A night in the mountains
WE were welcomed with familiar ‘bula smiles’ on the faces of villagers waiting for us in the dark. The journey was tiring and we arrived later in the evening. I decided to settle down for the night with some other students at our first accommodation close to the village hall. It was cold and others were designated to another accommodation.
We presented our i-sevusevu (traditional request to accept the visiting group) and were officially welcomed by the village headman that night before we went on to merrymaking with villagers and drank kava before bed.
I didn’t realise it yet but the next morning I woke up to a billion-dollar view. It was the most majestic hill-top view – lookingout over the land stretching for miles. A breathe of mother-nature’s fresh morning breeze and that picturesque view made me think our long walk was worth it!
We began the next day with devotion and were grouped into twos. One group was tasked to paint the village hall while the other to educate students.
I was among those educating students. I was allocated classes seven and eight. My buddies and I pressed on learning how to read and so we taught them the best way we could - students to students.
We read one whole book in three hours. I could tell how excited they were to be learning even when they were on schoolbreak.
The village hall was painted blues signifykana. ing the richness of Matokana.
A villager, who likes to be called Nene, said our stay meant so much to them especially keeping them updated with the happenings down in the big city.
“For you all to come here is an eye-opener to many of us here especially our children. We are not as exposed to the outside world as you do,” the villager said.
“The dreams of our children are limited and we thank you as tertiary students for coming here and broaden our knowledge and dreams about life.
“It is very costly for us to go to the cities. It costs almost $200 by car.
“But I like the village life, it’s more relaxed and whatever you need to survive is here. Today we are eating beef, tomorrow will be having rourou and pork the day after.
“I’m originally from this village and I’m married to a husband who is also of this village as well,” she said.
On day two those who had painted the village hall took a visit to the village’s youth farm. My team continued with a new book teaching students and we got a lot of questions about the English language.
One student asked if English was important to learn. My buddies and I replied ‘yes’ as it is used worldwide.
A parent of one of the students in my class said her child needed more exposure to know what opportunities were out for young people and so she could have her own dream and ambition.
“My child only wants to be a teacher or nurse and that was the only two occupations my child is exposed to. We need people especially from tertiary institutions like yours to know that there are other jobs available,” she said.
“Thank you so much for coming this far to give not only my child but to the children of this village a chance to know that there so many careers to choose from in life.”
We continued with our classes and later gathered in the evening with the villagers to present our i-tatau (traditional farewell).
Josefa Babitu is a second year journalism student at the University of the South Pacific