Utility

When I was first living with my family in Falevao back in October I noticed something that seemed strange to me at the time. My family would present me with an ie (pronounced ee-ay, also called lavalava, the fabric worn by both men and women around their lower halves of their bodies) that my grandmother had sewn up for me and I’d put it on and walk around to find that my new clothing matched curtains in one house, a tablecloth in another, pillowcases on pillows strewn about… pretty much anything that could be made from fabric. It’s not so common to walk around in the states in clothing that happens to match household items so I let it amuse me and chalked it up to cross-cultural experiences that I didn’t fully understand. Since becoming a volunteer I have been spending a good deal of time sewing because a) it’s the easiest way to get most things like pillowcases and clothing (since most families sew their own fabric items there are limited quantities for sale) and b) because it keeps me busy and gives me projects, which are always important things to have. I decided that the cushion covers on my chairs desperately needed replacement so I went into town and bought a bright green jungly fabric that entertained me and took it home and made 8 covers out of it. Upon outfitting my living room in its new décor I realized I still had a significant portion of fabric left. So I asked Andrew how he’d feel about a nice new green shirt. Upon my completion of the shirt I had about a yard and a half of fabric left so I cut it in half and made a couple of pillowcases (multiple sets are imperative as washing is done by hand and laundry left to hang dry, so one can never guarantee the return of pillowcase to pillow before bedtime). I was so proud of myself- I had managed to be resourceful and not waste any of the fabric I purchased, turning it into all kinds of useful items! Then it dawned on me that in fact it wasn’t strange at all what I had experienced in the village- my family just understood the value of utility in the way I have now come to. Laura Ashley has cornered the market on the infamous “mommy and me” outfits, but I think I might just have to write them and ask if they’ve ever considered “mommy and window dressing” combos :)

Playtime!

I took some pictures the other day of the students at my school playing on our new playground equipment so I thought I would post them for people to see. The equipment was purchased with a grant received from the Australian High Commission at the end of last school year. Hooray for generous organizations! :)

Without a Hitch

Friday was the Savaii installation of our career day hosted by Avanoa Tutusa (“Equal Opportunities”). Last weekend we were talking with some of the volunteers that live on Savaii when they mentioned that there was a massive secondary school-wide sports day to be held on the same day that we had alerted principals two months ago was to be the day for our career day. After spending the beginning of the week debating on how many students might show up and whether it was worth holding the event, or canceling it, or postponing it, we finally decided to go ahead with things as planned and hope for the best. On Wednesday, our president called to confirm the venue to find out that they could no longer host us- the prime minister would be staying there at the time and he and the other ministers needed the space, so we were out. Two days to go and so far no place to have the event, and perhaps no students… Thursday morning we prepared to take off and the treasurer signed a check for the organization so that we could cash it to pay for everything once we got over to Savaii. The bank decided one signature wasn’t enough so Pete, our president, chased her down at her work across town and had her sign it a second time to return to the bank. Unfortunately, however, the signatures were not quite similar enough for the bank, and they refused to cash the check. So he returned to our treasurer who gave him her personal ATM card and a couple of pin number options. We went to the bank to withdraw money from her account but unfortunately Pete guessed wrong and the bank ate her card. No money, no venue, no students. Off we go to the boat! We arrived in Savaii mid-day and split up to conquer our rapidly developing crises. The Savaii branch of the bank was more than willing to cash the check (thankfully) and even commented that in the future we need not sign the checks twice, once would be just fine. We managed with the help of some friends over in Savaii to find a women’s committee building on a church compound directly across the street from the original venue that would work quite well for our event, plus the bonus of location. The pastor was nowhere to be found, which we found a little strange since he was to be leading prayer the following morning at career day, but his wife showed up and we explained that we were peace corps volunteers and having a career day the following day and needed somewhere to do it and she said we could use the space. We went back to the hotel where we had booked two rooms to find that actually the hotel was a little overfull due to a wheelchair repair conference, but they would do their best to find us a place to sleep, which ended up being across the street at the fale of our friend’s very generous aunt who let us take over their house for the evening camping out on the floor. The village vaita’ele (spring-water pool) happened to be right outside of the outdoor area we were sleeping in, which was quite nice and we enjoyed an evening swim there. We returned to the hotel to eat dinner when one of our members alerted us all to the fact that, with 12 hours to go, we no longer had a faife’au (preacher) or our keynote speaker, due to emergencies that had come up. Money and venue, no preacher, no speaker, and still possibly no students. So we begged her uncle from America who happens to be a preacher to get up and say a prayer for us and went in search of someone to give a keynote address. We were unable to find anyone so we decided we would try to ask one of the exhibitors in the morning and spent the rest of the evening relaxing and praying that things would somehow come together instead of continuing to disintegrate. In the morning we went to go pick up the breakfast we had ordered for the exhibitors to find that the man who was planning on making our meat pies had fallen ill and instead of the 30 we were hoping for we had 6. so we grabbed some pankeke (fried dough balls- they seem like they shouldn’t be appealing but man do those things grow on you!) and made some tea and helped everyone set up. The chief of police agreed to be our keynote speaker and suddenly out of the blue everything began going perfectly and the next few hours were amazing. It turned out that because we had to change venues to a smaller place at the last minute the sports day was perfect because we could never have fit more students into the hall than showed up. It was a truly impressive thing to live through... no money, no venue, no students, no preacher, no speaker, no hotel room... no problem. Things just somehow seem to work out here. Although I must say I had entertained thoughts of staying in Savaii for the weekend to relax and have a little mini-vacation, but by the time everything was over I couldn't get to the boat and back home soon enough. On saturday I slept until 3. It was perfect.

Field Trip!

Yesterday our school went on a field trip to the nutrition center. Part of the goal of the school is to get the students involved in activities that develop functional independent living skills. We have an area in the yard that is designated as our garden, but in the recent past it has been taken over by creeping sweet potato vines at the expense of everything else, so we decided to remove the existing items and start over. The nutrition center is very generous in providing and arranging free tours for students and free clippings and seeds of plants that can be brought back and planted. So yesterday we loaded up in our school bus and went across town where despite a bit of rain we explored the garden and learned about all of the different types of plants available for consumption. The students had a great time and we came back with bags full of cuttings to transfer to our own little garden. Everyone worked together to plant everything upon our return. I went down to check on things this morning and all of the plants look a bit wilted because in our flurry of action we forgot to water the plants yesterday after they were placed in the ground (oops). Hopefully that will be remedied by a bit of care today and down the road we can look forward to all kinds of exciting new vegetables appearing in the school lunches. The nutrition center mission is quite important as vegetables, particularly leafy greens, are used quite minimally in the Samoan diet which tends to be high in starchy carbohydrates, fat and meat. Many Samoans are suffering from an extremely high national rate of diabetes and obesity and the nutrition center is striving to create awareness of a healthy and well-balanced diet that includes the intake of a much higher quantity of fruits and vegetables. Hopefully their work will continue to educate and inform the community in ways that will lead to the inclusion of vegetables in many more Samoan dishes and eventually changes towards healthier eating lifestyles will begin to manifest themselves country-wide. And on a smaller and more immediate scale, these changes would be a welcome addition to the diets of the students right here at Aoga Fiamalamalama. Not to mention the fact that having a constant supply of fresh basil downstairs could hardly help but drastically increase my quality of life :)

Weekend Diversion

This weekend we finally made it up to Robert Louis Stevenson’s tomb. Being THE palagi of his time here in Samoa he lived the concluding chapter of his life (while brief) in quite the lap of luxury in a small village a couple of kilometers inland called Vailima (incidentally this is also the name of the only Samoan brewed beer- don’t ask me to analyze that one). The greater Apia area is bisected by a mountain- Mt. Vaea- that runs right up to the middle about a kilometer in from the ocean. The suburban sprawl, as it were, extends back along both sides of the mountain. Where I live is a couple of kilometers inland on the western side, where Robert Louis Stevenson used to reside is on the east side. When RLS started to realize that Samoa would probably be his final resting place (he was sick and weak from the start of his time here) he decided he had better find an ideal location in which to spend eternity. He settled on Mt. Vaea, smack dab in the middle of everything, with a full-scale panorama ocean view to boot. Unfortunately for his eternal soul foliage has hampered a significant portion of the oceanscape in the past century, but it’s still an amazing location with quite the spectacular view. There’s a great trail leading up the mountain from behind his house that makes a large loop up to the tomb through beautiful forest that takes maybe an hour and a half to hike in full. That of course doesn't count lounging about enjoying the view once you're at the top :) The intention had been to head up there and get a bit of movement in as well as taking in one of Samoa’s more infamous monuments, right before the torrential rainy season that has only recently abated. After multiple weekends of planning on attempting our venture and succumbing to inclement weather, this Sunday was sunny and beautiful and we decided it was an ideal way to pass the afternoon. We also got to check out his house which is relatively impressive in that colonial imperialist style, if you’re into that kind of thing… complete with lion-skin rugs and safari regalia just to prove the point. At any rate, it was lots of fun to get outside and get some blisters and a bit sunburnt and even a mild workout (or a significant one, depending on one's lung capacity).

I’ve posted pictures of our hike… Also, there are new albums with photos from both the Apolima Craft Day and Career Day. They took a gazillion years to upload so check them out :)