Category: culture

As beautiful as the landscape is in Vanuatu, the people are of far greater beauty. Many of the Nivans we met were characterised by gentleness, kindness, warmth, love, overwhelming generosity and a unique ability to show hospitality. Walking around the streets of Port Vila was a little bit like walking around the streets of Sydney during the 2000 Olympics. For Sydney, that was an exception. For Vanuatu, it seems to be the rule.

It was good fun making friends with locals as we hung out the bus windows and waved to every person in sight! A number of us also enjoyed sharing meals with random locals in cafes and the markets. At each point we were made to feel welcome.

We were shown the depths of the generosity of Christians in Vanuatu in the first church we visited. After an encouraging night of fellowship around the word, singing and prayer, we were treated to supper. By rich middle class Australian standards, it was nothing special. Bread, biscuits and tea. However, these weren’t rich middle class Australians. This community was made up of a cluster of corrugated iron houses in close proximity. This basic meal would have come at significant financial cost.

One of the elders in that community, likewise, was very generous in giving me a hand-crafted model canoe to give to my son. With a little bit more work, canoes like this could fetch up to $70 in the markets.

Another beautiful aspect of the Nivan people, was their joy. On the day that we prayed with patients in the hospital, we saw first hand joy, not to mention perseverance and courage, even in the midst of very difficult circumstances.

Upwards of 75% of the population are Christian. As you meet many people you can see the Fruit of the Spirit evident in their lives. Their joy and beauty is firmly rooted in the change that the gospel of grace brings to the life of the believer.

In a future post, I’ll share the amazing story of how the gospel of Jesus came to Vanuatu.

I had a mild case of reverse culture shock at 615 this morning while walking through Babylon. The destination? Techno-drum-and-bass-exercise-bike class @ the gym. For the 45 pulsating minutes of the class, I couldn’t stop making comparisons between Vanuatu and Fitness First. It started with differences, but then I also noticed some similarities.

Differences:

• People are friendly in Vanuatu.
• Fitness First is more ordered than Vanuatu: all the treadmills, bikes and crazy spacewalkers face the TV screens; all the bikes in the cycle studio face the instructor; and all the weights face the mirror.
• The small physiotherapy practice at Fitness First is better resourced than the best hospital in Vanuatu.
• It took 9 days to lose 4 kilos in Vanuatu. It takes about 9 weeks to do the same in Fitness First.
• Fitness First is all about me. Vanuatu is all about serving others (see pic above).
• The check in process at Fitness First is more stringent than the airport in Port Vila.
• Fitness First is littered with advertisements for various products. As far as I could tell, Digicel dominate ALL the advertising space in Vanuatu.

Similarities:

• You need to drinks lots of water in both places.
• I had a cold shower in both places.
• We all pay homage to someone or something. (Check who you pay homage to: part 1, part 2, part 3)
• Pastor Brown stood at the door to shake hands with all his parishioners in the Presbyterian Church we went to on Sunday morning. So did the Fitness First Spiritual Leader (class instructor) on our way out of the studio!

Can you think of any more?