Vinmavis
It has been over three weeks now since Jen and I came back from this wonderful little village by the sea. Still, I think back with joy of the friends we made and times we shared with them. I will never forget the time we spent there.
When we first arrived, I was a little nervous about being out on our own in a foreign country. Although we had learned to speak the language enough to understand what was going on around us, we still weren’t fluent by any stretch of the imagination. Then to make things more interesting, the people of Vinmavis have a local language that they tend to lapse into with ease, forgetting that we barely even speak Bislama! There were stretches of conversation that I could not even begin to understand as they switched from Bislama to the local language and then back again. They didn’t do it to be rude; they were just so comfortable switching from one to the other that sometimes they would do it without thinking. When they saw the puzzled looks on our faces, they would smile and repeat it in Bislama. In the end, Jen and I made a good team. Many times when I could not understand what was being said I would give Jen a glance and she would be able to translate and then there were times when I could do the same for her. I think we weathered the storm quite well as far as language is concerned and may have even gained some ground.
One of the defining moments in the trip happened on the first Wednesday we were there. It may not sound earth shattering or awe inspiring, but it left its mark on me. On Wednesday’s, I was given the opportunity to teach a P.E. class. The school possessed very little in the way of sports equipment and what they did have was on its last leg. So I had to come up with some games that required no equipment. I was a bit nervous at first, not knowing what kinds of games they generally played. In the end I taught them Flying Dutchman (a game we used to play at youth parties back home) and Freeze Tag. I was hoping that they would find these games at least acceptable. They did not. They loved them! As soon as they got the hang of both games, they threw themselves into them with abandon. I wish you could hear the children and even the teachers laughing as they ran around the Green. Once the games were learned, I was transported to a new dimension of language. There were no words just the game. We could understand each other and enjoy each others company for that space of time and not worry about the awkwardness of verbal communication. We were players, each of us. The rules were known and nothing else mattered. I ran around with them until my feet hurt and actually bled a little. That will teach me to run around like a madman with no shoes on!
It was in this moment that I realized that language was so much more than words. It was a living, breathing experience just waiting to be shared. We communicated with the students of Jehova Nissi School that day. We told them that we wanted to be friends and that we were there to take part in their lives, and they, in return, opened there hearts and told us we were welcome.
Nathan
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