Megan Burrows is cooler than me.
This is Megan Burrows. She's the closest volunteer to me on the island, based out of the provincial hospital down the road in Lolowai.
She started the first ever girl's soccer league on Ambae, and is currently working on getting a permanent, renewable energy source for the provincial hospital as well as working on improving the managerial capacity of health dispensaries and aid posts in Penama province (Pentecost, Ambae, Maewo).
The closest volunteer to you on the island becomes something of a lifeline, is not a close friend and confidant for life. I'm incredibly lucky to have someone like Megan close by proximity (relatively speaking, about 2+ hours) and mentality. By luck we have a lot in common (love for Disney, awkward mannerisms, similar taste in reading material) and most importantly both have an unquantifiable passion for music. One of my very favorite activities on the island is to chill out with her on her front porch with some local beer, kava, the tropical sunset and our iPods.
Other reasons why Megan is cool (er than me):
1. She's from Iowa; and therefore slaps down my WA state elitism on the regular (we're pretty pretentious about our music, art, coffee, culture, scenery... as it turns out). She has a map of the US on the door of her office with Iowa circled and the following "Hem ia Iowa. Ples blong mi." (I am from Iowa. This is my place). Iowa might be cooler than WA even. I'm not sure anymore.
2. She's a nurse. So not only is she an incredible resource of knowledge for the provincial hospital, she's one of the best listeners I've ever met. Going nuts up in your village? No worries, grab a shell of kava with Nurse Megan and spill your guts.
3. Please see photos below...
There were a lot of things going on in the background when these photos were taken. The new volunteers were on the island and purchasing beer at our fun little provincial center corner store right next to me, the truck that has just driven us down the volcano from my village was parked directly in front of the nakamal (place where you drink kava, kind of like an island bar) and I was trying in a distracted fashion to remind him that drinking (even kava) and driving (because he's going to have to drive back up the volcano... eventually) is bad, but I still laughed my toosh off when I turned my head to the right (the approximate middle of newbs + beer / driver + nakamal situations) and saw her cruising on some small child's bike- for reasons I'm still not really sure of, but probably just to please herself and maybe a few pikinini.
There's an ongoing joke with all of us on the island that Megan is cooler than me. I suppose not even just on the island. She recently purchased a t-shirt offline reading "I wish I was as cool as Megan Burrows" with a picture of a dancing cactus and had it sent to her friend in the states, which I hear was worn to the point of holes. She updated my Facebook status when I wasn't looking some time ago with the same mantra and the four other volunteers on the island clicked "like" rapid fire, preceding discussion of how in fact, Megan Burrows, is cooler than me. And well, I'm done arguing. She really is.
She started the first ever girl's soccer league on Ambae, and is currently working on getting a permanent, renewable energy source for the provincial hospital as well as working on improving the managerial capacity of health dispensaries and aid posts in Penama province (Pentecost, Ambae, Maewo).
The closest volunteer to you on the island becomes something of a lifeline, is not a close friend and confidant for life. I'm incredibly lucky to have someone like Megan close by proximity (relatively speaking, about 2+ hours) and mentality. By luck we have a lot in common (love for Disney, awkward mannerisms, similar taste in reading material) and most importantly both have an unquantifiable passion for music. One of my very favorite activities on the island is to chill out with her on her front porch with some local beer, kava, the tropical sunset and our iPods.
Other reasons why Megan is cool (er than me):
1. She's from Iowa; and therefore slaps down my WA state elitism on the regular (we're pretty pretentious about our music, art, coffee, culture, scenery... as it turns out). She has a map of the US on the door of her office with Iowa circled and the following "Hem ia Iowa. Ples blong mi." (I am from Iowa. This is my place). Iowa might be cooler than WA even. I'm not sure anymore.
2. She's a nurse. So not only is she an incredible resource of knowledge for the provincial hospital, she's one of the best listeners I've ever met. Going nuts up in your village? No worries, grab a shell of kava with Nurse Megan and spill your guts.
3. Please see photos below...
There were a lot of things going on in the background when these photos were taken. The new volunteers were on the island and purchasing beer at our fun little provincial center corner store right next to me, the truck that has just driven us down the volcano from my village was parked directly in front of the nakamal (place where you drink kava, kind of like an island bar) and I was trying in a distracted fashion to remind him that drinking (even kava) and driving (because he's going to have to drive back up the volcano... eventually) is bad, but I still laughed my toosh off when I turned my head to the right (the approximate middle of newbs + beer / driver + nakamal situations) and saw her cruising on some small child's bike- for reasons I'm still not really sure of, but probably just to please herself and maybe a few pikinini.
There's an ongoing joke with all of us on the island that Megan is cooler than me. I suppose not even just on the island. She recently purchased a t-shirt offline reading "I wish I was as cool as Megan Burrows" with a picture of a dancing cactus and had it sent to her friend in the states, which I hear was worn to the point of holes. She updated my Facebook status when I wasn't looking some time ago with the same mantra and the four other volunteers on the island clicked "like" rapid fire, preceding discussion of how in fact, Megan Burrows, is cooler than me. And well, I'm done arguing. She really is.
1 Response to Megan Burrows is cooler than me.
geeze, your service is so outlandishly different than mine! I absolutely love reading about Vanuatu and all of the work you are doing! :) ☮ & <3 from Morocco!
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