Loltong Village - our Island Home

Hidden in the dense foliage, nestles Loltong Vilij - our Island Home.

When I was a volunteer in 2005, I lived in Loltong Village for 2 months.  Part of a group of 11, we worked with youth to help them address some of the problems they were facing.  We all slept in a hut together and shared cooking duties.  We were adopted into families.  My family were the Guitas, part of the Tabi tribe.  Priscilla and Francis were my mum and dad and I had 6 brothers and sisters.  I was actually older than Priscilla so it was pretty funny that she was my Mum.

When we came back to Vanuatu in 2009, I began planning to get back to Loltong Village to see everyone again, and to introduce them to Romain.

We finally made it there for a 2 week visit in 2012.

The chief of the village - Jif Richard.  He is considered one of the 'big men' of Vanuatu.

Me with my brothers and sisters.

Playing Uno!

My sister Amanda - she was just a little toddler when I first met her, and now she is all grown up.

One of the village ratbags - Sammi.  Everyone was always yelling 'tabu Sammi!' meaning - don't do that Sammi - as he chased after the other kids with machetes or beat up his brother with a stick.

Sammi and his older brother Junior.  Junior was born when I was there the first time.  His mother was in labour for 30 hours and the nurse in the village had her crawling around in the rain and mud on her hands and knees to get the baby in the right position. 

Our bright room in the guest house.

With a modern toilet - a very uncommon fixture in Vanuatu villages.

And even a fancy shower cubicle!  Usually baths are taken with a bucket of cold water tipped over your head.

Romain was adopted into a family while he was there.  There was a big ceremony and lots of kava drinking.  He became part of the Bule tribe.  There are only 2 tribes in north Pentecost, where Loltong is situated - the Tabis and the Bules.  It was very important that Romain was adopted into the Bule tribe, and not the Tabi tribe like me, otherwise we would have been in an illegal relationship!

One of the classrooms in the village.

When it was time to go, we organised a spidbot to transport us to the airport a bit further north.  Our family and friends came out to say 'lukim yu!'

It was sad to say goodbye.

A last view of the village before we left.