Dear Friends;
Oh my, have we been busy and the last two weeks have just flown by. The people of Ninigo...how should we say it?...are just plain wonderful. Honest, caring, educated, hard working, funny. We have so much more we now want to do for them...now that they're "family".
At this juncture, we realize we haven't given our readers a description of the Ninigo Islands inhabitants. Mal Island, our first stop, is a crescent-moon-shaped atoll a little over 3 nautical miles long by .5 mile wide at its widest point. (Mal means "laugh" in the Seimat language.) Its highest point is barely 2 meters above the sea level. On a king tide coinciding with wind from the "wrong" direction, sea water will flood part of the island. This has happened in the past and some crops in gardens were lost; particularly the important swamp taro. Global warming may be just an abstract concept to most people but it is a very real peril to these islanders. We envisage a time in the not too distant future when the government may force people to move from their ancestral home islands, though we have seen an honest effort by the government to prepare the islanders for rising sea levels.
There is no industry here; there are no stores of any sort. Well, there is a raised metal shack that looks like an historic copra shed on Pihon Island that is a "canteen" but there is no stock. Fuel, when available is pumped from rusty old 55 gallon drums that sit helter-skelter on the beach. Most islanders have out-rigger canoes that have been an important part of their culture for centuries and serve as the family vehicle. Canoe building tools and supplies are treasures to these people.
Islanders are truly living a subsistence livelihood with swamp taro, cassava, sweet potatoes and fish as their staple foods. The Catholic islanders also eat crayfish (lobster) but the SDA villagers do not. Pigs are rare and are only sacrificed for big events such as weddings or funerals. Government workers, such as the well-trained and dedicated teachers who teach here in both the native Seimat language and in English (and who also speak Pidgin), have small amounts of cash to spend. Others have little to none.
The islanders themselves appear to be a mix of Polynesian and Melanesian descent with widely different features. We meet people with distant Japanese, German, Australian or English ancestry. Skin color ranges from a white to milk chocolate to espresso. Hair can be jet black, brown or even blondish, kinky or wavy and facial features that are Asian, African or Caucasian. A good portion of the population is magnificently handsome. Many of the young children are almost androgynous in appearance with fine, almost "pretty" features where it is difficult to tell whether the child is male or female. Most men and women are shorter and slighter than your average American although some of the men appear to have the musculature of a prize fighter. We have not met a truly obese person yet. Most men wear beards and mustaches, probably due to the high cost of razor blades as much as any personal preference. When all these features are put together along with eyes ranging from blue, blue-green, blue-brown or green, the effect can be most striking. Genetics aside, the small population takes pride in having a spouse from the island of Manus or from villages on the "mainland" of New Guinea. A young couple we met with a four year old dimpled prodigy of a dream child, she from a village outside of Wiwak, were anxious for the arrival of a priest (an event that had not occurred for "years") so they could marry in the Catholic faith.
One factor of note is that many of the men, women and (alas) some children chew betel nut. This is the nut from a swamp variety of "palm", planted originally to dry swampy areas. The nut is peeled back and taken along with lime made from incinerated coral, pepper leaves are added and chewed until the inside of the mouth is quite red. Frequent spitting is necessary and, of course, the ground becomes stained with red expectorant. The big problem with betel nut chewing is that the lime begins to break down the enamel of the teeth and, given enough time and usage, the teeth dissolve away. Even before that happens, the teeth, lips and gums become red stained, and unsightly to our western eyes. The islanders don't seem to notice. Philip tried betel nut while we were in the Solomons. He reported the taste to be bitter and quite astringent but he only tried it once, not seeing any appeal to continue the habit. Besides, he has enough bad habits as it is ;-)
Many of you have expressed concern for Halokeni, the boy who had to be evacuated from Mal Island to Lorengau on Manus Island with a bone lodged in his esophagus. He was discharged on Wednesday August 24 and arrived back by skiff on Thursday about midday.
Despite the fact we've left Mal, we know this because we met a skiff en route to the other end of the Ninigo atoll. In the skiff was a waving, smiling, happy Halokeni, flanked by two matronly island ladies. He was looking quite chipper for a young lad who'd had such an experience and who had traveled all night at sea in an open boat for two hundred miles. Michael, Halokeni's father, was at the bow wearing a NYPD ball cap and waving too, while Solomon stood firmly at the controls of the well-aged Yamaha 40 Hp. After a brief chat and some photo opportunities as we motored side by side, Michael's skiff peeled off to head back to Mal and his wife, Lynette and the rest of the family. Michael plans to visit us at Pihon. As soon as we are able to get to Pohnpei and internet service, we will post pictures of the islanders including Halokeni.
And though we still have stories to tell you of Mal Island, we are now anchored off of Pihon Island 12 nm northeast of Mal. Out-rigger canoe races are expected to begin here tomorrow. On our way here and about a mile west of Pihon we caught a nice sized wahoo - a voracious fish which is good eating but destroyed our lure in the process! An elder of the neat little village saw us way off in the distance trying to anchor in the bommie-filled shallows to the west of the village and took pity on us, arriving in a skiff to lead us closer and just off a green coral reef on the island's northern tip. The wind blows over the barrier reef beyond, sailing canoes race about preparing for the upcoming races and the smell of cooking fires mixes with the tradewinds to fill the cabin with lovely scents.
Life is very good. We sleep well here. At dusk, after we've finished our supper, we sit in the cockpit and watch Jupiter and Mercury chasing Venus down to the western horizon.
Your friends of the yacht Carina,
Philip, Leslie and fat cat, Jake
website: www.sv-carina.org
At 8/25/2016 and 6:17 UTC (GMT) our position was: 01°17.06'S / 144°20.57'E
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