| Peter was then installed as chief
by the other chiefs laying their hands on his head. He then clubbed
the largest pig to death, installed each of his assistants by
calling out their new chiefly names, and drank a coconut shell
of kava, the local drug made from the roots of a native plant.
The entire village lined up to shake his hand, and we then feasted
on all sorts of good food that the women of the village had been
preparing for days. Elder Arthur told us stories about Siviri,
how the cave with the lake in it had been found, for instance,
as we sat in the shade. We also learned that the original buried
stone had been lost somewhere, forgotten since the last installation
ceremony for Arthur, so Peter had to go choose another one from
the stream bed and it had been carted over in a truck the day
before and buried in the center of the village. The other pigs
were then carried down to the sea and killed on the beach, and
chunks of their meat were added to piles of gifts for all the
important visitors from the surrounding villages. We look forward
to visiting Siviri again and sharing copies of the photos we took.
I spent last week in Vila, taking part in a Presbyterian Church
forum on the future of education here in Vanuatu. We discussed
formal education, such as we do here at Onesua, vocational training,
which is carried out at rural training centers, and theological
training, which prepares Ni-Vanuatu pastors professionally. We
brainstormed lots of ideas, and created a draft set of recommendations
that will be argued about and prioritized over the next several
months and then will become a development plan for the church.
Planning, of couse, is the easy part. Now we have to implement
the ideas, and that will take a lot more than a week. I had two
particular roles at the forum. The first was to respond to the
keynote speaker each day in attempts to stretch the discussion
in many different directions. They asked me to do that because,
being an outsider, I have a different perspective as well as the
bravery to publicly disagree. Amercians are famous for being rude;
this is one instance where that cultural trait paid off! My second
job was to follow the discussion, which was in Bislama, and summarize
the ideas in English on our computer. I found it a challenge to
listen to one language and type another, but it is nice to have
a complete record of the thinking that went on, not just the official
list of recommendations. The Ni-Vanuatu appreciated my contributions,
even when they were challenged by what I said. They also got a
kick out of correcting my spelling. English here is very British,
and I leave the 'u' out of neighbours, for instance. This was
the first time that I have functioned for a long period of time
as a consultant instead of a teacher, and it was a good feeling
to be used to capacity, and maybe a little beyond. I may have
stretched the discussion, but the discussion certainly stretched
me! I was happy to return home on Friday, after five days away.
Lora and the girls say that they had a peaceful time without me
and that they now realize where all the noise in the household
comes from!
Lora's kindergarten generates funny stories almost every day.
Twenty-four students from the age of two to the age of five come
from both the neighboring villages, as well as from Onesua staff
families, and have a great time. Lora has a "Letter of the
Day" and an activity centered around it. It is very funny
to see all these cute little kids walking around the campus with
ears stapled on headbands (for E day) or with fish made out of
paper plates (F day). There are unpredictable challenges, such
as B day, when Lora pulled out a drawing she had made of a bat
and asked, "What is this?" The students replied, "Flying
Fox!" At least they recognized the picture! There are also
unexpected joys, such as the discovery that none of the kids had
ever seen watercolors before. One boy was worried at first because
the color smeared out behind his brush. He thought that he was
going to get in trouble for spoiling his paper, so he kept trying
to wipe the paint off with the brush. Lora assured him that the
paper was where the color belonged, and she got to watch their
faces as they explored something new and exciting. Right now the
kindergarten is meeting in a classroom at the school, which means
that nothing can ever be set up and left out. The kindergarten
committee of parents that Lora organized hopes to build a traditional
house soon. Interestingly enough, the thatch must be bought from
a village down the road, so the committee will have a series of
bakesales to raise the money. Then they will build the new kindergarten,
providing all other materials from the jungle as well as their
own labor.
Please forgive me if I offend some of you, but I would like to
share my perspective on the war in Iraq. Things may look different
from here. Please feel free to write back if you choose, especially
if your views are in conflict with mine. I doubt that we will
convince each other of anything, but at least we can be in conversation
about an important issue. and maybe we can learn from each other
a bit.
I think that the Pacific has a broader view of the United States
at war than we do ourselves. They know very well how heroic we
can be, since they have not forgotten that it was the United States
that saved Vanuatu from slavery in World War II. Our island, Efate,
was a major staging ground for U.S. troops before the critical
battles of the Coral Sea and Guadalcanal, which stopped the Japanese
advance. Vanuatu is one of the great places in the entire world
to be an American, and old men like Elder Arthur will often sit
and tell me of their memories of the years when U.S. soldiers
were here. But the people of the Pacific also remember the years
of nuclear testing, when we created refugees simply because we
wanted to test bombs outside our own boundaries, and how we failed
to evacuate some islanders from fallout areas even when we had
evacuated U.S. citizens. The people here remember our contributions
with gratitude and our arrogance with dismay.
Friends here enjoy asking me what I think of the war in Iraq,
simply to hear me disagree publicly with my own government. That
is strange to Ni-Vanuatu, who tend to be respectful of authority,
but I see it as promoting democracy.
People who favor military force can point to many desperate times
in the past, September 1, 1939, for instance, and ask a pacifist
how war might have been avoided. Well, it probably couldn't have
been at that point, with Germany rolling into Poland. But a pacifist
can point to other, calmer times, such as the end of World War
I, when more compassionate interventions might have created a
more durable peace. We helped create the conditions that spawned
Hitler. More care and less vindictiveness in 1918 might have avoided
1939 altogether.
My point is this: every day, especially today, is a time of desperation
somewhere, and violence can always be justified by those who want
it. But every day, even today, is a time where the seeds of peace
can be planted. War cannot create peace. I think we should have
learned that a long time ago, with "The War to End All Wars."
It didn't. It can't. It never will. Only if we wage peace with
the same energy and valor and commitment that we save for war
will we ever have peace, for ourselves or for our neighbors.
We have buried the foundations of our faith well, and it's hard
to find them again. We remember that peace and love are at the
center somewhere, but we have spent a long time without digging
them up and dusting them off. We like to pretend that Jesus talked
about just wars and our need for violence. We like to pretend
that now, just this once, for this particular justification, he
would ride into town on a war horse instead of a donkey. I don't
believe that. I don't believe that it's fair to leave Jesus out
of the argument, and I don't believe that it's fair to recruit
him to our cause.
I hope that the coming weeks give each of us the opportunity
to apologize for injustices, to stay connected to the wider world,
and to create moments of calm and compassion in our own lives
that will lead to peace. I hope we have the courage to implement
the vision for the future we all would like to see.
Love and peace,
Bruce
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
191
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