Wednesday 24th March

Warning, this was written after a long frustrating day, and coming home to find the water is still shut off didn't help my mood.

Another hot dry sweltering day. HKL Logistics, the people that service the RAMSI encampment, are sponsoring the Childrens playground at Rove, and are sending a crew of welders, carpenters in to fix everything there. It’s actually a shambles of a place, the kids love playing there in the daytime, but at night the Boat turns into a Working Girls place of business, or a public toilet, a drinking spot, or a doss house for anyone who needs somewhere to sleep.

I’ve mentioned before about hating to get the ladies in the work crew in there to clean it out, in all honesty working at a sewage works would be preferable. Thankfully we don’t have a drug needle problem here yet, it’s mainly kwaso, or marihuana, or for the more conservative ones beer. HKL are going to seal the openings off, so no one can climb inside, or drop rubbish through.

The Taiwanese Premier is in town, one of the ROC Midshipman training ships is anchored in the harbour, and all the pomp and garbage is going on in town tonight. I didn’t get an invite.

Tiffany asked me what he was here for, from the Solomon Star article, he is going to give the Govt another $10million towards the cattle fund, or the RCDF fund. Tiffany asked where all the cattle were from the first $8million that went missing, and I pointed out the truck to the hills behind Honiara and said they were all behind those hills, or maybe behind the distant hills, or perhaps on the islands out there. Where ever they are it won’t be accessible. It is turning into a farce here with all the different funding that is being poured in, and so far only the Japanese, AusAid, and NZ Aid are taking steps to control where and what the money goes for. Everything else just goes to the politicians, who disburse it to their wantok, or keep it for election bribes. The Japanese, Australian and New Zealand agencies keep the money, and pay it out on invoice, they don’t let the politicians touch it, and the invoices have to tally with the original proposal and request. If only a few more would do the same we might stand a chance that some of the aid would actually get to where it is needed.

I mentioned I think about Peter from VSA Wellington calling in the other day, he is the Regional Director for South Asia and Pacific for VSA, really nice person, been a volunteer in several countries, programme officer, now director, and still keen to get in the field as much as possible. I’d be doing the same in that position, if the choice was paperwork in an office, or going for field trips to remote locations, I’ll be at the airport waiting.

Anyway, we were having one of our usual rambling talks, and he almost accused me of being right wing, and having definite non-socialist views, which I’ve never thought of, but in some ways he may have been right. Although what I’m doing working for nothing in a place like Honiara, or the Solomons doesn’t actually tie in with being a right wing hard line up against the wall type conservative. I know I was sick of reading about Nanny Helen Clark by the time she finally got voted out, Labour are responsible for the largest dumbing down of the education system I’ve ever seen in New Zealand. As for putting quotas in place for University/employment, how bloody stupid can you get. Then making the entrance exams easier because the “target” groups are under represented. Sorry, you make the entrance exams harder, to make sure only the best get through, and if that group isn’t representative of the population mix, tough, you don’t dumb the system down. Go back to the start of it and find out why the bottom 30% are failures, don’t make it easier for them to just drift through. And if it means all the left wing touchy feely psychobabble looney everyone is a winner even little Johnny who is a certifiable psychopath gets a medal for tying his shoelaces vegetarian don’t play on those swings in case you fall and break an arm sorry graduates from teachers college get put up against the wall, or get fired for being nanny looney left wing nutcases, well good.

But I’m not really all that right wing reactionary. Just getting tired of being the ambulance at the bottom of the hill, while successive Governments keep taking the safety barriers down at the top.

I had people on TOPS courses in NZ, teenagers, young men, women, 20 somethings, that couldn’t read or write, but had all sorts of glowing certificates from school. Best Finger Painter in Year 8, Student with the Best Attendance Record 48%, Most Happy Person in Class, all extremely relevant to learning and finding employment I am sure.

One of the few times I’ve ever felt like giving out those sort of Certificates was at a school camp I was on with my daughter at Kawau Island, and we had David, who was mentally handicapped, but wanted to do everything the others were doing despite a fear of heights, water, and a long list of other phobias. Somehow I got him across a 3 rope bridge, swimming, and generally joining in. If any kid deserved a medal for making progress, from all the ones that were there, he did. And walking backwards on a 3 rope bridge while talking and guiding a visibly frightened 11 year old isn’t as easy as it looks.

Still, that was play, I get annoyed at the continual dumbness being foisted on kids in school. The “no one is smarter, better, faster, stronger” than anyone else attitude. No wonder kids just drift through with no sense of having to strive or work for anything. Mind though, that was all I did at school, turned off, drifted through with just enough work done to satisfy the teachers, and spent most of my time reading books that were meant to be above my level. I think getting expelled was the high point of my scholastic achievements. The school had had enough of me, and I was certainly over going there. Hi Damian!

I admit I read a lot of Fred Reeds columns, http://www.fredoneverything.net/
and he certainly isn’t one of your politically correct writers. Which I think is needed more often, all the pc crap in the world isn’t going to fix a problem that is there, all it does is paper over the cracks, while everyone calls it non-cognitive learning disorder, or socially maladjusted behavioural syndrome, or gives certificates for collecting the most rubbish.

Hmmm, I might have a coffee and calm down about now. I know, I’ll mention the water situation. It is now 7.45pm Wednesday night, and once again, still, there is no water. And hasn’t been at all today. I’m going to get hold of Steve tomorrow and get permission to write to the Solomon Star just to vent a bit of steam off. I’ll have to send it though him first I think, I may get carried away. I’m getting very used to Japanese style washes, having 2 x 10 litre buckets helps, one for getting all soaped up from, the other for washing it all off with clean water. It still isn’t as good as standing under a shower though.

The Football (Rugby) Stadium is nearing completion, the fence came down today, and all the outside is now plastered, so you can’t see the mis-match of different concrete and blockwork. I keep wondering how much of a water supply/sewage system/electricity supply the money poured into the stadium would have bought. But silly me, those things don’t have the photo opportunities that a big bright new Rugby Stadium in a country where less than 1% of the people play rugby can give. Not to mention the 68 new shops, the Restaurant, the business offices.

I’m really on a roll tonight with this, at least the things Tiffany and I are working towards are an improvement, and we are trying to get things done to make the place look and feel better.