First to some work, and the important marking of
International World AIDS Day!! Staff at TANGO, Caitlyn and myself with
the assistance of Melaka and Selita, prepared a colourful stall at the
community event that was also attended by the Tuvalu Family Health Association
(TuFHA), the Tuvalu National Council of Women (TNCW), the Dept of Health (DoH)
amongst others. The goal of the day was to increase awareness and decrease the number of new HIV/AIDs
infections to zero over the next 12 months.
One of the problems in Tuvalu is that a lot of young people don’t know
their HIV status and are afraid to be tested so the DoH were there carrying out
tests. In addition to a lack of clarity
of people’s current status, there is the on-going problem of societal taboos
that prevent/deter young people from practising safe sex, so as part of the
work that TANGO did that day we made up ‘gift bags’ which included condoms and
information about where people can access assistance and further advice if they
need it. It was a great day and through the work that all the agencies did we
managed to talk to lots of young people and continue to spread the messages
about the challenge of tackling HIV/AIDS.
It took me a little while to wrap my head around the fact
that it was December in Tuvalu and that of course meant that the festive season
was almost upon us, and although I was due to leave Funafuti and my Tuvaluan
family before Christmas I took great pleasure in helping them get prepared for
it. Masi (my Tuvaluan sister) and I
scoured the Chinese shops that Funafuti has to offer for Christmas lights to
decorate the house and the Christmas tree! There is something very strange
about preparing a Christmas tree in 30+ °C! But it was great!! And I think as
the photo below showed it was worth the effort J
It was with mixed emotions that I assisted in the Christmas prep! Christmas 2012 was to be my first ever Christmas away from my home and my family – which I was obviously nervous about. It was also going to be following my departure from Tuvalu, a place and another home I became very much attached to and was going to be very sad to leave. But also when I left Tuvalu I was heading back to Australia to rendezvous with my beloved, which I was of course very excited about!
There was a little business as usual in the month of
December which of course included amazing sunsets, which I couldn’t resist
including one picture of!
And a couple of community events which included traditional
dancing and feasting. At this event ‘my
mother’ led a staring role in the dancing and in the organisation. She rallied the women from our church group
to make baskets of food for other women and children from the community. It was a great event and as always more food
than anyone could eat in one go, the traditional spraying of perfume to show
appreciation of the dancers – in some cases by very small and cute admirers,
and dancing late into the evening!
As well as the traditional events, as it was December that
also meant that there were Christmas Parties happening and I was lucky enough
to be invited to Masi’s staff party for the Dept of Environment, where she
works! It was a really fun evening, again with excessive amounts of food and
some exceptionally funny dance ‘pieces’ including the ladies performing
Tuvaluan version of the worldwide hit “Gangnam Style”!! It was hilarious and
brilliant! Nice to see ‘my sister’ let her hair down for well earned night out
with her girlfriends!!
But there was another special event too, which included a
visiting dignitary arriving on a Hercules plane, which stayed overnight which
gave plenty of opportunities to be impressed with the size of it…
For children and young people to play sports around it and
sit in awe of it…
And also thanks to the friendliness of the New Zealand Air
Force for lots of children and a couple of big kids (i.e. me and Caitlyn) to
climb aboard and have a snoop about!
Sadly soon enough it was time for me to leave! After Cyclone
Evan delayed my flight by a day which gave Caitlyn, Tony and
I time for one more fishing expedition and a sleepover! So I said my farewells
to my ‘family’...
And stood in front of the plane to prove it was really there
and I was really getting on it this time – after so many planes days and so
many others coming and going it was finally time for me.
And that was it, as a sat on the plane trying desperately to
fight back tears, and realising that it was not goodbye but just Tofa (farewell
and will be seeing you), and I witnessed the final glimpse of Funafuti and
place that truly felt like home and will leave a lasting affect on me, I hope
for all my days!
