The Ni-Vanua -WHO?

Who are the Ni-Vanuatu?

Thought it might be interesting to give a small bit of history on this group of people that share our little blue planet called the NI-VANUATU. Ni-Vanuatu are Melanesian peoples who arrived in Vanuatu approximately 3,000 -3,500 years ago as people from the Lapita culture (a culture characterized by particular textile and pottery patterns and manufacturing processes) moved from southeast Asia. "The term Lapita refers to an ancient Pacific culture that archaeologists believe to be the common ancestor of the contemporary cultures of Polynesia, Micronesia, and some areas of Melanesia. The culture takes its name from the site of Lapita in New Caledonia, one of the first places in which its distinctive pottery was discovered. While archaeologists debate the precise region where Lapita culture itself developed, the ancestors of the Lapita people came originally from Southeast Asia. Beginning around 1500 B.C., Lapita peoples began to spread eastward through the islands of Melanesia and into the remote archipelagos of the central and eastern Pacific, reaching Tonga and Samoa by roughly 1000 B.C. The Lapita were a seafaring people who settled primarily on the coast rather than inland and their skilled navigators traversed the ocean with ease. (Wagelie, Jennifer)"
The island of Vanuatu, which is a volcanic archipelago of nearly 80 islands, has a rich cultural and linguistic heritage.


On the island of Malekula alone, where Ben and I were stationed for two years, there are about 30 distinct languages still spoken. Many languages, cultural beliefs, customs and traditional systems of land tenure have been lost... many still dominate peoples lives. Vanuatu began its cultural interactions with Europeans as early as 1606 when a Portuguese ship "discovered" the islands and it was subsequently "rediscovered" by French navigator Louis-Antoine de Bougainville in 1768. Explored once again by an English mariner the famed Captain James Cook in 1774 and given the name "New Hebrides." An onslaught of missionaries, sandalwood merchants, and British and French cotton farmers arrived in the mid-19th century and the condominium government, a joint venture by the French and the British, was established in 1906. Can you imagine being under both French and British rule? This meant two school systems, two governmental bodies, two administrations and twice the bureaucracy which is a legacy that has left Vanuatu with three national languages: English, French and Bislama (from the "Black birding"- a history of stealing natives to work on Australian cotton and sugar plantations in Queensland). Finally in July of 1980 the "New Hebrides" achieved Independence and changed their name to "Vanuatu" (Hints the name Ni-Vanuatu for a native of Vanuatu).
Who are the Ni-Vanuatu now? Well I have been here for three years and stereotyping the Ni-Vanuatu would be like trying to describe what is an "American." The islands are diverse culturally, linguistically and in many cases historically. But if forced to talk about the peoples with whom I have lived for the last 3 years I would be comfortable to say this:

Ni-Vanuatu are largely ritualistically Christian yet also maintain strong beliefs in custom, black magic and traditional healing.

Ni-Vanuatu are inseparable from their land, family and natural resources.

Ni-Vanuatu are can be incredibly kind and yet, at times, as temperamental as the the ocean that surrounds them.

Ni-Vanuatu love to smile and laugh. They are boisterous and jovial.

Ni-Vanuatu are islanders, they live by "island time" and no amount of coxing will change their internal clocks. They value time with their family and friends, work will always come second to their family obligations.

Ni-Vanuatu see themselves first as members of their tribe or nasara, second as people from their home island, third their province (group of geographically link islands) and lastly their nation.

Ni-Vanuatu value community and togetherness more than the individual.


Contemporary the Ni-Vanuatu operate under a free-market economy. The main industry in Vanuatu is copra (dried coconut meat), cattle raising, agriculture, forestry and fishing. Tourism is definitely beginning to make a surge on the economic stage, which in my opinion is very unstable in regards to cultural ramifications and economic stability. Vanuatu is a country that is young and still defining what it means to be the Nation of Vanuatu. Trying to find a balance between customary culture and contemporary-global demands.

-Jessica

Photograph and quotation on Lapita peoples: Wagelie, Jennifer (October 2003) -see link for The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Lapita Pottery

The Coolidge: US and Vanuatu's Histories Crash

I must say that I really believed that I was going to be an “environmental diver” all the way and had very little interest in diving man-made “disasters” such as ship wrecks. However, diving the USS President Coolidge made a real impression on me and excited me with its massive-imposing figure as well as its history. SCUBA diving by its very nature may be un-nerving; whether staring out into the deep endless blue (and remembering your rather low-rung on the food chain) or night diving when you imagine about everything is only a couple meters away looking at you with hungry eyes (and you can’t see a thing). I have had the pleasure now of diving for work related tasks, although I would hardly call it work, and I explore things at a slow and meticulous pace looking for the ocean’s many minute wonders. Diving a ship wreck is a very different experience… overwhelming at times to see such a massive piece of history, steel and sweat quietly (and eerily) sleeping underwater. You do not get a visual, minus the large tethered anchor rope from shore, until you reach 70 feet in depth and then there is a massive bow of this 654 foot luxury liner turned war ship during WWII.
The ship, which was requisitioned in 1941, was carrying 5,000 troops destined to reinforce and relieve Marines in Guadalcanal when on October 26, 1942 it stuck two mines explosives in the Segond Channel, Santo Island. These explosives had been laid by the US Navy to discourage enemy attack and they were very effective, sinking the massive steamer in only 85 minutes. Only two people were killed in the accident but valuable equipment, weapons and troops were either stranded or sleeping 70-240 feet under water (where the Coolidge lies today).
The water at 70 feet is already murky with little visibility. The ship is amazing; its alive with the numerous creatures, corals, sponges, sea fans inhabiting its slowly decaying structure and yet dead, solemn and imposingly dreary like its war-torn history. Large fish lurk at this depth avoiding the village spear fisherman but less hidden from hand held long lines. Still the groupers and angelfish reach sizes below 70 meters that would be inconceivable closer to the hungry Ni-Vanuatu at shore. Because the ship sleeps on her side you must enter through access panels that were cut from the ship in the 1960’s when they recovered the oil and gas in her belly. Often the bottom is not visible even with use of a flashlight from the top panels. It is dark and on occasion you frighten a fish from a dark and cold corner.
I only completed two dives the last time I went. The first one, at a depth of 130 feet, was a visit to “The Lady.” The lady was a piece of art that once hung in the first class smoking room during the luxury days before the war. During the war it was actually boarded over and found later when the rotting boards were removed under water. This dive is interesting mostly because you get yourself deep into the belly of the ship. On the way in you see large debris all laying on the port side of the ship; airplane drop tanks, jeeps with rusted axles and steering wheels, a barbers chair and large stainless steel cooking pots which were equipped to cook for the large navy crew. The second dive, shallower starting at about 90 feet, was to the medical office and cargo holds #1 and #2. These were really interesting dives, gas masks, tight squeezes, medicine bottles (with medicine still inside) and bullets clutter the hallways leading to medical supplies room. The cargo holds contain more large items, the jeeps, spare tires and the like. It was an amazing couple of dives on a shared piece of history linking the Ni-Vanuatu and American people together, the war and exposure to other cultures changing both countries so profoundly.
-Jessica

Three years and many laplaps later...

Nearly three years has passed since Benjamin and I arrived in the Republic of Vanuatu to serve as Peace Corps volunteers. I remember the flight on April 17th, 2004 quite distinctly as a plane closed on the islands of Vanuatu and approached the capital city of Port Villa on Efate Island. The speculations, laughter and conversations between the 15 “new recruits,” destined to spend the next two years as volunteers, gave way to silence and 15 noses pressed against about 8 windows looking down into a matrix of coconuts, cattle and tin-roofed residential structures. I remember thinking how very, very, very small the largest town in Vanuatu was and how odd it looked against an otherwise rural-rugged tableau of Efate Island.
Efate island houses nearly a quarter of the country’s 200,000 plus populace and the majority of the Ni-Vanuatu people on this island live in or around the capital city of Port Villa. The vast majority of the island is still quite rural. In fact Vanuatu as a whole is quite rural with about 80% of the country living in rural villages scattered through this volcanic archipelago. Only a handful, and I mean about 4 or 5 towns have electricity. Efate, much like many of the larger islands such as Malekula, Santo and Tanna, is sparsely populated within the dense and rugged terrain interiors, with the majority of the population living near the coast and subsequently, the dirt or coral roads.
Our first taste of rural Vanuatu was to come during a ten-week training in a rural village called “Epau” in the northeastern side of Efate Island. There, adopted into a local family and living among approximately 300 villagers, we were to learn about the Ni-Vanuatu way of life. Not a small task for 10 weeks: learning the ins and outs of a new culture, gender roles, language, technical skills, language and practical knowledge like cooking over a fire or opening a coconut (without using your machete or bush knife to cut your own hand off). I remember thinking, “Hey Bislama will be easy right? I mean it is just a pidgin of English after all.” Olsem, sapos mi stap raet long Bislama nomo bambae yu harem save o no? Oh yeah, not to mention getting used to quite different living conditions: different housing, no running water or one tap per family, electricity, new “bugs” (and when sick proceed to different toilet) and different food.
Being adaptive is essential, in addition to being able to laugh at yourself, when you are invariably going to get yourself into mishaps and misunderstandings, and as our director always says you “will always be learning more than you are teaching.” And after nearly three years, many trainings, workshops and “storians (discussions)” later, I hope that I have given half as much to Vanuatu as Vanuatu has given to me. It has been extremely testing at times, pushing me to the limits of resolve, understanding and patience, but overall more “laplap” and laughter than tears. At the end of our two months we headed out for two years on a rural island, Ben as an “Agribusiness and Agroforestry Extensionist” and I a “Coastal Resources Management Advisor.” After three years, and having visited numerous villages and different islands, the thing that strikes me about Ni-Vanuatu is that no matter what social strife, family feuds and disputes, economically dire situations or tragedy that strikes; Ni-Vanuatu are never far from a smile, which of course can be contagious.

Birth of a Blog: Death of a Dogma

Dia olgeta,
Personally I have long been set against such things as "blogs," personal web pages, cell phones and mass communication tools. Slowly these things have worked their way into my life, last week I learned how to text message on my cellular phone... this week we are creating a blog. So that is why this is entitled "birth of a blog, death of a dogma," which signifies a changing technological season in my life. We also thought that a blog might be an efficient way to share our experiences here in Vanuatu (as we finish our three years of service I am getting a bit nostalgic and reflective) and our travels to come. Needless to say our blog will probably initially be a random at times, reflecting back on the last three years as our memory sees fit, but hopefully we will train ourselves to post the new and exciting things as well. The hope is that we can document some of our experiences and share them with our family and friends back home (we are also hoping that it is seen a lesser offense than "mass emails"). So its not exciting yet but there is more to come! Bambae mi lukum yu i no long taem!
Jessica