I don't know how you would either but somehow we were able to pull it off tonight. A lot of the secondary schools in Samoa are currently being used to house the athletes involved in the South Pacific games – those schools that are not being used were charged with hosting a country on their first night in-country (i.e. in Samoa). Chanel was charged with hosting Vanuatu – which is appropriate because one of the priests who lived here last year – Denis – was from Vanuatu. For weeks and weeks we waited for any piece of information which would actually help us prepare for the Vanuatu athletes – but the organization in charge of this particular program didn't have their act together. So before school ended last week, we told a select few students to come in over the first week of the holiday (we have 3 weeks off; 1 week before the games and 2 weeks for the games) to help prepare some items if the team was still coming. So in true South Pacific fashion, it wasn't until the last minute that we got the crucial piece of information that yes the athletes were coming to our school and we would have to feed and entertain them. So starting from about 8am on Friday, the entire day was dedicated to getting the place and food ready for the athletes arrival at 6pm that night.
That wasn't the only thing going on at Chanel on Friday, we also had a whole bunch of kids use our Rugby field for some kind of National Youth Sports day or something like that. It involved about 300 kids from different church groups and schools. The people running the event are from my church (Peace Chapel) and they were very fortunate to have access to our fields because almost every other Rugby field in the country (or in the Apia area) is being used for the South Pacific Games. Because we are so 'far' out of town we aren't being used for anything SPG related (other then the dinner) so it was no problem to have them use our field. Cecil, the American I mentioned a few weeks back who is living in Samoa for a year, was also at this sports day event and I was hoping to meet up with him but our paths didn't cross yesterday – they are suppose to be coming back on Saturday, so maybe I will see him then.
Over the course of the day, though, the FaleSamoa was transformed into a dinner hall to feed 109 people. The food was bought from a restaurant called Penati's which is fortunately capable of providing a lot of food on very short notice. So come 5pm, a majority of the big pieces were in place and everything looked very nice and well done. The athletes began to arrive at around 5:51pm and I was like 'Wow, not only are they on time – they actually arrived early!' but then I remembered that it was 109 people we were serving and they were bringing them up in mini-vans which could only hold like 15 people per vehicle…which meant it took forever for all of the athletes to get here. It was not until 7pm when we had everyone there and could start the event. Fortunately (and unexpectedly), we had a Marist priest from Vanuatu in country at this time so he was invited to MC the ceremony in the language of Vanuatu. That was pretty cool because he was able to explain everything in a way that they understood it and we knew that they would know what was going on. I told Kevin that this was probably the first time for many of the Samoans at our school that they were in our boat – hearing a language they don't understand and not knowing what was going on/being said. While there were over 100 athletes there, the VIPs of this little entourage were the head coach of the overall team, the Prime Minister of Sports (or the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, I wasn't exactly clear on what his position was) and the First Lady (of what, I have no idea). You may not know this but Vanuatu is a Micronesian culture – which means the majority of residents are black (Samoa is Polynesian, which means they are more brown in color). So basically this was probably the largest contingent of black people ever gathered at Chanel College – and yet I still felt as though people were watching me (the kind of looks I get every day in Samoa). So something's never change.
The first piece of entertainment for the night was for some of our students to sing the Vanuatu national anthem as well as the Samoan national anthem. Then we had the ava ceremony to officially welcome our guests to Samoa. This was when it got interesting because people were literally getting up to see what this ceremony was all about – which led me to believe that they don't do the ava ceremony in Vanuatu (I know it's done in Fiji and Tonga). This theory was given more evidence when the Prime Minister was served a cup of ava. During the ava ceremony, the highest ranking person on the visiting side is served a cup of ava first to show respect. He was suppose to drink it (alone) and then give the cup back. Well, when the Prime Minister was served he had no idea what to do with the cup (even though it was being explained to him in his native tongue). Once he figured out that he was to drink from the cup, he drank but then passed it on to a man sitting next to him (who might be something like deputy prime minister). All the Samoans had a good laugh at this because it has never been done in an ava ceremony before. So they went though the process of serving the head guests from Vanuatu and then it got to the first lady and she didn't even want to take a sip of the ava – she took the cup, held it for a second and then just gave it back. That was the first time I actually saw someone reject ava on the first try – even I will drink ava on the first offer, even though I don't like it – so I thought that was a bit on the rude side.
Anyway, after the ava ceremony the food was finally served and amazingly enough we had more then enough food for everyone – we ran out of plates – but we had more then enough food. Once everyone had their plate of food, we resumed the entertainment with a few dance items and then – of course – the most anticipated item, the Siva Afi (Fire Dance). Now, last Friday we had our Mrs. Chanel day (it was the Friday I went to my COS conference) and one of our students performed Siva Afi at the event – it was the first time she had demonstrated this skill at school and everyone thought she was great…so she was invited back tonight to perform for the athletes. Now of course I didn't see her perform but when I was told that this Year 9 girl – Niuiva – was going to be doing Siva Afi, it jogged something in my memory. I had seen a girl – about her age – perform Siva Afi somewhere else before…or had I? I thought it might have been a case of mistaken identity – until I saw her mother. I had previously seen her mother – who's name is Ana and is Samoan – last year during our Early Service Conference at Boomerang Creek. I then text Sara to try to remember what the owner's name is from Boomerang – it's Steve Harrison…Nuuiva's last name is Harrison. So with all the pieces in place I asked if Steve was her dad and was it the same Steve that owned Boomerang Creek – it was. So during our ESC a year ago, I did see Nuuiva perform the fire dance right in front of me and it wasn't until this moment that I made the connection. She's in year 9 so I don't have much interaction with her which is another reason why things didn't connect until tonight. After the Siva Afi, the Prime Minister and Head Coach came up to present some gifts to the school in appreciation for hosting the team. We received a nice little plaque and some Vanuatu flags to give out to the students who will be cheering for Vanuatu during the games (each of the secondary schools hosting a team will be charged with going to their events and cheering them on).
One of the most interesting parts of the night came at the end in regards to the final two dances of the night. The first dance used what I would consider traditional Samoan music, which would easily bring people out onto the dance floor and get them into the spirit of dancing and having a good time. The people from Vanuatu had to be coaxed into coming out onto the dance floor and dancing when this music played. The next piece of music, I'm guessing, was a more Vanuatu based piece of music and they literally jumped out of their seats to get on the dance floor and dance. The Samoans, on the other hand, got off the dance floor because they weren't comfortable / familiar with the music. I thought that was an interesting dichotomy of how different the two cultures are – even though they are both South Pacific nations, their music taste and cultures are so different from each other and it was just fun to see a little microcosm of that play out in those two songs.
After those two songs, it was time to go home and we called the night a great success. The school came across well and the Vanuatu team had a good time which is what's really important. Also, a little side note – we were provided with a banner to welcome the team to the school. The banner read 'Halo Team Vanuatu'. So 'Halo' must mean 'Welcome' in whatever language is spoken in Vanuatu. I just thought that was interesting.
One more note – I know, I know, I keep saying that – anyway, it was a strange feeling for me, once the athletes started showing up, that the SPG was literally right around the corner and was actually happening. Our group (Group 75) has been talking about this event for 2 years now…ever since we found out we would be here for it towards the end of our service…and it's just amazing that this huge event is actually here, it's actually going to happen. After all the construction and problems that have arisen from the preparation for the games – in 24 hours time, it will begin. Hopefully I will be able to go the opening ceremonies tomorrow but if not, I'll watch it on TV. Just in case you're interested in keeping up with the event – Samoa is trying to win 50 medals during these games, the highest they have gone before is 25 – then just visit the official SPG (www.samao2007.ws) website. See you on the other side of the opening ceremonies…
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