Sailing Thru Land Eternal: Amazing Grace in Black Magic Country

By Nelleke Meuzelaar

This book is a sequel to Flying Angel. It completes the Project MARC story in Vanuatu while inviting you aboard SV Rivendel II on some of the ocean passages that brought her there (e.g., a 1994 Hawaii crossing and her final trip to Brisbane [2008] after eight years of crisscrossing Vanuatu's outer islands with teams of doctors and teachers plus supplies and small flotillas of other sailing vessels). When providing care or training village health workers, language flubs or cultural goofs would regularly create hilarious situations that broke the ice and, with luck, prompted jaw-dropping tales of black magic, sorcerers, mountain spirits, or cannibalism in return. These are the stories of black and white people, with their hopes and fears of trying to survive Land Eternal by the grace of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984510662

Nelleke Meuzelaar

The author was born and raised in The Netherlands, where she obtained a BA in Education. In 1978 she moved to the US with her husband and three children. They now live off-the-grid, in a log home overlooking Palisades Lake, Idaho, 2 hours from the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.

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Sailing thru Land Eternal

Amazing Grace in Black Magic Country

Nelleke Meuzelaar

Copyright © 2018 by Nelleke Meuzelaar.

ISBN:                   Softcover                             978-1-9845-1067-9

                            eBook                                    978-1-9845-1066-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/26/2018

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1 ROVING DOCTORS

CHAPTER 2 YUGAVIGAMENA

CHAPTER 3 AT THE WATERFRONT

CHAPTER 4 MOBIDOC

CHAPTER 5 TOM HENKS

CHAPTER 6 DOKTA INKS HAS MALARIA

CHAPTER 7 HIGH TEA AT NELLIE’S

CHAPTER 8 THE KAVA MAFIA

CHAPTER 9 BIKE BIZNIZ CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10 THE NIGHT WALKERS

CHAPTER 11 JOS

CHAPTER 12 NOT ALL IS LOST

CHAPTER 13 A RESCUE IN THE GULF OF BISCAY

CHAPTER 14 THE TALL SHIP ALVEI

CHAPTER 15 SEAMUS O’BRYAN

CHAPTER 16 THE EXPLORATORY TEAM

CHAPTER 17 THE HUMANITARIAN ASSAULT VESSEL

CHAPTER 18 MOONING IN BIG BAY

CHAPTER 19 THE SWEDISH BIKINI TEAM

CHAPTER 20 BRINGING RIVENDEL HOME

POSTFACE

MINI BISLAMA DICTIONARY

In the hope that the next generation will still read books, this book is for my grandchildren:

James, Robert, Joseph, Tommy, Christian, Kevin, Emmet, Kailee, Peter, Anthonie, Jacob, Adilee, Jordan, Benjamin, Blake and Elise.

It is dedicated to Seamus O’Bryan who was killed in a senseless hit and run motorcycle accident.

The cover of this book, with a picture of Alvei and Rivendel in Big Bay Espiritu Santo, was designed by my husband, friend and best skipper in the world.

Cover photograph courtesy of Bert O’Bryan

PREFACE

Sailing through Land Eternal is the sequel to Flying Angel.

From the cover page of my book Flying Angel:

To sail around the world on Rivendel II, our 43-ft sloop, my husband and I set course for Australia in 1998. Providence landed us in Vanuatu, (meaning Land Eternal), formerly the New Hebrides, independent since 1980. Rural island villages had lost electric power and communication, as well as transportation, education and healthcare services. Thus we started Project MARC, providing assistance for ten years, supported by many dozens of volunteers, vessels and sponsors. This is a story of adventures, failures and triumphs as well as our own spiritual journey through these magical islands.

Sailing thru Land Eternal is about the continuation of our volunteer work, under the spell of black magic and the threat of evil spirits. It describes the travel to places where few white people have set foot before and where the days of cannibalism are still a frequent topic of conversation. All of the work described in this book, was accomplished by small sailboats, always on a time schedule, and heading to often unknown destinations in challenging sea conditions.

This book tells the stories of eager and smart indigenous people, many of whom were never given a chance to attend school, simply as a result of their geographic location. It is the report of women dying at child birth as a result of the absence of medical care, transportation and communication. It is the story of men and women who often set great examples of true Christian behavior, faith and sacrifice. There are hilarious stories, mostly due to cultural differences and there are sad and moving stories. Above all, these are stories about people like you and me; people created by God, colored and white people, each with their own limitations and talents. In our present Western world, many of the older generation are able to retire at an early age and most find out that it is a challenge to fill the empty time and to find a sense of happiness and fulfillment in retirement. Many young people crave adventure and some diversion from often boring and routine jobs. May this book help motivate young and old to find a way to volunteer and give back. None of this work is glorious or easy, but the rewards will warm your heart forever. I encourage you to consider stepping away from boring retirement or jobs, and decide to participate in volunteering anywhere in the world. It is my wish that you may experience, just like we did, that you received more back than you ever gave!

My husband and I feel privileged to have had the chance to work with the Vanuatu people and learn from them and I am thrilled to be able to share the stories with my readers!

James 1 vs 2 and vs 6 & 7 Good News Bible

My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. And when you pray you must have faith and no doubt at all, for whoever doubts is like a wave in the sea that is driven and blown out by the wind.

CHAPTER 1

ROVING DOCTORS

My husband Henk and I are at the end of a hectic five months of work in the Vanuatu Pacific Island nation and are ready to go back home in Park City Utah. For all those months we have lived on our boat Rivendel II and when our work is finished we have to sail her back to the capital of Port Vila. Port Vila is the only place in all of Vanuatu where we can leave our boat during the hurricane season. In the shallow part of Mele Bay is a small boat yard where we will put her on the hard, in the care of Laurent, the French owner. We feel blessed to have this option; this is so much better than sailing all the way back to Fiji as we had to do the previous year. We fly back home in the assurance that our Rivendel is in professional hands.

In Southern Utah, around Thanksgiving in November, it is still warm enough to undertake our annual fall backpacking trip. In the company of two friends from Holland, we drive south and spend the night in a motel in Escalante village. We leave early in the cool crisp morning and drive for an hour, following a dirt road through the desert to mile marker 50. After a while we have to turn the windshield wipers on to get rid of the fine red sand that covers the front window and regain some visibility. It is slow driving over long and winding washboard roads and when we finally arrive, I hardly recognize our truck, it is completely covered with a layer of fine red and white sand; I can write my name in it, which I don’t do, but I can’t help to be childish and quickly draw a heart shape on our car. We park our dusty truck in the small designated parking area close to the trail register where we have to sign in (and out upon return) for our planned three-day hike. It takes a bit of time to stow and tie our sleeping bags, tents and food into our backpacks and fill our water bottles. We lock the truck and place a spare key inside the front bumper, in case there is an emergency and in case we lose the other key. Full of energy we hoist our heavy packs on our back and fasten the straps around our hips. We are rested and excited and anxious to start our backpack trip through the spectacular Escalante area. The first part of our hike is easy and goes over flat red rocks without any obstacles and we make good progress. About two hours into our hike we stop at the rim where we will have to descend into the canyon. In awe we stare down a deep narrow cleft in the rocks which provides the only point of entrance into this part of the Escalante Canyon. The split is so narrow that only one person, without backpack, can wriggle himself through at a time. I go first: making myself as thin as I can by holding my breath and raising my arms above my head. I am slowly making it down, my feet sinking deep into the red sand with every step I take. Once all of us are down except for my husband, he lowers the backpacks one by one down the narrow opening using a rope. Then he too works his way down and joins us. From here on, the trail is more demanding and pretty difficult to find; from time to time it is marked by a triangular little stack of rocks but we often miss it and have to turn back. The trail is interrupted by challenging crossings through the cold Escalante River, climbing over or under trees and sometimes crawling on all fours negotiating narrow rocky ledges. Henk and I have done this trip before but for our two friends from Holland this is a breathtaking and a bit nerve-wrecking experience. Once the hard parts are behind us, it is late afternoon and we pitch our tents near the river in a small sandy area sheltered by an overhanging, very red, rock formation. When the sun goes down the temperature goes down as well and drops dramatically. We have to walk quite a distance to find some driftwood and carry it back to our overnight shelter. With considerable difficulty we start a fire, but when it starts to crackle, the flames produce a wonderful glow and provide warmth for our cold hands and our sore muscles. We cook a simple dinner on the backpack stoves, filter water from the river and make coffee. Marshmallows on sticks, roasted over the campfire complete our meal. After dinner we lie down in the still warm sand, just watching the star-spangled firmament overhead, until our bodies start to fade and we crawl into our tents for a good night’s rest. With us are Robin and his sister, son and daughter of an old school friend of mine. Robin is a filmmaker; he creates 3D movies for IMAX theaters and planetariums worldwide; his company is located in The Netherlands. Besides creating movies, he is an adventure junkie and has joined us several times in the past on hiking and backpacking trips. On one of the beautiful sunny days, during this trip through the Escalante desert, Henk and I talk about our work in the South Pacific as always with great passion and excitement. Robin’s eyes light up and I can see reflected on his face what is going around in his head.

Many months later, back home, and getting ready for the next season, he contacts us and wonders if we would like to have a movie made about our project. He offers to travel to Vanuatu and make the movie at his own expense. We are touched and delighted, because that is exactly what we need right now. We have started Project MARC (Medical Assistance to Remote Communities) two years ago and in order for the project to further grow and develop, a documentary would be of great benefit to us. Potential volunteers and donors would be able to watch the details of our work in the remote and little known country of Vanuatu.

In June we are back in Vanuatu and we are fortunate to have the commitment of two assisting vessels this year: MV Ranui, a luxury 73 foot motor sailor owned and skippered by Richard and Liane and SV Siome a 70 foot working schooner, owned and skippered by Alan and Martha. Both vessels have their home port in New Zealand, respectively in Auckland and the Bay of Islands and their owners have agreed to help us transport volunteers and supplies to the remote islands where we work. Alan and Martha, who have raised six children of their own while living on Siome, immediately offer to host Robin for the duration of his stay and bring him to the locations where he wants to film. We would have loved to have Robin on our own ship Rivendel, but unfortunately there isn’t enough room on our 42 foot ship for Robin and his heavy film equipment and we thankfully accept Alan and Martha’s offer. Robin has offered to stay for an entire month; enough time to give Siome a chance to bring him to the various islands where we work. Before departure to the islands, still in Port Vila, his very first job however, is to film the arrival of our 40-ft container in the harbor of Port Vila. I go with Robin to the big ship wharf; together we take one of the many rickety buses. I know what the container looks like, because I packed it and was there on the day it left the warehouse back home: it is brown and has the name MAERSE on it. With a little shock I actually spot it after half an hour of looking at one container after another. The whole thing is picked up by a huge yellow crane and is swaying in the air as if it were a matchbox. Hanging on the hook, it makes a big swing from the decks of the ship to the ground on the wharf. The next day, when it is cleared by customs, we return to film how its contents are transported, little by little, in small rusty trucks to Siome, anchored in Mele Bay. The volunteers for this month help unload the many boxes of the trucks. Siome is tied onto the seawall for one day to facilitate loading and avoid endless and time-consuming transport by small dinghies. A few days later, Siome, with volunteers and supplies, undertakes the three day crossing and arrives safely at one of the Project MARC destinations with Robin as precious cargo onboard. Now the process repeats itself in reverse order and the Red Baron, the project inflatable, makes many runs to shore, stacked to the max with boxes. Robin accompanies the volunteers, carefully stowing and safeguarding his heavy camera equipment during the always wet and splashy ride in the dinghy. We have specifically asked him to film the volunteers at work in all the different locations, providing simple urgent care and dealing with the local people. I wouldn’t have needed to ask that, because Robin films wherever he can point his camera. Just like me, he is fascinated by the Vanuatu people and especially the children, which are so breathtakingly beautiful. And, vice versa, our Ni-Van people are excited and curious to hear Robin explain why he is here in their village and, excited as they are to welcome any visitor, they go out of their way to assist him in his efforts. They are so interested and excited about the whole film business that one village even invites him to a kastom wedding including the church service, a sing-sing and a salu-salu. This is very special, as normally no outsiders are allowed at any kastom events. Days later he accompanies me to a remote school where roughly two hundred children receive new school kits from Project MARC and are screaming with delight, afterwards followed by a tangkiu sing-sing so beautiful and heartfelt that it brings tears to our eyes. He records the doctors and nurses at work in the bush and in the aid posts, the use of the malaria kits, the building of a new clinic, the installation of moorings,