The Little Green House on Tanna Island

I have a house to myself for the first time in my life. It's got three small rooms, a new coat of green paint, walls that have been freshly sprayed with the anti-malaria effort's bug-bomb-spray, and more than enough room for me, my cat, and the baby chicken that one of my mamas is giving me. And I even have electric light bulbs that turn on every day. And plugs. Even with my long-drop-squat toilet and my bucket baths and having to go pump my own water, I'd say I have a pretty swanky spot by Vanuatu standards. And my baby chicken will be a hen, here a “woman faol,” so I won't even have to worry about extra cocks crowing in the morning outside my house. As it is, my daily alarm clocks consist of the neighbor's cocks which sing out at odd hours of the night and morning, and the trucks that drive by on the road just a few short yards from my house...which never fail to make the walls of my house shake. I have woken up many a night and morning whilst dreaming of earthquakes only to hear and feel another truck passing by. Within 10 yards of my house is a mango tree, a guava tree, a papaya tree, a coconut tree, a saursop tree, an avocado tree, and at least 5-10 banana trees. Not too bad. And if I happen to get to the fruit before the kids do, it's all first dibs for me! But for now, the school which my house is on the grounds of, is closed for their summer break. And that means fewer kids to compete with for mangoes, which are so close to being ripe. The nearest tree has hundreds of enormous green mangoes just dangling heartily...and every time I open my front door they are the first thing I see. The second thing I see is my school, which is literally steps away from my door. Quite the commute really. All in all, this little house seems like a great little place to spend the next couple years. It feels like a home, my home, and that is all I could ask for. It helps too that the school community is just fantastic. There is a lot of potential for this primary school, as the headmaster and teaching staff seem so eager to raise the standards. They have asked me to help teach literacy skills and music, and then anything else I want. So it looks like once school starts again at the end of January, I will be teaching reading and writing across all the classrooms, grades 1-8. There is, however, a small chance I will be asked to replace the year 7 and 8 English/Social Studies teacher who is himself heading to Fiji. Technically, he should be replaced by a certified Ni-Vanuatu teacher, but because the schools will all be free this coming year for the first time ever, and are thus expecting a huge surge in enrollment (we won't know any numbers with any kind of certainty until the school year actually starts!), it is quite possible that there will not be enough certified teachers in the country to fill the need. And this means any additional need will be filled by “temporary teachers,” whose only credential in teaching is completion of year 10 (that would be equivalent to a sophomore year of high school in the states, without controlling for standards...). Currently only 40% of the teachers in this province, consisting of 4 islands, are certified teachers. That means a lot of untrained teachers, who also unfortunately do not receive regular pay, and you could imagine what lack of regular pay might have on one's work ethic...So we get to do the “wait and see” game. Wait and see how many kids show up at school, wait and see who will be teaching (this past year the school had 6 trained teachers and 1 temporary teacher), wait and see if the headmaster really does want me to take Mr. Sampson's spot teaching Language Arts to the 7^th and 8^th graders. And once I've seen all that, perhaps I can figure out exactly how I will manage my time between teaching, helping train teachers at all the local schools in English literacy, and trying to make something happen in my school's library. You might wonder why I will be training teachers when I'm not even technically a certified teacher myself. I kind of wondered that myself at first. But as it turns out, there's a whole lot of stuff that can help these teachers that doesn't require years of classroom teaching. Like knowing all the phonetic sounds of the various combinations of letters in the alphabet. Like knowing how to read with inflection. Like knowing what rhyming words are. Like knowing basic classroom management skills. Like knowing the importance of a good children's book to inspire young readers, a book that is not battered and covered in dirt because it's been sitting on the floor for months. And maybe a little bit of creative energy helps too... So I've got my work laid out for me come the end of January. And I am thrilled to have such a supportive school and village community to work with. In the meantime, I'm just waiting for my mangoes to ripen, baking bread with my host papa, going for runs on the beach and drinking my Tanna coffee every morning, getting to know the name of every mama (many of whom I would call “auntie” back home), every sister and brother (this includes what back home I would consider a cousin), every “caja” (local language for grandparent, and which I have several of in this small village), every tawi (in-law or cousin, depending), and every kid around this town. Hard to believe I've been in this village a month already. I am wondering if that feeling of having too much time is going to come to me, so far it hasn't. And I'm wondering what this life here has in store for me these next 2 years. I am also wondering if my little green house will EVER make use of that damn food net I bought... Merry Christmas to all! May you enjoy the mulled wine, the spiced cider, the Christmas cookies, the fudge, the candy canes, the gingerbread houses, the snow, the Christmas trees, the lights! May your family and friends, present in spirit or in person, fill your Christmas season with celebration and love and joy! Lastly, a new and improved snail mail address for me on Tanna, which is much =, much faster than sending anything through the Peace Corps office in Vila. Perhaps even 20 days faster....

Laura Dodd, Peace Corps Vol.

Loukatai School, P.O. Box 179

Lenekal

Tanna Island

Republic of Vanuatu

South Pacific

Celebrate this day! (just like these kids are)