Greetings from the Theatre

Well, folks, greetings from the Pacific Theatre. After a couple of really great days in Brisbane (such a very fun city and attending one of the most inspiring work meetings I've been to in years) I'm in the Solomon Islands walking on beaches that I wonder if my Dad walked on back when he had shore leave when he was in the Navy back in WWII. I'm also wondering why it's called the Pacific "Theatre"...but it sounds very important. We spent the night on Guadacanal (an island! who knew!)...in Honiara. It's like walking through a WWII movie on the Pacific. The Solomons are 990 inhabited islands ...and the fact that this country is even considered a country is more than a bit baffling. The Aussies still play a very strong role in the central government. There are signs up in public places saying that if any human remains from Japanese soldiers are found, the Japanese government will pay for their repatriation. (You sort of wonder what cottage industry this might spur.) Dying in the war was long considered a disgrace in Japanese culture, and it's this current generation that's wanting to find their family members and bring them home. There's a huge propellar from a WWII fighter plane in the lobby of our hotel. And, then there are signs promoting a "Violence Free Christmas". Yikes!!! I'm in!

The market here in Gizo is quite the event. Here betel nut and lime are the major staples, resulting in folks with big orange grins and missing teeth. We passed some fresh yelllow fin in the market- so it's sashimi for supper. Enviromental concerns here focus on coral mining for construction, overfishing and sealevel rise. In some places, folks are abandoning buildings along shorelines and moving further up the (many) hills.

Lot's of folks here are Seventh Day Adventist, so Saturday's a holiday and that means a dive. Can't wait. Later in the week, we'll visit w/ local folks who are managing community marine protected areas and a tuna cannery. We're trying to get juveniles out of cans..which is a big battle. Here's a fun fact: 300,000 tons of juvenile tuna are fished out of these (Solomons, PNG, Indo, Malaysia) waters every year and are worth some US$300M per year. If you let them mature and importantly ...spawn (2 years) these same 300,000 tons are worth US$1B.

There's a full moon rising over the Solomon Sea.

Lukim you behind! (Pigin for "see you later!")

Cathy