Day 1 in the Library (March 16th, 2009) : What the..? Are they lizard eggs?
Me
I am exhausted and covered in sweat and dust (in other words, mud). I can’t really believe that I’ve sat down to blog about my first day without showering… but it’s a cold shower and although I’ve had two weeks of cold showers, I can’t bring myself to face it just now. And my sink is blocked. It’s probably full of rat poo. I’m not joking.
Two weeks. It’s been an amazing couple of weeks, really. The first week I spent in Port Vila with Jessie, Jackie, Vanessa, Sarah, Carmen, Richard and Luke. And Caroline, a VIDA volunteer who arrived a bit before us AYADs. We took Bislama lessons from George in the mornings, and then found our way around Vila most afternoons. There was a bit of illness to begin with… I puked first and developed “sitsit wota” first too (you can probably guess what that is…).
Last week we were in Mele Village staying with local families to practice our Bislama and adapt to village life. I got a lovely family, headed by Nene Liva (Grandma) who showed me how to make laplap and fed me constantly. I was pretty much over bananas by the end of the experience. I talked feminism in the family Nakamal (kava bar) with Nadege Liva. A very skinny cat (Nenu Liva) was placed on my lap by the cutest kid ever (Fifi Lise Aileen Glinda Liva). I was sad to leave her (Leave her – Liva – ha ha ha!).
On Saturday, I came here, to my little apartment at Ulei. I was taken to a funeral on the first day, which was an auspicious beginning. But I’m now pretty well settled into this “hut”. Oh, it’s a nice kind of hut, don’t get me wrong. Bitey and Tiny keep me company at night with their scampering along the beams supporting the chicken wire and alfoil roof. The ants are not quite so friendly.
The School
Ulei Junior Secondary School. The school is great! A huge sprawling campus with concrete slabs scattered about thanks to the Americans. What was once some kind of an army nightclub is now a basketball court. It’s a bit lumpy. There are dormitories for boys and girls. There’s a dining hall/chapel/assembly area. Classrooms. General school stuff, you know. My only concern? The piles of rubbish (some burning, some not) all over the place. A little too close to the living quarters, in my opinion. Hence the rats.
The kids seem nice. They were told to do my washing (I feel bad about that, but apparently all the teachers do it…) and to come in and sweep the library out at the end of the day, which they did, with “local brooms” (a bundle of sticks tied together with rubber). They did a mighty fine job. Other kids had been assigned to weed pulling under the flag pole, so they probably didn’t mind my tasks so much.
The Library
I got a bit of a shock when I saw it. It’s pretty big. Remember those portables we used to have at primary school? It’s about the size of two of them, but with a nice high roof. I was sort of imagining that they wouldn’t have any books, but unfortunately some kind people in New Zealand and Australia have donated loads and loads of ridiculous crap from the 70s and 80s. The surprise of the day was a book with a St Anne & Gippsland Grammar School stamp. Fancy that! I almost went to that school! Bugger them for sending all their crap, though. Bugger all those who sent Latin and Spanish books too, and all those who sent “The Cat Sat On A Mat” style PRIMARY school books. Their literacy levels are not THAT low.
My first instinct was to say, “Throw it all out and start again!” My second instinct was to say, “Throw MOST of it out.” Sadly, I have encountered my first obstacle (and I know, I was warned): the teachers don’t want to throw ANY of it out. Which is rather a problem. Ten class sets of Grade 7 Science books from Australia from ’76, never used by the school? Can’t get rid of that! But we’re gonna need the shelf space, I argue. Ooh, in that case, better box it up and store it somewhere. Where? Recycle it, then? No recycling in Vanuatu. All my creative ideas to build a book wall like they have at Mr Tulk’s at the State Library have kind of petered out… The thing is, these books are already being absorbed back into the ecosystem.
Today, I witnessed amongst the shelves:
Dust, dirt, bug carcasses and decaying cocoons
Ants
Cockroaches
Silverfish
A kind of millipede (dead) that looked rather familiar (I bet it came out of the books sent from East Gippsland)
Several HUGE spiders, alive and dead
Several smaller spiders, of varying colours and sizes
And, you guessed it. Lizard eggs. And the accompanying lizards.
However, the library is taking shape. I’ve moved the tables into a class-friendly pattern, and have plans for where the shelves will end up. There’s beginning to be two distinct areas, fiction and non fiction, and I’m going to let them keep their extensive collection of New Zealand’s Department of Education produced “School Journal” because apparently the kids prefer that to the crappy old romance novels some kind person donated… But as for the Readers’ Digest Collection of Condensed Crap? That’s tomorrow’s battle.
Book of the day: “The arousing adventures of Clothilde” (one woman’s erotic journey through France during the war)
Possible article for InCite: “How to stop lizards breeding behind your books”
Day 3 in the library (March 18th, 2009)
The Library
Things are progressing! I didn’t think I would be up to this stage already! Especially seeing as yesterday at lunch I almost had a cry… yep, frustration already, and only a few days in. It’s the massive, fast-moving spiders that bother me. They are not Huntsmen. I can deal with Huntsmen. These are goggle-eyed nasties that come for you across the room!
Today I began separating the fiction from the non-fiction! I know it’s such a small thing, but it seems so positive. And I’m weeding as I go too! However, Willy the school driver/handyman (19 years old) had to go to the 5 day post funeral wake, and so I’m waiting a bit longer for the shelves to be moved. That’s okay. Island Time.
Some girls came to help me this afternoon – Chanel and Viane (I think those were their names) and two other girls who are too shy to speak to me yet. They helped me carry piles and piles of old, torn, mouldy crap to the rubbish pile. I also managed to offload two boxes of “School Journal”. They’ve taken them to the dorms on the proviso that they write their names on the covers and that the journals never come back to the library. Meanwhile, the rest of the “School Journal” collection is taking up 25% of what is currently the fiction section… I tried to offload a third box, but the kids protested! Ha ha ha… Oh what fun!
Another fabulous thing! The maths & science teacher has agreed to take all the textbooks out of the library and store them in the maths and science cupboard! Hooray! I hope it’s a big cupboard.
And finally, I am getting reference queries already! Okay, okay, I know it’s not too hard because we don’t have a computer (or electricity, or a phone line, or radio reception) so I’m not using databases, but I’m using other skills (skills that are trickier for me actually, because I’m so used to computers!) – I’m using the encyclopaedia! And I’m teaching the kiddlies to use it too, because even though they have tables full of completely random books, they still have to research for their assignments! Every time I come across a relevant book, I put it aside for them… I feel useful.
The School
These kids don’t get a lot of choice when it comes to subjects. In fact, they don’t get a choice at all. They study English, French, Maths, Science and I think, Social Studies. They used to have Technology, which included art, but the teacher was transferred to another school and they never got a replacement. Wednesday afternoons the kids hang out and play soccer. Or avoid playing soccer, which accounts for my visitors in the library. They want to come back tomorrow, too! Yay! Every second Friday (government pay day) the teachers nick off to Vila at lunch and don’t come back til Sunday.
Me
I think I’ll nick off to Vila this weekend too. I fancy a snorkel.
Book of the day: “Man, that’s where that Cat is at!” (1960s mystery)
Possible conference paper topic: “Please stop donating your crappy books to developing countries: How donated books contribute to air pollution”
