15 Minit Nomo

by Amy *****

Having spent a nice quiet, rainy day inside playing chess and reading, Brian and I were lazily discussing what we wanted to eat for dinner. Let's boil the water for our cup and bucket shower and then we'll cook popcorn and eat apples (from our last trip to Vila) with peanut butter. Sounds good. After we eat we can hang out for a bit longer reading and then to bed early? "Of Course," was the response.  The same discussion regarding bedtime occurs nearly every night and we're usually in bed between 8:00 and 8:30 pm.  

So meanwhile, just as the water had boiled and ready for the shower, the sun having set with nothing, but an inky blackness, we both heard a truck pull up onto the school grounds and roll to a stop. About a minute later Brian and I realized, Jack Graham, a youth from the other side of Epi (Nicara) who we'd invited to our RCE in-service training a few weeks before, was standing in front of us. I assumed he was there to say goodbye or ask a quick question until the next time we were to see him a week or two later, but no, he had come for a very different reason. He essentially said, "Hello, we've got a meeting in Nicara right now, the truck's waiting, let's go!" My gut reaction was you've got to be kidding! Then my mind sprung to several ideas. Oh, maybe they want to do some special thank you dinner for Jack's time with us at the meeting in Vila. I thought, maybe I shouldn't question this it must be important, but what a unusual request at 6:30pm on a very dark and rainy Sunday night. So I had to ask how long will we be there and what is it for exactly? 
Jack's response, "15 minit nomo," and it's for a youth meeting. So Brian and I dropped everything, grabbed our rain coats (that badly need to be re-scotch guarded) and a flashlight and I threw a spare battery in for good measure. We ran through the drizzling rain and the darkness to the awaiting truck. "Halo" there didn't seem much to say, Brian and I were completely dumbfounded by the turn of events.

We climbed into the back of the truck and we were off. The rain quickly starting to pick up it's tempo and our rain coats quickly became one with the rain. We slip, slidded all about up the steep road. When we reached the Hospital, Isabel (our counterpart), jumped out and grabbed a tarp to provide a make shift shelter for us in the wading pool of the truck bed. We covered ourselves completely creating our own little womb and suddenly with a great lurch we were off again. O.K. so I know I should have been happy with our new shelter, essentially out of the rain, but the tables turned one minute form slightly chilly, windy and wet to an ungodly hot sweat lodge in which I could not see out of.

"Yikes!" I thought to myself, "I sure hope your stomach can handle this." So I quickly shed my soaked slicker and tried desperately to peer out the half inch hole that Jack had created to try to look out the foggy front window of the truck. I reached my right hand up to find another little hole at the top of the tarp. O.K. maybe if I extend my right index finger through the hole to the cool refreshing rain outside I'll feel just fine. Yeah that feels better (one minute later) Nope not all that refreshing so plan B. Gently lift up the side of the tarp extend left hand out the side. KRPLLATT!!! Whoops, "Oh sorry!" As I gently lifted the tarp, it not so gently got hooked in the wheel well tearing a slight hold and nearly decapitating one of my fellow womb riders.
O.K. Plan C, my belly was quickly growing more and more nauseous with every passing minute as we we're thrown to and fro. Plan C, What is Plan C!!! "Brian," in a calm unhurried voice, "Brian could you please lift up the tarp a bit so I can see through the window of the truck?" I peered out, staring intently at the road in front of us. O.K., O.K. belly hang in there, positive self-talk is always key in these situations. Look out front, focus, there's a tree, jerk to the left, there's the ocean, jerk back to the right, there's the tree again. 
Finally, with my belly intact after a forty minute drive, we made it to our destination. I was quite ready to be done with the sweat lodge. I hopped out and walked dizzily up the path to the village Nakamahl (meeting place) to be greeted by 25 or so of the men of Nicara stretched back, supine on their mats. 

Immediately upon arrival we were asked many questions about the state of affairs with the US and Afghanistan. They wanted to know all of the details. After twenty minutes of answering questions and attempting to describe conceptually challenging pieces of information we we're pulled away to the Youth Center. 

Brian and I had yet to fully understand what our purpose or mission was for being there. As we walked up the path, Jack whispered to me that he would like me to story or tell about the solar power project that we had just gotten started the week before. We lowered our heads as we entered the doorway to avoid the low overhang and immediately bowed again as they presented us with fragrant frangipani flower leis for a custom "Salu Salu" welcome ceremony. We were ushered to the front of the room to be seated. Forty youth were already seated and another thirty people or so piled in behind.  Brian and I glanced at each other with a knowing look, that said, "This meeting is going to be a heck of a lot longer than fifteen minutes" (not that it wasn't already assumed).

A nervous Youth President stood to welcome us. Marinda (another youth we took to Vila for the RCE IST) stood to briefly summarize our Peace Corps three day workshop and the additional two-and-a-half week workshop with UNICEF. She did a great job, making clear and empowering statements. Afterwards, Jack gave his spiel and just as I thought we were going to be safely finished and returned to Lamen Bay, our dinner, shower and comfy bed, with only an hour long meeting, the meeting took on a life of it's own. Kava became the hot topic of the meeting, the good and bad aspects of kava, with everyone and I mean everyone sharing there opinion. It was really good and important discussion. When the meeting reached the two-and-a-half hour mark I was suddenly given the floor to discuss all the details of the solar power project. Brian and I had answered all the questions and all the details in twenty minutes and then we wound to a close. After we had shaken hands with everyone I checked my watch. Wow, 10:15 pm, It's late, well at least according to our internal clocks now-a-days.

Roasted wild yam, cabbage, gatu (fried sweet bread) and sweetened tea was rushed in immediately following our marathon meeting. We sat chatting for about twenty minutes at which point Jack came in and said, "Would it be alright if you stayed the night? Donald (the driver) says the roads are too bad and he's drinking kava." "Sure, sure no problem." And it really wasn't, But I couldn't help, but laugh to myself that I had never before spent "15 minit nomo" quite as I did that evening!