Saturday 16th
March
Yesterday Pete went to the MYCT (Motor Yacht Club for those not up
with all the acronyms) in Lindisfarne, to pick up a box of donated goods. And oh my goodness…I had a cursory look at
the bags and BAGS of stuff and shed a quiet tear…
People are so very kind! Bags
of brand new clothes, perfect for the people in the Louisiades, who will be
gobsmacked with such bounty bestowed upon them.
They will possibly be able to have more than one t-shirt each, in their
“wardrobes”! Bliss!
There is a trio of cheery young chickybabes on Bagaman Island –
Monica, Maggie and Lakmae, aged about 13 by now, who walk up and down the
foreshore, singing harmoniously, dressed in hand-me-down rags. They always came out to 2XS, one way or
another, paddling leaky little canoes, or swimming strongly, to chat and give a
bit of cheek. Pete and I so longed to be
able to give each of them at least one nice item of clothing… They don’t go to
school, just to church, every Sunday, and their lives are very circumscribed,
although they do, actually, live in one of the most beautiful places in the
world.
And then there is Elsie, on Motorina Island, who paddled out in an
extremely rickety canoe, with her little siblings, Dorothy and Peter, with a
severely gashed foot for us to mend. She
was almost completely silent while we cleaned and scraped and disinfected, and
came back, stoically, the next day for more treatment. She too was totally ragged and tattered. I am going to save some of the nicest items
for these four girls… It makes me so
happy; the kindness of our local community is infinite…
Oh and then there are Gemma and her cousin Mobilene, both beautiful
gentle young women, one of them a single mother of five smart little
kiddiewinks… And Monica, aunt of Cheeky Monica, mother of Lakmae, who came out
with spectacular cherry tomatoes from her little garden to trade for a t-shirt
to give her husband for his birthday… I
will be able to give each and every one of these women something very nice to
wear; it will make them SO happy!
There are also beautiful new balls, colouring sets, and a big
fascinating bag of fishing gear. Serious
fishing gear!! Moses, Gulo, Sam et al will widen their eyes at the sight
of this stuff.
We won’t actually give all of this wonderful stuff away straight
up. This is not respectful of the
islanders’ dignity. The young girls I
have named – yes of course I will give them presents – but most of the people,
well they can bring us an egg or two, or a hand of bananas, a coconut and they
can negotiate for these beautiful clothes, and they will feel great.
(Balls – no I never trade balls; they are all a gift, previously
just from me, but now from Tasmania! And
underwear…well last time I came back with hardly a bra to my name…and Rina, our
friend from Brisbane also gave her own much
more stylish underwear away very extravagantly – we feared she would be
getting on the plane in Honiara almost totally naked… This time I have been
given lots – I mean lots - of lingerie.
I can’t imagine I will trade it – does one bra = a pawpaw? A painted lobster?? I don’t think so… I think the underwear will
once again be secret women’s business, conducted privately in one of the cabins,
just a woman or two with a handful of undergarments… and me on the other side
of the door, handing things silently through for their moment of truth…)
So today – accolades to – MYCT!
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