First Large Community Meeting

So the water pipe broke, and the source of the water is beginning to be spoiled, and not everyone has been paying their water fees. Which is 100 vt ( $1.00 US) but keep in mind that's a LOT of money here. So for 6 months the fee is 600 vt. This fee goes to maintain the pipes and since that hasn't been paid by everyone, the pipe hasn't been fixed yet.  Right now the water runs because it's a taped up job but it won't hold for long.  Part of this is also due to the community not meeting together. So today my counterpart called a huge community meeting.  This meeting was emotional for me because the people here are soft spoken most of the time and since the mamas are in a separate place, it makes it even harder to hear. Also people spoke in both language and bislama. I only know basic bislama so there were times I was completely lost.   Since this has so much to do with work Peace Corps has done and it's vital to my project (water seal toilets), I really wanted to understand.  

I only spoke up once and that was when the mamas opinions were asked and I shared what I heard and what I felt. But I said over and over it's not my opinion that counts, it's the community. There was a lot of discussion and a few cross words BUT in the end a plan was put into place and the fees hopefully will be enough to properly repair the pipe. 

It was interesting to see how things were handled.  After the meeting I had my counterpart give me a summary to make sure I understood the important things. 
It will be an interesting two years here, that is for sure :-)

Until next time

JumpInTheJungle