Our North Ambrym Trip... Volume 2

Before I start I need to tell you that I totally cheated on this one and used smaller sized pictures. SO if you are wanting to use one of our pics for copying for any reason, just e-mail us (houghton.richards@gmail.com) and I can send you whatever you would want....

For the first week we were in Ranbwe the kids had a break off school because the teachers were at a convention so there were always kids around.  I was quite thankful for this because the next week, when they all were back in school, proved to be pretty quiet!  So we were lucky (as God orchestrated) that we had this first week with all the school aged kids around!  We played lots of games.  Tania and Laura and I brought Skipo, Uno, and a memory matching animal game.  We were very thankful to think of bringing these things.  There really isn't a whole lot going on otherwise.  Most of the adults would be out at their gardens during the day and then the ladies would come home and start fires to cook their supper.  Some ladies (and men) were around throughout the day also.  We would just hang out and talk.  Do some wash.  Clean up our house and yard.  Walk around and go to the salt water.  Sometimes the guys went fishing with some of the men from Ranbwe.  Or sometimes just Hought and Jim would head to the ocean and do some line fishing with Josh and Si and some of the other kids would follow and all hang out on the beach catching bait with Josh and Si.  They would chase crabs, small fish, lizards and occasional snakes.
The boys would also carve on wood.  Kids in the village know how to manipulate knives at VERY young ages.  They are carrying around machetes as soon as they can walk really.  So Jesiah is a little behind the game in this.  Houghton would have Si go and just chop and wack at things here around our yard with our machete to get him a little less foreign with the use of it.  However, the finer art of small stick carving was still out of his knowledge.  But Houghton would watch Si on the beach and gave him his buck knife to join in with some of the other boys.  And as you would guess, there was a large slice through his finger that would soon follow!  The boys were amazed at the amount of blood that poured from Si's finger!   They felt very bad for him but Si was tough and I was thankful for a wonderful husband who is savvy with all things to do with wounds.  SO we took good care to bandage that finger up and keep it clean.  It healed VERY well a couple weeks later. :)

So what are some other things we did... Well here are some kids eating the inside of a coconut tree, that same tree that the chief chopped down, remember from last post?  Who would of thought?  Isn't it wild where some food can come from?  The tree tastes pretty good. :)  It has a sugary flavor with the texture of a grainy apple.  Also with the leaves of the coconut tree, the boys (Josh's idea) made a fort type thing.  That fallen tree provided all these things, food, fans (weaved from the leaves), and a bench!  Waste not, want not. :)

 So I mentioned that we brought some games.  Below we are playing the kids' game of animal alphabet memory.  This was interesting as most of the animals were completely new and foreign to them.  Such as "s" for squirrel, or "w" walrus, "b" bear!  Can you imagine?  They have NO large animals in Vanuatu.  The only ones they would have would be cattle (imported), pigs (imported), horses (imported) even the rats are imported!  Wild huh?  Jesiah really wishes there were monkeys! :)  It was fun to talk about the animals on the cards as we played and really interesting to explain some of the animals!

We walked to the ocean a couple of times.  To get there we would walk in the dry creek until it opened up into the salt water.  It was about a 15 minute walk was all.  Us ladies were asked to only wear skirts (or dresses) while we were on Ambrym by one of our contacts in Ranbwe.  However, they said it would be okay if we wore our board shorts with t-shirts when we went swimming in the ocean.  I never saw any women wearing anything other than skirts or dresses on our entire trip.  Very occasionally I would see a younger girl wear board shorts, but the norm is skirts only.  So when we live in a village skirts and island dresses will be our norm.  I heard some good advise by a friend who was a missionary in a similar culture/country and it was to always keep a skirt by the front door so if you need to leave the house and were wearing shorts (in the house) you could throw it on before heading out the door.  Skirts get really annoying 24/7 so I know that having a break from that in the comfort of our own home (we didn't have this comfort during our visit) will be really nice.

As I very briefly mentioned in Volume 1 of my North Ambrym post, the toilet situation was a battle!  Houghton brought back pics of what it looked like so we could better wrap our brains around it and be able to mentally prepare.  I felt this was SO necessary for Gwen.  Even when we moved here to Vila she was freaked out by our toilet.  Just because of the discoloration in the bowl as a result of minerals in the water.  She was scared to use our toilet here in our house so I knew that she would have strong feelings about a bush toilet.  We talked a lot about the toilet and how we would help her and that it would be SO cool for her to be so brave etc.  The first time around (in Craig Cove before we hopped on the boat) was a failed attempt.  After some terrified cries, we used a better option (in her mind) and she went outside in the dirt....not all that better in my mind, but in the mind of my three year old, it was WAY better.  After moving into Ranbwe it took only 2 times for her to get the hang of it and she was totally cool the rest of the stay!  What a stud!  Si was very brave about it too and he was able to figure it all out by himself.  Our little adventurers. :)  This is a humorous pic taken of all of us sticking our heads out of the "small house" as they called it.  Can you see Laura up at the top?  The leaves are trying to cover her up. :)

Addy had moments of freedom from my arms.  I am convinced this was God's grace on me.  I think I would have had a harder time if I wouldn't have gotten any relief from the CONSTANT clutch of the kids on me.  It was exhausting.  After a while I did just cope with it and stopped trying to get the kids to go and DO something!  I knew that they were dealing with some serious culture shock and my nagging wasn't going to help any.  BUT God was good to give me a break here and there.  I know that as soon as our kids get used to any new place and all the adjustments that go along with it, they will thrive!  When we first moved to Port Vila they were hesitant about a lot of things but after a little time they really thrive here now.  Village life is difficult but it can also be heaven for a child! Friends all around!  So when the kids were ready to venture out while in North Ambrym, they were met with many happy smiles!

I mentioned in the last post about how the chief tried and tried to get the girls to warm up to him.  This is a precious pic of him playing a little hand game with Gwen. :)

Si wanted SO badly to go and shoot things with a sling shot or a bow and arrow.  Unfortunatly the bow and arrows were made the last day we were there.  But this is Si playing with a stick.  When I say that the kids didn't have any toys I am completely serious!  The only form of anything was a volleyball and some marbels.  That is ALL I saw in the 2 1/2 weeks there.  So they have totally different ways to keep busy.  Dirt, rocks, sticks, animals, EVERYTHING natural has a million uses!  Addy (or any toddler for that matter) figured this out easily and constantly played in the dirt!

Gwen playing patty cake games with the girls.  Sing-song patty cake games were a life saver.  Laura taught some to Grace Kenner and another girl about Grace's age and they in turn taught it to everyone else!  Some of them knew some of their own.  This was another one of those things that kept the kids busy.  Some of the kids knew Bislama so they were able to talk with us.  Their tribal language is VERY strong (spoken a lot), one good reason we are looking at living in North Ambrym.

After about a week in, our family needed to get some time away so we headed down to the beach before breakfast. Yes, BEFORE breakfast - village time is very different than city time.  We woke up at about 5 AM everyday, just before sunrise, and the kids would go to bed about 6 PM, just after sunset.  Life is built around the sun when you don't have electricity!  So we woke up before the sun and took off down the creek to the beach.  There is SO much beauty there!  I will just let you soak in the pics! Go ahead and click on them to enlarge if you would like to see them larger.

We were SO blessed by the people of North Ambrym.  They cared for us so graciously and selflessly.  We enjoyed just sitting and talking with them.  Meeting their family, learning some bits of their language, playing games, whatever we could think of.  Most of the women that hung around close to our house knew Bislama.  There were some that couldn't speak it and so they weren't around much.  There were some times of awkward moments figuring out that the person you were speaking to couldn't understand BUT we are again thrilled that their own language is still going strong!  There are many people groups around the world that are loosing their mother tongue because parents don't teach their children their language and instead only use an LWC (or Language of Wider Communication - in our case here in Vanuatu - Bislama). So, after only 1 or 2 generations a language could be lost.  This also goes along with losing some cultural things because once language is missing, so do some of the things that are tied with it. 

This womans name was Gwen (below)s.   There were two girls that I heard of in North Ambrym with that name.  I thought this was fun.

We ate nearly all our meals in the large room of our house.  As mentioned previously, they had a schedule of people who would bring us meals throughout the time we were there.  Sometimes we went to their house, but mostly they carried the food to us.  Even if they were a village away.  There was even a time when they crossed the rushing creek to bring us food.  We felt bad about this, but that is just their life.  Nothing different for them.  We ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS, had too much food.  We would eat and eat and eat but still we couldn't finish all the food they would bring to us three times a day.  So we shared it with various families around the village.  They were ready and willing to take any leftovers we had.

Gwen LOVED to help me wash clothes.  She was really good at it! 

A cultural thing here in Vanuatu is sand drawings.  Most drawings have a story that goes along with it.  Below, Si is drawing in the dirt with them.  Laura is in the background filtering our drinking water.  North Ambrym is also known for their tam tams.  They are well know for wood carvings like the one in the picture below.  They are able to sell them all over the world.

Another anxiety for us ladies before going to Ambrym was showering.  We went to Ambrym thinking that we would be having to shower in our clothes.  But as it turned out we were able to shower quite comfortably in this little bath room.  We would fill up a bucket at our rain tank and then carry it to the water basin in the bath room.  It took about 2 bucket loads to fill it up.  And once you got over the initial shock of the cold water (Addy NEVER got over that shock and I started to use our leftover hot water from breakfast to help warm the bath water for her) then it was pretty refreshing!  We had been having the kids get used to cold showers here in Vila (wow we sound like evil parents!!!) so they wouldn't be totally spun out by the thought of showering in Ambrym and it totally worked for Si and Gwen.  Addy was just to little, so she got the extra hot water. :) See, we aren't THAT bad! ;)  Needless to say since we have come home and it is shower time the kids still ask if they are going to take a hot or cold shower.  And gladly I can say HOT! Haha.

I have always loved watching Ni-vans milk a coconut.  I love the way the coconut milk washes over their skin.  Tania got an awesome pic of Esther milking a coconut over some creek cabbage (island cabbage that grows in the creeks).

Check out these beautiful smiles!

Addy could jump off things all day long!  And a friend to join her never hurts!

Gwen, Addy and I got to feed chickens.  I was amazed at how quickly these chickens ate up this "makas".  Makas is the shavings from a coconut after it had been milked.  Chickens roam around the village.  They mark them by cutting one of their toes so they know whose is whose.

Here is a good depiction of what I looked like most of our time in Ambrym!  Kids, kids everywhere!

For a large chunk of our time in Ambrym we were blessed with good health.  About 3/4 of the way through, the kids started a very long bout with diarrhea.  Hought thinks it was more than likely giardia. We were able to get them on some antibiotics after about 10 days of them having diarrhea.  They were so tough through it!  After several trips to the toilet throughout the night we desided it best to not go to church that Sunday.  There was a joined service in another village.  A village which happened to be at the top of a hill.  And not just any hill, but a stinkin STEEP hill!!!!!  So after AN HOUR AND A HALF of hiking at about a 60 degree incline we arrived at Fondrareo.
During the climb I was very glad that Si and Gwen were too sick to go with us.  I knew that they wouldn't have been able to make the climb! All throughout I was convinced I wouldn't be able to make it!!!!!!!!  We stopped several times to catch our breath.  Thankfully the locals too were winded and rested with us!  I am sure they wouldn't have rested AS MUCH as we did had they not been with us BUT that is beside the point! Haha.  After about 40 minutes up the hill I gave up and passed Addy off to Laura.  She graciously helped me carry her up to the village ontop.  Many of the ladies with us offered to carry her and tried to take her but she would immediately freak and would clutch me like an octopus!  So that was no use.  One of the ladies suggest that one of the boys ( he was probably about 15 ) carry Addy. I told him thanks but she wouldn't go to anyone else.  So I suggested that maybe he could carry BOTH of us!  We all had a good laugh at that.  Later Jim told me that he noticed that after I said that they boy had a funny look on his face. Apparently he didn't catch that I was kidding!  I am sure I scared him pretty good.  He probably could have carried both of us up the hill (they are SO stinkin strong)  but he still was a bit nervous at the idea. HAHA!

We made it!!!  Some girls playing peek a boo with Addy after church.

Like mentioned in my previous post, after church they often eat together.  This was our spread of food!

And this was theirs!  All different kids of lap lap.

And back down the hill.  My legs were shaking the whole way down.  It is just steep enough that my quads were having a nice workout the whole hour down!  But WOW was it beautiful!

While we were gone at church all day Hought, Gwen and Si played card games, tried to take a nap (unsuccessful because of our curious neighbors) and took trips to the toilet a hundred times. :)  Here is a pic of the room our family slept in during our stay.  We hung up the mosquito net and me and the kids were all able to fit in.  Hought unfortunately couldn't also fit (hmm, he DID end up with malaria too!)  The windows don't have screens on them so the nets were necessary.  After a couple nights in this room, Houghton thought best to pitch the tent and he ended up sleeping out in that for the rest of our stay.  When the kids started getting sick they started sleeping out in the tent with him.  It was closer to the toilet!

Ranbwe has an amazing string band!  This is the music from Vanuatu and I LOVE IT!  I will post some of the video we took on you tube as soon as we are able to pull it off of the camera.  I SO want to learn how to play the box bass. It is just a box that has a stick with a string connected to it and you push the stick to bend it to change the pitch!  I suppose it wouldn't be too ladylike to play it but I hope to get the chance none the less!

I'm not sure if you can see it all, but I love this picture because of all the things going on!  There is the string band playing on the left.  Jim videoing the band in the middle, the boys watching the display of the camera (in amazement!) and up above is Houghton sitting in the tree to get some good video footage as well!  Cool... and where are all the ladies.... well, culturally we are not allowed close to them but they were very kind and played right next to the house so we could sit in the doorway and watch!

Here we are enjoying from a distance.

Apparently Addy got a little board and found more excitement in the dirt.  Imagine that!

After they were finished playing Hought gave a try with Addy on the ukulele.

Ranbwe is hedged in by two creeks.  These creeks are dry most of the time (hense how we walked them so often to get to the neighboring villages and also how we got to the beach) but when it rains, water rushes through these with such force that it literally shook the ground as it coursed through the dry bed.  It was amazing to see and hear.  But a bit unnerving knowing that it was blocking us in on every side from the rest of the world and our way off the island only three days before we were suppose to leave!  Though its uncommon, when this creek is at its fullest it poses a threat to the homes close to its banks.  And as you can see from this picture... that is some amount of water!  Here it had gone down considerably, but it never was a threat to us other than hindering us from getting to our flight in time.

Like I have mentioned before, Vanuatu doesn't have many animals (or insects) that prove to be harmful.  Spiders included.  The kids LOVE to find all kinds of bugs and keep them as friends for the day.  This day a banana spider proved to be Addy's pick of the day.  I think it is adorable that she is fearless from these creatures.  I am not interested at all in keeping one of these as MY pet, but I am happy they are comfortable with all the creepy crawlies that are here!

(look closely in this pic...the spider is crawling up Addy's chest)

So back to finding and using EVERYTHING here as a toy, this boy had caught a butterfly and tied a string to it!  It totally worked!

We were cooked fresh bread everyday for breakfast.  This is pretty uncommon in villages in North Ambrym.  It was an earthen oven - concrete domes that you can put wood in to provide a fire for it to cook the bread (or whatever).  This absolutely amazes me!  Our bread was beautiful every morning.  How to cook bread with such precision and knowledge of fire...amazing. 

I'm not sure what Si and Paul are doing here, but it was cute.

An idea of what our spread looked like two times a day!  We were brought SO much food.  We tried very hard to "flatten" (or eat all) of it, but after nearly every meal we would share the food around with anyone who was hanging around the house or we would take it to different homes throughout the village.  

What you see in this picture (starting from top to bottom) is rice, taro, yam, noodles (like Ramen) with chicken, island cabbage, pomplamouse (like a sweet grapefruit), fresh water prawns (a real treat for us this night), island cabbage, and a couple different kinds of simbaro.

Normally we would eat alone.  Our friends wouldn't come inside and join us BUT thankfully on our last night Leena and two of her kids joined us!  We FINALLY convinced them to eat WITH us and not wait for us to eat and then eat after.  This is customary to have "white man" eat first.  It is a hard thing for us to get used to.  Its awkward of it thinking that it is coming from the idea that they need to do this for us.  We desire so badly to be treated as equals.  But that is just how we view it.  We don't know why for sure they do this and what it springs from.

The day we were scheduled to head back to Ranon and catch our boat back to Craig Cove we wanted to get a picture of us with all of Ranbwe.  We asked around the night before if we could take a picture at sun up the next morning.  All seemed that it was a great idea so we waited around that morning for all to gather.  When it was nearly an hour passed our desired time to take the pic, we thought best to just go ahead and take it with those that were there.  So we started heading to a open area.  I was totally bummed that more people didn't show up for the picture but knew that they surely had things they needed to do and that it was a bit "pie in the sky" for me to think that we would really get a group shot of an entire village on a Wednesday morning!  So off we went to take our pic with this many people. 

And after some yelling from Leena (she cracked me up!!) she called the entire village in about 10 minutes for this picture!!!  Everyone from Ranbwe was able to come! 

Now it was time to take off.  The creek had gone down far enough for us to cross to Ranon and catch our boat to Craig Cove.  So we packed up all of our stuff and said our good-byes.

Crossing the creek.  We had some guys from Ranbwe come with us on our boat ride to the half way point (remember how we stopped half way on our trip to Ranon -last post-) so they could "run pig".  Running pig is ultimately pig hunting in the bush (up and down hills at break neck speed) with dogs.  Sadly Hought and Jim just aren't in good enough shape (you pretty much have to be born Ni-Van to handle it!) to join the guys.  So they were going to do some scrub duck egg hunting instead. (also read my previous post for more info on these eggs)

 

Taking a break at our halfway point on our boat ride.  The guys are all off running pig and egg hunting.  So us ladies and kids just hung out.  Well, that was what we were expecting to do anyway, until Tania and I started to watch our boat (anchored just off shore) and we began to get a bit worried.  The water was rough that day. and it was hitting our empty boat pretty hard.  Many times I would watch from the beach and hold my breath as a wave would toss our boat around.  All of our bags were still on that boat as well our way home and the man who had stayed back from the hunt to watch over the boat was out of our view.  So I decided it best to stop watching and worrying. After taking Gwen to the bush to go to the bathroom we returned to the beach to find our boat rocking in the waves and the man who was watching the boat yelling for help.
Tania and I, Josh and Grace all ran to help.  Laura was off a ways with Gwen and was out of yelling range.  So off the four of us ran to try and control a boat in rough water!  Come to find out the anchor line had broke and the boat needed to get pulled up onto shore before it went off into open water or flipped.  So we ran into the water to join our Ni-Van friend in a lame attempt to pull it in.  With all our might we could barely get it up onto the beach.  Laura ran to help and the five of us would time the waves and we finally were able to get it half way up the beach.  Its back end was still rocking in the waves.  With all our pathetic girly might we couldn't get it any farther!  So Tania made the good suggestion to unload all of our packs off the water filled boat.  We off loaded all of our water spoiled packs onto the beach and could do nothing but wait and pray that the waves wouldn't come onto the beach far enough to take our boat out to sea.  Thankfully three guys came back with a pig, cut into three pieces, and Josh ran to tell them our situation.  Once they hung the pig in some trees they went and hauled the boat up onto shore the rest of the way.  To our credit it did take them some work to get it up. :)  So were weren't TOTALLY pathetic in our attempts. Haha.  I was bummed when we got home because I realized we never got a pic of my leg.  During our attempts to get the boat up, we timed the waves and pulled, as I pulled one time the boat came up and fell down onto my leg, scraping down my right leg.  It looked pretty hard core bleeding into the salt water.  But no pics to show for it...so I will leave it there. ;)

After unloading our packs onto the beach.  You can see how far us ladies got the boat up onto the beach in this picture.  This was taken before the guys came back from the pig hunt and pulled it farther on the beach.

Waiting for Houghton, and Jim to come back.  They were still off digging for scrub duck eggs.  The other guys were busy chopping down branches to make into huge spits to roast the pig.  It was amazing to watch them roast it.  Like an art.

Check out that huge spear held up by a brace made from a 'Y' shaped branch shoved into the ground.

And here comes the egg hunters!  Houghtons body shows how far down into the sand you dig for these things!  His body was in a hole in the beach as he felt with one hand down the hole and dug deeper.  He is holding his treasure! :)  A scrub duck egg!

Si and Gwen watching on as they prepare to roast the pig.

The pig tasted AMAZING!!!!!

Waiting at the airport.  Our plane was a little late so we got to hang out a bit.  Don't you love the look of this "airport"?

Houghton and Jim outside the airport.

Little did we know we were  the verge of a sickening airplane ride for the next hour.  It was pretty miserable!  Weather was bad, rainy and windy, and our little plane wasn't liking being in the middle of it.  I have never wanted to be somewhere else so badly before!  BLEH.  Poor Gwen, who also gets really motion sick, was having a rough go of it.  I was SO thankful that Addy was asleep on my lap.  So after an hour of wanting to puke and very sure that I didn't want to get on a plane again for a while (knowing full well that as soon as we got to the Vila airport we would be taking another plane to a Northern island, Santo) we landed in a VERY windy Port Vila.  The rain was coming down so hard that our run to the airport from our plane on the landing strip made got us drenched. 
Thankfully we had a 2 hour layover in Port Vila before he had to fly out to Santo. I was so thankful for the long lay over so I could get over the previous flight.  A friend came and brought us our luggage for Santo and took what we didn't need from our Ambrym trip. This was such a blessing so we didn't have to pack for Ambrym AND Santo before heading to North Ambrym.  She also brought cinnamon rolls....this was a God sent!  Cinnamon rolls!  After eating a totally different diet for nearly three weeks we got to eat cinnamon rolls. :)  It was so sweet of her to think of us in this way.  The kids also enjoyed some chips at the airport!

And off we went to Santo on a new, big, clean, and COLD (we are NOT used to air conditioning) plane to the northern island of Santo.  We desired to visit Santo because the possibility is there that we may be based out of Santo instead of Port Vila.  It had been years since I had seen Luganville (the city in Santo), and Tania had not been there yet so it was  good chance to see if this city might be a possibility for us.  We also met some other missionaries there and got to have a bit of R&R at a resort one of the days before heading back to Port Vila.

Gwen was absolutely THRILLED to be going back home to Port Vila.  She could hardly contain herself!  And really, we all were SO ready to be home.  This pic was hilarious because as we were flying back she kept looking at me smiling this crazy smile saying how excited she was to be at our old house next to Fred and Timo again. :)

Well, that was our North Ambrym trip in a nut shell.  Any questions, shoot us a comment!  Be sure to check  Laura's Blog and Kenner's Blog

Our North Ambrym Trip... Volume 1

 I was talking with Houghton the other day saying that our trip to North Ambrym was what BOOKS are written about.  Action, adventure, drama, and everything else that goes into the plot of any good book.  The problem is... I am NOT an author!!!  So I hope to tell the story with clarity, sincerity, and honesty as I try and paint the picture for you as you place yourself into the back drop of North Ambrym, Vanuatu....

On Saturday morning, June 5th,  we found ourselves sitting in the Port Vila airport about ready to experience the first part of our journey to North Ambrym.  The day had been planned and anticipated for years past!  Although the location hadn't been known for years we KNEW that God has been crafting our individual lives, our families lives, and our personality, our very personhood for this time.  For this trip.  For this ministry, whatever it may end up being in the future.  That is the adventure of it all.  God has created each one of us for TODAY, and whatever today brings.... what an incredible thought!

SO back to the airport.  I, Gretchen, wasn't nervous about our trip until the actual airport wait.  I had plenty of anxious thoughts building up to this moment but I don't actually get nervous for what lies ahead until it is RIGHT there in front of me.  And for this I am very thankful.  Otherwise I think my nerves might talk me out of many things! ;)  God knows!

The kids ran around at the airport a little bit with Josh and Grace but I knew that their excitement for the unknown was also mixed with a nervous feeling of uncertainty of what they would experience on this trip.
Before the "family trip" to Ambrym, Jim and Houghton made sure that they took plenty of pictures from their first trip there last month so as to better prepare our minds for what we would experience to some degree.  They took pics of the boat, the house we would be staying in, the toilet (that was a SUPER important one!), etc.  Houghton and I tried very hard to prepare the kids for the physical changes that would happen in their life for the 12 days in Ambrym.  We talked about sleeping on the floor in one room.  Talked about using a hole in the ground as a toilet.  About the smell, about the walk to the toilet, about how they wouldn't have to go to the toilet by themselves etc. We also talked about the food and our family tried to eat island food here in Vila several times a week for several months, just to get them used to it.  We also tried to help the kids take cold showers as we would be showering with bucket water from the rain water tank.    And I can say right now that they did AWESOME with the toilet, with sleeping, showering and with eating!  I am so stinkin proud of them!

We took an insanely small plane to Ambrym. A 15 seater maybe, which seems so much smaller when your team makes up 10 people on the plane! I am so very thankful that the ride was relatively smooth.  Ugh, I dislike flying!  There was a small boy who was probably on his very first airplane ride sitting in front of Gwen and I (Gwen was on my lap). I would pass him some candy and bread throughout the trip to help him cope.  His father had asked us where we were going while we were sitting at the airport and we shared with him that we were going to Craig Cove (where the plane would land), Ambrym.  He said that his two sons, maybe age 7 and 5, were also traveling there and asked if we would make sure that they made it okay.  To which we said , "uh, sure!"  Not really sure what that meant.  Laura and I joked with Tania that she just adopted the small boy.  Haha. When it was time to board,  his father had to place him in his seat (kicking and screaming) and then he got off the plane, the older brother sat next to him and tried to calm him down, as did I with the small gifts of food. :)
Once in the air 10 minutes or so he calmed down just fine and made it safely to his families arms after we landed in Craig Cove.

The first stint of our trip was about 1 hour plane ride to the west coast of Ambrym, Craig Cove, like mentioned previously.  Craig Cove is the one of two airports (or more appropriately 'landing strips') in Ambrym.  They have flights in and out of Craig Cove two times a week.  Saturdays and Wednesdays.  These flights are always booked weeks in advance.  So we were so thankful to actually be taking off this particular Saturday as, if you can remember, we were having some unusually ill kids just up until it was time for us to take off.  So if God would have seen best to not have us on this flight, it could have been months before we were able to go again.  BUT God saw it good to bring glory to Himself by healing our little ones in time for this flight!

Here is a map of where we went on our flight to Craig Cove.... I am a total visual learner so I hope this helps all of those out there like me! :)

Just after landing we gather our own luggage off the plane and head to the building that is used as an airport where we have a truck waiting for us.  This was a pleasant surprise as we thought we would be walking the 2 kilometers to the beach where our boat would be waiting.  We happily piled our stuff into the truck and bumped along the "road" to the beach.  Esrom (on left of picture) met us here at the airport to accompany us all the way to Ranbwe, which would be our final destination.

But first there was the boat ride.  Jim and Houghton had a pretty incredible boat story from the last trip they took to Ranbwe.  Before we could be ready to sit in the boat for the next hour and a half, us light skinned people had to lotion up! :)  We also made sure we all had gone to the bathroom (an anxiety of mine... what do we do on the boat if we have to go pee???) So after a terrifying experience of toilet training with Gwen (her first bush toilet challenge) and a successful toilet adventure with Si, we were ready!

I am always worried about how we look in this different culture.  This culture where they don't own much of anything and get by with living off the land and having just a handful of extras (like clothing, very little to NO toys for children, very little to NO toiletry type things etc) so it makes me feel so awkward carrying the weight of the world in my backpack.   My backpack packed to the brim with all that would make me sane in a trip such as this.  And let me tell you what, we packed SO light!  We brought 3 changes of clothes for each of the 5 of us, shampoo for me and another for the kids, three headlamp flashlights, bug spray, sun lotion, water purifier, sheets for the beds we would be sleeping in, and "go fish" cards for the kids.  That is about the gist of what we packed!  We wanted to pack tuna but forgot it! To which I am very thankful. :)  All this being said, we are SO from a different culture.  Our needs (and many would say "wants" but trust me... in our culture they are "NEEDS"... ask me about this if you want more clarification on my idea on this! :)...  All this being said I am always so embarrassed about the things that we have when we are  in a culture where they get by without...BUT God is good and has been working on me to understand a balance in it all.
SO...

We loaded our backpacks onto our little boat and were ready to take off.  We were joined on the boat by a man from another island who comes regularly to North Ambrym (Ranon - where our boat journey would end) to teach in the secondary school there.  So it was us 10, this man from the island of Malakula (if I remember right), Esrom (remember he was accompanying us from west Ambrym, where our plane landed, to Ranbwe, our final destination) and our boat driver.  The boat driver is not the boat owner, but just the driver.  If you were curious. :)

Throughout the first part of our boat ride (we were able to split it in two by stopping about 1/2 way and swimming and hunting for duck eggs!) I was continually amazed at the beauty of Ambrym.  The landscape is just breathtaking!  This little Montana girl is mesmerized by green and the amount of green!  Mesmerized by coconut trees and lava rock, by flying fish and sea turtles, by empty beaches just because of the pure isolation of the beach, and by the HUGE amount of land that was totally unknown to me just a couple years ago!

 The stone formations where just incredible!  Because of the volcano on Ambrym, most all the rocks that we saw were from lava.  There was very little coral (white) ground, which is what the ground on most islands in Vanuatu are covered with.  Another thing that just blew my mind was the black sand!  I have never in my life seen sand that was perfectly black!  Tania, Laura and I were all baffled by this and when we got back to Vila and were looking through our pics we all found that the three of us all took this same pic!

 Tania   

                                                                                   

  Laura

             

                         

                                   Me and Gwen

It was just so wild that your feet could be covered in something that was just like soot or ash and be instantly clean as the water would wash over your skin.  So hard to explain! :)
Jesiah and Josh got a good view of our trip from the front of the boat!

In the middle of our boat trip we pulled off onto a nice beach to rest our bodies, cool off in the salt water, and warm up in the hot springs!  YES, there was a stream that was steaming hot ( I couldn't go in it cause it was too hot... yep, I'm a  wimp...haha) because of the heat from the volcano.  It was also close to a spot where you can go and dig for scrub duck eggs.  These are ducks who lay their eggs 4 to 6 feet deep in the sand.  The eggs are about double the size of a chicken egg.  After some of the guys found these eggs they wrapped them up in leaves to keep them until we got to Rambwe.

Here are the eggs all bundled up as we take the second half of our boat trip

After another hour or so after our "spell" on the beach we pulled into Ranon.  There were some boys nearby who were called to come and carry our packs for us.  This is also very humbling.  Such  gracious people.  I cannot imagine many 11 year old boys who would so sweetly take your 40 lb pack and hoist it up onto their backs just like they were picking up a 5 lb pack!  They are so stinkin strong!  (I only wish I could have taken a picture of some of the villagers coming home from their garden!!! More on gardens later...)  It took us about 10 minutes to reach Ranbwe from Ranon. We got to take the short cut through the school grounds which is normally off limits to anyone not going to the school.  When we would travel the other way between Ranon and Ranbwe it would take about 20 minutes.  Not too terribly long!  Thank God!!! :)

This pic is of us walking to Ranbwe for the first time from getting off the boat in Ranon.  Its funny because those boys who took our packs are nowhere to be seen because they walked SO much faster than we ever could, even though they were carrying our stuff! Ha!

Once we were there we sat a bit and were offered some coconuts to drink.  Straight from the tree!  They took an AMAZINGLY long stick of bamboo to knock them out of the tree and chopped them all loose of their hard shells and offered them to us. LOVE IT!  

Also in this pick I was getting sand out of Gwen's swim suit. Hehe.

So here is the house where we stayed for the 12 days in Ranbwe. This is the home that all 10 of us lived in.  It was built for the pastor of the church that is on the other side of the house.  But as they have been without a pastor for a while, we were able to use the house.  Laura stayed in the large room on the left of the outside (but connected by a joining wall) of the house.  On the right is the water tank that collects rain water.  We were able to use this to shower with, drink, do laundry, and wash dishes with, well obviously ANYTHING that you would need water for. On the left is a bamboo bench that was used a TON.  We mostly just hung out and talked with people the whole time we were in North Ambrym.  So we were thankful for a place off the ground that we could sit some of the time.  The dirt is black from volcanic ash.  So you can only imagine how dirty things could potentially be.  Addy LOVES dirt and so she found herself covered in the black ash most days!

So what did we do the whole time we were there?

Well, like I mentioned above.  We really just hung out.  No real agenda to get a whole lot of anything done but just mostly hoped to check it out, meet people, talk with people, see where we might be able to build our homes if God does indeed continue to lead us here, and just get a feel for what village life in North Ambrym might look like.

I will just give you some more pics of what we found ourselves doing throughout our time there!

Tania, me and Laura enjoying the bamboo bench and Gweny drawing in the dirt next to us.

Addy with Joel.

After church they have a pot luck type thing (in the background is a church that is in Ranbwe and just behind Tania - taking the photo - is the house where we stayed) .  They eat together for fellowship and meetings after the church service is over and we were able to join in and tell a bit about why we were there.  It was various families from this church that organized our meals for while we were in North Ambrym.  Can you imagine this?  10 visitors for 12 days?  Lunch and Dinner?  God is so good to us and blessed us in such amazing ways through such wonderful people in Ambrym!

Houghton sharing why we were in Ranbwe.

As I mentioned previously, Houghton and I tried to prepare the kids as best we could for what they might experience while in the village.  What we realized later is that we didn't prepare them for the social changes that they would experience.  This was something that totally shook our kids world!  Let me explain, they weren't prepared for being the center of EVERYONE'S attention. Gwen and Addy especially.  People, both women and men and other kids, all wanted to touch and poke and pinch and hold and hold and hold and hold the girls!  They were not prepared to have their personal space completely ignored.  Not only where we sleeping differently, eating differently, talking differently, showering differently, washing clothes differently, going to a toilet in a different way, but they also were expected (not by us but by those around them who didn't know any different) to act differently.  To be playing and running around just as the local kids do etc.  They just were not ready for this complete worldview change!  So the pictures that you will see where the kids are being held by someone else are few.  I was hoping that they would warm up to all the new things, but I have to tell you the truth, it all was a bit too much for them.  Now we know that when we have a home built and the kids bring some of there normal things with them that they would be able to escape and gradually get into a new culture on their own time.  This is exactly the kind of things we needed to learn on this trip.  God was so gracious to us to teach us these things the first time around so we can better understand our family and the things that we can change the next time around.

Addy was willing to let these boys carry her around for a while.  She was a bit unsure but thankfully she had courage to let go of me a couple times a day. :)

This is the chief chopping down this coconut tree.  These trees are quite strong and he was going at it with an ax.  It was cool to watch!  Story goes that he was worried that this tree might drop a coconut on someone, particularly one of the kids,  underneath.  We were lavished with thoughtfulness and gentleness throughout our stay there.  The chief tried so many times to hold Gwen or Addy or to take them to get an orange off a nearby tree, ANYTHING, but the girls were too shy the whole trip.  Poor guy, he was so sweet about it too but I felt bad about it.  I hope that it wasn't considered too rude.  I hope that if we are able to go back that the girls would be more inclined to "venture out" past my arms reach. :)

After a couple days in the house we thought it best for Houghton to set up the tent and hammock and he slept outside.  The five of us were otherwise in a small room and Houghton was having some allergy issues to the mold in the room so he fared better outside.  And plus, the kids had a good time in the hammock.

This little pig was a good friend to the girls.

Helping with some cooking.  We are making banana simbaro.  You take a spoon and rub out the fruit from the the peel (these are large cooking bananas) and then roll them in a leave of island cabbage.  Then boil them and add coconut milk and salt.  Gwens favorite.

A couple days into our stay we were able to go and visit the market that happens two times a week in Ranon.  WOW what a sight!  There were about 5 tables and a couple of things on each table. We didn't really know what to expect but this was a bit disheartening as we buy SO much from our local market here in Vila.  So this may look a bit different if we end up living in North Ambrym.  We were able to use this time in Ranon to meet some of the ladies outside of Ranbwe.  This picture was taken at the market.

The chief was teaching Grace and I how to make a whistle with the leaves from a coconut leaf.

Washing day! Unfortunately, the day we decided to our wash was the day that it decided to rain.  So after all that work of washing out our clothes, they hung in the rain and after they finally did dry they smelled horrible! Haha.  Thankfully I have the excuse of washing more often because of the kids! :)  So I was able to wash a couple days a week.  I actually liked to wash clothes by hand.  It takes forever but it was fun to do. 

One of the days Houghton and Jim went fishing with some of the guys.  This picture is taken from that trip.  This is my favorite picture of the whole trip.  Check out the colors!  The guys took canoes out but the water got too rough so they had to hike back.  This was taken on that hike back.

On one of our trips back from Ranon to Ranbwe, we propped up the camera and got a team pic. :)

Volume 2 to come soon. :)  I wanted to get this one published before you all lost all hope in me. Haha!

Off we go!

Well, we are only 1 day away from all heading out to the bush.  A bit scary, YES.  A bit intimidating, YES.  A bit thrilling, YES YES.  What a journey God has had our team on.  LOTS of here's and there's and everywhere's! (thanks so much to you all who hung in there with us through it all)  God just leads as we take one step at a time and we can confidently say that we have followed Him here to this next move.  A short stay in a village in North Ambrym.
Although Hought and Jim have taken a couple trips out to N. A. the rest of us ladies and kiddos have yet to step foot there.  So we are overwhelmed as this day SO quickly approaches!  Saturday, which is your Friday (if you are in America).

We are really just looking at this trip as a chance to get face to face with the people that God may indeed want us to commit a HUGE chunk our lives to!  We will just be chillin' with people, figuring village life out, and trying to understand for sure if this is indeed where God would have us.

Please pray for our health!  Gwen is battling an infection that has put her out for going on a week now.  She is on antibiotics but we are still waiting to see some real results.  And Jesiah is now battling a flu.
Pray also for our safety.  There is a lot of travel going to be happening.  - We will take a plane to Craig Cove which is West Ambrym and will from there hop on a speed boat which will carry us the rest of the way to the North side of Ambrym.  This should take about 1 1/2 hours on the sea.  This will TOTALLY be a new thing for most of us. :)  AHHHHHH. :) Oh, the adventures of it all.
Pray that we will sense a clear direction for God's will in our planting roots here or continuing to do further survey throughout Vanuatu.
Also be in prayer for us as this will be a culture flip for us all.  For us ladies, guys too (as they have never been to the bush with their families before) and for our kids.  We will be facing almost a change in every aspect of life.  From sleeping, eating, bathing, toilets, talking, looking, smelling, touching... YOU NAME IT.... it will be flipped on its head compared to our "safe" culture of what we already know and have grown in.  Pray that Satan wouldn't use these things to tear us down spiritually, physically, or socially as a team and ultimately as a vessel for His honor.

These are some pics from the guys survey there just a couple weeks ago.  Please browse through and we would be happy to hear any comments or questions you may have that pop in your mind as you view this "new world" of culture.

Click these links and it will take you to our photo album in Facebook:

North Ambrym Hought and Jim Survey - May 2010
MORE North Ambrym Hought and Jim Survey - May 2010

For more of these beach pics check out this album:
Eton beach - church picnic  (click)
For some more pics from May:
May 2010 (click)

A time for updates

A week and some has gone past since Houghton and Jim left for North Ambrym.  (I write about these places so much that sometimes I dont explain where they are... SO if you are in any way confused by peoples names or places names...please dont hesitate to ask.)  It feels as if they have been gone a thousand years.  Well, maybe not THAT long but since I was going to exaggerate I thought I would go all out.
They have been able to accomplish all that they have set out to do!!!!!!!!!  How awesome is that!!!!!!  They have gathered numerous word lists.  SO WHAT THE HECK IS A "WORD LIST"?? ( wow I wish Hought was hear so I could just ask him to explain it... ) Well, before the guys left they gathered a list of words (hmm about 100 or so I think) and put the English in one column, the Bislama in another column and then had an empty column for that word in language (what we call the native tongue of whoever they would be surveying that day).  So throughout the survey of North Ambrym, they would go through this list with several people of varying language found just in North Ambrym and compare those words.  How close are they to each other if at all, do they use the same kind of vowels as a neighboring language, same kind of constants etc.  This helps us know if the languages neighboring one another are similar and could use the same Bible translation, or if they are different enough that it would be too difficult to understand etc.  WOW I sure hope all that makes since.  I will have to ask Hought to better describe these things when he gets back.  I am sure we will post a final update with pics and I will have him explain this better.
They not only are collecting linguistic type stuff but also giving some face time.  The more people see you, the more they know you and can trust you and what you are saying.  The people of Ambrym have no reason to trust Hought and Jim and believe that they really do have families that want to come in and learn their language and live amongst them!  So our guys are just returning to reiterate that we do indeed mean what we say and would like to come and live with them! 
Hought and Jim also are looking at land that would be possible for us to build on.  And trying to visualize what we could build (i.e. materials there and what is accessible etc.)
After they are finished gathering info in North Ambrym they are flying up to Santo, a northern island.  This is the possible location where we will base out of.  Luganville, second largest city ( there really only is two "cities" in Vanuatu , Port Vila and Luganville) has supplies that we may be able to tap into and it may end up being easier to be supplied out of Luganville and Port Vila.  They are checking into these things and hitting up some contacts in Santo before coming back home.

SO that is what they are up to.
Any questions?????  SHOOT!!!

houghton.richards@gmail.com

Moving right along.

   Ahhhh.  Kids are outside playing and I can hear them sometimes off in the distance as Hought and I sit here and massively update everything digital. :)  Facebook, websites (yes that is plural as we have started a new one to be for our WHOLE team and not just our family), blogs, newsletters blah blah blah.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE being able to write and get connected with the rest of the world all through one little machine here as I sit in our little bedroom.  How absolutly amazing it is to have Internet in our lives.  BUT it does get time consuming and I am so sorry for lagging behind on my journaling through blogger and also our blog updates.  I have to say that Facebook does get most of our time SO if you are a digital girl (or boy) in our digital world... get on Facebook! :)  BUT I promise to keep updating all of our little avenues of communication just because I love to please the masses. :)
   Today is SUCH a beautiful relief.  It has been insanely humid and hot lately and today it rained all night (well no surprise there.. it usually does which i LOVE because it is so awesome to hear) and then it was cloudy and has been all day.  Whew.  Just a nice break from the scorching sun.
   The kids have been enjoying the fruits of some packages that came this last week.  We are so humbled by those that think of us when we are totally out of sight.  I know that it is very easy to also be out of mind and it just is an added blessing when we get something (whether via email, facebook, post, or any other) confirming others thoughts of us.  So thanks so much.  Amazing people back home supporting us....amazing.
   Well, here are the links to our recent photos..... ENJOY!!!  And as always let us know if you have any problems viewing the photos!

April 2010

Jesiah's Photography