Ah! So much has happened since my last post - I'm not really sure where to start. We spent last last week on the island/province of Malaita staying with host families in local villages and running our workshop downtown during the day. And then this past week we've been back in Honiara at our base in the capital doing festival stuff and workshop stuff! Seriously, this is the coolest. The coolest!!!!

For the sake of time I’m just gonna update about Malaita tonight --
 
We took a boat out to Auki, the capital of Malaita – the seas were surprisingly pretty rough both going and coming (had one girl on our team get sick on the way there, but not too badly) Overall, the boat rides were super awesome. We spent most of the time on the top railings because it was the coolest, temperature wise, had the best views (gorgeous sunrises and sunsets), and was the least rocky. Got to ride through the passage (through the Gela islands) on the way back and that was so beautiful. Little villages on the coast all along the way – we picked up several passengers through the Gela’s (In order to pick them up, they have to paddle out in a wood canoe and then jump onto the ship from those. Pretty fun to see!)
 
We were split up into 3 teams to stay in villages – one team of 3 downtown in Auki, one team of 5 in a big village a few kilometers out of town, and then me and one other girl named Sarah out in a village by ourselves called Fulikaomae.

We were the most blessed duo (in my opinion, haha) in a lot of ways because we were blessed and given the challenge of living in true village fashion – Fulikaomae is a ways up in the mountains so we had to hike quite a bit every day, but it was the most gorgeous hike. Beautiful views of sunsets and stars and full moons (never gets old...gets me every time).

We stayed in the small guest house/community center that was next to the church. Had no indoor electricity, but one hall light that was plugged into the church's one outlet and strung across the yard. We slept on mattresses on the floor underneath a mosquito net (wish I could post pictures!) Several girls and women were assigned to look after us, but really we felt like the whole community took turns. Everyone would come and cook our meals and sit in our house to talk with us/play games/ sing songs. There were always people with us. Literally. Haha, it’s a sign of care and love and respect in this culture – it would be unthinkable to leave anyone by themselves. They wouldn’t even let us go to the bathroom by ourselves (Haha! One time in the middle of the night I tried to sneak out to go to the “smallhouse” (outhouse about 20 yards away from the house) – I didn’t want to wake any of my friends up - but one girl, Florence, woke up and saw me and scrambled to walk with me. Haha! I got a scolding :) It was really sweet, their act of surrounding us and really caring for us, but being an introvert...it was really hard sometimes to never have a single second to myself. I wanted to soak it all up, but waking up to 9 girls sleeping next to you can be a real invasion of space! Haha) But, we really got the chance to be a part of the community fully and were able to build really deep, strong relationships. I especially got close to two girls about my age - Melicka and Florence. We would story for hours upon hours into the early morning.

We woke up each morning around 6 am when the bell at the church would chime for morning prayer (built-in alarm clock), but the roosters started crowing at 2 am, so sleep was hard the first couple of days, haha. During the mornings we went down to Auki for the workshop (the festival itself was on hold in Auki because the workers who were building the festival village hadn't been paid yet, so we actually didn't get to see any festival stuff that week like we thought we would...haha! Only in the Solomon's would they postpone a festival like this for a whole week!)

But the workshop went great! So awesome. Since the festival itself was on hold, we were the main attraction in town, which was an interesting twist of events. We had people from lots of different language groups come! So neat to the see the differences in culture just in neighboring language groups and neighboring villages. Overall, I'm just amazed at how open these people are, how hungry they are to bring change to their people, and how creative! They were coming up with extensive lists of arts, needs, etc. And! They would write full songs on the spot! They created tons of dramas, presented special traditional dances, traditional feasting rituals by the women (they brought in their banana leaves and bamboo with food cooked in it!) Super cool to see, listen, and take in. We made so many new friends - I just love how friendly everyone is. I wish every place was this friendly and this excited to create and invent and work towards positive change.

The afternoons we spent debriefing for the most part - figuring out what worked best that day and deciding on stuff for the next day, waking around Auki going to the market and such. One day we went to a really cool waterfall in our friend Malcolm’s old village a ways up in the hills and played all afternoon! It was so awesome to just relax and hang out. There were several jumps of different heights (how often do you get to cliff jump over a waterfall in the Solomon Islands?!?!) and a bunch of the village children came and joined us which was really fun. My team is awesome - just so blessed by them.

We usually got back to our village around 5 or 6 and went for a “swim” (usually a bucket shower or a swim in the river to bathe), ate a dinner of local food (usually fresh fish with rice or noodles), and then spent time singing songs, in Pijin and in their native language Kwara’ae (I was able to learn a lot of basic Kwara’ae phrases while I was there! It was so cool to learn – wish I had time to stay and learn more…it really is true that immersion is the quickest way). We played games with the tons of kids in our village and storied for hours about life and family.

The last night we were there, the village had a big Potluck feast and they presented us with all kinds of gifts and trinkets – tons of beautiful shell necklaces, lavalavas (wraps), t-shirts, and our friend Florence even sewed us pillowcases! These people. They are just so wonderful. Some of them even came to the worship service in Auki that we attended Friday night, and to the wharf to see us off on Saturday! Just so full of love - I miss them already. I will never forget their love and hospitality. It's cool to think that we all look at the same moon every night.


Malaita was a cool, powerful experience but definitely hard at times. Being an introvert… about midway through the week I got pretty discouraged and tired by the constant presence of people and no time to myself to regroup and re-energize. I would crave the 2 minutes that I could spend by myself in the bathroom stall – haha. But God is so good and this time was a true time of stretching and refining. He really provided me with blessings in solid relationships and deep, meaningful conversations to give me energy and purpose – I was super encouraged by the workshop. Again, just blown away by the creative minds of these people. But more importantly, by their openness and willingness to just jump in and do it without inhibitions.
 

And that was Malaita! And my internet time is up. I’ll update what’s been happening this past week at the Festival here in the capital hopefully in the next couple of days! IT'S SO EXCITING!


Love and hugs to you friends – I miss you all so much. Praying for y’all daily!