beaches and learned a lot about the island. We also learned that it was a big holiday
here so we could not do business with others today. This holiday has something to do with
‘unity’. Just as in Kenya, they try to
unite the tribes by teaching English and Swahili. Here, they teach the one local language just
like they teach Swahili in Kenya—here they teach their pigeon English; Sister
Leben took some lessons and she is quite good at it and Elder Leben also is not
so bad. They simply spell everything
just like it sounds in English. Jim says
that since he is a terrible speller, he could get used to a language like this…
E/S Leben at our hotel
for lunch. He is a former pediatrician
and she a housewife, from Hannover in a rural area of about 100,000. They are both very capable people and have
done a great work here. They are
tireless workers.
While walking along one beach we
couldn’t help ourselves once again and picked up more seashells. There are so very many and so beautiful! When we discussed building bases for rain
catchment they say that they just go to the beach, pick up all the coral that
washes up for free, and use that under their tanks. It compacts, it is free except for the
transport, and it drains. You just make
a frame for it to keep it in one spot.
This is as simple as it gets.
Besides rain catchment there could be a possibility of drilled wells and
spring capture. There is a range of
mountains that we drove up to and at a look-out spot saw the islands unattached
from this one—it was quite a view. One
man has a well that has been servicing his whole community for over 30
years. If they want rain catchment
during a drought, it would seem that if it didn’t rain, there would be no rain
to catch, so we’ll try to find other sources if it is possible.
We stopped by a couple
of structures that the church had donated to people that had lost their homes
in the cyclone. The people are pretty
self-reliant. Above is one of the
makeshift repairs that they had done in the emergency (the people, not
us). Below is one of the donated
structures—we give the materials and teach them how to build it. This one was built incorrectly, but in the
end it was just fine and sturdy. After
this, they are to prepare their own bases, add windows and a door, and put some
material around it to enclose the structure.
This works very well in this culture.
They are happy, do not want for anything, eat off the land, and do not
desire for a ‘better life.’ There is a
lesson here…
This structure, shown in 2 pictures below, is the larger of the two designs.
It depends on how many people are expected to be living in one
home. This one was already being
enclosed. The father said that it will
be plastered. They built this one
correctly and we could see that they were going to be strong. They were working on it as we visited.
Till tomorrow.
Love, Jim & Karen, Mom &
Dad, E/S Greding
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