Week 3 in Tuvalu
This week began with the opening of Parliament at 8:00 am. While an auspicious occasion for the Government it didn’t seem to capture the local inhabitant’s interest. However, we had an excellent overview of the Police Guard of Honour.
Preparations had been happening all the previous week with maintenance and painting of the Women’s Centre. Each morning last week the Police would practice their drill from about 6:30 am. I guess so they could be ready for normal duties at 8:00 am.
His Excellency, Tofiga Vaevalu Falani, formally opened Parliament and presided over the remainder of the event.
Opening of Tuvaluan Parliament by the Governor General
By the time the plane arrived at 11:00 am, you couldn’t tell anything had happened, the flag pole and stand had been trucked away and the hall returned to normal use.
While the island has probably, a dozen or so “maneapa,” (halls) to accommodate events it seems the Women’s Centre next to the airport is the most preferred.
On Wednesday, it was all dressed again for “Environment Week – My Island, My Future,” for high school children. And again on Friday, for the community market, “Tau Maketi,” which ran from 10 am to 10 pm. And finally on Saturday afternoon for Bingo.
Island dance group with interested spectator
Tuesday afternoon seemed to be exercise day, I’d not seen so many people actively participating in training or sports since I arrived four weeks ago. There were a group of teenagers on the beach being put through sprint training similar to what I’ve seen lifeguards do. As their coach blew his whistle, they would run to a mark, turn and run back.
I got back from my swim in the lagoon and noticed a large number of people on the runway playing a version of football. There were at least 200 people in four locations equally spaced along the runway. All yelling, laughing and enjoying life.
That’s one thing I’ve noticed since my arrival, everyone is happy to say hello, exchange a friendly smile or lend a hand when needed. I haven’t witnessed so much as raised voices let alone any bad behaviour.
We needed fuel so headed out to the fuel depot to fill our jerry cans, 4 x 20 ltr each. In NZ you would probably end up doing this yourself, but here we had three guys. One to operate the valve using a long pole with a string attached to the valve handle, one to hold the nozzle because it was too big for the containers and one to hold the cut-down drink bottle funnel. We made extra on the deal because they only stopped when the diesel got to the very top!
Today, Sunday, I went for a drive and the island appeared deserted. The roads were devoid of traffic and hardly anyone was walking around. Most locals would have been in their respective churches at the time.
Our boat has docked with 12 of our containers on board plus we still have on the wharf from a previous ship, so we might be busy 'working' next week.
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