Kelly's trips to Vanuatu

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September 2006

Kelly and the Chief	Ni Van kids	banana flower	boy with knife 2
boy with knife	girl on swing	guest house	hibiscus
hibiscus2	meeting center	rest	view from plane
view from plane2

Hello everyone!

I spent a week in Vanuatu to conduct training and site development activities. Here are a few pictures of the island of Ambae. Ambae is the island that author James Michener referred to as Bali Hai in his epic book, Tales of the South Pacific. The volcano on Ambae is still bubbling and producing a significant amount of steam thus I stayed a safe distance away. Note the little boy in the green shirt with the large knife...Oh the Pacific life.

I leave in less than a week to go on my month-long dream vacation to Bhutan....will drop you a line when I return around late Nov.

Love you all!

Kelly

June 2004

Children of Vanuatu	Kelly at Vanuatu swear-in	Kevin at swear-in	The beautiful women of Epau
The prettiest girl in the training village	Traditional meeting house van	Vanuatu new group of volunteers	airport terminal in Epi, Vanuatu
phyllis and kelly

Dearest friends and family,

I have just been to the country of Vanuatu (formally called The New Hebrides). Vanuatu means the Land Eternal and lies in the Pacific rim of fire. The country is comprised of 83 islands, the islands makes the country shaped like a Y with the landmass about the size of Connecticut. The country is located in the south west side of the Pacific, in the heart of Melanesia. It is an amazingly gorgeous country with towering volcanic cones to dense rainforests and beautiful coral islands surrounded by white sandy coves.

The indigenous people, the Ni-Vanuatu, are elegance and charming people, not to mention extremely friendly. Bislama is the main language, although there are more than 115 distinctly different cultures and languages still thriving in the country.

I ate marvelously well as much of the cuisine is French-based; I also indulged in some of the best beef (Vanuatu raised) I have ever eaten.

One intriguing and unique aspect of Vanuatu are the magic stones. The magic stones (made of limestone) have various powers, including success in love, bringing misfortune to your enemies and one, which attracts money. Regrettably, the export of the magic stones are prohibited, otherwise I would have sent you all the healthy and happy magic stone.

Vanuatu is also famous for their intoxicating Kava, which is a beverage made from the root of the pepper plant. Kava is grows abundantly and is used throughout the Pacific for ceremonies and medicinal purposes. It is not alcoholic but does relax your body and mind. Vanuatu is said to have the strongest Kava of the Pacific, I would have to agree to that as I had plenty to drink at several events!

On top of Vanuatu being a brilliant and spectacular county, it will also be featured in the 9th edition of the reality TV program Survivor..so check it out as the show is to hopefully portay some of the beautiful highlights of the country.

Kelly

March 2005

Van0510Kel&Relvie	Van0511paddling to church	Van0512cynthia	Van0513thegals
Van0514resting after a hard day	Van0516cynthia&bertron	Van0516greetings in a village	Van0518our lunch-laplap
Van0519kids in a village	Van0520eating with family	Van0522Relvie	Van0523taking a break
Van0525child	Van0526Kelly&Relvie	Van0527two little boys	Van0528relvie,rob & glenis
Van052Tim&Kel	Van0530 Pt Vila	Van054Turtles&fish	Van055Sharks
Van056Kel&Tim	Van057Relvie&Melissa	Van059eating laplap

I had a terrific trip working with a new colleague named Relvie. We traveled through the third largest island of Vanuatu, Malakula and also spent time in the capital on the island of Efate.

I was also able to see one of my favorite volunteers, Cynthia and saw a good friend of mine from Micronesia, Tim, too.

All and all it was a productive and wonderfully social trip.