A view of our village and activities around us

It is really helpful when visitors take lots of pictures when they're here, because things look pretty normal to us anymore and we forget what might be interesting to people in the US or Oz.  Here's some of Hallie's of our village and others near us, a couple from Vila (on her way out to Ambrym), some school visits and workshops, and of activities here.

Sunset in Vila

Some of the crazy flowers you can get here

In Vila

The road next to the building I stay in when in Vila

Hibiscus

Pineapple

Taking a truck in W Ambrym at the airport to get to our boat to head N

Beach 20 min walk from our house.  Lots of tourists come on sailboats.

Teaching Literacy activities for Kindy teachers

Practicing a song for Kindy kids

Writing out a poem for use in K-1st

Practicing a poem with actions

Working on making readers for K-1st

Hiking to Fanto village for the Kindy workshop

Malay apple tree flowering

The nicest Kindy in N Ambrym

Passing out certificates for teachers who completed the Numeracy/Literacy workshop

Practicing their literacy activities with kids and parents

Closest Elementary/Secondary school to us (30 minutes walk)

1st grade classroom

1st graders on their last few days of school in Nov

The kids are used to dirt floor, tippy chairs, and plastic desks!

Road up to the school and off to our village

Jowed and her granddaughter

Temporary coconut leaf mat

Around our village

The Kindy in our village

Around our village

View to the volleyball/soccer field

View from our house

Wili Tangoō making wuwu (A yummy dish with breadfruit and coconut milk)

Addy hanging out in Wili and Ana's kitchen

Steaming hot rocks put in the squeezed coconut milk to curdle it

Walk up to the gardens

Addy and Gwen with their friends Sera and Lea

Hallie helping Momon at the garden

Water taro plants

Gwen and her friend Sera

There's a few ladies here who use their heads to carry things.

Addy even gets in on the lice picking action!

School fundraiser

Rice seems to always be the main fundraiser food.  Unfortunately, it isn't grown here.

Village Christmas celebrations and December holiday events

Hallie made it home safe a few weeks before Christmas and we got back to the village.  A few times a year they have what is called a thanksgiving day, where everyone brings produce from their gardens to sell as a village fundraiser.  We love these days because they finally mean fresh produce for us!

Waiting with Alice and Lala for the sale to start.

Some of the little claimed piles of produce.

This family bought a live chicken, among other produce.

   

Men chatting after the sale.

At Christmas the past few years, some of the men have organized activities for the village.  This year it involved mostly what they call skits, but are more like choreography to music.  Gwen practiced for weeks for these with her friends and was in loads of them.

Lala, one of my main language helpers, convinced some of the ladies to do some too and they dressed up like this for it.  

Our last Christmas here, in 2015, there were loads of kids games, but this year they just did a blindfold candy game.

The grounds were all decorated with leaves for the day

I tried for ages to get this guy to hold still for me and he never would!  He's a cutie though.

Pacific Games

When we returned to Vila to get Hallie back on her way home to the US after her 3 month stay with us, the Pacific Mini Games were on. 

China provided all the funds to build the stadiums/courts and track/field stuff

They are like a very very miniature version of the Olympics for all the tiny island countries of the Pacific.  The normal Pacific Games are every 4 years, rotating with the Mini Games also every 4.  Vanuatu last hosted the Mini Games 25 years ago, so we figured this was possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to see.  (They have never hosted the full games.)

Vanuatu got gold in tennis.  One of the players owns the gym I exercise at when in Vila!

 We were able to attend some of the events with Hallie and they were so fun to watch!  We enjoyed cheering on the Vanuatu competitors, a few of which we even know!

Vanuatu got bronze in table tennis.  One of the 2 medalists teaches the Zumba class I attend when I'm in Vila!

Vanuatu women won gold in volleyball and were alternates for the world Olympics last year!

One of the players on the Vanuatu netball team is from our teammates' village here on Ambrym.

Jesiah, Gwen's friend Evelyn, and our Ambrym netball player.

 I'm sure other competitors are from Ambrym but unfortunately, the information available only showed country of origin, not island.

Our friend Jill took this picture of us across the stadium at a netball game.

If you want to watch highlights of any of the events, you can check them out here:  YouTube Pacific Mini Games Vanuatu  Apparently our teammate Casey, who was watching livestream of some of the events from Ambrym saw us on some of the video, so maybe you'll see us!  Here's also the official website for the games: http://www.van2017.com/  Vanuatu placed 4th overall out of 23 countries!

While we were in town, we also got printing done for this year's literacy workshops.  Hallie folded and stapled every one of the hundreds of booklets, which was an enormous help!

The kids each spent a night with Hallie and I in our Vila apartment to play games and have fun together.  A couple of the kids needed to go Christmas shopping for their parents so we went to a few Chinese stores in town.

I made Jesiah try on this snazzy hat.

Kindy graduation

We have a Kindy (pre-school and Kindergarten, ages 3-5) in our village. 

Local monkey bars

Because of donations from all of you, we have been able to help them stay supplied when their funds are low. 

Local slide - pipe and gutter spout!

The teachers from all the Kindy's in our language group (in 11 different villages) have also been through a yearly or bi-annual literacy training that we've been able to provide for pre-literacy in the local language.  See my post from October 2017 for pictures from the last one.  Another is coming up this week or next, Lord-willing.

Each year, the kids moving on to 1st grade have a graduation ceremony. 

Elder Harre gave out certificates

 Ceremonies are very important here, and Kindy graduation is no different, with speeches, gifts, hand shaking, and certificates.

Some of the mamas

Kindy student getting her gifts and certificate.

The Kindy graduates

Gwen and Addy's friends entertaining the babies during Kindy grad

 

Not sure if they learned this from Gwen and Addy or at school

I've been spending a day or so a week over at the Kindy lately, helping our teacher here to remake her literacy materials for this year. Since they are all made of cardboard, and the schoolhouse is thatch, they don't survive very long!  And remaking them each year helps reinforce what she'll be teaching and using as resources, as well. 

Fun to see these kids growing up!

Working on our bush kitchen

We now have a bush kitchen we can cook in when we want to save propane, or for the kids to cook in with their friends.

Tying in the thatched roof with bark strips.

Our faithful few translator families helped us put it up quickly and Hallie was here to join in as well.

Rolling bark strips.

Matal cutting strips

Using a bamboo pole to lift the thatch onto the roof for the next layer.