This retrospective of our time in Vanuatu is difficult to keep short so I’ll offer up a tumble of staccato screen shots from the memory banks:

Work:

Office shared with Marie, invariably cheerful, small desk, hard chair, big screen keyboard tapping. Vanuatu people, known as Ni-Vans, are reserved with newcomers, possibly more so when these are ‘white-fellas’. But over 14 months we gradually built relationships with many of the characters on the farm, typified by humour, warmth, trust and ready laughter. These fledgling bonds will wither with time but remain in the brain with affection. In the picture above the right is ‘my office’ – well Marie’s really, with her on the left, then Jules (Chief Mechanic) and Frank (Head of Maintenance).

Inspiration:

Interacting with and getting to know Ni-Vans in different communities was a good value check for self. Plenty of conundrums emerged as one’s understanding deepened. But the friendliness and open-hearted character of the locals with so much potential to step up a notch on the one hand, and one’s own 1st world education on the other, combined to make the will to contribute profound.

House:

Light, spacious, view east to the Pacific, tropical trees, warm breeze rising up the hill to waft through the rooms, motorbikes in the garage, Rufino’s goat Whisky tethered to the frangipani tree, the bullocks’ lustful baritones, the smiles and waves from passing farm workers. A happy place.

Lessons learned or underlined:

Leadership – the importance of standards, nurturing, direction, communication, engagement, sharing connections and know-how;

Society – sharing of resources, sharing of knowledge, sharing of security, sharing of belonging;

Religion – community coming together, headcount, hypocrisy;

Adventure – sharing of discoveries, sharing of wonderment; excursions beyond the comfort zone;

Natural life – nature on hand, weather encourages outdoor life, modest attire, lack of rules, lack of enforcers, freedom to be;

About self – happy conflict between pull of family and friend bonds back to home and lust for freedom to roam; valuation of contrasts, quiet time and rowdy time; persistence retained but with newly expanded patience for others, plus more tolerant of variety.

Club Life

Camaraderie amongst fellow volunteers, Kiwis and Aussies, all in the same boat, lack of money, lack of recourses, all trying to contribute, sharing tales of whacky impasses, simple living on a tropical roller coaster.

The over-riding memory of Vanuatu is warmth, freedom, friendliness, colour and the randomness of life.