Just another day in the office

There is no such thing as a 'normal' day in the Sollys... I never know quite what to expect! Yesterday I found myself piling into the back of a truck (ute) with about 10 other people and bouncing along something which is a cross between a road and a river bed. We eventually made it out to a little village where we hosted International Children's Day festivities.

It is my third International Children's Day program in one of these villages... and again, I never quite know what to expect! After waiting for about 4 hours for the minister to open the day with a word of prayer (we couldn't start without him... and we couldn't find him), the children paraded through the village singing songs and dancing along. They then performed speeches on children's rights, dramas on issues which affect children in their village and performed custom dances... they are unbelievably adorable! I want to adopt them all!

Later in the day I found myself sitting in a homemade hut... I was soon asked to leave because I made the babies cry. I didn't mean too... they have just never seen a white person in their house before! So I sat outside in the rain feeling homesick and sad that I make babies cry. Not to mention busting for the toilet (because there is none) and starving hungry. Then I thought it could be worse... I could be having just another day in the office!

Home Sweet Home

Okay, so Its 3am and I am lying awake in my dodgy motel, tired as I can be but still cant sleep. Its so noisy! People have no respect… they steal my food out of the communal fridge, bang around at 3am… and there is hardly ever running water. So I crack it… 3 weeks of this and I’ve had enough. I started to pack my bag and decided I would move into the office if there was no other choice… I say a quick prayer, then try and sleep.

Next day I am on my way to work and I bump into a guy who I briefly met once… it comes up in conversation that my accommodation sucks and he says he knows a guy who has a room… Five minutes later I am in a truck with the guy with the spare room. He takes me to the beautiful, QUIET, little house on the hill and says I can move in tomorrow… for half the price I was paying at dodgy motel. I have already packed my bags so of course I say yes… Oh how sweet to finally have a place to call home!

So the new place is small… only two bedrooms. But its lovely and quiet, has a TV (so I can watch last seasons Home and Away), has running water, loads of books and a cute little cat named ‘Cheese.’ We even have ‘house Mary’s’ to do our washing for us and at night it is so quiet I can even hear the ocean... My new housemate Luke is really nice… he cooks, he cleans and he never stops talking (or smoking!) He is an American scuba diving instructor who has been here for a year already, so he knows everything about everything in Gizo… and my landlord is the island Mayor and he and his wife already treat me like a daughter. Oh I can’t describe the relief. Thank you God for answering my prayer… and for throwing in a ‘house Mary!’

Boredom Town

I have discovered that living by yourself in a dodgy motel in a tiny town on an isolated island can only really mean one thing… Boredom! Oh my goodness I am so bored! Ahh!

After I have exhausted every excuse I can think of to go to the shop, I tell myself to relax and read a book… except that I read them all in the first week! I have even resorted to the old half finished Suduko book that I found at the second hand bookshop (where I go to get my weekly retail fix)… and writing a thousand letters and emails a day to poor Ben who has given up trying to reply (sorry Ben!) Thank goodness for Stacey’s ipod… I have grown addicted to playing hangman and checkers… desperate times! I even went to the extreme of joining a local Hash House Harriers (running group)… at least that way I can get in some much needed exercise as well as socialise with some other expats… and get out of boredom town for a couple of hours a week.

On the flip side, work is great… I am in the office about 3 days a week, and travelling out to villages on the other 2 days (although this is soon to increase). We travel either by boat (this is my personal favourite) or by ‘public transport’ (piled onto the back of a truck)… this takes up half the day, then we run a little workshop and do some stuff with the kids, eat ourselves silly on all the food the villagers cook us, then begin the epic trek back to town. The work is very rewarding and the people are great to work with... I actually look forward to going to work most days. And the best news of all… drum role… my lovely Deutscher man is coming over for Christmas… and staying for two whole months! I am so excited… I can introduce him to boredom town. Ben, you are in for a treat!

Saving the Children

I have just finished my first week working with Save the Children in Gizo town. Although the office is nothing exciting (its hot, dirty and empty), the people are lovely and they are doing an amazing job with limited resources. My counterpart Lisi is lovely. She is two years younger than me with a new baby, and has just taken on the role of Children’s Advocacy Project Officer… it is my role to support her in her new job, and offer her some on the job training so that she can be more effective in her work.

Although I haven’t started working with the kids yet, they are so cute! There are some big burdens that these little cuties have to bear though… hopefully the work of Save the Children can help ease it for them. Our main role is to educate both children and the community on the UN Convention of the Rights of a Child, and to create space for children to take action if they feel their rights are being violated.

Lisi and I have been busy preparing for International Children’s Day. The Child Clubs that we run (there are over 25 of them) will each have a dedicated children’s day, where the children will parade, make speeches on issues that they are concerned about, perform dramas and songs etc. We have also been busy preparing for a big stakeholders meeting, where we have invited politicians, doctors, educators, police officers, NGO’s and children to discuss issues that local children here are concerned about and hopefully come up with some strategies to solve them. I’m enjoying feeling useful, although somehow I think I will learn more than I will teach!

My Island Home

Well after two weeks orientation I have finally made it to my new home… Gizo Island! It is a very beautiful place… just how you would imagine a tropical paradise… the bluest of blue water, countless tiny islands lined with white sandy beaches, surrounded by coral reefs… absolutely stunning!

Gizo itself is quite cute. It has all the charms of a quaint seaside village… very small and friendly. The town is still rebuilding after it was devastated by a Tsunami two years ago. It is buzzing with activity… everyone is here… World Vision, UNICEF, Oxfam… and of course Save the Children, my new workplace! My counterpart Lizzy is lovely, as are the rest of the team. I am the first volunteer they have had so they are very excited and accommodating.

The down side to all of this? My accommodation. I am staying in a Motel until January because of the housing shortage caused by the Tsunami. And not the kind of Motel you are picturing… think 80’s in downtown Mexico. Exactly. And it ain’t cheap! I could rent an inner city apartment in Melbourne for the price Im paying to stay here… fingers crossed that I find an alternative soon!