Nambawan

"Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds.
See the world.
It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories" - Ray Bradbury

This was Solomon Islands for me, and I met a few others who see the world in the same way. It was exhilarating! There was also the constant reminder of Paulo Coelho. When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.


[This has been sitting in my draft-box for too long, so I am going to put it up, as incomplete as it is.]

On our trip to Malaita

This was taken on Auki, the capital of Malaita and our last stop... which we did a mad rush through since we only had two hours before the boat headed back to Honiara. Good times.

Word!

We also got a tour of the Arts Village that was being set up on Auki for the Pacific Arts Festival, by the very friendly security guard who guided us through instead of chasing us for trespassing!

I think what was most enlightening on this trip was meeting so many people (we were there for a Climate Change Community Workshop) who were interested in the same cause. Instead of trying to convince people that climate change was real and debating with skeptics, I got to listen to people talk about the impacts they are already facing from climate change.

There were presentations by those who have led projects that relocated people who are losing their land to sea level rise and others who are working in communities on adaptation projects that help islanders live with the changes that are occurring.

And throughout the week everyone from Melanesia that was representing their community etc. got to share ideas, best practices and experiences on how they can strengthen their efforts towards dealing with Climate Change. Go Team Pacific!

I guess this post isn't so incomplete after all.

(On a lighter note, I also got to watch some soccer matches at the Oceania Championships that were going on in SI at the time. Fiji vs NZ and SI vs PNG. Yay!)

Words I love...

I love Pablo Neruda. His words. They are strung together with such feeling, baby breaths and tiny whispers.

So today I let him write, instead of me.


XXXIV (You are the daughter of the sea)
by Pablo Neruda

You are the daughter of the sea, oregano's first cousin. Swimmer, your body is pure as the water; cook, your blood is quick as the soil. Everything you do is full of flowers, rich with the earth. Your eyes go out toward the water, and the waves rise; your hands go out to the earth and the seeds swell; you know the deep essence of water and the earth, conjoined in you like a formula for clay. Naiad: cut your body into turquoise pieces, they will bloom resurrected in the kitchen. This is how you become everything that lives. And so at last, you sleep, in the circle of my arms that push back the shadows so that you can rest-- vegetables, seaweed, herbs: the foam of your dreams.