August 30, 2004

Letter 26

The “Survivors” show has finished all their filming now, and they left the country in marvelous style. Their most noticeable impact has been financial. They leave behind local people who earned a lot of money, and already the wages for driving taxis or working as security officers are showing up in paid-up school fees, bright new clothes, strong new cinderblock houses, and even a new church. “For most of the villagers, life will never be the same again,” says one local worker. “Nor will they get paid that level of salary again in their lives.” The crew also donated piles of school supplies, such as paper and pencils, for the local primary schools, as well as the promised cash payments for each village.

More important, though, was the feeling that the “Survivors” crew left behind. “The film crew were very kind. We had our meals together and they just shared what they had with us, even though we were working for them,” said one local man. The film crew joined goodbye feasts for the hosting villages, and were generous with praise for the villagers, thanking them for their cooperation and apologizing for any inconveniences, exactly as they should in this culture. They were eloquent in expressing their thanks, saying that they knew it was not easy to allow strangers to use their land, since land is the most precious possession possible to have here.

Land is also the subject of most problems between individuals and villages. Since there are no official surveys, records exist as memories of verbal promises. “My land starts at the banyan tree and goes toward the top of that hill,” is a typical statement of ownership. You can imagine the possibility of disputes, especially as the old system of chiefly decision-making becomes less respected! Two of the villages working with the “Survivors” filming had been involved in a land dispute long ago, when both villages claimed a certain garden area. The film crew gave each village a radio so that the security guards could talk to each other. The chiefs got interested in the gadgets, and quite by accident talked to each other for the first time in years. They decided to make peace, compromised on the land ownership issue, and shared a farewell feast with the film crew and each other. Grace through a walkie-talkie! Can there be a better gift?

The front page of the newspaper, reporting the final round of feasting and thank-you speeches, summarized Ni-Vanuatu impressions by reporting, “Americans do not do things half way.” Since we are talking about good things here, that is a nice reputation to have!

In letter 25 I told you about the surprising turnaround in the school’s food supply. We have delivered two more truck-loads of cabbage to the hospital and the prison, and the school council decided to waive 30 percent of the boarding fee for the final term this year, thus passing on to working families the cyclone relief from China.

I also mentioned the current political situation in my last letter. There was a motion of no confidence filed against the new prime minister, but he turned around and offered the position of deputy prime minister to the leader of the opposition, who then dropped the no confidence motion and joined the government. He brought more members of parliament with him than the original deputy prime minister, upset at the withdrawal of the position, took away when he defected to the opposition, so it now looks as though we have a government that might actually last more than a couple of months. The prime minister has ordered the national radio station to get government approval before reporting any news about politics. In the meantime, in reaction to the prime minister’s statement against expatriates a few weeks ago, there are now small shops in Vila selling T-shirts that read “Stupid White Man.”

I was expected to travel to the island of Malekula for the church annual meeting, but it didn’t feel good to leave Lora and the girls alone here on the campus, which was virtually deserted for a two-week school break, in this uncertain political climate. With a government that is vocally anti-Presbyterian and anti-expatriate, and violence against expatriates on the rise both in Vila and in rural areas, I decided to stay here. I made sure that the neighboring villages knew that I had cancelled the trip, and we have had no problems. This is the first time that we have ever felt unsafe in Vanuatu, not counting such things as cyclones and mosquitoes that just go with the territory, and it’s unsettling. It strikes me that many women around the world feel vulnerable like this all the time, limited in where they go and what they do by the fear that surrounds them. For us, then, this unusual period of uncertainty is a good lesson about how a lot of the world feels most of the time.

This letter has traced a strange path, from generosity and unexpected peace to unrest and unexpected fear. I think that we can learn from both. I encourage each of you to think about your own community this month. Who feels protected, and who does not? How do we extend our generosity, maybe by reaching out to those we don’t normally talk to, and help curtail the fear that keeps many captive in their own homes? How can we help the intimidated laugh at the powerful and claim their rightful inheritance, the free pursuit of happiness, unhampered by vague (or not so vague) threats?

My daughter, Bridget, has been active in supporting a campaign for safety, particularly for women, in Missoula, Montana. It’s called “Take Back the Night.” That’s a nice slogan, because it defines the feeling of vulnerability accurately, as though something has been stolen from our communities. There are some of us who have never experienced the sweet taste of safety. It’s been stolen from our lives. Let’s take it back.

Love and peace,

Bruce

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 101