- Date: May 13, 1987
- Location: Sawasawaga Village, Sariba Island, PNG
- Subject: Catholic Mission, Boat Builders and Laundry Day on Deck
Hi W.F.
SO, yesterday, it was out of bed early and a quick breakfast. Then Mom and I packed up our supplies for our little day trip to the Catholic Mission: lunch and snacks, big jug of water, sunscreen, bug spray, fish hooks and needle and thread-as gifts for the overseers of the mill, tennis shoes to walk on the coral beaches, sun hats and bandanas. Capt got DingDong ready by filling up the outboard motor with gas, getting her started, wiping out the inside of the dinghy and making sure we had all of the safety equipment we would need. He brought an extra bailer made out of an old laundry bottle, just in case he could find someone to give it to.
Around 8 am, the three of us set out for the half hour motor to the Catholic Mission. I had no idea what to expect. When we left Sacha-B the water was still and flat. I could hear the villagers getting their day started, and could smell the fire that was being started and I heard that loud rooster. Boy, that rooster has a lot to say. SOme of the older boys saw us leaving and decided to follow us in their outrigger canoes. Capt told them yesterday that he would be happy if they wanted to join us. Though the outboard on the dinghy was faster than their paddling, the boys did not seem bothered, and kept their pace steady. I guess they figured they would just meet us there.
We left the village behind us and stayed close to the shore line. It is a bit overcast, which I think is great because it is cooler than if the sun was out, but there was not much of a breeze so the air was thick and humid. Capt said it might rain later. There were tons of mangrove swamps along the shore and then jungle growing up the sides of the mountain. Green, green, green. Huge palm trees and other lush plants. Because the water was so calm, we could look down and see the bits of coral reefs and lots of fish. I wasn’t sure how we would know when we got to the Catholic Mission, but once we went around a headland, we saw a big stretch of beach that had quite a few local men working on some things made of wood.. Capt shut the motor off and pulled the dinghy up on the beach, calling hello to the guys on the beach. They didn’t seem surprised at all to see us, but Mom said that the Chief at Sawasawaga probably told them we were coming for a visit. We said hello’s all around, and a few moments later a dimdim came down to greet us. His name is Brother Mike, and he ran the saw mill and boat yard as part of the Catholic Mission. The Mission fronted the money to buy some tools, equipment and supplies so the older village guys could teach the younger boys how to build traditional dug-out canoes. If anyone wanted to get anywhere in the islands of PNG, they had to go by boat. Brother Mike showed us all around the Mission, its school, the kitchen, the church, the garden and the boarding house for the younger guys to stay when they were learning how to make the canoes. Underneath a huge hut were some big saws and other wood working tools. That was the sawmill and their main operation. I wasn’t really paying that much attention to all the stuff Brother Mike was saying, but I was paying attention to all of the chickens running around, and the baby pigs. There were tons of large coconut trees and coconuts on the ground underneath the trees. Brother Mike said it is really dangerous to walk under the trees because the coconuts could drop out of the trees at any time and hit you on the head. At least once a year, he hears about a little kid getting hit on the head by a falling coconut, and getting injured. There was a local boy, about 17, who was Brother Mike’s assistant. His name is Andrew and he is from a village on the next island over, Sideia. He spoke a bit of English, but seemed shy.
After the tour of the mill and mission, Brother Mike invited us for tea. I bet you know what our answer was!! Yes, please. So we went to the main house, which was not a hut, but a wood building, which had a porch. The house was built a bit back from the beach and up the hill, so it would catch the ocean breeze. We sat on the porch and a local girl about my age brought out the tea and some sweet cakes. Her name was Agnes, and she was the sister of Andrew. They both worked for the mission. The sweet cakes were very good and tasted like coconut.
After tea we headed back to the beach where the beginning of the dugout canoes happened. The local boys from Sawasawaga had arrived and were chatting away to the guys working on canoes. As best as I could make out, some of the Sawasawaga boys were related to some of the working men. Before we left, the guys were showing Capt how they used a sharp tool that looked like a long handled hatchet, to hack out the inside of the log to make the hull of the canoe. It must take forever for that to happen. Once the log is hollowed out, the log gets moved under the hut and other workers start to make it smooth and balanced and add the outrigger. Cap said it might look simple, but there was a ton of knowledge about how to shape the canoe so it is sea-worthy. It was pretty interesting, but Mom and I were not as interested as Cap. He would have spent the rest of the day chin-wagging with the boat builders.
We headed back to Sacha-B around lunch time and decided to stop at a small beach along the way for lunch. The Sawasawaga kids had suggested it to us, so we invited them to have some lunch with us. We had plenty of fruit and veggies as well as sandwiches. Most of the kids picked a piece of fruit, but some of the brave souls tried a bit of our tuna sandwiches. I don’t think they were impressed, thankfully it was only a small bit they had to force down, without looking rude. Mom said our food is just as different to them as their food was to us. The boys were telling Capt that they go fishing at night, Capt went with them for a few hours at sunset. He did not catch anything but enjoyed the adventure.
When we got back to Sacha-B, it was just starting to rain. The sky was very gray and the clouds were low in the sky and full of water. We ran around on deck to make sure the rain awnings were ready to collect water and drain into the water tanks. We also put out as many buckets as we could on deck to collect water so we could have an outdoor shower in the cockpit and wash some clothes out.
During the rain storm, we took a nap. I could keep my hatch open and get a little breeze because there was an awning cover over the hatch. I loved the sound of the rain hitting the canvas and the deck of the boat. It sure was loud at some points.
The rain stopped around 3:30pm, just in time for afternoon tea. When I got out on deck, I was amazed at how much water we collected in the buckets. They were more than half full. So, after tea, we all got into our swimsuits and brought our shower gear into the cockpit. Cap had taken a 1 liter bottle, cut the neck off it, and drilled about 10 holes in the bottom. We would scoop the “shower bottle” into a bucket of water and let the water shower over us. We would suds up and suds each other up, and rinse. Because we were outside, we didn’t have to worry about trying to keep the area dry. It was so fun and felt good to get the sweat and salt water off our bodies and hair.
We still had plenty of water let over to do some washing. Mom and I did the washing as Capt tinkered around with the engine. Hummm…. I think the engine work was just a reason to get out of the washing. We had four buckets of water lined up on the foredeck. Bucket #1 was the presoak-we just put a few pieces of clothing in the water to loosen up the dirt. Bucket #2 had some laundry soap in it. In goes some clothing from Bucket #1 and we used a small plunger to swish the laundry. This was the hardest part, as it takes some energy to plunge the clothes for 5 minutes. Then we wrung out the cleaner clothes from bucket #2 and put it into Bucket #3, which is just plain water. Plunge that around for a few minutes to get the soap out and then into Bucket #4, which was also plain water and the last rinse. If the clothing was clean enough, we would wring it out and peg it onto the lifeline around the ship. And on and on the process went. It took us about an hour and a half. Mom says if we do laundry once a week, the laundry loads will be smaller and it won’t be so overwhelming.
For dinner, we just had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with sliced tomato and cucumber.
Today will be a school day. Not sure what I will be working on, but it is rainy again, so I don’t feel like I am missing much.
