Tahitians canoe to China in pursuit of freedom?

Nakamals Visited
The Vanuatu Cultural Centre namakal for the welcome ceremony, followed by Reynolds for a quick shell and then down to Seaside Paama for a fundraiser.  Ended the night with Tuskers at Green Lite.

Kava Kwaliti
Everyone got only one shell of kava at VKS, but it was strong.  I went home first before going to the fundraiser, which was enough time for me to recover.  The kava at the fundraiser was good, very strong.  Whenever you go to a fundraiser you expect the kava to be a little stronger if they do it right.  If it's water, your opinion of them goes down (they just want money...).

Company
Francis organized a welcome ceremony for the men who have sailed from Tahiti to Vanuatu in a canoe on their way to China.  There was custom dancing and some speeches (of course) and some kava and bunia afterwards. Everyone from VKS was there, including some fieldworkers.  This is their canoe and them at the kava ceremony at VKS:

The fundraiser in Seaside Paama was for man Luli, and I met up with KT, Jimmy, and Apu Willie there.  There was stringband, food, and lots of kava.  Jimmy and I kale-d at Green Lite until late.

Amusing Observation
I still just don't understand the whole canoe journey thing.  At first when I heard about it, I thought maybe it was a test of traditional navigation to see if the people in the Pacific could still manage to travel long distances by canoe.  Now, considering their canoe has "Freedom" painted on it, and considering a couple months ago I supposedly met the PM of Tahiti playing musing with coconut leaves in his hair at Reynolds singing about freedom, I'm pretty sure the whole gig is political.  Why is China their final destination, then?  Are the Chinese going to help them attain independence from the French?  Don't think so.

So Jimmy told me that he and the boys that were beat up last month by man Tanna are planning on striking back today (this was last night he told me).  I'm sure I'll hear about it later if it actually happens.  I discouraged retaliation again but I don't think it matters what I say.  He also told me he had this girlfriend from North Ambrym for a few days/nights and she got pregnant and killed the baby herself, which made him angry so he isn't sleeping with her anymore.  I asked him how she killed the baby, but he didn't know.  He thought maybe she had "sik blong faol".  He will be going back to the island at some point soon, when he tires of fighting and making babies in Vila.  He is thinking about his cows that his old grandfather is looking after while he's away.