A history lesson, and intercultural marriages.

I went to Reynolds nakamal last night to meet up with a friend of mine, Sarah, a former Peace Corps volunteer who married a man Tanna and now lives and works here in Port Vila with her family.  They have what I consider to be a healthy married life (healthy = there's some love going on there, non-abusive, respectful of one another, etc., a loose and general category really, I try not to judge anyone).  Before she came through, I sat and storied with Richard, the archaeologist from Aneityum.  He talked about the various theories of the origin of the ni-Vanuatu people.  One interesting thing he mentioned was about the people of mainland PNG, how they were the first to cultivate crops like 30,000 years ago.  I asked him how he bridges the gaps between older traditional beliefs about the origin of man, introduced Christian beliefs about the origin of man, and his own understanding of evidence-based archaeological history and human evolution.  He said that, basically, the bible is right, but they have the dates wrong.  He said that they have it right from Abraham to present time, but between Abraham and Adam and Eve they only have 1,000 years, and science has proven that the Earth is older than 4,000 years old.  As for traditional beliefs, he said they evolved through story since there are no written languages in this part of the world, and that explains the variety of stories on creation in the area.  

Mural outside Reynolds:

When Sarah came, she and Richard discussed some issues he is currently having in his own relationship.  He is struggling with a problem he has full ownership of, and Sarah offered advice and since they have know each other for a long time it seemed to me that he really respects her opinion.

When I left Reynolds, I went down to 24 Hoao (the name I found out for the Paama nakamal I've been going to in Seaside) and met up with another former PCVs ni-Vanuatu husband (so random, he doesn't even live close to that part of town and I've actually never hung out with him before last night) who then took me to Islanders namakal next door for another couple shells.  There have been more women PCVs that have married ni-Vanuatu men then men have married ni-Vanuatu women.  Sarah thinks it's probably cultural - if a man begins to friend a ni-Vanuatu woman here, there is much more pressure for him to take her as his wife.  That's probably the best explanation of the phenomenon I've heard.   I kind of imagine intercultural marriage as having twice the challenges and twice the rewards of intracultural marriage.  Just a thought.

Road to Reynolds: