REUNION AT VUREAS BAY, 30 August 2016

Chief Godfrey & son John

Today was a special day.

After the wind came up and blew us out of the anchorage at the Reef Islands, we sailed on to Twin Waterfall Bay and then Vureas Bay, both on the west side of Vanua Lava, still in the Banks Group, and both of which we had visited two years ago.

Anyway, we came down here yesterday from Twin Waterfall Bay, but didn’t go ashore.  There was quite a surf running, so we joined Mark from Erie Spirit in his motorized dinghy to check it out.  The tide was low, exposing the rocks just below the beach, and the surf was high, and none of us liked the look of it.  We saw no activity on shore either, so we opted to wait till today at a higher point in the tide.

The surf wasn’t as rough today, certainly no worse than many other such landings.  We rowed in close, waited briefly just outside the surf line, watching the wave pattern, then chose a good wave to ride, and landed without mishap.  I should say, though, that I was wearing only my Speedo, with my clothes in a dry bag, just in case.  Susan, Mark’s wife, had just waded in from their dinghy, which is too heavy to carry up out of the surf, and Mark chose not to anchor off and swim ashore, so there was just three in the shore party.

We were met ashore by John, one of Chief Godfrey’s sons.  We had gotten to know him and his wife Christina two years ago, and it only took a moment for him to recognize us.  There had been no activity at the family compound on shore yesterday because they were now living up the hill in the main village.  Chief Godfrey had seen the two yachts from up there yesterday, though, so he and his wife Veronica, together with John and Christina, had come down to welcome us this morning.

We didn’t really know what to expect coming back here.  We had left with deep feelings of affection for the chief and his family, as well as for a number of others here, but we were just visitors then, and two years had gone by.  What kind of reception would we get this time?  Well, we needn’t have worried.  We were greeted like long-separated family.  These are such warm, welcoming people anyway, but this was special.

Christina speaks passable English, John less, Chief Godfrey very little, and Veronica none.  This is why we have been studying Bislama.  Yes, we enjoy languages in general, and yes, it opens doors here, but what we really wanted was to be able to talk with these people here, especially Chief Godfrey.  It’s hard to express my feelings for a man I really hardly know, but when we left two years ago, I felt in some small way that this was my village, and that he was my chief.  We had a delightful conversation, on a variety of topics, and almost exclusively in Bislama.  I didn’t understand everything perfectly, but there were few words that I didn’t recognize, and think I got the gist of everything.

One of the topics of conversation was “kastom”, their ancestral culture, and its gradual loss here, and this is where the day became truly special for us.  Their beliefs, involving spirits and magic and such, are alien to us and completely irreconcilable with our understanding of reality, but we are interested in them, and we respect them.  And they respond to our interest and respect.

Some background first.  Chief Godfrey is one of the two paramount chiefs on this (rather large) island.  Chief Kerely of Twin Waterfall Bay is the other one, but junior to Godfrey.  Initially, chiefs are elected by their communities, but once elected, they retain the title indefinitely.  It gets very complicated, and I understand only a little, but there are numerous grades to being a chief, each one requiring a certain level of kastom knowledge, as well as a pig-killing ceremony — what I wouldn’t give to see one of those!  Godfrey is of grade three.  Kerely, grade two.  All the other community chiefs are of grade one.  Godfrey’s son John was elected here a while ago and is also of grade one.

Somewhere in the conversation, Godfrey decides to show us his personal Kastom altar where he goes to speak with the spirits.  I’m not sure if he’s ever shown this to other outsiders or not — I think I caught the word “never” in Bislama, but I’m not sure.  At any rate, this is unusual.  This altar is a raised, stone-bordered platform, obscured by the jungle, with two carved, stone faces, one male, one female, resting side-by-side.  As we approach, he breaks off some leaves and tosses them onto the altar — to announce our presence, perhaps?  He describes the place, what it means to him, clearly a deeply spiritual place, a very personal, private place.  Only he and I think his son can go up onto it.  It is tabu for everyone else.  It is only for Kastom.  Anyone who goes onto it for any other purpose will die (not be killed, will just die).  It is where he will be buried when he dies.  His father’s altar and grave is adjacent, as is his grandfather’s.  John’s will be adjacent, too.  Just before we leave, he steps up onto the platform to speak with the spirits, then we all leave.  We feel very priviledged.