#kastom

Mother's Union Day for the Anglican Church of Melanesia is September 8th, and it is a big deal. #PeaceCorps #PeaceCorpsVanuatu #Vanuatu #MothersUnion #AnglicanChurch #Melanesia

September 8th is the annual Mother’s Union Day for the Anglican Church of Melanesia. For my Anglican village this is a very busy day of fundraising and entertainment.

There was a quite of bit of preparation for the day. Different groups rehearsed for more than a week beforehand on the skits (choreographed group dances) that they wanted to share with everyone. Evenings in the village were full of…

I have officially made it through training and am now a bonafide Peace Corps Volunteer here in Vanuatu. There is a lot that I have experienced in the  nearly three months I have lived in this country, and many of these experiences involve various animals. Every island is different, but some animals are found almost everywhere - and they all have their ways of saying hello.

SPIDERS

Spiders are EVERYWHERE. Anyone with arachnophobia should stay far away, or get used to the idea of always being scared. The upside of these, often ginormous, spiders is that none of them are venomous. The chant I like to use when I unexpectedly come across one is “it can’t kill me, it can’t kill me.” All the locals swear that the spiders cannot even bit you, and children love finding the largest ones and chasing frightened Volunteers with them (all in good fun).

The worst place I have found them is in my toilets. During Wokabaot Week in Paama I accidentally killed a tarantula that was chilling on the toilet lid. As I lifted the lid it ran from underneath the lid to behind it. Once I was done with my business I tried to slowly close the lid again, but the poor guy ran around and scared me so I dropped the lid. His poor guts were everywhere...

In Pele I had a spider that liked to call the inside of my toilet home and would often be just chilling in the bowl, just above the water, when I would come in. I would often kick the toilet to scare it into hiding. I’m getting better with the spiders, but I’m not quite to the point of being comfortable with them being there while I take care of things.

LIZARDS

                                  (Photo: lizard chilling on my shoulder in Worasiviu)

There are so many lizards here! They are all harmless, but a lot of people here have an aversion to them. They often find them creepy, and some people react to them the way many people in the states stereotypically react to spiders.

Seeing them run around always makes me feel good. The worst situation I have had with a lizard was taking a drowned one out of a bucket of water. In Worasiviu I had a water-seal toilet, meaning in order to flush it I had to dump water into the bowl from a large bucket of water. I found this poor lizard while grabbing water.

The very next day I found another lizard hanging out just above the water land, so I took him out not wanting another dead lizard to deal with. This guy jumped away as soon as I got him away from the bucket. The day after I got this guy out safely, I found yet another one chilling in the same place. When I took him out he ran up my arm and into my hair. I got him to chill out on my shoulder for a bit, which made my day.

DOGS

Oh, the dogs. There are a lot of strays here, and even those with a human family roam free. Often, the only way you can tell the difference between a stray and claimed dog is by the amount of fat on its body. Families will often tell you if they have taken in one dog. Often times claimed dogs will not have names, and sometimes strays will. It all depends on the dog and the people around them. Three dogs have stood out above the rest so far; one in Epau, one on Paama, and one in Worasiviu.

                                                           (Photo: Chocolate chilling in the yard)

My Host Family in Epau has a dog they adopted from a RPCV. His name is Chocolate, and he is a well-behaved, protective dog. He very much claims his human family and tries to keep other dogs away from them. When you sing out his name he gets very excited - his tail wags and he tries to jump on you.

                           (Photo: Blacky chilling just outside of my door on Paama)

On Paama I met the last Peace Corps Volunteer’s dog, Blacky. The last PCV took him in after all of Blacky’s siblings and mom died. He decided we needed to be friends as I entered village. During my week in the village I often found him waiting for me in the morning. He’s fairly small and not quite fully grown, so many of the other dogs would show their dominance over him. My favorite memory of him so far is of a very rainy day when the two of us hung out in my house. We both took naps inside while the rain poured out of the sky. Blacky is definitely a village favorite among the children and adults alike.

 (Watchman trying to eat the inside of a coconut - Photo Credit: Frances Loeb)

In Worasiviu, Watchman was definitely the star of the show. He likes to lead everyone from village to village on Pele. I do not know how he did it, but he always seemed to know when any of the trainees were about to walk from Worasiviu to Piliura or vice versa, and made sure to lead the way. The family that claims him is in Worasiviu, but he is definitely a dog of the entire island.

CATS

                                                        (Photo: Julie, my Worasiviu family’s cat)

I absolutely love cats, and Vanuatu is full of them.  Some families have them living close to their homes, and many use them as rat controls. Many are claimed by families, but like the dogs here they move around as they wish. Kittens are often carried around by children, or a cat will randomly decide they want your attention and jump into your lap (cats don’t really change anywhere you go in this regard). 

Cockroaches

People freak out over cockroaches in the United States, but here in Vanuatu they are often a very gross looking, important part of life if you have a VIP (drop) toilet. As freaked out by them we tend to be, they love eating excrement, which helps keep those toilets from filling up too quickly. They are also rarely out during the day, so if you get all your business done earlier, and you are lucky, you very well may not have to see them too much.

Flying Foxes (Bats)

The first time someone used "flying fox" in reference to a bat I was very confused. I was picturing some unknown animal, not all of the bats I had seen in a cave in Epau Village. In the right areas, at the right times, on the three main islands I have been to (Efate, Paama, and Pele) you can see flying foxes flying around. If you want to see a lot of cute baby ones find your way to a cave!

Foul (Chickens)

There tends to be a lot of foul everywhere walking around and eating any scraps they can find. You can often witness many rooster (often referred to as "cranky manfoul") fights throughout the day. The worst sound that you commonly come across is the sound of a rooster trying to have sex with a hen (the hen is never happy).

Chickens do play a very important role in Vanuatu life (though, not nearly as important as the pig). They are often the morning alarm for people in the village. This can initially be really annoying, but you eventually adjust to it, and I tend to sleep through it now. Aside from being an alarm, they are often killed and eaten for birthdays or other celebrations.

Bullock (Cows)

                                                             (Photo: Grazing bullock on Paama)

While you can sleep through the sound of a rooster crow, I do not think it is possible to learn to sleep through the angry moos of a cow. There are a lot of bullock in my village on Paama. During my wokabaot week one was tied to the pasture near my house and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. I quickly got the impression that the bullock did not appreciate being that close to the church. Every morning around 6am the church held services, with the announcement bell being hit at 5:30am. The cow immediately responded by angrily mooing for two hours.

Nakato (Hermit Crabs)

                                            (Photo: A Nakato crossing Epau’s Bigfala Road)

Being made of a group of tropical islands, Vanuatu is full of hermit crabs (nakato). Many of us during training agreed that they are very cute, and would love watching them as they made their way around. The Ni-Vanuatu way of thinking of nakato is very different from the way many Americans view them as cute pets. Here they are seen as great fish bait. People often go out at night and collect them for their next fishing trip. When it comes time to fish they break the shell, rip off the legs, put them on a hook, and toss them into the water.

Crabs

                             (Photo: Crab crawling in my kastom ceiling in Worasiviu)

Sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night because something is making noise in your room. Usually that something is a rat, so you automatically assume rat every time. This time you grab your broom to try to chase it out of the room, but when you look up in the direction of the sound you find a crab crawling in your kastom ceiling. When this happened to me I had to decide whether to try to get it out of the ceiling (risking it falling and hitting the ground hard, or freaking out and attacking me) or to crawl back into my bed and try to ignore the sound of it. This night I chose the latter. The next day I saw no sign of the crab, but a few days later I did find the empty shell of its remains with ants carrying out the last of its meat. 

Pigs

             (Photo: Piglets running around Piliura. Photo Credit: Frances Loeb)

The pig is the most sacred animal in Vanuatu. Several people have them, and different areas have different practices and beliefs when it comes to pigs. In some villages the number of pigs you kill can determine your rank in the community; and in many communities pigs are part of the bride price. One belief that tends to extend across most, if not all, communities in Vanuatu is that the size and circular-ness of the tusk determines the pig’s value. Tusks were even used as a kastom form of money!

Pigs are often killed for traditional ceremonies (i.e. weddings, funerals, etc.). In many villages only the chief can kill a pig, but there are some where the chief cannot kill the pig. Instead, he gives another person permission to kill the pig for the kastom ceremony.