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Margaret Atkin
Frigate birds live on rocky islands and emerge during high winds and storms to ride the currents. Carved on the prows of canoes, they watch out for enemies and spirits and provide inspiration for S...view moreFrigate birds live on rocky islands and emerge during high winds and storms to ride the currents. Carved on the prows of canoes, they watch out for enemies and spirits and provide inspiration for Solomon Islanders. In this deeply Christian country, they are found in many churches. Like them, much of my family's experience in the Solomons has been stormy; but, like them, we have learnt to ride the currents. George Atkin and I were married in 1976 in Tawatana, Makira, after meeting at Wellington Polytechnic. He was studying journalism, while I was a nursing student. It was a profound shock to arrive in the village by canoe to be greeted by naked children and bare-breasted women. We washed in the stream, fetched water from the river and toileted in the sea. I was the only European at our wedding and our only present was a shell.Quite rightly the Solomon Islands Nursing Registration Board decreed I was too inexperienced to register so I returned to NZ to obtain more experience and a midwifery diploma. George subsequently joined me.view less