Samoa (part 3) - Sauniatu

Sauniatu, Upolu, Samoa

Brett worked in Sauniatu for years (let's say around 7 or 8) and my sister Caroline stayed there with him for 2 of those years. It has a history worth learning (I'll share a small bit here), but mostly I love the spirit of this Sauniatu and was thrilled to introduce it to Matt.

The first time I went to Samoa (way back in 2001) Brett picked me up at the airport and we chatted as we drove around the capital of Apia, running errands and munching on the tub of licorice that I had brought.  Eventually we headed out of town, driving along the coast line for a few miles until we came to a turn off that headed in-island.  The dirt road was long and bumpy, full of holes and the occasional passer-by who was often heading to or from the garden and always with a smile.  The road leads up to a village in the top of the mountain, in the caldera of a dead volcano.  It is surrounded, therefore, on all sides by the lush green mountainous rim.  It is a remarkable place.  In fact, President David O. McKay said of Sauniatu

"This indeed is the most beautiful place I have ever seen...

Such beauty, such grandeur and such splendor I have never heretofore known."



Sauniatu is now a small village of church employees who work at the school or on the plantation. We arrived in the late afternoon. It was overcast and pleasantly cool. We had come to Sauniatu for a few reasons.

First, you have to come to this place in order to experience some of the history of the Church in Samoa.

This "McKay Fale" was built to remember and commemorate David O. McKay coming.  When I was here in 2001 Brett's boys would read the Book of Mormon together each night here. 

There are carvings on each of the posts inside the fale that depciting Samoan fold legends.  They're beautiful.

Second, Brett is currently working on some nutrition and sanitation initiatives for the LDS church and has a model farm with stations set up to teach different principles and techniques to families and organizations. We were really interested in what he was doing.

Third, there was to be a picnic/gathering of the farm employees and their families. 

 
When we first arrived we wanted to see the river and waterfall.  The village is beautifully groomed and cared for.  We parked the van and walked down the path to the steps that go down to the waterfall.  Steps were built down to the pool about 50 years ago.  It took a year to build concrete steps down a volcanic cliff side to the swimming hole and the waterfall below. Four boys worked on this project. They had two picks, two crowbars, and one sledgehammer, and they worked every night after school and every Saturday for six months. Little by little, they chipped the rock away until they had a pathway wide enough to support some concrete clear to the bottom of the waterfall. It took them another six months of labor to make the steps.  It's a lousy picture, but you get the idea.  All of the sudden they seem more important thinking of those young boys working for months. 

 
The waterfall is beautiful and completely surrounded by the walls of volcanic rock.  Josiah and Alvin were ready to jump in, but we headed up to the river instead.

 
The river meanders through the village.  I know it has raged during storms and taken out the bridge a number of times.  When I was there in 2001 Masi (a wonderful young woman from the village, Caroline's best friend in Samoa) took me through the river to find shrimp.  We caught about a dozen (by "we" I mostly mean Masi).  It is a favorite spot for the youth. 

Here are Josiah (red shirt) and another boy pre-cannon ball.



Post-cannon ball.



Tufa and Sadie.

Brett and Tasi hangin' out.

Tasi Findley. 

Brett took us on a tour of the farm and the stations.  I love listening to him explain things.  Sadie came along to help explain things...

 

They teach farming techniques, nutrition and sanitation principles (purifying water, hand-washing stations, latrines, etc.)...

 

It was getting later...which meant time for the activities.  There were about 5 families that were there, two of which had come from the other island of Savai'i where the church has another school and farm.  Masi and her husband had recently moved to work there.  It was wonderful to see Masi and her husband Fa'amatala.  They have 5 (I think it's 5) kids now.    The men started working on uncovering the umu (ground oven) to get the food.  The woven baskets are blocking the oven, but you can see some smoke rising.  My mouth started watering. 

There it is.  Yumminess all wrapped up in a bundle is called palusami!  There is also taro and yam.  Oh, man!


Under the pavillion they had the stacks of woven mats that we'd be eating on.  Can I just say how much I loved being in the islands!!

We had an introductions and and opening hymn (heavenly) and prayer.  There were lots of little ones running around, everyone chatting and laughing.  And there I was holding hands with Matt when a rush of joy washed over me.  These were wonderful people doing an important work and Matt and I were together, enjoying a moment with them.  When it was our turn to get our food I had to take a picture before I could dig in.

As people finished eating and the night grew dark, Lorenzo (head of the farm in Sauniatu) began building a bonfire.  Brett explained that there was much for us all to be grateful for that night.  Just like a fire grows as wood is added to it, our gratitude can grow as we recognize and acknowledge things we are grateful for.  He had a pile of sticks and asked a few to come share something they were grateful for and add a stick to the fire.  Gratitude for family, children, the gospel were shared.  Gratitude for learning and for time to prepare were shared.  As I sat next to Matt I couldn't have felt more grateful to be with him.  What a good good day.

Samoa (part 2) - Le Amosa: Josiah & Tasi at school

Vaitele, Upolu, Samoa

I have been unexpectedly (and richly) blessed to see distant lands, meet choice people with vast and varied life experiences, and taste cultures different (and yet not) from my own.  Many of these experiences have been related to education - attending BYU-Hawaii for my first year of college, teaching English to elementary children in Russia and China, working in primary schools in Samoa and Ghana.  It has been a life path that I would never have guessed I'd be on.  After all, I cried my eyes out on that first plane ride to Hawaii (who cries on their way to live in Hawaii!?!) for fear of being so far from my family and in a new and unfamiliar place.  But then I shouldn't be surprised that my Heavenly Father's plan was much grander than one that I could have come up with. 

One of the activities we did while in Samoa was to go with Josiah and Tasi to school.  I've been interested in it since Brett first told me about it a year or so ago.  It's called Le Amosa and they teach in a traditional Samoan fale (pronounced fall-ay) .  Here is the path up to the school. 

It is a one-room school with small classes taught in Samoan. (I stole some of these pictures for this post from Brett when he's visited the school on other occasions.) 

They begin with a morning devotional that includes singing, dancing, and some recitations.  When we came to visit the teachers got chairs for us so we had front row seats for the singing.  It is so fun to watch Samoans sing.  They simply can't hold still.  They sang for about 30 minutes, here is about 2 of those minutes.

Here's Tasi during devotional.

Tasi was on the front row with all the other little ones.  Josiah was a few rows back.  It was hard to get a shot of him where his face was not blurry, but we sure don't want to miss a face like that (he's the smiley one in the middle). Good, good kid.

The school was begun by this woman, Aiono Fanaafi.  Truly a remarkable woman.  She has a PhD from the University of London in education philosophy and applied linguistics.   She talked with us for some time about some of the challenges that come from starting a school like this one and experiences she's had in her life.

Josiah in class. 

Tasi's class. It is called fuafotu which means "seedlings."

The focus of the curriculum is the traditions and culture of Samoa as well as academics.  So the school day includes typical subjects (reading, math, etc.) as well as chores (Josiah sweeping, some boys caring a basket of garbage they just swept up)...


...a school garden which the children help care for and a kitchen...

...and the pig...

It was so fun to see the boys in school but also to see this unique school.  It's a model I'd love to have in my house as I raise my kids... learning about reading, gardening, chores, math, culture, cooking, social studies, animals, language.  I so enjoyed it.

Samoa (part 1) - Talofa lava

Apia, Samoa

Samoa is such a little country and yet has made itself known in the world.  Can you find it...

It's beautiful (not just beautiful, but I'm-living-in-a-postcard beautiful) and produces amazing athletes including a WWF wrestler turned actor (not much of a change in job description, if you ask me).  It is the final resting place of a famous author and has a uniquely identifiable tradition of song and dance that makes it almost impossible to hold still when listening/watching.  Samoans are known as the "Happy People" (at least by the Polynesian Culture Center's Samoan village guy), they are friendly and forgiving to a fault.  Samoa is also currently home to Brett & Tufa Macdonald and their 3 beautiful children.  It is the final fact that brought us to Samoa.  

Brett is my oldest brother.  I have written and erased at least a dozen sentences trying to introduce him.  I will instead say this...  I want to be better and work harder and appreciate goodness more because of him.  He is one of my most-est favorite people in the world.  I was so so excited to introducing my Matt to Brett, his sweet wife Tufa, and their three darling kids, Josiah, Tasi, and Sadie.

We arrived at some un-earthly hour and looked around anxiously for Brett.  We wondered around a bit in the open-air airport before spotting him standing by the stairs with a book open in his hand, the lid to a highlighter held between his lips while he underlined some nugget he'd found.  I called out, "Brettrick!" and he looked a little startled that we'd snuck up on him.  How happy to have my Matt and Brett in the same place!  

The drive to the airport is about 45 minutes.  We chatted about our trip and about family and about plans for Samoa.  Josiah and Tasi had made a poster for our bedroom door but were long since asleep.  We went in to see them asleep... goodness they are beautiful.  We chatted more at the kitchen table as we snacked on some cookies they'd made for us before realizing that Brett had to work in the morning.  So we went to bed.  Matt was introduced to Tufa and Sadie the next morning.  We went to lunch with Brett and Tufa and had a great time beginning the "catch up" conversation that never really gets finished.

From lunch we went to get the kids on our way to go feed some sea turtles.  Brett's family has been in Samoa for almost 2 years.  That's a long time for little people.  But I wasn't surprised when Josiah and Tasi came bursting out of the door when we got back to Brett & Tufa's home.  They were all smiles and hugs.  Matt is so good with kids and Josiah and Tasi are so friendly that I'm not sure there was even a moment of hesitation in greeting.  We piled into the van and headed to see the turtles.

After throwing a few pieces of bread into the water it didn't take long for some turtles to appear.   Here are Tasi, Faina (Tufa's niece) and Sadie feeding one of the turtles. 

I'll admit, the turtles are pretty darn cute.  We didn't get very many good looks at them.  They'd come up and grab a piece of bread and then dive back down into the water.  Here's one little guy (uh... or girl) that stayed at the surface for a bit.

Faina had a more formal introduction to this one that she shook flippers with. 

It was pretty exciting when this turtle got close enough for Josiah to tickle.

After a while the Josiah, Alvin (Tufa's nephew) and Tasi figured out that if they threw some seed pods into an over hanging tree, they could knock more pods out and the wind would blow the pods right back at them.  Kids can be so good at finding ways to be entertained. 

Meanwhile, Matt was busy wooing miss Sadie.  It didn't take long.

There was a goodness about the day and the people and the reality of how abundantly blessed we are that was overwhelming. 

Here are a few other shots of the kids from our time with the turtles.

Sadie Letapu Macdonald

Josiah Taylor Sauniatu Macdonald.

Tasi Findley Carlos Macdonald.

We arrived on September 6, which also happened to be Tufa's birthday (hooray for Tufa's birthday!!).  Before we left Utah, mom and dad had listed off a few things that they  hoped we'd be able to do or see while in Samoa.  One that they mentioned several times was to have a bonfire with Tufa's family.  We were super excited to be able to do that on our first night there for Tufa's birthday.  

The evening included some delicious food from an umu (ground oven) including some palusami... my very favorite!  And music.  And dancing (of course!).  Aufia, Tufa's sweet mom joined the party and even danced a bit.  I couldn't have enjoyed it more when Tufa bowed to Brett (an invitation to dance).  Matt and I both heard him respond with something like "Since it's your birthday."  There was also a haka performed by Josiah, Tasi, and Alvin.  A haka is a war dance.  This one was very manly and fearsome (well... that is as long as you didn't pay attention to Tasi's giggles or Joshiah and Alvin's smiles).  We took a few pictures, but it was dark so they didn't turn out.  This is the best we could do...

We ended the day at the Brett & Tufa's house where we gave Tufa some gifts, put the kids to bed, and continued chatting until late.  Good, good day.

Vanuatu (part 4) - Back in Port Vila

Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu

We flew from Santo to Efate on Monday morning.  We had plans for that evening to have a family home evening (or as they are called in Vanuatu: Famle Haos Naet) with the Tiasinmal and Kaun families.  So, we walked around Port Vila, through the market...

...and enjoyed a super juicy pomplemus (pomello).  There are different kinds of pomplemuses, basically white and red.  A red one is just like a grapefruit.  The white pomplemus is much bigger, has a more subtle flavor, a little tangy and sweet.  Whenever they cut the skins off, it is done in a long spiral. They were always a welcome gift on my mission, even though some were the size of bowling balls and weighed the same... we always brought them home.   It was a happy, happy thing.

As we were walking around we saw an advertizement for scooter rental.  Hmmm.  That could be especially fun.  Upon further inquiry,  we learned that it was $35 bucks for the afternoon.  Sold!!  We strapped on the helmets and were off.  We didn't know where we were going, but we found a beautiful little beach surrounded by these large volcanic rocks.  The water was perfect for a swim and a lunch of bread and licorice.

And another one with a gentle wind against the trees and a stunning view of the open sea.  Perfect for a walk, hand in hand, along the edge of the water.

As we continued scooting around the island we passed this amazing tree.  I'm a fan of trees, and trees in the islands are incredible.  I could see into the tree that the family had a bench in it and some storage.  I would have loved to wonder through it.  There were 2 little girls playing by the tree so I walked over to them, with fruit snacks in hand.  They were a little nervous. 

I talked to them in Bislama and they started giggling. And giggled some more when I asked if they would like a lolly (sweet treat).  That won them over.  The dad of one of the girls came over and we chatted about the tree and the girls.  I got permission to take pictures of the tree (since we'd already taken several) and some pictures of the girls.  Cute cute!

We were across the street, leaning as far back as we could against a fence to try and get the whole tree in the frame. 

Truly, a remarkable tree.  There is another tree on the island of Tanna that I love.  There is just something about them that reminds me of the majesty of the Creator.  One of my most favorite poems by Joyce Kilmer says it better...

I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree that looks to God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain; 

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

After an afternoon scootering around Efate we headed back and met up with the Kaun and Tiasinmal families... two of my most favorite in the whole wide Vanuatu.  I'm pretty grouchy about the fact that the entire evening of lesson, dinner, chatting, laughing, and more chatting went without a single photo.  So I am including a photo of both families from mission days.

Katimal & Mariella Kaun.  They have two beautiful daughters, now teenagers.

 

Mary & Honore Tiasinmal (I'm holding their daughter, Lovelina, who is now about 12).  They have 2 boys, both nearing mission age, and another daughter who is 4.

Both families are pioneers in their land, wonderful examples, and dear friends.

We were flying out the next day, but not until the afternoon.  So Honore and Mary said they would drive us around to Mele Cascade Falls and the museum.  I hiked up to the falls once on my mission and once during my 2004 trip.  They'd done a lot of landscaping and added some handrail ropes for portions of the hike.  Here we are at the base of the trail.

There is a bridge that crosses over the stream.  I went and sat on the rock while Matt set the timer on the bridge and made the mad dash over to the rock to look completely relaxed for the photo.  It's like the Garden of Eden.

We enjoyed the hike up, having the trail almost completely to ourselves.  The "hike" is more like a "walk" for much of it.  But oh, what a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L hike/mostly-walk it was!!

The trail passes through the stream multiple times... this was not one of them.  We wanted to get some pictures of the water cascading down the stones. We took off our shoes and waded into the clear water to get some pictures.  Sigh... loved it.

I liked this picture of our shoes on the edge of the stream.

This part of the trail actually was through the water.  They have carved a few steps into the stone to make it easier to climb up.  We were both surprised how un-slippery it was. 

There are 2 falls together and then another over just a bit.  It was over cast that day and we were going to pick up our bags and go straight to the airport, so we decided not to swim.  But it sure was perty!

We headed back down the trail to wait for Mary and Honore to pick us up.  We went back to our bed and breakfast, grabbed our luggage, and headed out the door.  We made a quick stop at the national museum.  We'd tried to go there twice before but it hadn't worked out.  Everything went smoothly at the airport, so we were able to enjoy some more time with Mary and Honore.  And then we were on our way to Samoa.  There was a new excitement at introducing Matt to Brett & Tufa and the kids.  What a dream to be in Vanuatu with Matt and then to be off to Samoa.  I'm tempted to burst into the "Sound of Music" song: "I must have done something good!" 

I love him.  Dearly.