Inn Niko

03/08/09


Here are some of the guests who have stopped or stayed with me this past week.

Hannah and Chris

Hannah is a Peace Corps Volunteer who is veterinarian working at the Animal Protection Society in Apia castrating dogs. Chris is her visiting son.

Dave and Judy ??

Dave, a retired dentist, and his wife, Judy, a potter, are from some small town north of Doylestown, Pa. They are true Globe Trekkers, riding their bikes around parts of the world on seemingly no time schedule. While staying with me, they participated in the Catholic Church’s fundraiser dance. Judy has an infection similar to the one of Mary and is being treated at the hospital. They may stop again.

I found them riding the streets of Salelologa, seemingly without a destination. I provided them with one.

Ben and Emelia Wilcox

Ben and his Polish wife, Emelia, are on their way for a nine-month visit with Emilia’s parents in Lodz, Poland, via Australia, Bali, and a possible train ride from Singapore to Poland This last leg more Ben’s idea, than Emelia’s. They are former workmates of a current Peace Corps Volunteer, Lisa, in the Washington, DC area.

Rice

03/04/09

Rice is a luxury food in Samoa. My family wants me to buy them some rice. I now hear early in the morning the call for the chickens to come. Rice is back on the menu.

A Ton of Teachers

02/27/09

These twelve Iva Primary School teachers weigh 1 ¼ tons (avg. 230). All but one has diabetes, hypertension, or both. They eat two huge meals a day at school, each meal supplied by a student’s family. The shocked principle wants to start a health program. She weighs 340 pounds

Zucchini Thoughts

02/27/09

Excited about introducing a can’t miss veggie to Samoans, I planted my zucchini seeds from the U.S. Just thinking about it in a stir-fry, bread, pasta, or selling it resorts produced a state of euphoria.

When an agricultural expert said zucchini suggested that zucchini was subject to aphids, I was convinced she didn’t know what zucchini was. Alas, not only was zucchini the delight of aphids, but also ants quickly ate the sweet flowers. Mark down another grand idea turned over with the soil into compost.

Blood Simple

03/01/09


The flow of your own blood is frightening and the flow of someone else’s fascinating. To watch winching as the thumb is stuck with a lancet, the blood squeezed out, the meter as it calculates the contents of the miraculous red liquid brings out a part of human nature often suppressed, but real nevertheless.

Blood pressure, that hidden force, also plays it own mysterious role in our psyche. We pray for the meter to read “normal”, fear when it does not, and for most grown men, deny anything could be amiss is our stuffed, bloated bodies.

Meeting the M. O. H.

02/28/09

The mayor of another large village was so excited about having his village tested; he wanted to introduce me to village leaders, including the visiting Minister of Health (M.O.H.). I expectantly sat under a breadfruit tree outside the meeting hall awaiting my call.

Loud voices from inside the hall about the testing program gave me something to dread. The Minister had poured cold water on the subject reciting various rules, procedures, agreements, protocols, blah…blah, which first needed to be followed. I asked if I could at least meet with her.

The M.O.H. was a elegant white-haired lady, quite stylish and obviously educated overseas. As she repeated the various rules, blah…blah to me, she asked what else I was doing. I mentioned about helping get the new Iva Primary School. She interrupted me to say that she was the one who made it happen. Yes, I recognized she did play some part in getting the school, but the new school was mine! When she refused to have a picture taken with her, I knew the M.O.H. and I should continue our relationship as far apart as possible.

As for testing the mayor’s village, I was planned for next month.

Iva Fish Market

02/27/09


Much of the commerce done in the village is done by selling house to house selling everything from banana chips, vegetables, and various prepared foods. Here are some children selling the fish their parents caught the previous night.