Fanning Island - part II

Where I am is Wednesday March 16th....  I don’t know what the date is where you are.....   We had an absolutely fantastic day on Fanning Island...  We were on the first tender and it was really a rough ride but we made it..  Below is a photo of the waves hitting shore as we approached in the tender boat.

We had our medical suitcase with us and they wouldn’t let it be with us on the boat, but we picked it up again when we got off and took it ashore with us.   It was about 9:00 when we stepped onto the island....  As we walked down the pier there was a group singing to welcome us.   

Video

Faye and Ken, the couple who acted as coordinator for the donations came in on the next tender and they had some medical supplies also......  as soon as we got off I went to the reception hut where the post office is and spoke to the post master Katilina.  She told me Nurse Kantarawa had gone onto the ship but would be returning shortly.  Nothing to do but wait until she got back so we could give our donations directly to her.

Right off to the side of the pier the people of the island have tables full of their craft items to sell.... many beautiful woven baskets, jewelry, knives, and little carved wood items....  There are truck tours offered for a trip around the island.....   The people are not pushy with their selling, they quietly set behind their tables or on the ground and wait for you to choose something.   They took U.S. dollars......  

We waited about 2 hours, taking turns staying with the suitcase while the other went to look at the crafts and there was another hut not too far away where they were singing and dancing....  They had 4 little kids about 5 years old performing to some of the songs and they were so cute.  They entertained us while we were waiting.  The little guy in the blue shorts was really getting into it but he didn't have it quite down pat....yet. :)

Finally I seen a lady walk by in a navy blue skirt and a white shirt with stripes on the sleeves.... I ran after her because I just had a feeling....and ask her if she was Nurse Kantarawa.  She acknowledged that she was and ask if she could help me with anything.   By then Faye had caught up with us and told her we had some supplies for her and ask what we should do with them....   She then wanted to know how we knew her......  We explained that we had been in contact with Rich and Carlton to arrange getting some medical supplies that we had hoped we could give directly to her.....  She smiled and begin to relax with us.   She ask if we could follow her to the clinic with them so we all took off walking down the path to the clinic.

Jim pulling suitcase

She seen my walking stick and said that she also had a bad leg and the walk was getting harder for her.  She then told me she had been up all night long with a “sick old lady on the island” and she had not had any sleep.  She said and then I had to go on the ship and I was so tired I didn’t think I would make it.  She said I have a motor bike but it is not here but we will go to the clinic and then we can visit.....

We followed her, Fay and Ken carrying all of their bags, and Jim dragging our suitcase down this rocky dirt path...  We walked about a half mile and finally reached the clinic where we took all of our donations inside.  It is just an old cement building about the size of a one car garage, with a tin roof and open door....   


Inside the clinic is very sparse with shelves on two sides and a couple of wheel chairs that someone had donated.  Some items are kept in locked cabinets that just happened to be opened when we were there.  I seen a few antibiotics and maybe some pain medications.   Other than some basics her options for helping others is very limited.  If it's more than she can handle, the patient has to either be flown or taken by boat to Christmas Island, the closest island to Fanning.

Jim laid our suit case on a bench and opened it....   About that time there was a small child came in and stood beside her.  I don't know if the child was a relative or just one of the children who wanders in from time to time.  The Nurse came over and begin to look through it and we took some pictures.   She was very happy when she seen the blood pressure cuffs and I made sure she got the envelope with the letter.    

She said oh we have so many needs and I thank you so much for everything.....   About that time a lady came to the door holding her arm up with some tape around her wrist and on her finger...  She said she needed help.....   Poor Nurse Kantarawa looked so tired but told her to come in and set down.   We walked out the door then and she followed us out and took my hand and looked right at me and said “God bless you for coming and have a safe journey”.   

I was about to cry as we walked away, such a beautiful lady and a wonderful place.... The lady with the hurt arm walked out on the porch as we left and stood there until we were out of sight........

We then walked back to the pier area and rested for a while...

After that we shopped around at some of the tables and listened to some more of the entertainment.... The weather was veery hot, probably about 85 deg and extremely humid.  When we first arrived it was very windy but it eventually calmed down some.   

Later we took the truck tour and while we were on the truck it begin to rain...  It was just an old pickup with a flatbed fixed up with wooden benches and a rail with poles to hold up a tarp like roof.   It cost $10 each to take the Island tour.

The rain poured hard for about 2 minutes then eased off and stopped...  There was one local who rode in the back with about 10 of us.  He pointed out the buildings, the school, the police station, the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church built by the missionaries...  There was a large sign that I could see through the open door and I ask him what it said.......  He answered that it said “welcome to anyone who wants to come and bow and and you know pray”.   I ask if they had a minister and he said he was gone.   I don’t know if he meant just now he wasn’t there or if he had left for good...   I still don’t know if they have a regular pastor who lives on the island...   I ask him about education, he said he went to grade school but when the children get older they have to leave to go to high school...  they go to Christmas Island for high school then if they go on to college they have to go to Australia.  Jim ask him if he had ever been off of the Island and he said he had gotten a job on a sail boat once as a member of the crew, and they went to Hawaii for a month.   He is married and has 4 children....

The Church

A boat lying on the beach with our ship in the background

We also passed by many homes, the picture below is a sample of what most of them looked like.  A lot of them had a pig out in the back yard....some were tied to trees some were not.

There are not very many roads on the island, and they are nothing more than dirt paths....  There are a lot of coconut trees and beautiful foliage throughout the island.   We also went past a seaweed factory where it is harvested and dried and sold to Norway....

After our truck tour ended we walked around some more and I went to the post office and bought a post card..  I put our address on it and ask Katilina if she would write a message on it to me and she was very pleased.  She wrote “Thank you for visiting Fanning Island, with loving, Katilina.  Then she put a stamp on it and dropped it in this old wooden box to be mailed out whenever the next ship to Christmas Island comes by.   IF I ever see it again it will probably be many months from now.....


Fanning Island is a place I will never forget....it and it's people will stay in my heart forever and I hope to visit the warmth of it's beauty again some day....

It was then time to catch the next tender back to the ship...  As it arrived, it turned out to be the tender that brought all of the ships donated items and things that had been given to be kept in their storage area.   We stood and watched as they unloaded it all and we saw our two old suit cases full of the school supplies, so we know those too were left with the island people......

We got back on our ship about 3:30 and the ship left Fanning Island within the hour....   It started raining again right after we got on board and they said we may be going through some storms this evening on our way to Rarotonga, Cook Islands....    Sure enough as I post this at 6:00ish we are in the middle of a blinding rain storm and some rocking.  I hope the captain has big windshield wipers.  This picture was taken from inside the tender as we approached the ship just to give you an idea of how quickly the skies changed....  It was hard getting tied back up to the ship with the winds slamming us against the side and stepping from one to another.

 We will cross the international dateline again tomorrow which I think will put us back on the right date.....and I think we also the Equator the next day...  We are to arrive in Rarotonga on the 19th.....

We have reservations for “an evening at Le Cirque” for dinner...  This is a special meal fashioned after the Le Cirque restaurant in NY city.   It is only offered twice during the cruise.