April 7

hello everyone,
Lucas and I have been talking to all the chiefs and important people in our district about doing an intensive water and sanitation program called PHAST (Participatory Health and Sanitation Transformation). It looks like we'll be doing 8-hour days for 5 or 6 days with at least two councils in our district. Participatory techniques have been around since the late 70's and is a really great way to work with communities as it is completely community-driven, encourages participation by marginalized groups (women) and uses pictures to both educate and to spur conversation, so you don't have to worry about literacy levels. Needless to say I am EX-CIT-ED! Our hope is that the action plan derived from the PHAST will lead our work for the time we have left.
In other news, there has been a wedding this week. Yesterday Lucas and I went to the nakamal of the bride's family to say goodbye to the bride. All the bride's friends and family shake her hand or hug her or cry with her and give her a gift. She will be leaving her friends and family and going to her husband's village in a few days. I don't know this bride personally, but we are friends with her mother and father. Watching everyone cry and hug and thinking about leaving made me cry with everyone else because I love you guys and miss you guys so much. Thanks for all your love and support. Thankfully none of the mamas asked me what was wrong as everyone else was crying too.
Lucas and I packed our on-top garden with seeds and seedlings since now is supposedly the time to plant. Lucas made a "Lucas Mix" of seeds (as we label his invention on our garden map) and planted it pretty densely on-top and has made a bed close to the house with the "Lucas Mix". I am going to be making a garden bed of my own that involves sheet mulching and building up the soil since the ground around our house is not too fertile and Lucas and I are going to see whose bed grows best. We'll keep you posted!
Today we listened to "car talk" on our HF radio and I was so so happy! I LOVE NPR!!! The sad news is that it cut out right when they were giving the answer to the puzzler... Well, that's it for the beautiful island of Pentecost!! All my love, Alex