16th August

There are quite a few grim little penitentiaries in Vanuatu, dotted around the countryside. Concrete blocks, surrounded by a bit of bare ground and a reasonably high fence with a roll of barbed wire on top. Prisoners are forever escaping, sometimes eight at a time. They always seem to get re-captured and thrown back into the not-very-pleasant clink.

When Mark, my niece Leah’s boyfriend, was a toddler and his mother a struggling young teacher, they lived in a village hut right next to such a prison. There was quite a large hole under the fence… The prisoners loved cute little Mark and after a while, his resourceful mother would post him under the fence in the morning and fetch him back at the end of the day. Instant and free day care! Mark made everyone’s lives very happy and he was as well cared for as you could want. We loved this story, and wondered why on earth the prisoners didn’t make the hole just a bit bigger so they could scamper in and out themselves…