Village life

Last weekend I was lucky enough to stay in a rural village for couple of days.

I got to help push-start a friends van who got stuck down a muddy track with a flat battery. This activity rendered me absolutely sopping with sweat much to everyone's amusement.

For the most part, the family (and whole village) lives outside the cash economy. They build their own houses out of their own timbers, and grow their own food or catch fish.

To make a small amounts of money, there are coconut and Cocoa plantations, from which they produce  Copra and dried Cocoa Beans. These are sold at the Honiara market (for an absolute pittance). Copra is the semi dried kernel/flesh of the coconut which is used to produce coconut oil. 

Copra Drying

While at the Village I was taken to see the local rural clinic which is serviced by one nurse, with bi-monthly visits from a doctor. It was very basic- but a very good building (supplied by Australia aid).

 The nurse told us the biggest health problem she saw was women with domestic violence injuries . Following this, in quite a confronting turn of events, a very young woman arrived with a clearly dislocated shoulder- which she said was inflicted by her Husband. I have since been informed that somewhere around 90% of all females in the Solomons have been the victim of domestic violence, absolutely mind-boggling.

Tamboko Rural Clinic

Village life
This little guy is three. wen were down at the river for a swim with the other older kids. Not to be left out, he jumped into the fast-flowing river from a coconut tree. He disappeared under the water, and popped up 20 meters down the bank jumped out and did it again! 3 years old!!