The beginning of the end

After spending one amazing month at home, I am back in the Sollies for my final tour of duty. At the time of writing, I have six weeks left until I am back in Aussie for good… how time flies! As much as I love it here, I am counting down the days… I think I enjoyed my time in Melbourne (and my fiancé) a little too much! So although I am ‘heartsore’ for now, I plan on making the next six weeks count…

This week was certiantly a big one. I spent the week living the village life on an active volcano, known locally as Simbo. This was my second visit here and I am going to try and fit another one in because I love it… The four hour boat ride was worth it!

I came over to check up on one of our project sites where we are in the process of building a children’s centre. Save the Children supplies the nails, fuel for the chainsaw, and tin for the roof, but the rest is up to the community. And what a model community they are! The day before I arrived they had finished cutting the timber for the frame. This is no easy task... the timber comes from the top of a steep ridge where the trees are felled, the timber is cut, and it is then carried down a steep slope and paddled across a lagoon in a boat. And there was so much of it!

The community is so excited that even the smallest of kids are eager to help out to build their centre. So we organized a big clean up day where the kids came with their big bush knives to help ‘cut the grass’ at the building site. It didn’t take long because over 100 kids turned out. The big clean up was followed by an afternoon of singing, dancing, munching on sugar cane and coconuts and playing games with the cutest kids I have ever met.

In our spare time, I walked an hour to the only place on the island which gets mobile reception to send my Benny a text. On the return journey we sank a wooden canoe in the lagoon and nearly burnt ourselves on the boiling water that springs up out of the volcano… I ran/swam so quickly that I almost walked on water!

At night we cooked over the campfire while listening to island tunes crackling out of the old wireless radio. We stayed in a house with a view to die for… And as I sat on the verandah overlooking the volcano and lagoon, I pondered the beauty of the Solomons people and the simplicity of their lifestyle. I could have been sitting in the same place hundreds of years ago and not much would have changed… they have no electricity, no contact with the outside world (except for the old wireless and random white girl)… they still call meetings by blowing into a big shell and they paddle around in handmade wooden canoes… and I question why we are so eager for ‘development’. There is something so beautiful about the primitive village lifestyle. It cant be captured on camera or caught on film… only experienced. And as I sat there I realized how extremely lucky I am to have such an experience. I hope there are many more moments like that in the next six weeks….