Boils and Babies

As the noise of the boat engine dies away, like the sound of the last helicopter leaving Saigon, those of us staying behind are left to come to terms with the enormity of what has happened. Tom C, Alyse and Gill are being taken to hospital in Levuka in varying states of disrepair and we are left with the stark evidence of what has happened in Yanuca village. We have accidentally painted the hall blue.

Fast forward a week though and things are looking up; we’re getting good news about Tom Claydon every day and expect him back at home in the village tomorrow for the fun day and hall opening and the girls’ tests came back without any major concerns. Even better news, the Fijians seem to quite like the colours of the hall and although a few expectant mothers have turned up in the village asking to buy a pushchair from Fiji’s first ever branch of Mothercare we’ve slowly become accustomed to the sight of the big blue house at the edge of the village.

The hall has finally been finished and with its completion there has been a much more relaxed air around the village. Volunteers are frequently out of the village with their families, fishing and gathering fruit or in one case taking a picnic over to Daku beach for an afternoon of sun-worship. Others can be found frantically sanding down coconut shells into grog bowls with one hand whilst writing down the recipe for Sammy’s Papaya Juice with the other, frantically trying to finish a to-do list of things before we leave the village.

In the maelstrom of exciting events that has been the last two weeks, and Claydon hogging the skin infection related limelight it has gone unrecorded that last week (well before Tom’s) I had a bloody great boil growing on my leg. A healthy dose of anti-biotics and some bed rest later Escobar the Boil was no more. His life was short and violent, much like his namesake Pablo, but it was also rich and full of experience.

Yesterday Tomos and I went out fishing with the men from the village, it was an awesome afternoon and it really brought home exactly what we’ll be leaving behind in a few days. The stunning blues of the water around the reef, the amazing greens of the jungle stretching all over the islands of Yanuca, Moturiki and Ovalau were all complimented by the riot of colours that made up the ‘fishing outfits’ of the Fijian boys. My favourite ensemble was Lalli’s – a pair of basketball shorts, a ‘welcome to Dubai’ t-shirt all topped off by a rather jaunty Merry Christmas From Winnie the Pooh baseball cap. Watching the Vakatoa, not the most agile looking of blokes at the best of times, outswim both Tomos and I in a pair of wellies and some rainbow coloured swimming goggles must have been quite a sight.

Escobar Rest in Peace
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