Vanuatu - A Canadian's Perspective
Birds such as this attached to the prow of a canoe signify the
traditional social rank that the owner has achieved. Photo ©S. Combs,
1987.
A Table of Contents for easy
access to the different pages of this site.
A note about this site: My family (tolerant wife and two daughters aged 3 and 5) and I moved to Malekula Island, Vanuatu in February, 1987 and lived there for two years. In August, 1989, we returned to Vanuatu and lived in the capital, Port Vila, until leaving in November, 1992. This site is about rural Vanuatu, not Port Vila, and it obviously contains no up-to-date information about that town. Nevertheless, having read the accounts of missionaries, labour traders, explorers, and map-makers who worked in Vanuatu from 80 to 150 years ago, it seems that some things in rural Vanuatu didn't change between then and when I lived there. I see no reason why they have changed much since I left. Enjoy the site.
Vanuatu is an unknown quantity to most Westerners;
I usually limit explanations to casual inquirers to the facts that it is
a archipelago
(Commonwealth Games map) located in the South
Pacific between Fiji and Australia (Commonwealth Games map), and James
Michener's "South Pacific" was set there. If the inquirer is of the older
generation, I add that its pre-independence name was The New Hebrides and
it was the site of the U.S.'s largest WW II base in the Western Pacific.
These few connections to their experience are more than most Westerners
want to know; nobody wants to puncture the South Pacific Illusion
carefully cultivated over the past two centuries by novelists, travel writers,
and the tourism industry.
The region is almost always portrayed as a paradise
of warm breezes coming off blue seas, crossing sandy beaches, and rustling
palm fronds. Under these coconut palms, it is said that unspoiled natives
live close to nature in social harmony.
The South Pacific, however, is not a fantasyland,
or a "paradise"; it is a real place. Living there is entirely different
from holidaying at a resort located there. Like anywhere else, lots
of things about the South Pacific are pleasant, and some things are not.
I have experienced the fantasy,
and I met many people who showed me much friendliness
and tolerance. I have also passed my children out the window of a disintegrating
building in a 170-mph cyclone and attended a meeting where members
of a small village could not come to terms with what in Canada would have
been a small case of social diversity. As for lolling about under coconut
palms, that is for tourists and fools only - when a ripe coconut falls,
it falls without warning and with deadly force.
A small facet of Vanuatu's interaction with the new universe in
which it finds itself: Grade One children and their teacher take a break
from their measuring workshop (note one-metre sticks) to pose for the first
whitemen through their village in some weeks. Photo ©S. Combs, 1987.
Vanuatu, as well as being a "place", is people.
People who have had the Western universe forced upon them and are struggling
to find a place in it. This site is about what I learned about Vanuatu
during 1987-92, when I worked as a development adviser first to a regional
government and then to the central government. One of the first useful
things I learned was that Vanuatu was getting a lot of technical, monetary,
and in-kind assistance for the stated purpose of helping it adjust to its
new universe. I also learned that most of this assistance was not really
helping the vast majority of ni-Vanuatu grasp control of their circumstances
(i.e., "develop") or improve their lifestyles. Besides, very little of
the progress attained is sustainable without continued aid. I concluded
that aid donors, ni-Vanuatu politicians, and Vanuatu's people had conspired
to form a "cargo cult" dependency. I characterize "underdevelopment" in
Vanuatu as a clash of the Melanesian and Western cultures, with "bewilderment"
being the operative word on both sides.
This WWW site is for those who want to explore
what I call "Real Vanuatu". It is not an "official site". Although
it contains information on travel in Vanuatu, it is not a tourism site.
It certainly isn't the definitive site. Much of it probably isn't as accurate
as it could be; it is just what I learned about Vanuatu. I had the opportunity
to see a lot of Vanuatu; I lived on an outer island and in the capital,
and I traveled throughout the archipelago. I had dealings with all the
regional governments, most of the central government departments, and most
of the foreign aid donors. I worked with ni-Vanuatu and foreign aid advisers.
I socialized with expatriate plantation mangers and businessmen.
I thought that it was wasteful and a shame that many of Vanuatu's
development decisions were made by ni-Vanuatu who did not understand the
West and Westerners that did not understand Vanuatu. Here is my contribution
to the knowledge of the latter:
A Selection of My Writings About Vanuatu:
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I found that many poor development recommendations were made by aid advisors
who mistook the urban Vanuatu where they lived for the "Real" Vanuatu;
that is, the outlying islands where over 80% of ni-Vanuatu continue to
live as subsistence gardeners outside the money economy. To get a glimpse
of Vanuatu's social-geographic diversity, read about the Many
Vanuatus.
-
The part of Vanuatu with which I gained the most familiarity was Malekula
Island (map), where I lived with my wife and two young daughters for
two years after arriving in February, 1987. I describe this experience
as "Little House On The Prairie" meets "South Pacific".
You may wonder Why and How the heck did we end
up there, anyway? When we left Malekula, I wrote most of what I knew about
Malekula's geography, economy, and people in my final
report on Malekula.
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In those pre-email days, I spent many evenings writing letters to family and friends in Canada. I have edited and illustrated many letters from our first several months in Vanuatu. These give the best idea of what it was like to transplant a family of Canadians to Rural Vanuatu.
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The "Tourist Vanuatu" is
pretty much like vacation spots world-wide: about like home except one
feels one could explore the unknown beyond the golf course if one really
wanted to, and a playground without the social constraints of co-workers,
family and acquaintances. Do you have a hankering to actually go beyond
the golf course and see the "Real Vanuatu" for yourself? Find out how
in my guide to "Travel In Rural Vanuatu" or
just go directly to "Places To See In Rural Vanuatu"
for a few ideas on what is out there in deepest, darkest Vanuatu. Then,
come with me on one of my more eventful journeys
and battle geography, the elements, and killer insects to reach a remote
village and return home.
-
So, just what is this kava stuff people
come back from the South Pacific talking about? Find out more about Vanuatu's
recreational drug of choice, reputed to be the Pacific's strongest!
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Ever come across something that sounds like English with a South Seas twist
while fiddling with your short-wave radio dial? Perhaps you have stumbled
across Radio Australia's Tok Pisin service. Vanuatu's brand of pidgin
English, Bislama, blends English, French,
and village languages into a lingua franca that was developed as a precondition
to emergence from the Stone Age.
-
An exploration of Kastom Vanuatu; a brief
look at the rich traditions and customs of ni-Vanuatu with a few personal
experiences and links to other sites on the subject. With each
of over 100 language groups having its own kastom, there is a lot of variety
throughout the archipelago.
-
In August, 1992 a Western curse of the twentieth century arrived in Vanuatu.
Will
broadcast television spoil a South Pacific paradise?
-
In Vanuatu, the Christmas - New Year Holiday
is celebrated with true gusto combined with an unique South Pacific
take on European customs.
-
A short tribute to James Michener, the
author who died on October 14, 1997 at age 90. His books "Tales of the
South Pacific" and "Return to Paradise" were partially set in Vanuatu and
enriched my South Pacific experience.
-
My translations of three rare Bislama interviews
with ni-Vanuatu men who served with the American Forces during the
Second World War. Because the Japanese never invaded Vanuatu, not many
people know it was the site of the American's largest South Pacific Base,
from where the Solomons campaign was launched and supported. The effects
of the American occupation were massive and lasting; these men were
proud to have defended their nation and assisted the powerful USA.
What Have Others Posted About Vanuatu?
-
A good encyclopedia-type general
description of Vanuatu has been posted by the Commonwealth Secretariat,
and a modern
political history by Michael Ogden.
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Island Safaris Vanuatu
offers an easy way to get out of Port Vila and visit a variety of Vanuatu's
outer islands. Accommodation is booked in small resorts owned and run
by ni-Vanuatu, so you should see parts
of Vanuatu most tourists don't even imagine exists. This is the South
Pacific of bamboo huts, real local food,
rain forests, and uncommercialized
beaches; it is rougher than Port
Vila's hotels, but much more interesting. Plus, your accommodation and
food expenditures stay out in the islands with ni-Vanuatu family businesses.
I've never used Island Safaris' services, although I have stayed at a couple
of the resorts they use and
have heard good reports of others. If you go on an Island Safaris tour,
please let me know how it went.
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In a well-deserved tribute to Vanuatu's first Ombudsman, the Pacific
Islands News Association awarded Marie-Noelle Ferrieux-Patterson
their 1997 Pacific Freedom
of Information award. She has courageously used her strong personality
to assist Vanuatu with its entry into self-government.
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One of the most interesting articles about Vanuatu that I have found on
the WWW is Pigs
In Paradise, which is about the search for intersex pigs by
two American researchers. Maybe you have to be an ex-Animal Scientist to
fully appreciate it.
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Tokbaot Vanuatu
is about rural Vanuatu from the viewpoint of four French men who
performed their National Service as teachers in Vanuatu. France was a co-colonizer
of Vanuatu along with the United Kingdom, and the French influence in Vanuatu
remains strong, especially in the private money-economy sector. This site
provides an important balance to the internet's primarily Anglophone coverage
of Vanuatu.
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Ian Halliday's Vanuatu
FAQ is based on questions people have emailed him. Ian writes about
that part of Vanuatu that I don't cover on this site - Port Vila.
He lived there at the same time I did, although we have only met (via the
'net) since we both left. Ian's perspective is different than mine and
helps round out the WWW's Vanuatu information.
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The Melanesia
Forum is a Web Forum where interested people post discussion, comments,
and questions about central Melanesia, including Vanuatu. Drop in and join
the discussion!
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Kiaman Buluk's
site has great pictures of Port Vila, an excellent list of Vanuatu-related
literature, and a list of island-related Web sites.
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Dean Niclasen's Vanuatu
Dive Report includes a good description and pictures of the President
Coolidge wreck near Luganville, which was my favourite dive site. When
the 5,000 U.S. troops bound for the Solomons Campaign abandoned this converted
luxury liner in October, 1942, they left all of their equipment on deck,
and it is still there.
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More factual information on the Coolidge wreck and other popular dive sites
in Vanuatu, as well as an account of a trip to the Yasur Volcano on Tanna
Island, is at this collection of Michael
McFadyen's SCUBA articles.
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Australian author Peter Stone has written a book about the Coolidge, "The
Lady and the President". The title of his book will require no explanation
for those who have dived the Coolidge.
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For those who are interested in Vanuatu as an international finance centre,
tax haven, investment site, or immigration destination, Euromoney Magazine
has posted a comprehensive survey, "Vanuatu:
the serious side of paradise" (you must register
[no charge] to gain access to the magazine). There is also Moores Rowland
Vanuatu's Information
about Vanuatu for the Foreign Investor.
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CNN posts a map of Today's
weather in the Vanuatu region. During the hot, wet season, November-April,
look out for cyclones! (Find the latest cyclone locations and projected
paths at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy's Worldwide
Tropical Storms site.) The rest of the year is relatively cool
and dry with constant Trade Winds from the south-east. Vanuatu's daytime
high temperatures vary a lot with latitude and elevation, but we generally
experienced highs in the low 30's (Celsius; high 80's Fahrenheit) in the
wet season and mid 20's (Celsius; mid 70's Fahrenheit) in the dry season.
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The CocoNET Wireless
is an on-line digest of South Pacific news.
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Up-to-date news about Vanuatu can be found on the web at:
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TahitiWeb's Journal
du Pacifique Sud carries South Pacific news in French.
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For the geologically inclined, there is the site of Fred
Taylor, whom I met while he was conducting field research on Malekula
in 1988. I'll let him explain how, in his South-West
Pacific GPS Study, he determines the rate at which Vanuatu is heading
for a collision with Australia. It is certainly faster than I had thought
possible; Vanuatu is very geologically active.
Links to other WWW Sites about the South Pacific.
Comments, suggestions, want to read more, or have questions?
Email me at: scombs@shaw.ca. I'll
do my best to answer any questions, expand on topics, or provide what information
I can on Vanuatu.
Number of visitors: 
©Stan Combs 1996-2002
scombs@shaw.ca
Member of
the Pacific Islands Ring
