- Date: May 11, 1987
- Location: Sawasawaga Village, Sariba Island, PNG
- Subject: Cleaning the Boat’s Bottom and Outhouses
Dear WaterFairy:
I can’t believe we have been anchored off the village for 5 days. We are settling into a daily routine. I have been making breakfast most days, and doing the cleaning up. Mom is happy about that. We also spend some time thinking of what to have for dinner. Mom spends most of her days just putzing about the boat. It is still a bit of a mess since the crossing, but she is slowly putting it back together. Capt has been tinkering around with Sacha-B. Checking this and checking that. I don’t really know what he does. I do know that everyday, after breakfast, Capt runs the little Yanmar motor for one hour to charge the batteries, so we will have power to run the lights and fans. I have been catching up with my school work. Which is fine, I am interested in the animals I have been studying, especially since I see them on the coral reef.
Today’s big job is for Capt to jump over the side of the boat, check the propeller and clean it of any algae or other marine growth, and also scrub the sides of the boat, the part that is in the water. In order for Capt to do this he has to put on his snorkel make and fins. He also has a scrubbing brush and a putty knife. He ties a string onto each of the tools, and ties the string around each wrist. If he happens to drop the brush or the knife, it will not sink to the bottom of the ocean, and be lost forever. He can pull the string and bring the tool right back into his hand. I said that was a pretty clever idea, and he said to me, “You only need to drop one tool in the sea, then you learn your lesson and figure out a way not to do that again.” I decided to jump over and help him so I put on my snorkeling gear and grabbed a brush. Mom helped tie the brush string to my wrist. The water was very warm, clear and beautiful. But, it was hard to brush the algae off the side of the boat because everytime I tried to put the brush on the hull and scrub, that motion pushed me away from the boat. Finally, Capt had Mom get the dinghy anchor and chain and tie it onto a longer rope. She dropped the anchor overboard and let the anchor drop to the bottom. Because the water was so clear we watched it hit the sand. Then she tied the rope to a cleat in the cockpit so the rope acted like a pole and gave me something to hold onto while scrubbing the bottom. Before I started to help, I thought this was going to be an easy enough chore to do. But when I actually started to scrub, I realized that it was not so easy, and it took a lot of time. We worked for almost two hours, but we got it all done. “A clean bottom is a happy bottom”. While we were cleaning and scrubbing the bottom, Capt called me over to the anchor chain. Low and behold if there weren’t three big batfish hanging out. So cool, especially because I just learned so much about them in my research.
Late in the afternoon, we all went for a walk on the beach near the village. By the time we rowed from Sacha-B to the shore, there was the usual crowd of kids to greet us. Some of the kids who I have talked to a few times said “Hello” and started walking with me. The chief of the village also came out to say hello. I guess he and Capt are buddies now. Capt can be friends with anyone! Who knows what they were chatting about, but they had a long, intense conversation. Probably fishing. Mom, of course, brought the Chief a gift, this time a cigarette lighter and some cigarettes. He was very happy with that gift. It is hard to start a fire if you don’t have matches or a lighter. Also most of the folks in PNG like to smoke tobacco, but because there are not very many stores around the outer islands, it is hard to get store bought cigarettes. Most of the people that smoke here grow their own tobacco called twist tobacco, so having a store bought cigarette is kind of a cool thing. Capt did say that most of the smokers actually like the twist tobacco better, but will trade for a store bought cigarettes for the novelty.
Anyway, we were walking along the beach, on the outskirts of the village and I noticed some ramps made of wood planks leading up to little huts. The little huts were nestled in the mangrove swamps so I could hardly notice them. It was like they were camouflaged. When I asked Mom what they were, she told me they were outhouses, and she would tell me about them later as it was not polite conversation. So we finished our visit, had a nice walk up the hill a bit, to see the garden and enjoyed some beautiful views of the bay and of course Sacha-B. But it was sooooo hot and humid, and it was getting close to happy hour, so back we went to Sacha-B. I jumped into the water to cool off a bit, and checked the anchor chain to see if the batfish were there. They were.
So, the outhouses. The little huts were built with a hole in their floor, so you could do your business, it would drop through the hole and be dispersed by the sea and tide. At first, I thought it was so icky, but Mom explained that the human waste is better in the ocean so it can be diluted. I asked why they don’t have a latrine outhouse on land, like we did at summer camp. She said that the human waste would probably contaminate the water supply, plus it would really stink. Also some fish and things will eat the poop, which totally made me sick, but that is the cycle of nature. Mom also said, the reason it works so well is because there are not too many people on the island. This would never really work well in a city.
Capt mentioned to us over dinner that the village Chief told him about a catholic mission which is also a saw mill, located just around the corner. So, we will have an early adventure tomorrow. Even though it is hard to get out of bed early, early morning is cooler so it is easier to do things. If all goes well, we will be back on Sacha-B for mid-day nap.
Tonight’s dinner will be rice and beef casserole. I cut the beef up into little chunks and sauteed them in oil with onions, peppers, garlic and celery. I cooked the rice separately in the pressure cooker with some of the garden tomatoes we got from Sarah. Once the rice is totally cooked, I will mix the beef into the rice, sprinkle the top with shredded cheese and stick it under the broiler so the cheese gets brown and bubbles. I will toast some of the stale bread and put the rice mixture over the bread. That should be good.
Mom has been letting me read her Joy of Cooking book, so I can get some ideas of dishes to make with the supplies we have or will trade for. It is a fun game.
