December
1991
Sunday
as we were in church at Wichap the lady of the house where we hold church was
having quite a time getting her 3 year old son settled down for church.
He was wielding an old butcher knife around he had found in the nearby
kitchen. She tried unsuccessfully
to put a shirt on him. After a
while we looked over and the mother, who was sitting on the floor, had him
calmly lying down in front of her. The boy had the cutting edge of the knife in his mouth
chewing or mouthing it around. I
turned to Bonnie and said, “So that is how the kids cut teeth in Chuuk!”
You
know how we call the holes in our roads at home, “chuck holes!”
Well, over here I have christened them “Chuuk Holes!”
During
Sacrament Meeting at one of the branches, a bright red rooster crowed and then
flew up and perched in the open window of the room we were meeting in.
One of the young people sitting on the floor nearby reached up quickly
and grabbed it by both legs. He
got up and took it outside. When
we dismissed for Priesthood meeting and went out to the little open (lean-to)
shed where we met, there was the rooster staked out with a heavy string tied
to one leg, the other end of the string was tied to a post.
So
there would be no more trouble, they lowered the rooster down into an empty 50
gallon barrel and covered it with a woven mat.
We went on with the meeting. The
bottom was out of the barrel. Every
once in a while I could see part of the string come into view as the ground
was uneven. An occasional sound
of the rustling rooster was all we heard that might have detracted us from the
lesson. The lesson was given in
Trukese, so I couldn’t understand it anyway.
BATHSHEBA AT BELLI BOT
There
is a small boat landing (pickup spot) one half mile northwest of our place
named Pelli Pot. The Chukese
pronounce it “Belli Bot.” Now
that we have moved from the luxury of the Continental Hotel docks, most of the
Elders and the Couple at Uman use this place to put out with their boats and
land again when they come back.
It
is beyond a doubt the ugliest place I have ever seen in my life.
It is like a garbage dump almost.
There is a big old discarded wooden boat that is pulled up on shore
right next to the narrow driveway where you park your car.
Only a photograph could describe the old boat and site\sight around it. There are eight or ten of the most dilapidated cement block
and wooden shacks there that families live in.
The whole one block long area is very littered and dirty and ugly.
The people come out and smile and talk to you when you stop there for
any reason.
Last
week Elder Gray and I and our wives went there to wait for a boat to come in.
The Sisters stayed back in the car and we walked the few yards to the
water’s edge. Out of one house came a naked little boy and his 250 pound
mother. She had on a suitable
skirt but only a towel (a big towel) wrapped around her ample upper body.
In her hand was a half coconut shell filled with grated coconut meat.
It looked just like the coconut I had grated for Bonnie to use in her
cooking the day before. After I
had sampled (tasted) it we had a stalemate conversation.
She apparently didn’t understand us, or we her.
She turned and went back to the car to talk to the sisters.
After
a bit we came back to leave. The
lady had gone over by the shed about 15 feet away, and taken off her towel.
She squatted down low with a large pan of water in front of her and
proceeded to wash her ample torso and long black hair.
She put the shredded coconut in a cloth and squeezed the oil/juice out
over her head to use as a hair conditioner.
We soon left, so didn’t get to see the whole procedure, but I thought,
‘ere I drove out sight,’ if King David of Old had been here instead of where
he was, he probably wouldn’t have gotten in near as much trouble.
One
morning I went out to the little shed where all the scrap lumber was kept, and
picked out a 12’X1”X4” board to use on the back of a picture board we’re
making. I set it on top of the
other boards so it would be ready later in the day to use.
After
breakfast I was busy washing the car when two neighbor boys about 8 years old
came over to visit. As I talked to
one of them inquiring his name, and he mine, and etc., I looked up and saw my
1X4 board just leaving the place on the shoulder of the other boy.
I
didn’t have the heart to call him back and recover the board.
Over here, if you’re not using something like that and they need it, it
is OK to just take it.
THE TAXI SERVICE
The
taxi service here is very unique. Anyone
and everyone who wants to engage in the taxi business just gets a piece of
cardboard or some other suitable material and writes “TAXI” in about 4”
letters on it and puts it in the right front inside of the windshield of
whatever car, pickup, or truck that they happen to own, no matter what condition
it is in.
They
all charge the same standard fare. Fifty
cents will take you almost anywhere on the island, 75 cents at the most.
Twenty-five cents is all, for just a mile or two.
The island is 8 miles long and 4 miles wide.
If
your in the mood to be a taxi driver, you just reach over and stand your
“TAXI” sign up so people can see it. If
you don’t feel in the mood to haul people, you just lay the sign down.
As
we met with Banana, Kipier Inai’s father, we read the following message
written in English on the inside plywood wall of the family home.
In times of trouble, God’s trusting child may say,
“First, he brought me here,
It is by His will I’m in this difficult place.
In that I will rest.”
Home + Historical Summary + Horseshoe Flat Decade + First Ten Years in Farnum + First Home on the Farm + First Quarter Century + Golden Years + Ancestry from Adam Hawkes + College Credits + Tribute to Bonnie + Humor + Tribute to Walter + Percy & Ida Hawkes Farm + Contact
If there are any additions or corrections that would make this more complete please send them to P. Blaine Hawkes.