In Vanuatu, watching events in Tonga

I've left this far too long, but internet access is intermittent, expensive, and sloooooooow...

Tongan news can be found at Tonga Now. I'll update this post with some commentary once I have permission to publish it. I'm definitely no expert on anything to do with Tonga - I've never even been there for starters. It does, however, strike me that the recent riots bear similarities to those occurring elsewhere. While some commentators understand the riots in Tonga as an expression of pro-democracy sentiments, others see a link between urbanisation, poverty, the youth bulge, and the anger of young men that have limited or no access to education and employment. Some months ago I posted about the links between demography, livelihood security and civil security, drawing a link between Honiara and some Australian indigenous communities...and Port Moresby could be added to the list, as could Suva. But I'm out of my depth here...for better informed voices than mine, see:

This article from Radio New Zealand International; this article in Pacific Eye by the Director of the Tonga National Youth Congress; and this article, also in Pacific Eye, in which five youths involved in the riots were interviewed.

Speaking of youth, disenfranchisement, and anger...Vanuatu was recently found to be the "happiest nation on earth", and there are posters in the airport and copies of newspaper articles pasted to plenty of windows, but one can't help but wonder how long that 'happiness' is going to last. Local people working in NGOs certainly raise their eyebrows in bemusement when one brings up the subject, and here - as is the case in so many other places - one finds the "youth bulge", limited access to employment (at least in the formal economy - there's also the 'custom economy') and limited access to education. Here too there are young people moving to the urban areas in search of education and employment, and many are moving into informal settlements - it's not appropriate to call them 'squatter' settlements, as in many cases people from other islands are invited in to act as caretakers for the land by the customary landowners.

Last night I had dinner in the market with a new friend, at her mother's food stall. We watched the evening's devotions and chatted about our lives, faith and partners over a spectacular meal of Vanuatu steak, cucumber salad and tomato. We shared stories until late into the night, and I was reminded that despite the sometimes massive cultural differences, some things are universal. Her mother hugged me goodbye and told me to come back soon, and I felt the warm rush of being cared for despite being so new - a feeling I haven't really felt since I was in the Solomon Islands, where an Aunty I was only just getting to know sat up all night massaging me and wiping the sweat from my face as I struggled through a feverish night. As in the Solomons, I'm suddenly, beautifully aware of my identity as a woman, sharing specifically female aspirations and views with other women. I know who I am here, despite not wearing makeup, having long hair or particularly pretty clothes - I don't discount the fact that gender norms can be stifling and discriminating, but in my own society, femininity is often marked by whether a woman wears a dress or lipstick. The experiences of other women are undoubtedly different, but as a white, Western woman (and therefore sometimes considered an 'honorary male'), I have found working in highly-gendered societies liberating in the sense that I find myself returning to Australia with a stronger sense of womanhood and identity.

There's an older, white Australian guy staying in the hotel I'm staying at in Vila. I over-heard him talking to the staff they other day - they asked him whether he'd see his "girlfriend" today, and he laughed and said, "no, I'll have a new girlfriend today". I've been avoiding him ever since. Last night, I shared the cool night breeze, fresh peanuts and stories with a couple of the girls working in the hotel, and they filled me in further. Apparently this guy takes to the streets several times a day, starts chatting to some local woman, invites her back to the hotel saying he's lonely and he wants someone to share a sandwich with him, and once inside the room he propositions them. The girls - who are ni-Vanuatu themselves - explained that the ni-Vanuatu women are so friendly, that when this older, white Australian guy starts talking to them and saying how lonely he is, they believe him "because he's so old", and they feel sorry for him, "because he's so old", and so, they follow him back to share a sandwich. Apparently several of the women have run out of the room screaming, and then through reception where they have given a garbled account of these events to the girls at reception. I was furious, but began to see the (only slightly) funnier side of things once I confirmed with the girls that nobody has been "hurt". Yet.

I told the girls I'd heard the earlier conversation between this man and themselves, and they suddenly smiled weakly as they realised why I'd been behaving so differently when he was around, and when he was not. They were quite concerned that I felt safe staying in the hotel - I assured them that I did, and explained that I thought that he was nothing but a disgusting, sad old man. It's hard to know what to do - in fact it's hard to even know whether this man is picking up 'working women', or whether he is indeed picking up women who are just strolling down the street minding their own business.