independence and the difficulty of carrying food

on a particularly rainy july 30^th, vanuatu’s independence day, matt and i made the tromp from his isolated little house over to tebakor, the village where festivities were taking place for the entire island. we were immediately shuffled over to the main area; a presentation and "cocktail party (!)" were about to take place and they needed matt.

all week in tebakor, there were booths with kava and food (laplap and pork was our favorite day…) , futbol and volleyball tournaments, and loads of mamas and pikinini sitting around for hours, curious to story about who i was and what exactly i was doing there (i'd get called from group to group and asked the same questions again and again)… i sat and talked with the giggling and whooping mamas (they LOVE that peace corps volunteers speak bislama) while matt wandered around, talking and drinking kava with various male friends.

 

culturally, women and men stay divided in vanuatu..and they tend to think we (americans) are unusual for enjoying the company of someone of the opposite gender. so it was pretty typical when, on the biggest day of the celebration, all of the women were in the front, preparing kava and food and drink for the important village men...chiefs and what have you... while the men stood around with calico and salu-salus (leis) around their necks looking...well... important.

 speeches and toasts were made while most of emae's population looked on, calling up one important man after another. the men were given kava and then a plate of food after..with, naturally, the most important men being served first.

you'll be pleased to know that matt was in the first round of men served. you'll also be pleased to know that a few of the chiefs told matt to have me come up...to get his food for him while he drank his kava so it would be ready when he was finished.

he knew better. and we laughed about it together when he sat back down, having successfully retrieved his own meal.

after the chief celebrations, boxed wine and tusker (vanuatu’s beer) were distributed for all other adult attendees and the tables were cleared to be loaded up with chocolate biscuits and sweets and chips for the kids…who all sat waiting with hungry eyes.

the winners for the tournaments were announced and trophies (real, actual, giant ones!) were given to winning teams-—who would promptly raise them into the air to cheers from all on-lookers.

the afternoon crept into evening and matt and I headed back to his house in the dark with double orders of laplap in tow for both of us, stopping only once: the laplap kept sliding out of its banana leaf casing and my smallish hands were having a hard time holding it, so matt took over.

turns out he's just as good at carrying food as i am.