The Daily Grind

After a refreshing two week sabbatical to the capital city, Honiara, I returned to my little island home feeling energised and full of ideas. Upon returning to my house though I was met with the sobering discovery that not only was our drinking water tank riddled with little wormy, wriggling things, but there was also no power. No power means no shower, no lights, no form of entertainment and no phone. I was quickly reminded that the daily grind can be very difficult in an isolated island community. More than 24 hours later, after a few very quiet nights of going to bed at 8pm (there is little else to do with no power!), a man wearing a towel and armed with a machete came and fixed the power. Despite his attire, I was relieved that I could finally take a shower and do some much needed washing (by hand of course!)

That Monday we began work in our new office. I was excited to be moving out of the old, dump of an office until I saw the new one. How I wanted the old office back! Sure, it is new, but it is tiny, hot as hell and has no internet (yet). There are 12 staff sharing the space and I have no desk to sit at. This is bad for me, but worse for our community based staff who now have nowhere to sleep when they return to town once a month. So now we have some homeless staff and no space to do the work we need to do… and no form of communicating with the head office! Great planning that was.

That same day when I went for lunch break, I found that the shoes I had left outside the office door (which is the custom here) were gone. So I then had to go tramping barefoot through town looking for a new pair, which is harder than it sounds. For one, the road is unbearably hot (I’m sure I burnt all the skin off the soles of my feet), and the shoes they sell are usually one-size-fits all. I was fortunate enough to find a pair that almost fits though… at least my feet wont burn!

It’s difficult to complain though when you spend weekends lazing in a hammock on some of the world’s most beautiful beaches. At the same time I am counting down the days until I am due to grace Melbourne with my presence… 30 days to go! It’s all the small things that I miss the most… a haircut, a hot shower, reliable electricity, good coffee… and of course those of you who miss me enough to read my blog!