More Goings On

Written December 20, 2008

So it’s official now. Taem blong spel has officially begun with the year closing ceremony of the MPA that took place a couple days ago. I still have some work to do here and there, but mostly I don’t have to do a damn thing. I’ve just been hanging out with the village, swimming, and reading. It’s been really nice.
As part of the spel program my village has been hosting a group from a church in Vila to do a combined service, video, and health toktok every night. They’ve been at it for the last couple weeks, and have set-up camp at my host papa’s house. I haven’t really been involved with it previously because I was in Vila to plan the camp, entertaining guests during the camp, and then back in Vila for a couple days to see friends. Well, now that I’ve come back to the island I don’t really have an excuse not to go. It’s also hard to avoid as pretty much my whole village has been going and they are nice and loud with their amplified speakers. The first two nights back I didn’t go, but told myself that I would go to at least one service/ show.
Yesterday afternoon they said the health topic was to be marijuana so I decided this was the day to go. Marijuana lectures in Vanuatu are usually entertaining as they are akin to Reefer Madness-like explanations prevalent in the US in the 1920s and 30s of what the wacky weed does to you. One volunteer once explained that he sat through a marijuana lecture in his village where they said that a woman in Papua New Guinea had gotten stoned and baked her child. Hmmm… Now I’ve heard this happening before, but usually it’s associated with drugs like LSD or crack. Many people in Vanuatu are also convinced that marijuana makes people violent and commit crimes or it’ll just plain make you nuts. One time while riding in a bus in Vila two men, the driver of the bus and the guy sitting shotgun, pointed out a guy walking crooked down the street, swatting at the air, and laughing hysterically. Now, many people might assume this person has a serious mental affliction like paranoid schizophrenia or something. No. Not these two guys. They both proclaimed, “Marijuana” in chorus followed by a shaking of their heads. I, sitting close to the front, was baffled at this reasoning and asked the two guys if they really think marijuana did that to that guy. I got a response of something like, “Of course, I’ve seen many like him that marijuana has ruined there life like that. That stuff makes you go crazy!” I resolved to shut up and not try and fight that battle.
Now, I realize that marijuana is a problem in Vanuatu, and especially in Vila where large groups of boys roam the streets and just smoke all day. But, it can’t be ignored that there aren’t enough jobs or good youth activities to involve these guys. And yes it probably kills their motivation, and doesn’t help the problem of disenfranchised youth, but I feel too often marijuana is used as scapegoat for the reason these youth wander aimlessly. Why would you overuse a drug like marijuana if you had cool activities to do, a good job, or other things to eat up your time?
Anyway, so I went to see some more inflated stories on the wacky weed. No crazy baby baking stories. Just some really suspect ad hoc reasoning of crime rates going up in Vila due to marijuana use. Then the speaker went on to say how it makes you crazy and violent. What was strange too was that he didn’t open the forum for questions afterward. I’ve found that most adult Ni-Vans are very curious about this drug, and love to ask questions and discuss it. That could have been the best part.
Later in the evening, after the whole show was done I was talking to a member of the church about yesterday’s big Vila prison break. This is about the 6th or 7th break of the year, but this was a big one. A bunch of prisoners lit fire to the prison, requiring the police, to have to open the cell doors (as to not burn prisoners alive), and then with doors open about 60 prisoners made a run for it holding knives and big metal pipes they had hidden away. Not a good situation, and some police officers were stabbed in the process. Well anyway, the guy I was talking to said that these guys, being high on marijuana, are what caused the incident, and previous prison breaks. Some might think that inmates high on marijuana might actually keep them from, well, doing anything at all except staring at the wall. Oh well.
Once the health discussion was done it was time for the religion discussion. The preacher giving it had a power point discussion about the beginning of Christianity, its subsequent fall during the Dark Ages, and then its lift back up from enlightened thinkers. The Dark Ages part was pretty gnarly with four or five slides about how Christians were tortured by other people during that time. It was all in English so he read that first, and then translated some of it to Bislama. One of the slides said something like, “They stabbed their eyes and pulled the eyes out of their sockets!” Gruesome yes, but humorous when he misread the slide (in a serious appalled manner), “They stabbed their eyes and pulled off their socks!” Not the socks!! I’m glad I didn’t have anybody else there that noticed it too so I wouldn’t have a reason to laugh at something like that. I could have lost my socks. Wait I don’t wear socks.
He then went on to tell of the evils of the Mark of the Beast. Throughout the show this Beast was a current theme with some fiery lion continually popping up. The Beast, he was convinced was in the form of a religious sect that the maternal side of my family subscribes too. Now, I myself can’t say I’ve ever really been a follower of my maternal family’s religion, but I felt insulted as half of my extended family is in his eyes, “The Beast,” and that’s just not a nice thing to say about someone.
Sorry if this part on religious event seems like a cheek. I don’t mean it to be that way, and I try to go to religious events the community are involved in, but humor helps me sometimes get through long events that usually aren't that engaging to me. Also, I try to be as open as I can to different religions, but it is hard sometimes not to wince, as someone who doesn’t to subscribe to any church, when churches bash each other.
Today I think I’ll take a light day of reading, typing letters, playing BINGO, and maybe some fishing in the evening. It’s pretty appropriate when you think about how damn hot and humid it is. Oh, and yes I said BINGO. Instead of 7 Lock this year the craze is a modified game of BINGO where instead of using the letters there’s just numbers that go up to 90, and you have to get a horizontal straight of numbers to win. There are horizontal rows on your cardboard card with five numbers per row. Every card is 10 cents per round, and many people have anywhere from 2-4 cards going per round. I usually just play one as I’m more interested in just playing. I’ve won the jackpot of two dollars once so far. I like it more than 7 Lock as I feel I am not at an unfair advantage to the mama card sharks like I was in 7 Lock.
Well I hope you all are having a good holiday break. I think I’m going to do Christmas in the village again this year, although Christmas Eve I’m going to try to get into town to hang out with some friends, eat good food, and watch a couple Christmas movies we have on DVD. For New Years a few people are planning to come out to my island for some revelry, but nothing too crazy. Mainly counting down the days until New Zealand! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!!