Woman Ambae:
A Tale of Peace Corps in the South Pacific

I figured I'd start with a little more information about my island, Ambae (pronounced am-by, as in ambiance and goodbye).

As you can see from the map below and as I previously mentioned, Ambae is fairly far north in Penama province (shared by Pentecost and Maewo) and not very close to the capitol. Direct flights from Port Vila to Ambae do exist, but are few and far in between. The easiest way to reach Ambae is via a connecting flight in Santo, which is just west of Ambae. Port Vila to Santo is about an hour flight, Santo to Ambae is about 40 minutes... not including layover time (which in my experience is usually around three hours, even if the flight is "running on time"). A few cargo ships dock in Lolowai (the port on Ambae) which also serve as means of transportation on and off the island and is how I got all of my things out there. Up until recently Vanuatu had one passenger ship, Big Sista, traveling between Efate, Epi, Malakula and Santo. I've heard a rumor of a new passenger ship called the Efate Queen traveling between Efate, Santo, Ambae and Pentecost and I really hope it's true. The captain is supposedly from Ambae so hopefully this will mean frequent trips to the area. Because of it's geography, Vanuatu is one of the most logistically difficult countries in the Peace Corps. This also means that the volunteer living allowance here is the highest in the agency since it can be quite pricey to get around and everyday essentials cost so much to ship out here. This can also cause a lot of difficulty for communities in terms of basic resources, i.e. the outer islands, such as Ambae, are completely reliant on on shipments of goods that sometimes simply don't show up.



This is our fabulous group on Ambae right after site announcements. PC staff made a walkable map of the islands so we could see where we were in relation to one another, this is us standing by our paper replica of Ambae. From left to right: Megan- a nurse and fellow health volunteer working with the nursing staff at Lolowai Hospital on East Ambae, Me, Mac- a business volunteer working with a women's group on North Ambae (http://marycatherinebradley.blogspot.com), Nancy- another fellow health volunteer working at a dispensary on North Ambae (http://nancymiyake.wordpress.com), Melissa- an IT teacher working at a secondary school on East Ambae (http://pelirroja79.blogspot.com), Don-a former business volunteer posted at the national bank in Saratamata on East Ambae; he returned to the US shortly after arriving on Ambae so us ladies have taken over. I'm incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such fine individuals and don't know what I would do without their frequent support and company. We try to have slumber parties every few weeks and gab about celebrity gossip. Seriously. Send us some magazines, please.



Here's a map of Ambae I stole from a tourism site and edited my village into. As you can see it's the end of the road on East Ambae and therefore has a lot of connection with South Ambae as it's the closest access point for them. It takes me about an hour to walk to the airport, shown on here, and about two and a half hours to reach Lolowai.




This is the main store on Ambae, located in Lolowai. We refer to this as "Wal-Mart" because you can pretty much get everything you need here, although you wouldn't know it upon first glance as most things are strewn about in rotting boxes on the ground. Once you've mastered the art of the search, you can get your hands on some real gems. My favorite find was a bottle of cold chardonnay thrown in with the catch of the day- a little fishy on the outside, a lot delicious on the inside.



This is our joint bank and post office, also in Lolowai. I spend a lot of time in here pestering the one and only postal worker about the whereabouts of my mail. I'm fairly certain Peace Corps packages take up most of the space under his counter.

The current system for cash withdrawals at the bank is based solely on mobile communication between the bankers here and main branch in Port Vila. However, the most recent cyclone knocked out the tower in the area and now in order to check account balances the bankers have to take your account number down and walk up a nearby hill until they find reception. Next time you're irritated about the line at the bank, think about that one.



Here's a shot I took from the plane of the bay in Lolowai. The cluster of buildings to the very left is the hospital, where I recently discovered I can steal wifi. Ambae is one of the only outer islands fortunate enough to have any kind of internet connection so I totally lucked out on this one. You can see Maewo in the background here, which is about an hour boat ride away depending on how rough the waters are.



This is the plane that frequents Ambae most often and carries all of my mail out here. As you can see it's not very big so it usually takes a long time for me to receive anything since mail is the last thing put on board and is only put on board on a space available basis. This plane was broken for a few weeks preceding a cyclone that shut down all transportation to the outer islands so I haven't received mail in sometime. I'm still receiving things from December. Patience is a virtue.






Lindsay- a health volunteer at an aid post on West Maewo (most people on Maewo fly through Ambae and take a boat across) and Megan fresh out of the airport, in a truck headed to our sites for the first time. Can you feel the excitement?




Here's a great video on Penama province the Department of Tourism just put out:



And one of Ambae specifically, unfortunately my village isn't shown but a nearby village called Lavonda is and it gives a good feel for the island.




Call me bias, but I'm fairly convinced Ambae is the best island in little 'ol Vanuatu, and I've got at least four other volunteers that'll agree with me. Now who wants to come visit???