Children from a local village, on the tropical island of Vanuatu, recently enjoyed a ‘Black Islands Custom and Conflict’ black and white photographic exhibition held, in the Cultural Center, Port Vila.

The exhibition of black and white photographs is part of the collection taken by the world renowned Australian photo-journalist, Ben Bohane. Ben has sensitively captured custom and conflict images of the South Pacific and South East Asia region since 1989.

Ben has been a witness to most of the major conflicts in the area of the South Pacific, East Timor, West Papua, Moluccu, PGN, Solomon Islands, Bougainville, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia as a Blue Moon Opportunity, (an opportunity that changes lives).

Ben has had the opportunity to spend expended periods of time, living with a wide variety of tribal, custom, cult and rebel groups. He travelled with Guadalcanal guerrillas, as well as photographing the opposing Malaita Eagle Force. Ben was able to secure the only interview and pictures of Guadalcanal warlord, Harold Keke, before he surrendered to Australian troops.

Ben lays claim to what is deemed to be the largest contemporary photo archive, of the South Pacific, in the world. His highly emotive, but sensitive photographs hang in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and the Australian War Memorial, as well as being owned to maintain an independent record of any conflict.

“I like to go home to Port Vila, Vanuatu and take a break whenever I can,” Ben told us. He continues to specialize in Australasia and the Pacific region. His exhibitions have included displays in Australia, Washington, Holland and Cambodia, besides appearing in magazines ranging from Newsweek, The Guardian, (UK), Geo in France, Aera (Japan), Pacific magazine(Hawaii), plus numerous Australian publications. His documentaries have been viewed on the ABC, SBS Australia, BBC and ARD, Germany andNHK, Japan. He is also a regular producer for the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program on Pacific issues.

In a nation where education is not free and 25% of the young generation never go to school, it is exciting to see the interest the children displayed in the exhibition.

For further information on Ben or the photographic exhibition contact the cultural centre pima@vanuatu.com.vu, or look up their website

Vanuatu is the ‘Must See’ travel adventure destination of the South Pacific. You can check out more about this exciting nation at Win A Resort

Lying in the shadow of the live volcano, Mt Yasur, in Sulphur Bay, on the remote tropical island of Tanna, Vanuatu, is the home of the ‘Jon Frum’ movement. This is one of the only remaining ‘cargo’ cults left in the world.

It was formed when ‘John from America’, supposedly an American medic, literally dropped in on this ancient culture, in a plane, distributing medicine and gifts to the local people. It was just before the time when American troops, stationed in Efate and Santo, were assigned to protect the South Pacific islands against a Second World War Japanese invasion.

The cult urged the local people to turn away from the aggressive teaching of the Christian missionaries and to put their faith in their own customs. The arrival of the white man had introduced many new diseases to the local people, causing the population of some of the Vanuatu islands to be almost wiped out.  A further decimation of the population occurred through ‘black-birding’ when thousands of Vanuatu males were conned to go to work in sugar plantations in Queensland, Australia.

Though the true source of Jon Frum is rather blurred, each Friday, outlying villagers walk to Sulphur Bay to honour Jon Frum. The men sing and play guitars while the women dance around them in the light of kerosene lamps. They call to the cowboy spirits, Cowboy Billy, Cowboy Jimmy and Cowboy Steven. These will help them communicate with Jonn Frum. Following a deep rumble, Mt Yasur in the background, lights up the night sky with spurts of glowing lava.

Many of the followers of Jon Frum believe he lives in the volcano. Accompanied by 5,000 troops he will bring sack loads of gifts and liberate Tanna to a glorious new age. At one point the villagers cleared enough bush to make an airstrip and erected a bamboo control tower, hoping to encourage Jon Frum to return in his plane.

For fifty years the Jon Frum followers have paraded on the February 15th, under the leadership of Chief Isaac Wan, in home-made US uniforms, beneath the Stars and Stripes flag. Playing the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ on bamboo flutes and carrying bamboo weapons, they hope to entice another deliver of ‘cargo’.

In 1957 the American warship, the Yankee, visited Tanna. The commander, at the request of local authorities, tried to explain to the villagers there was no such person as Jon Frum in the US. The local villagers dismissed the commander as being ‘a false American’.

David Attenborough, brother of filmmaker Richard Attenborough, one of the first foreigners to find the Jon Frum movement in the 1960’s, asked the people of Tanna, ‘Why wait for someone who never comes?’  One of the islanders is reported to have replied, adding, “You have been waiting for 2,000 years for Jesus Christ.”

Vanuatu is the tropical island ‘Must See’ travel adventure destination of the South Pacific. The perfect place to find a Blue Moon Opportunity, one that will set you free.

If you would like to know more about the author and a Blue Moon Opportunity in Vanuatu take a few minutes to check out Win A Resort

On the tiny tropical island of Vanuatu, a local headmaster, Alick Garae, has been given a Blue Moon Opportunity, (one that will change a lot of lives), in being unexpectedly accepted by the Fulton College in Fiji, to study for his Primary School Bachelor Degree. However, it appears that due to lack of funds, Alick will be unable to accept this great offer.

Alick, a gifted teacher, has dedicated the last 22 years to educating the children of Port Vila, Vanuatu. He has increased the number of students in the Olwi School, in Port Vila, to 150, with classrooms from kindergarten to grade 6.  Soon he hopes to take the school a step further by adding grades 8 to 10.

Alick has also been able to assist many of his staff to gain their local teaching qualifications and continues to train as many of his teachers, as his time permits.

One of Alick’s students has been chosen to be the first pupil to be given a non-repayable high school education grant from the YouMe Support Foundation and Child Trust Fund. A grant that is given only to children whose parents have absolutely no way of being able to raise the funds for their child to continue their education. Unfortunately this is not an uncommon thing in Vanuatu, where there is no free education. Statistics have changed little since the 1990 survey:

• 25% of children will never go to school

• Only 55.8% will reach grade 6

• Only 18.2% will continue on to high school.

Unfortunately it seems Alick finds himself in a similar situation to many of his students. He is unable to raise the funds to take up the golden opportunity to continue his own education, as he has to find $Fiji 4800 by January 2009.

The Fulton College has a special program which includes 11 hours per week of manual labour around the college. This not only improves the students skills in such areas as farming, orchid work, librarian and general gardening, is also of practical use when the students return home, but it allows the college to maintain a low structure of fees.

If anyone is able to assist Alick fulfill his dream of continuing his own education, so he can give better service to his own students and teachers, please contact Mark at the Daily Post on email: publisher@dailypost.com.vu or Dr Wendy on email:  info@seachangelodge.com

If you would like to know more about the author take a few minutes to check out YouMe Support Foundation

The extreme sport of Bungee jumping has  become a world-wide phenomenon but there are some facts you ought to know:

• originated on the tropical island of Vanuatu in the South Pacific when a woman grabbed a vine and leapt out of a tree to get away from her quarrelsome husband. He followed her, without the vine!! This was the first death to bungee jumping.

• The first western country bungee jumpers who dived off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England, on April Fool’s Day 1979, were instantly arrested.

• The highest commercial land bungee jump available is off the Macau Tower in China. At 764 feet, jumpers travel at 125 mph for four to five seconds

• The longest dive from a helicopter was made by Andrew Salisbury in 1991. He dropped 3,157 feet.

• Stuntman Wayne Michaels staged the biggest bungee jump ever filmed. In 2002 he jumped off the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland, 720 feet, for opening scene of the James Bond movie, Golden Eye. This is now a terrifying commercial jump of over seven seconds.

• A jumper died in front of Queen Elizabeth on the island of Pentecost, in Vanuatu, in 1976.

• Carl Dionisio used a cord made of condoms for a 100ft jump in South Africa.

• Bungee jumping can cause dislocation, rope burn, back injury and eye trauma, besides an occasional death

• The island of Pentecost ceremonial land jump, from 70 foot bamboo towers, is to ensure the yam harvest for the coming year. Participants must brush the ground with their shoulders. Before diving they shout out whatever is on their heart about their inner feelings, as it may be the last time they have a chance to do so. Other participants help the stunned diver quickly to their feet.

• All Pentecost divers have to make their own vines. Too long and they hit the earth too hard. Too short and they hit the tower.

• Young Pentecost boys are initiated into the custom ceremony, by diving from lower levels to begin with.

This religious festival and can be viewed every year between the months of April and June, on the tropical island of Vanuatu, the ‘Must See’ travel adventure destination of the South Pacific.

To find more about great Blue Moon Opportunities of the South Pacific take a quick visit to Win A Resort. It could change your life.

The tropical island of Vanuatu is home to thousands of remnants of ‘No Trade-mark’ coca cola bottles left behind by the American troops during the Second World War.

During a recent Open Garden day in Port Vila, organized by the local garden club, around fifty people visited the home and garden of a well known local artist, Faith Hodder. Sitting on the patio admiring the panoramic view of the South Pacific, guests were entertained of the tale of the ‘No-Trademark’ American coca cola bottles. Faith saw this as a unique opportunity, (Blue Moon Opportunity) and has turned a corner of her garden into a ‘Coco Cola Garden’.

In the second World War, 100,000 American troops descended on the tropical island of Santo, in Vanuatu (New Hebrides) and a further 25, 000 troops on Efate. Their task was to halt the Japanese invasion across the chain of South Pacific islands.

The remnant of a downed aircraft can still be seen outside the Aero Club at Port Vila. “The aircraft crashed into a tree, shortly after having dropped wrapped lollies from a cockpit to some village children”, according to 74 year old Wallace Andre, a witness to the crash.

Coco Cola was a mainstay of the Americans, each soldier devouring several bottles a day. In order to keep up the supply to the troops, Coco Cola bottles were shipped out from America and filled from a temporary Coco Cola factory in Vanuatu. These supplied Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Solomon US troops with their daily ration of soft drink. Because the majority of the bottles had no trademark, the South Pacific has been left with the unique phenomenon of thousands of remnants of broken ‘No-Trade mark’ coco cola bottles.

At the end of the war, the Americans disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived, leaving behind them the remnants of their three year stay. You can still find clumps of molten glass, where the troops had tried in vain to burn some of the thousands of ‘No-trade’ mark bottles.

To find out more about the author take a few minutes to go to Win A Resort and its Blue Moon Opportunity

We waited for our Sunday lunch to be served on the tropical island of Vanuatu, cooled by the gentle tropical breeze. We sat watching the rays of the sun dance and sparkle off the brilliant blue-green waters of the South Pacific. As we sipped a delicate Australian Sauvignon Blanc, Just a few feet away three young Ni-Vanuatu boys cast a net in the time honoured traditions of their forefathers.

Slowly and with great care the boys trawled their net onto the white coral shore, in their minds retracing the images of having watched their brothers, fathers and grandfathers before them enact this timeless custom. Searching incredulously for the smallest of fish caught between the folds of the net, the delighted beams on the boys faces told it all. Victoriously they caughts each tiny fish between forefinger and thumb before being deposited into an awaiting 300ml green Tusker beer bottle (the locally brewed and well accepted beer).

Watching the young boys acting out the traditions of their people was a relaxing and enjoyable pastime for us. A welcome break after our 25k eco-tour bike ride, snorkelling over the reef admiring the numerous coloured fish, enjoying an early morning kayak paddle up the lagoon, or lazing in the warm sun at the resort’s swimming pool.

We thought these industrious young boys were gathering the fish in hope of catching enough to make a meal, just like some people gather whitebait. We did wonder though if the fish would be ‘cooked’ in the bottle long before the boys managed to get them home.

Time and again the young boys repeated the process, as the water glistened off their fit brown bodies. Each drag of the net managed to gather at least a couple of the tiny creatures.

Finally, one of the boys produced a plastic bottle around which was wound a long length of fishing line. It took several minutes for him to extract a fish from the bottle. With great care he attached the tiny ‘catch’ to an equally tiny fishing hook.

At last satisfied, he plunged out towards the deeper water, where he cast his fishing line for the real task at hand – catch a good size fish for the family’s evening meal.

This was not a game to these young men, but a real-life endeavour, that would sustain them in the years ahead. Education in Vanuatu is not free and over 25% of the children never have the opportunity to go to school. The ingenuity of taking hold of opportunities that present themselves on a daily basis, such as a discarded glass beer bottle, turns the ordinary into something special, (a Blue Moon Opportunity). This combined with the traditions of their parents, will keep these children alive. Our challenge is to help them move into the 21st century without losing their rich heritage.

To learn more about the author and take a few minutes to look at a Blue Moon Opportunity (one that could completely change your life) check out Win a Resort

Vanuatu, a peaceful tropical island nation in the South Pacific, witnessed an unprecedented custom ceremony when Chief Joshua Batakoro Vanua,  father of Lee Tamata, a high risk escapee from the local jail, ceremoniously handed over ten pigs to the community heads, in a plea for forgiveness for the misdemeanors of his son.

The community leaders included the new Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Edward Natapei. It was the highest price ever to be paid in the tradition of the island of Pentecost custom peace ceremony.

Earlier in the year a Pentecost chief had demanded that Jenny Lido, a woman candidate pay 10 pigs in a custom ceremony, for her right to continue to contest the country’s general elections. Jenny had already performed a 10 pig-killing custom ceremony, simply to be permitted to be allowed to enter the male dominated arena of politics.

When Chief Joshua found out how much damage and fear his son had caused to members of the local community in Port Vila, he felt compelled to offer the pigs on behalf of his son, asking for the leaders forgiveness.

Isolated away from his family and home island, Chief Joshua spent three months in the capital Port Vila. He was forced to sell kava (a local made drink) and taro in order to be able to raise the funds to buy the pigs for the peace ceremony.

It was a very expensive exercise for the father, as pigs are the wealth of a village and ten mature pigs highly prized. Curled pig tusks are used as currency in some remote areas of the Vanuatu islands, with the Tari Bunia Bank having 14 branches. The bank gives loans, issues cheque books, and has reserves, all on the currency of pig tusks. While there is a vault to the bank there is no need for the use of locks . “The bank is protected by spirits and snakes,” proudly says the bank manager.

“My son has erred and I ask for your forgiveness,” said Chief Joshua, who spent time counseling his son while in Vila. The Chief will now return home with assurances from his son that he will serve the full term of his sentence and act with respect towards the law.  Lee’s name means peace in the language of his home island, Pentecost.

Vanuatu is a ‘Must See’ travel adventure destination of the South Pacific and the place to see a Blue Moon Opportunity that can be your chance to be set free.

If you would like to know more about the author and a Blue Moon Opportunity take a few minutes to check out Win A Resort

On the 13th and 14th November, Vanuatu, a tropical island in the South Pacific, is holding its annual International Barista Competition. Barista Coffee is the professional excellence in the artistry of making a great coffee.

Coffee experts and amateur coffee makers from all over the world will confer on how to make the best expresso coffee. International Barista judge, Rob Forsyth from Sydney Australia, will oversee the event and judge the entries.

The competition will be held in the grounds of the newly refurbished Le Lagon Resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with many special accommodation deals being offered to visitors to Vanuatu. Vanuatu grows its own world famous organic coffee, Tanna Coffee, on the tropical island of Tanna.

“We held our first competition last year, which was such a success that the Barista Vanuatu is now an annual event on the Vanuatu calendar,” said hotel owner and Barista organizer, Joanne Wade of Poppys on the Lagoon. “The atmosphere around Port Vila during the competition time and the prizes alone, including air fares, are enough to draw numerous entrants. It is an unbeatable location for this international event.”

Coffee growing and appreciation of good coffee makers has grown dramatically worldwide, in the past few years. Organically grown coffee beans now feature on supermarket shelves and making café latte has become café art.

Major sponsors of the 2008 Barista Vanuatu include the ANZ bank, Air Vanuatu, Poppys on the Lagoon, Le Lagon Resort, Friendly Bungalows on Tanna, Tanna Coffee

Entries can be made on the Barista Vanuatu official web site www.baristavanuatu.com

If you would like to know more about Vanuatu and how you could have a place in the sun, visit Win A Resort. Its a once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity.

National celebrations and festivals are an important part of people expressing their culture and traditions. This often involves such things as certain food, ceremonies and music. It is a time for the local people to forget their everyday chores, take a holiday, relax and celebrate together.

While nations around the world face financial crises, people flocked to the Melbourne Cup Race in Australia, when the entire nation of Australia stops to celebrate the once-a-year horse race. No matter where Australians go in the world, they stop and celebrate the first Tuesday in November.

One such country that does it well, is in the tropical islands of Vanuatu, just three and a half hours plane flight north east of Sydney Australia.

Dressed to the hilt, the ladies turn up at the famous Ladies Melbourne Cup Day Luncheon. You would be excused for thinking you were in Australia, instead of sitting on a beautiful tropical island in the South Pacific.

The brightly coloured marquee is set up with all the trimmings. Guests are greeting with a lethal looking fruit punch, followed by buckets of iced champagne. The ladies are dressed in their finest gear, ranging from exotic looking hats to extreme high heels.

The temperature soars under the marquee. Sweepstakes and raffles flow freely throughout the afternoon, including the auctioning of three ‘beach boys’. A large TV screen takes pride of place for the screening of the Melbourne Cup Horse Race.

The festivities flow well into the night and one wonders just who is looking after the ‘family’ and how many ladies need to be chauffeured home.

All in all it’s a lot of fun and rather more enjoyable than fighting your way through 100,000 people to sit at the real Melbourne Cup.

Our suggestion is that ladies you mark the first Tuesday in November 2009 as a great day to visit the tropical island of Vanuatu. (There are always some great specials available at that time.) Bring along the most outrageous outfit you can find and you will blend in beautifully with the local colour.

P.S. I wonder how many women had a neck ache the next day. Yes neck ache, not head ache, from the totally outrageous and wonderful millinary concoctions.

You too could have a place in the sun in Vanuatu. Take a few minutes to check out the once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity. It could completely change your life.

Many people have enjoyed the 1962-1966 television comedy McHale’s Navy about the adventures of a misfit PT Boat crew. We have been told that a real McHale actually existed in the tropical islands of the South Pacific, in Vanuatu (New Hebrides) in the Second World War. For all our searching we have not been able to verify this truth. Can anyone help us? Did a real McHale exist in the tropical islands?

In early1942, the Japanese reached the nearby Solomon Islands and the New Hebridean’s lived in real fear that their islands would be next. The Americans, however, arrived first, totally unannounced, in May 1942. Up to 100,000 soldiers were based in Santo, Vanuatu.
Only one Japanese plane bombed Vanuatu.  Bessie the cow was the only casualty, apart from the plane being shot down.
At the end of the war, the Americans disappeared as quickly as they had come, but not before Mitchner’s well known Tales of the South Pacific had been born.