The name John Frum is unknown to most and an enigma to those that may have heard of him. But to a small number of villages on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, John Frum is their yet-to-return saviour, who will one day return with a ship load of cargo, and deliver them to a better life. Sound familiar?
While I’m not saying I feel like a saviour, I am shipping a ship load of stuff to an island in the very archipelago where John is meant to return. If you are keen to learn more about the John Frum movement, I highly recommend the documentary Waiting for John.
As part of the relocation package with VSA, they provide up to 50 kg of unaccompanied baggage to be sent ahead to your location of assignment. Now they advised that the 50 kg limit was not a target, and you should only take what you need, I pretty much hit the limit like it was a bullseye.
I’ve been battling internally with what to take, and I’d be embarrassed to share my inventory openly, but the hierarchy generally went: music equipment, indoor/outdoor activities, cooking stuff, with the odd item of clothing stuffed into any spare nooks to fill space. Notable items that didn’t make the cut include a bicycle, a second guitar, surfboard and toothpaste.
Two years is a long time, and with anticipated downtime, it seems to make sense that I should take my creature comforts to keep me entertained. But is this really in the spirit of volunteering? How much I really want to immerse into another way of life plays off my against my irrational urges for electronic equipment. I guess only time will tell. I can say however, that for someone who doesn’t really enjoy shopping, the process of purchasing and packing all of this equipment was sufficiently unnerving. I hope this is not a bad omen.