Back in New Zealand briefly for the birth of their third child, Roger and Paula Levy hope to return to their mission work in Vanuatu on behalf of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Along with their children David (who’s six and half), Grace (five) and Joshua (born in March), the Levys will head back to Onesua Presbyterian College, a secondary school about an hour’s drive from Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, where they’ve been living for the past two years.
They would like to return to Vanuatu till at least the end of 2012, if they succeed in raising enough financial support.
The college has about 350 students, who come from Vanuatu’s many islands to board at the school. Onesua’s classes are carried out in English, which is usually the students’ third language after their local dialect and Bislama, which is Vanuatu’s main language.
The Levys are part of Palmerston North’s St Alban’s Presbyterian Church. Roger has a background in mechanical work and his initial role in Vanuatu was at the Ebule agricultural training college, near Onesua, which struggles to remain viable and closed down soon after they arrived (it has since reopened, with some support from the Uniting Church in Australia).
Roger then completed a number of maintenance and repair projects at Onesua College, including making a new carpentry workshop more secure, fixing the school’s water pump and reconditioning one of its diesel generators. There are “endless” numbers of maintenance tasks that can be done at the school, he says, which like much of Vanuatu has suffered from years of infrastructure neglect.
The Levys also look after school groups visiting from New Zealand, organising their programme and acting as cultural liaisons. Presbyterian schools St Kentigern’s, Turakina, St Oran’s and St Andrew’s have visited during the past two years.
They also ran a youth group for students in year 13, meeting once a fortnight for a meal and Bible study or discussion. Paula says about half of the year group attended.
Schooling in Vanuatu is very selective, with students having to pass exams in years eight, 10, 12 and 13 to graduate to the next level. “If you don’t get through, you’re out.” Only about 30 percent of teenagers attend high school because of this and because of the cost.
Paula’s roles included helping out with the preschool and working part-time in the school library. Last year she produced a magazine for the college, for the first time in many years.
The Levys lived in a one of the staff houses on the college grounds, which had running water and electricity for about five to six hours a day during the week. There was no washing machine, or running hot water. Internet access is very limited, as are telephone services.
Paula says they would travel regularly to Port Vila for groceries, but also grew a lot of vegetables in their garden.
“Anything you want” is for sale at the supermarket in Port Vila, she says, “it’s just expensive”. For example, cheese costs four times as much as in New Zealand.
They would offer hospitality to their neighbours, inviting people round for dinner every week – something that others often could not afford or did not have enough space to host. But there is a strong culture of reciprocity, Paula says, and people would always offer a similar gesture in return.
Paula says their children really enjoy life in Vanuatu and are keen to return. The “lovely environment” including a beach 100m away and lots of swimming, freedom and fresh mangoes were all positive aspects of their life at Onesua.
David and Grace quickly mastered Bislama, Paula says, while she and Roger became “reasonably fluent”.
Roger says they always knew the initial learning curve would be steep. “The first year was incredibly hard.” They had previously spent six months in China, so were prepared for the realities of living in a foreign culture.
Living a more communal life took a while to get used to, with dinner often interrupted by students asking if they could use their computer or printer, and Paula often given cake-baking duties for feasts or celebrations. “We taught a lot of people how to make self-saucing chocolate pudding.”
*You can sign up to receive the Levy’s monthly updates by emailing paula.roger@maxnet.co.nz. Financial support for the Levys is being coordinated through Assembly Office. If you would like to help, you can send a donation to Global Mission, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, PO Box 9049, Marion Square, Wellington 6141, indicating that it’s for the Levys. Or you can contact Katrina Graham on (04) 381-8283 or katrina@presbyterian.org.nz to talk
about other ways to give.
By Amanda Wells