Neiafu Water Tank Project

this is my major peace corps project that i was lucky enough to get funding for through the UNDP (United Nations). We are building 50 ferro-cement water tanks at the edges of villagers houses to catch the rain water rolling off of the roof. for about 10 families, this will be their first water tank and will greatly improve their standard of living. the other 40 will go to families with very old/leaking tanks, or families in need of another tank due to family size. again, there is no running water system or rivers in my section of the island and villagers are 100% depenedent on water tanks like these. hopefully these pics, give you an idea of how its done. its all concrete and and wire. the body and roof are made using sheet metal forms, 2x4's, angle cut 2x6's and samoan tree branches. and yes i am not just taking pictures, im busting my butt too! most of the people you see in these pictures are village matai (chiefs) in my peace corps committee that i have been working with on this project and will continue to work with on other projects next year. the grant was for $86K samoan (about $35k US). this covers the $1600 (samoan) materials cost per tank. the family must pay $200 (samaoan) for carpenter's fees as well as feed the workers (us) for the 3 meals that we will be working at their house. i have been eating like a king during this project. more to come on the water tanks...

laundry day! bathing day!

from may to november, the water hole at neiafu-tai is a pretty popular spot. (acutally its pretty popular year round, but esp. during the dry season.) believe it or not we have an incredibly dry month of april and may, and for some families, the water in the water tank is strictly for drinking from here until rainy season. this means that everyone and their mother is at the bathing hole doing laundry, bathing, or just enjoying some fun in the sun! (not really) these pools are a mixture of sea water and natural spring water. the small one is much better for bathing, but as you can see, it gets compromised rather quickly with detergent. here are some pics of some women doing their laundry at the water. my beautiful girlfriend, about to do her laundry, and also my g/f and her little brother playing with other kids in the pool. the view is unbeatable here. sometimes i go here just to sit and watch the ocean from the rocks. sunsets are amazing. this also gives you a front row seat to watch the fisherman going out to sea.

meet the fam

this is my samoan host family. from left to right it is my brother esela, mother vineta, father pati (robert), sister delilah, brother feleki (fred), my little brother lope(robert), sister gasetoto, and little bro marvin. marvin is actually a grandson. his mother lives in new zealand but being the first born, he was given to the grandmother (vineta) to raise. not sure how common that is, but its certainly not uncommon either. this pic was taken at the house in neiafu-uta where pati, esela, delilah, and mormon missionaries live. i mainly live with vineta and my little brothers at their other house in neiafu-tai. gasetoto is a teacher in Apia, and feleki goes to Nat'l University of Samoa in Apia. Delilah is an 8th grade teacher at the Neiafu Primary School where marvin and lope go to school, also where i try to help out. not really sure if im helping though. vineta and pati run their two stores at their two houses.

coconuts!

im gonna be very sad the day i find myself living in a place where i can't send a kid up a tree to fetch me some coconuts. actually drinking the young coconut (in pic) is not as popular as you may think. they usually wait until they mature and fall to the ground where they are then used as pig food, snacks, and all of your coconut cream sauces come from the mature nuts. but every once in a while ill get a kid to drop down a bunch and then we have a big coconut smashing/drinking party. its great. yes this kid is about 50 feet up in the air and yes i climbed a coconut tree and yes i got the nuts and yes i scraped and chafed just about my entire body in the process. no i will not climb a tree that high. this is one of those tall trees in the background of the cricket picture below.

kirikiti!

this is samoan cricket,

the thing about samoa is that they get a lot of their palagi (white people) culture from new zealand and austrailia, so even lots of the "adopted from europeans" samoan things are still new to us americans. while it makes a great picture, samoan cricket is painfully slow, and i cant seem to sit through a match or play one. the kids version is a bit more similar to baseball and much more fun. that i like to play. mainly because im better than them.

bed bugs

now i know why they say sleep tight, dont let the bed bugs bite. something horrible was infested in my bed for a few months and it culminated in a week of pure itching torture. while better now, im rarely without at least one bite somewhere between my knees and ribs. seems to be something i will just have to deal with while im here.

siva!

the samoan siva (dance) is one of the most graceful, beautiful things you will ever see. i on the other hand and not. thats me showing them how we do it in the country. this was at a fundraiser the women's committee had to raise money. theres no audience. they are mainly just dancing for themselves. each woman is required to donate a certain amount. where that money goes? i have no idea.