Visit to Futuna and Tanna Islands

Ben and I (Jon) have had the wonderful privilege of a brief 10 day visit to the southern islands of Futuna and Tanna.  I was invited to lead the Bible studies at the “Southern Islands Presbyterian Youth Convention” hosted by the people on Futuna Island (from the 9^th to the 16^th of October).  The general theme of the convention was “Worship in Spirit and Truth”, and also included electives designed to help the youth in their leadership of their home communities.  It was fabulous being together with Albea Nalisa (our SU Coordinator) as he used his music and worship-leading gifts all through the week. 

A colourful celebration dance

Futuna is Albea’s home island and it was obvious both he and his community really enjoyed the reunion! It was a tremendous convention, with about 100 participants (not including the Futunese hosts) from the scattered islands of southern Vanuatu, with the majority of the young people coming from various parts of Tanna Island. Even more youth were ready to come over to Futuna for the convention, but the ever-typical transport problems (the engine of the “plan A” ship broke down), meant that quite a few had to stay home.  Anyway, for those of us who could be there, it was a fabulous week.  Ben took heaps of photos, so lots of memories.  Thank you so much for those of you who have been praying for us!

 
More about Futuna ...

Jon and Albea

I take my hat off to the people of Futuna! Their island is only small compared to most of the others in Vanuatu, and the feeling of being “out on your own” in the middle of a huge ocean is really quite something!  These guys are the genuine survivors.  Along with their faith in a great and faithful God, the Futunese people have developed a wide range of skills not only in order to survive but also to thrive in their local environment.

A single track leads you on a 4 hour walk around the island, connecting all the villages.  In between (and up the big hill in the centre of the island), food gardens are cultivated on slopes that have to be seen to be believed!  Water is gravity fed to villages from a couple of permanent sources. But so much of this and other ‘island infrastructure’ was destroyed (or at least severely damaged) by two powerful malingering cyclones in January this year. The connecting walking track was also made impassable in several places by rock falls or landslides.  Food gardens are just now starting to produce as normal again, but it has obviously been a very challenging year.

 The people of Futuna necessarily have to live independently from other islands and from town resources. They haven’t had a visit from a cargo boat for over a year now! Village stores generally don’t have much in stock.  There has never been any mobile phone coverage from either of Vanuatu’s telecommunication providers, and there is only one landline telephone on the whole island, which was only working for a part of one day while we were there! The twice weekly twin-otter plane link is the only regular connection with the rest of the country.

The Fish … !

People on Futuna live off the sea.  Our main food for the week-long convention was fish – and man, it doesn’t get any better than that!  When the local men and boys go fishing, you know that they will bring something back – because they know exactly what they’re doing!  Wahoo, tuna, barracuda, flying fish, poulet (deep-sea red fish) – you name it, they find it!   

Ben and I had the special privilege of going out on a fishing trip with two fisherman friends at 4am one morning – and we struck with instant success.  Trawling with only hand-lines, we caught 2 nice sized wahoo and one tuna, and were back in the village in time for breakfast!  Again, it doesn’t get much better than that!  What an awesome privilege to go out with two blokes who know the water, currents, tides, wind and weather, baits and lures, etc – like the back of their hands! 

I can’t take credit for any great skill in catching my first ever wahoo, but I do have the fishing line scars on my hands to prove that it did actually happen!  Man, what a workout!

  

 Over to Tanna …

Ben on the edge of the ash plain

Only a brief visit to Tanna this time, but it was totally worth it. Albea and I had the opportunity to stay with the local SU volunteer boys, and check out the work they are doing on renovating their new SU office and bookroom, as well as visiting Secondary Schools at Ienaula, Lenakel, and Isangel (French).  Ben and I shared the talk with the students at Ienaula, and with the youth group at Iarkei village, who live over near the active volcano. 

At the crater

  Of course we had to spend an evening with Yasur Volcano too. You can’t come over to this side of the island without ‘dropping in’.  As usual, Yasur put on a great performance – we loved it!  Ben got some great photos, as well as some good stories and local information for a subject he is studying at school on volcanoes.  These things are truly amazing.  It’s so cool to be able to see a real volcano up close (in 4D sen-surround), rather than just studying about one in a text book!

 

‘til next time.

Jon and Ben.