Good Friday 2020

A satellite shot of TC Harold over Vanuatu. The eye is between Malekula (left) and Pentecost (right) with Ambae (top) and Ambrym (bottom). Epi lies to the south of Ambrym. The top half of Efate is at the bottom of the picture. It is sobering to notice that Harold’s eye is about the same size as Efate.

This week we narrowly missed being slammed by Tropical Cyclone Harold, a massive Category 5 system which leisurely but destructively toured through the northern half of Vanuatu. Communities on Santo, Malekula, Ambrym, Pentecost, Maewo and Ambae islands have been flattened, people left homeless, their crops destroyed.

“This is what happened to us when Pam came five years ago,” Chief Joel said. “Now it’s their turn.”

On being advised by Tim before Harold materialised that a cyclone was imminent, Joel said, “No. It is not cyclone season. That finished in March.” When warned at the same time that it was possible that the unnamed cyclone could reach Cat 5 strength, the response was, “No. We only get a Category 5 every twenty years so we don’t get another one for fifteen years.”

In March 2015, TC Pam which was also a whopping Category 5, whammed its way across the Shepherd Islands, Efate, Erramango and Tanna. Assistance was provided by many countries. Swarms of people arrived by boat and plane bearing medical supplies, water purifying systems, tarps, food, building materials and know-how. A team of Australian builders volunteered to come and rebuild schools at their own expense. That’s one example of how willing and able people were to help this beautiful country.

Five years ago, we weren’t in a world-wide self-imposed house arrest situation due to COVID19.

The borders of Vanuatu are now closed to international travel, they have been for weeks.

Vanuatu is one of a handful of countries that hasn’t had a diagnosed case of the Coronavirus. Strict regulations have been enforced to protect the population. Recently, inter-island travel has ceased and there are curfews and congregation limits; no more than five people can gather at any time.

This is having an impact on business in Vanuatu. Restaurants and resorts have closed as tourism has come to a screaming halt. It also makes things very difficult for small business operators. The Mamas market has been closed for a fortnight and will likely stay closed as the State of Emergency has just been extended for another month.

Joel’s son Jimmy recently bought a bus, just after his return from seasonal work in Australia and just before Vanuatu closed its borders. His timing was perfect in one respect and terrible in another. Because Jimmy can’t have more than four passengers in his bus, it is not financially feasible to transport them to Vila and back. Their fares wouldn’t even cover the cost of the fuel. He can try to pick up some fares during the day while in Vila but there are now many more buses competing for local business since there are no day tours running.

It was fortunate that Jimmy’s seasonal work finished in mid-February allowing him to return home. Other workers have been effectively trapped in Australia, caught between expiring visas and abruptly cancelled international flights.

We find ourselves trapped too. I’m ambivalent about this. It’s odd knowing that you can’t jump on the next plane and head back to the motherland. We are walled in. My daughter, son-in-law and my mother and father are walled out. Proposed visits are now on indefinite hold. When Georgia commented that we wouldn’t be able to travel overseas for at least ten years, my heart skipped a beat. Turns out she was joking but who knows how long we’ll all be locked down? Thank goodness for Skype. I can see my family and talk to them even if I can’t hold them.

Our day to day life here in the jungle has not had many changes since the lock down.

Schools closed three weeks ago and will stay closed until May which is the start of Term 2. Kids are being home schooled. I’m working on resources from home, writing more readers which I’ll print and construct into multiple copies for local schools.

Another 30 readers, five copies of each title, ready for use at Ekonak School which is in the neighboring village of Epau. I've made almost 1000 readers so far.

We’ve got a good supply of shop bought food on hand so we don’t need to go to Vila for months although Tim just had a blowout in his work boots and needs to replace them as soon as possible.

We have a great supply of fresh food available even though our vegie garden isn’t up and running as yet; I can report that it’s still a work in progress but there has been progress.

I can walk into the bush and return within ten minutes, skirt full of avocados, pawpaws, naos and lemons. Island cabbage grows rampantly, big leafy bushes. The more you pick, the better it grows. In the middle of the cyclone, Sila appeared with bunches of freshly harvested Chinese cabbage and bok choy. The cabbage was so sweet and tender, I used it in salad. Mary often calls by with bananas and plantains. Oranges, mandarins and sweet grapefruit called pamplemus are almost in season.

We are so lucky to be here right now.

We are even luckier that Harold only knocked on our door, he didn’t come in.

We were on red alert from 9pm on April 6th until until noon on the 7th April. That’s a long time when the wind is howling, shredding vegetation and driving the rain horizontally through tiny gaps at the bottom of the windows, especially at night.

We’d taken precautions moving everything that was outside, inside. Tables, chairs, building materials, carvings and barbecue were all locked away.

Our solar system decided to shit itself at 4am the night before the red alert so we had the generator running to keep the fridge and freezer working; both were full of food. We had to ration our use of electricity until the sun shone and the tech could attend which would be sometime after Harry had passed. No vaccuum, microwave or movies, only limited lighting and recharging of torches, phones and laptops.

The Family had all taken shelter in Joel’s restaurant which is a block construction with an iron roof. Elizabeth would have liked it if we’d taken our mats and bunked down with them but we chose to ride it out in our home which had been engineered for cyclone and earthquake conditions.

At midnight, when the wind was steadily blasting at 120 km per hour interspersed with even stronger gusts, Michel decided to go outside in the dark and raging tempest to remove the iron sheets from the verandah of his house and the cook house. I guess he really didn’t want to lose that iron. I’m glad he didn’t lose a finger on those flapping, sharp and rusty edges.

Tim had a restless night listening to Harry’s performance. I had a good night’s sleep, snug in the waterbed. The cats slept well too.

Jake doing her bit to conserve electricity by keeping the waterbed warm. Her brother Elwood won't be too far away.

The next morning Tim discovered that the southern side of our house was covered in pieces of green leaves. “It looks like salad,” he said.

Better salad than salsa.

To anyone who would like to help with donations of money I would suggest contacting the Port Vila Rotary Club. Donations would arrive directly in Vanuatu and would go to the communities who have been affected. The Port Vila Rotary Club has a web page. You can contact them by email or visit them on Facebook.

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