Visiting the Island of Pentacost

The Nangol Tower in Pangi.
Hand-made by the vilage men/boys. Women are not allow to touch it. If touched by a female they will not use the Tower for jumping as its considered cursed.

Every year between April and June several villages practice the traditional custom event called Nangol or Land Diving on the island of Pentacost. Back in the day Nangol was practiced during Yam Season to ensure a good harvest. Nowadays, its focused on bringing in the tourists. Either way the villages reap the benefits of exposing "white folks" to their culture and making money by entertaining us. The basic concept is boys and men build a giant tower about 100 feet or higher and take turns jumping off of different tiers or planks. The youngest (age 7 is when boys may begin jumping) will jump from the first plank and every boy/man thereafter jump from a higher plank. The last and highest plank is left for the eldest and most experienced jumper. When they land they actually hit the soft dirt. It looks hella painful and some of the guys grabbed their crotch in pain after jumping. That's can't be good for their little soldiers, but that's custom for you. Honestly half naked men singing tribal songs and jumping from a 100 foot tower is hot in any country... I don't care who/where you are! I was blessed to hang out with my friends/Peace Corps Volunteers and their families for 5 days in Southern Pentacost. We watched a group of 7 men/boys dance and land dive...it was wicked cool.

Before watching Nangol we helped Erica De Los Santos' primary school in Pangi to celebrate the end of Term 1 with games, painting little girls nails, playing football and eating alot of island kaekae (food). We also visited the village of Ranwas where Katie Gobel resides, which I must note is absolutely gorgeous....think Lord of the Rings meets the Pacific. We walked for 4 hours of what I can only describe as hell because the previous day I had some sickness perhaps from the water and was so dehydrated the next day. I don't ever want to die from dehydration in the middle of the desert is like being hungover, but worse. blah! We also visited Lauren Bower's village in Point Cross, which is situated on top of a steep/slippery/muddy hilltop thanks to endless rain during the week. Of course I fell on my bum going downhill and I had a 60-year old woman help me. She could walk down a slippery hill barefoot like nobodies business...now that's talent!We also participated in Lauren's school's Term 1 festivities with a make-shift Slip n' Slide that the kids loved, but one Abu (Grandma) seemed to dislike because her grand kids were a muddy mess after a few turns down the slide. She was smacking them with a tree branch everytime they ran back up to slide back down. I was rolling of laughter at her face. It reminded me of the days my mom would smack us with a "switch" from our neighbors tree....Guess getting a smack down with a tree branch is Universal.

Enjoy the pics!

Zoe and David (PCV from Fiji who was visiting Vanuatu) hanging in front of Erica's house. In the background is the Pangi Primary school, which is under construction.

In route to Point Cross, Pentacost. The waters look calm, but as we reached "the point" of the island it was rough. Another 15 minutes on this tiny boat and I would been sick to my stomach!

PCV Jennifer paints a Pangi student's nails for 50 vatu. Pink was the favorite color for most girls.

Erica sets up a game with the pikininis in Pangi

Erica's famous bush cabbage soaked in coconut milk. Utensils not included or required.

PCV Ryan chills with his Ipod dock outside of Erica's custom house in Pangi.

A 7-year old Pangi pikinini boy readies himself to jump.

A teenage Pangi young man jumps from the second tier.

Hanging out in front of the Tower waiting for the jumps to begin.

The top plank is jumped by the eldest man.

Absolutely amazing what these men do!

The Pangi men and boys dance before each jump.

A Pangi boy dances his best moves while his friend/brother watches.


Climbing up one of the many hills in Point Cross. This one is in good condition.


Point Cross will never be the same thanks to the PCV Slip n Slide (courtesy of PCV Mariel)


Sandra, my boy BOB and Laura returning to Pangi from Point Cross. (Bob is a worldly traveller!)

All My Purple Ladies

Top: Some of my Purple Ladies in front of their dorm. They are too cute!

Gwenneth Wotas, the Purple Ladies' Prefect, holding the Purple Banner during Onesua Week on campus.

What can i say about my girls....they are a fantastic group of young ladies with a great sense of humor ...once they come out of their shells. Although they are extremely shy when it comes to speaking up in class or to strangers after we warmed up to each other I found them to be just like American teenagers. When we are together during our monthly movie night, our Thursday night dinners or at a sporting event they are absolute sweethearts. Like American teenagers they love to listen to music, watch movies and if you really want to hang out with them I simply play mymusic videos on my laptop-- they are glued to the monitor after that and we talk about fashion who's better Rihanna or Beyonce. The love the music videos "Telephone" and "Video Phone". Although the outfits worn by most female artists are scandalous in comparison to the long skirts and t-shirts we wear. They love the latest fashion, but can't believe we can walk in such high heels!

I didn't ask to be a House Mistress (which is basically another word for Resident Assistant) nor was I thrilled when I was told I was assigned to be one. That's one of the things I dislike the most about living on campus of a boarding school..folks just assume I have time to be a teacher, yearbook editor, facilitator of workshops, academic committee member, and lets not forget sports coach (which I respectfully declined). Ni-Van women like all women of color work their butts off on campus and these girls are no joke. Since I've accepted the position I've learned that being a House Mistress was an opportunity to do great things with a great group of girls. I wish I had the resources and money to do more activities with them, but they are appreciative of all the little and big things I can do with them.


One of our many nights at the Purple House. I taught the girls how to play "the Human Knot" and "Pin the Clothes on the Naked White Man" a version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey...without the donkey... and after we watched Dreamgirls in the middle of their "hallway". The few perks of being the Computer Science teacher is that I have control of the projector and projector screen.

ESSA Games at Korman Stadium (Port Vila) The Purple Ladies and our supportive posters brighten everyone's day! WE ARE OPC!

Onesua Presbyterian College - My Home & My Computer Lab

I arrived into my apartment on site on November 16, 2009. There wasn't much of a welcoming when i arrived. the deputy principal Graham Kalmar picked me up from Vila and dropped me off at Onesua Presbyterian College (OPC) 1-hour later. By this time the majority of the volunteers from my group 22 were at site and I'd heard about the village welcome parties and such. So when I arrived I sorta've expected the same...but NO GAT. Deputy dropped my shit in front of my door and basically said "peace! Good luck!" I was a little bummed and nervous because I was officially on my own and since I had no welcoming I knew no one.

My hammock for hanging out! & My apartment with its color puke orange doors.


My bathroom/shower.

In November all the students at OPC were taking final exams. The teachers were hella busy and I had little to nothing to do. So I did what i do best when bored or stressed --I cleaned the shit out of my apartment and later tackled my computer lab office and computer lab. My apartment is basically a studio apartment and was fairly clean when I moved in but where I lacked a welcoming from my peers the Ni-Van critters made up for it. I had centipedes come out of the woodwork, Jurassic Park-sized roaches flying around shouting "wassup!", spiders were hanging out waving at me as I unpacked and ants were busy relocating themselves to a more discreet area.

My Year 9 students hard at work.

My computer office was a storage room before I arrived it took me about 2 days to empty everything out, paint and reorganize. Hunter (my Ni-Van Counterpart) helped me with the painting. It's a soothing yellow.

My Counterpart, Hunter Haggia and our office.

Thanks to one of our on-campus Handyman, Kalrick, the computer lab was not in bad shape. He built the table in a shape of a horseshoe, stained them, and connected all the electrical wires and cables. We now have 28 computers that occassionally break down because of the elements (humidity, heat, salt air), but we're proud of our Lab.

We currently have approxmately 300 students enrolled in our classes both boys and girls ranging from age 14 - 20. The kids are what keep me going most times esp. after having a bad day or week. I'm teaching them the basic functions of a computer which includes all the MS Programs (Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint) and Internet research and email. Since Feb 2010 they have gone from being afraid of touching the mouse and keyboard so confident that some swear they know it all. It kills me! They are a trip! I adore my kids. Even the grown ones that I've had to shame or kick out of my class.

The Wilco Relay Race Round Efate Island

On Saturday, July 24th 2010 10 brave souls ventured into a relay race around the island of Efate in Vanuatu-- The Wilco Relay Race aka Round Island Race. We had 7 female Peace Corps Volunteers, 1 JICA Volunteer (Japanese International Cooperation Agencey = Japan's version of PC), 1 Ni-Van (my Counterpart from Onesua College) & 1 son of a current PCV. We set off at 7am and came in 5th place out of 12 teams. That may not seen like a big deal to most but considering most of us did not train nor did we know exactly what to expect in terms of the terrain we were absolutely thrilled when we found out what we ranked.

A special thanks to our drivers/supporters Brenda Dalzell, her husband Bill, Solo, Coach Peter Albert, my friend and collegua from Onesua, and all the locals that came out to cheer us on.

When the race began we were pumped, during the race the heat was brutal not to mention some of us (Laura & Alvetta) had hills from hell that I swore were going to kill us, in the end we were exhausted, but thrilled that we finished.....and not in last place!!! This experience was a perfect example of how folks (Americans, Japanese, Canadians, and Ni-Vans) can come together despite cultural differences work as a team and be successful.

Peter Albert was a last miniute addition to the team as an Official (he made sure we didn't cheat or collapse and die for that matter) and it turned out to be the best decision ever. He ran a big chunk of the race right along side each runner with enthusiam and motivated us like no other coach i've known. He had actually run the same race back in 1987 as a high school student and was making his debut with us as an Official. He was awesome!

Than we had Hunter Haggia who was on board 2-3 weeks prior to the race and was just as supportive. His team spirit was inspiring.

And than there's Yuki Jimbo....what can I say about Yuki. He and the rest of our team communicated in Bislama "nomo" because he doesn't speak English and i loved his energy. I have never met such a bubbly Japanese young man. He broke his own record by running 14.1k (8.7m) in exactly 1 hour. Go Yuki!

Next year we're aiming for 1st place! Go Team PIS Runners!

Below is are our distances and times:

Laura Dodd ran Leg 1 (13k; 8.07m) in 1hr 7m
Alvetta Embry ran Leg 2 (11.6k; 7.21m) in 1hr 28m
Yuki Jimbo ran Leg 3 (14.1k; 8.76m) in 1hr
Amy Orr ran Leg 4 (12.7k; 7.89m) in 1hr 26m
Hali Thomas ran Leg 5 (14.8k; 9.2m) in 1hr 36m
Hunter Haggi ran Leg 6 (13.3k; 8.26m) in 1hr 22m
Milly Bigay ran Leg 7 (16k; 9.94m) in 1hr 42m
Terri Gureno ran Leg 8 (14.9k; 9.25m) in 1hr 53m
Neely Dahl ran Leg 9 (13k; 8.07m) in 1hr 31m
Josh Romberg ran Leg 10 (12.6k; 7.82m) in 1hr 8m

Fast Forward to 10 months later...July 2010

Yes, I've procrastinated in building my blog because I'm lazy. That said, I will try my best to document the last 10 months I've lived in Vanuatu, but will work backwards chronologically because my brain is fried and it will hurt me too much to think of all that I've experienced since Sept 2009. It may not seem too logical but my brain swears it will be easier to write down my experiences backwards. Here we go....

This week is the 30th Anniversary celebration for Vanuatu's Independence. Basically, their 4th of July. The entire week is "fulap" (full up) of festivities throughout the capital of Port Vila. I just received the program of all the events and reading it was overwhelming. I want to do everything with the locals, but short of cloning myself there's no way I can participate in everything. So, last night my girlfriends and I began the week by riding to Courtney's site in Pango (about 10 min drive from Vila). We made some homemade sushi (courtesy of Laura and her friend from the States Melissa), partook in some red libations and later walked to Pango field to crash a dance party. We had a blast!

At first only the pikininis (kids) were dancing, but it only took a few minutes before all of us "white misses" busted out in our best moves. Hali (PCV/women Tanna) was a trip! In a matter of 15 minutes we were the center of attention and soon after the little girls warmed up to us and joined in on the fun along with a few sprinkles of Mamas.

I just want to say, with the exception of when I hang out with my BFF Michelle or my big sister Jocy, I've not laughed so hard in my life. This is what Peace Corps is all about. Coming out of your shell, letting loose and enjoying a moment of laughter and organic fun with some of the best people I've been blessed to meet. No drama, no self-consciousness...as Goddess Tomiko would say we let our inner child out of the closet. I found myself playing "London Bridge" and "Ring Around the Rosie" with little Ni-Van girls. It was indescribable. I'm getting over a cold and have pretty much lost my voice. Laughing out loud last night did not help my recovery, but I would risk my voice any day if it means my spirit is uplifted.

Next up, on Friday (July 30), we'll visit Parliament Park (the "White House" section of Vanuatu) to watch some custom dancing, picnic, & kaekae (eat) some island kaekae (food). WHOOHOOO!