The workshop was funded by the Commonwealth of Learning and facilitated by the fabulous Rita Narayan from the Secretariat of the Pacific Communities’ Regional Media Centre.

An eager group of participants from the FM stations and key stakeholder organisations like the police, church, government and NGOs learnt basic radio production skills and designed a series of community learning programmes on teenage pregnancy, rubbish disposal and domestic violence. Read more about it and check out some pics and audio here.

Casper and Naomi collect vox pops at the betelnut market in Buala.

This week also marks T-minus 6 weeks until my contract ends and I return to the land of kangaroos, Vegemite and one-seat majority governments. Like Keifer Sutherland in the show I’ve never watched, 24 hours just don’t seem to be enough each day to get everything done, so right now I look like this.

Ah well, what price glory…

• Opening a can of tuna (and other amazing world firsts!)
• FM success and windmill high fives

This week Buala FM has been developing the interviewing and editing skills of our reporters. It’s back to school time in Isabel so we conducted a series of interviews about why education is important and how kids and parents can work together to make the most of their education. We interviewed a teacher from the Ministry of Education, the Senior Personnel Officer and one of the province’s bright young students studying abroad.

I’ve been trying to upload one of the programs but the internet is being a diva who doesn’t work past 5pm on Fridays, so I’ll work on that.

Wan Smolbag is living the NGO dream having started with a handful of volunteers in 1989 and now counting around 100 paid staff members and over 400 volunteers. Wan Smolbag produces brilliant educational development resources including series for TV and radio, theatre scripts and books. They focus on the themes of education, environment, governance, health and youth.

Their resources can be purchased online and are free for Pacific Island schools and NGOs.

At Buala FM we’ve just finished a series called Nes Shirly about a young nurse experiencing an abusive relationship. We’ve now started Spare the Rod, a series looking at family violence and its effects on women and children.

The programmes are fantastic because they are in Ni-Van (which is very similar to Solomon Pijin) and relate to the culture and kastoms familiar to our listeners. They’re informative and approachable and we’ve had really positive feedback.

So while they may not make Oprah’s list, Wan Smolbag are top of mine and I think we know whose list is more influential…Ahem…

In other news, check out my new posts over at the Austraining volunteer site. This one is about adjusting expectations and climbing into the fridge (not unrelated points, either.) And this one is about culture, dugongs and Spam.

I’ve been busy practically living in the Buala FM station this last fortnight. Check out our recent successes here and here.

May you make the most of 2012 because according to the Mayan calender and that John Cusack movie, this is your last chance!

In Isabel, where there are no roads and no phone or internet in most villages, this is a huge boost for communications. The stations are the source of information, community messages and education programs for Isabelians.(Correct term Gema. I made up Isabelians because it sounds nifty. Sorry.)

Travel around the island involves an often perilous boat trip which I’ve blogged about before for Austraining. (Check out my new posts on the Austraining volunteer site here.)

In Lelegia we reinstalled their fallen antenna. Our work was interrupted by pouring rain and some of the local kids decided to entertain me by re enacting the Thai kick-boxing movie Ong Bak. (Their words, not mine.) This included the part where Ong Bak stops fighting the bad guys in order to do head stands in the rain and then slide down an embankment on his bum, losing his shorts in the process, which must have been missing from the version I saw…

Famous Ong Bak 'handstand in rain' scene

Maringe Lagoon, Buala (photo: Claire Varley

which is the view I wake up to every morning.

This is Buala, provincial capital of Isabel Province:

Buala station, Isabel Province (photo: Claire Varley)

I’ve been working with the Isabel Provincial Government Ministry of Community Affairs as their Networked Communities Officer. My work has been to support the Isabel Learning Network – a network of eight community radio stations – to become stronger, more sustainable and self-sufficient. I’ve also been working closely with the new Isabel United to Stop Family Violence team, an integrated alliance of key family violence stakeholders doing grassroots, community level family violence awareness and reduction. For more information check out my volunteer blog and the Community Media in the Solomons  blog.

I’ve met and worked with amazing people like this guy and these people and have learned more than is possible to fit into one average sized brain. (Yes – I’ve needed to buy another brain. I carry it around like an external hard drive…)

To try and describe the last 16 months in the space of a blog post would be like asking Noah to fit his menagerie into a kayak (amusing to watch but ultimately unsuccessful) so I shant (which is the same reply Noah gave).

But I’m back, interweb! I’m back…

After what can really only be described as an insane two weeks of sweat, heat, adventure and yams, I can finally pull myself away from the excitement of downtown Honiara to write something. From this introductory week to the Solomon Islands, I can safely say two things:

1. Taro is a culinary commitment of surprisingly dense proportions.
2. There ain’t no party like an ex-pat party.

And now for something a little more serious.

With Australia’s elections fast approaching there has been much talk about how uninspiring both major parties are.

Sample:

Q. What’s the difference between the Liberal and Labor party policies?

A. Nothing.

(What? You were expecting a joke? There’s nothing funny about terminally ill democracy.)

Amidst the talk back home about donkey voting and whatnot, the Solomons went to the polls on August 4 with a completely polar sense of zeal and excitement.

For weeks before polling day, trucks full of people took to the streets (well, street. Downtown Honiara is essentially one big, long street) honking their horns and chanting for the candidates.  People wore t-shirts indicating which ‘team’ they were voting for. The newspapers were full of editorials and letters-to-the-editor urging people to be peaceful on polling day and avoid any repetition of the 2006 election and ensuing riots.

The Solomons were into this election. They were passionate. In the days prior to polling, boats literally packed to the brim with people scuttled back and forth between Honiara and the provinces bringing people back home to vote. People were cramming themselves onto already full boats, sometimes travelling up to twenty-four hours, so that they could vote in their hometown. And this is in a country were voting isn’t even compulsory.

Posters and images in the newspaper broke down the voting process into simple steps and suggested ways of making voting more accessible to those who might otherwise have difficulty (the elderly, the blind etc).

And in a country where a great many people are illiterate, posters and signs across the provinces indicated each candidate and their pictorial symbol that could be found on the ballot papers to make voting accessible to everyone. If you want to vote for this guy, then tick the box with the pineapple next to it. For this woman, tick the box with the truck next to it.

And in the days following, the entire country now seems to be anxiously listening to the radio, waiting for votes to be counted and seats announced. You can feel the tension, excitement and hope in the air. This is what democracy is about.

Meanwhile, back in Australia, from what I can see the whole thing seems to have turned into an episode of ‘This is Your Life’, with all the ghosts-of-Prime-Ministers-past wandering out of the dusty pages of history to speak in sound bites and get some free canapés at various functions.

Australia – I know this isn’t the most exciting election. I know the hope of trying to find something that resembles an actual policy seems about as successful as Mark Latham trying to be a journalist (When did he show up to the disco? Who saw that coming?).

But please don’t waste your vote. Please don’t donkey vote. Your vote is powerful and if you’re not happy with the two major parties, tell them this by voting for a minor party or for an independent.

Don’t take your democracy for granted. Use your vote.  Power to the people! (insert fist pump/peace sign/other inspiring gesture.)

What’s up?

Nice weather we’ve been having. A little rainy but you really can’t complain, can you?

Enough with the formalities. I think you know what this letter means, Australia. I think you’ve known for some time.

I’m leaving you.

There, I’ve said it. I’m leaving you and I’m going away for a while. I don’t know how long. I just know I need some time away from you.

It’s not me, Australia, it’s you. You’ve been a part of my life for so long and I’m ready for a change. I want to go on adventures and see the world. I feel like all we ever do, Australia, is sit at home watching the telly and contributing to the growing obesity epidemic that is, apparently, sweeping the nation. You’re making me fat, Australia. Fat and bored and ready for something different.

And it’s not just that I’m bored with you Australia; you’ve changed. I remember a long time ago when you used to be fun. You used to like meeting new people and trying new things. Nowadays it feels like you don’t really trust anyone and you’ve been doing the same old things for the past decade or so.

And, to be frank with you Australia, sometimes I don’t like the things you say. Sometimes they make me cringe. I don’t like the way you talk about same-sex marriage or asylum seekers or Muslims or the environment. Sometimes, Australia, I’m embarrassed to be seen in public with you.

The truth is, Australia, sometimes it feels like you’re turning into a grumpy old man who wants to sit at home with the security shutters rolled down and refuse to acknowledge that outside it isn’t the 1950s anymore.

I don’t really know you anymore, Australia. I can’t tell if you’re Labor or Liberal or neither or both, and quite frankly I’m worried about some of the friends you’ve been making. I don’t want to name names, but I don’t like that Tony fellow you’ve been hanging around with. I don’t think he’s good for you, Australia.

Anyway, like I said before, I think you’ve known this has been coming for quite some time. It’s not that I don’t love you, Australia. It’s not that I don’t admire so many of your qualities and characteristics. It’s just that I don’t know if I like the person you’re becoming and I need some time to be on my own, away from you, somewhere tropical, to think things through.

Don’t think of this as goodbye, Australia. Think of it as the opportunity for a new beginning.

Good luck, Australia. I’ll keep in touch and in twelve months time, let’s see where we’re at.

Thanks for the memories.

Love,

Claire

The new entity will merge the previous four UN women’s entities – UNIFEM, Division for the Advancement of Women, International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, and the Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women – to create, if you will, a super UN Women’s entity that will have its own Under-Secretary General (whereas the previous entities were all linked to other bodies within the UN such as the UNDP).

The new UN Women website says: “UN Women will have two key roles: It will support inter-governmental bodies such as the Commission on the Status of Women in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms, and it will help Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, as well as forging effective partnerships with civil society. It will also help the UN system to be accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.”

This is exciting because it is a huge acknowledgment of the central role of gender equality and women’s empowerment to development.UN Women will become operational in January 2011.

Three cheers to the UN for this excellent decision!

“Oh look, here are some loose ends. Let’s tie them up. Oh dear, they seem to have unravelled other loose ends. I better see to them. Ah dear, now these loose ends have brought up a new box of tedious yet important things to do. Let’s just have a sort through that… Now if I just place this up here on this shelf… OH NO [DISASTER] AN AVALANCHE OF STUPID PAINFUL THINGS TO FOLLOW UP WITH BANKS AND OTHER ANNOYING-TO-DEAL-WITH-SERVICES! Ah! Attack of the never-ending stream of phone calls with automated voice prompts that don’t provide an option for what I want! Help. Help me (Obi-Wan Kenobi).”

And so on and so forth.

I’ve also been having minor issues packing.

This is the before shot.

Photo: Claire Varley

This is the after shot, and by ‘after’ I mean ‘two bags later and how can it look like I’ve not made a dint on that pile of crap?’

Photo: Claire Varley

Following a minor meltdown that involved unpacking/throwing everything around the room, I managed to do a big cull and repack and whittled it down to one bag. Thank you, thank you!