Week 1
Solomon Islands
I was asked what my first impression of the Solomon Islands was. I replied that its a very expensive Island to live in, everything here is imported with very few exports.
{mosimage}
Food is about 25% dearer than at home, most semi luxury items are 3 times dearer, and the average wage is only 20 dollars a week.
At least it appears to be very democratic, the head line of Daily Newspaper today reads Ex PM Sir Allan Kamak was released out of jail today, he was jailed for six months for ordering ex militants to attack a law firm in 2003 when he was Prime Minister. He is the second Prime Minister to be jailed here recently!!
We have arrived in the middle of the cyclone season, wellingtons and umbrellas are a must, walking from our accommodation to the refectory, where we have our meals, can be an experience due to the heavy rain, long grass and mud that we have to walk through in the dark not knowing what we are going to step on, especially frogs
In today’s paper they reported that 15 crocodiles have been shot in the last three days, this was because a little girl was eaten by a 2.5 meter long crocodile, not sure how near we are to them!!
Next week we meet our 300 pupils who return from their Christmas holidays, we will let you know how well we understand pigeon English.
Cheerio for now.
Leo
Ps We are being bitten aliveMosquitoes everywhere.
On Sun Jan 25 16:17 , Leo Duffy sent:
Week 2
Solomon Islands
DISASTER –my laptop has broken down we think because of the humidity with all my years of work on it, most of it I have backed up on pen drives, but as always I will have to find ways to work around it. and try and retrieve the rest.
Every night we go across to the dinning room for our meal which is about 500 yards away and we leave the outside light on our dwelling to guide us back.
The light in front of our door attracts dozens of frogs crabs and mosquitoes all trying to get in to our abode, last night one crab managed to get in without me noticing, I was having a shower when the crab came in and joined me, bathrooms here are just a wet room with no door.
Our evening meal last night was a large mud crab that one of the boys had caught.
I mentioned the news paper article about the crocodiles to Fr Ambrose he casually replied “Yes be careful one of our brothers was eaten last year fishing in the river”, which is quite close by. I was talking to our cook and she replied “yes be careful her brother was eaten as well”
My next request was could we have the under growth cleared around our accommodation we now feel much safer!!,
Prior to he civil war most people had guns to shoot the crocs but they were taken away by the Australian Army when they came to restore the peace, consequently
Crocodiles are now increasing. In number.
The first email I got from Fr Ambrose was a bit misleading, he ended his email with the words, From the Pearl of the Pacific, I think that was just to temp us here, because this is no pearl, but they desperately need all the help they can get.
The Island we are on is called Honoraria, one of the largest in the Solomon Islands ; it was on this site that the marine landings took place.
The largest sea battle in the second word war, took place of the cost, the battle of Guadalcanal, over 50 capital ships where sunk, the relics are a divers paradise in these crystal clear waters, even though malaria was the biggest casualty on both sides.
From what we have seen here in Guadalcanal it is nothing but dense forest and mangrove swamps with clouds of mosquitoes every where, stray 10 feet of the track and you would be totally lost, although they tell us there are beautiful sandy beaches on the other side of the Island.
Next week when our pupils and teachers arrive here from some of the other islands I will get to know more, at the moment the bad weather is delaying the arrival of both teachers and pupils.
Till next time.
If we survive
Leo
Don Bosco School charted a boat to go to Simbo an Island hit by a Tsunami, they are the first to arrive, Taking water containers food supplies and helping to rebuild the school.30 of the boys went, and five teachers two of the Sisters and both priests We never heard about it in England. Over fifty villagers where killed.
Week 3 Solomon Islands {mosimage}
Even gui sometime from this falla Happi Isles !
Welkam to everi gud mami n dadi
Mifalla hapi tumas for lukim iu,
Translated from Pigin English means.
Greetings and wishes from the Solomon Islands this translation applies to this Island of Honiara only.
Our Tropical Island the Pearl of the Pacific has had monsoon rains non stop for the past week, bridges and roads have been swept away, 40 of our pupils and three of the teachers have still not arrived to start the term, many live on small Islands with no school or reside many miles away, several will have to leave at 5.30am to get to school on time, walking through dense forest to get here, one boy lives up a 2000 foot mountain but he is never late,
An announcement in the paper this week stated, that on one of the Islands the government would be giving them fiberglass canoes as there were no longer trees big enough left to make the dugout canoes, which they all use to fish and travel about the Islands, normally we like to visit some of our pupils families on a Saturday but no way will I be offering to go three mile across open seas full of sharks to visit them in a dugout canoe.
Today we have been to the opening of a new Don Bosco Church in Teteri,
The Mass opened with a war party all dressed in grass skirts, and painted faces paint, dancing up the aisle,. with a mass choir singing in their own language.
Teteri is about five miles from here, a Salesian Agricultural collage, run by Father Dominic who is the rector, and also the parish priest to the village a very dynamic Indian priest. The entire electrical supply at the college is run by solar panels which he installed..
It is from him we obtain most of our vegetables and fruit.
We are now well into the term, our first lessons begin at 7.30 with a 10 minute break at 10am and finish at 11.40am.starting again at 12.10 am finishing at 2.10pm.
At 3 o’clock I take all the teachers till 4 pm, this I think is the most useful part of my day; I feel I’m leaving something valuable behind.
Teachers and students in the Solomon Islands don’t have the chance to go to evening classes like we do, so the facilities to further their education are zero. Our technical high school is the only one in the Solomon Islands to teach trades. The Salesians rely heavily on volunteers and brothers from other countries coming here to help them.
In three weeks time they have asked me to start a new class from 4 till 6 and make it accessible to teachers and professional people from outside our school. It will give these people a chance to learn some computer programs that are now unavailable else ware, our school is one of the few places in this area that has the facilities to do it.
These priests certainly try to get their monies worth from volunteers.(even though there is no pay!!!)
Cheerio for now.
Leo
Week 4 Solomon Islands old
In all our years of working in tropical countries I have never seen rain like it; it has been virtually non stop for two weeks, the last week as been non stop with torrential rain day and night. There is only one road that runs the length of the country, to the north of us the five bridges have been swept away and the roads are under water in some places you can not make out where the road is
Villages are being swept away and are very difficult to contact, just as we where having our evening meal Fr Joseph a Solomon Island priest arrived in the dark on foot having travelled part of the way by canoe to ask could we give him any help, for the villages he looks after as they had been swept away with many loosing there lives, the rivers are now very wide, the crocodiles are going in to the villages and eating their livestock.
Fr Ambrose our Rector has just gone today to Papa New Guinea leaving a young Priest Fr Albert and a newly ordained Vietnamese priest Fr Joseph who had only arrived the day before to decide what we can do to help them
He tells us the main things they need are shelters, food, and water all their crops are under water, Fr Albert is going up to the Agricultural collage at Teteri to see if our agricultural collage can use their boys to help, it will be difficult because the rivers are very wide and are raging torrents, and the only means of access to the villages is by canoe
We are alright here, our building are quite substantial, the only discomfort we have is wading through water every day to get to our classrooms which are all slightly raised, I see now why every one goes bare footed my own sandals are starting to disinter great, through being under water for the past three weeks. Certainly life is never dull but just a bit damp at times.
Cheerio for now
Leo
Week 5 Tuesday
Solomon Islands
Can things get worse I hope not. We saw at first hand the problems the rain was causing when our fist refugee family arrived at 10 pm, a family of seven had just swam across the river to reach us, they had lost everything, except the clothes they were wearing. It has finally become apparent that over 27 villages have been totally destroyed; many food gardens destroyed through landslides, our school is the nearest place of refuge where they can find shelter and food. The government is doing very little to help indeed it hasn’t got the facilities or the expertise to do much now that bridges have been destroyed, it’s left to the local people and the churches to help them.
The main reason the bridges and villages are being destroyed is the legal and illegal logging taking place on the slopes of the mountains, the logs that have been cut on the slopes of the mountains are being washed down the rivers by the torrential rain, when you get a 40 ft 3 meter log travelling at 20 mile an hour hitting the bridge supports they stand no chance. Rivers the size of the river Ribble are every 4 or 5 miles.
Week 4 Wednesday
This afternoon it has finally stopped raining, for how long we don’t know, we are going to Visit Fr John a Vincentian priest from Croatia who has built a parish at a place called Red Beach, the waters in the bay are called Iron Bottom Sound because of the number of ships sunk here, over 72, you can still see many of them protruding from the sea
This was the bay where the Americans landed in the Second World War, it is called Red Beach Bay , because of the large amount of blood that was shed when they landed, 45.000 Japanese and 25.000 American were killed here.
On the northern end of the bay are 116 badly damaged amphibious tanks and various guns rusting away, the bay has now returned to jungle, the tanks are just scattered around the jungle as the Americans abandoned them.
Fr John has built himself a house on stilts along side his Parish Church near the sea, I asked why on stilts he replied “They are more resilient to earth quakes and tsunamis”.
Small earth quakes happen here two or three times a month, recently one island disappeared and one was lifted 3 meters.
It felt strange being on a site where 75.000 solders died.
His parish is in the middle of Red Bay , and covers an area of 100 sq miles area, he has set up a school for the children to receive pre school education before coming to Don Bosco.
Water is collected from the roof, into a 10 foot diameter stainless steel tank, (rainwater, and no shortage here).
The electricity is supplied by a large solar panel on his roof, enough to give him electric light for his evening meal and just enough to top-up his laptop.
Fr John is supported by parishes in Croatia, but he grows all his own food, yams sweet potatoes bananas etc, most of the greens are wild plants, they grow every where, (as does Marijuana, many many people young and old smoke this daily, hence the health problems) no shortage of fish, in fact Fr. told us they caught 15 sharks with their canoes last month, more good food.
I’m just beginning to think we live, not in a jungle but a rain forest I will defiantly check it out next time and not rely on Fr Ambrose’s description of the Pearl of the Pacific!!!
Cheerio for now
Leo
Angela still being bitten!! They must find her tasty
Week 6 Solomon Islands
Tribes.
This government has virtually no control over the Tribal system that we have here, 90% of the land is still owned by tribes. If you buy land off the tribe and build on it, the next generation can come along and tell you that you are on their land and require a payment, if you don’t pay real trouble. Schools here often have to pay this levy. Henderson Airport frequently gets members of the tribe putting tables and chairs on the runway till they pay up.(Anyone remember if their old tribe owned Heathrow)!!!
Alas even the Prime Minister is not exempt, some times when he is traveling along the road they set up a road block then tell him, that this is their tribal land and require a payment. If the government tries to change any thing the chiefs pass a motion of no confidence and dismisses the Prime Minister, some times twice a year, even now we have a former Prime Minister in jail. It’s understandable why these countries are so badly run, even the police won’t arrest someone from their own tribe. The term they use is WANTOM meaning my tribe.
Our first word of guidance, on how to behave was never shout at one of the pupils, it insults his tribe and the group would be round the next day to sort you out, even failing a pupil leads can land you in trouble I think I will tell Angela that, when she next shouts at me.
> The recent unrest was about the Chinese and another group from an Island called Malita who try to be the dominant tribe. All of China Town was burnt down, the majority of the mills that processed the palm oil, coconut oil, and the fish cannery were destroyed, and most of the overseas companies have left the island. It will take a long time for company’s to invest here again; which is sad. The only way these customs will ever change is through education. We were talking to an Irish man who has been here nearly 40 years he said it is more backward now than when the British ruled here
A few years ago the Australians built an overpass to make crossing the road safer but it is never used, in fact it is now boarded up, the reason being no woman may walk over a man. They also have no women in parliament,
Witchcraft is also still widespread. This week the Solomon Star newspaper informed us about a witch doctor telling a women how to get rid of a certain ailment, She had to sit in a cauldron of boiling water, with her husband sat on here shoulders, She died within 1 hour.
This week the local hospital has lost all its power, it gets it electric supply from a hydroelectric scheme supplied from a river on the side of a mountain, the land is owned by a tribe but because they won’t pay the tribe money the tribe have diverted the water that feeds it. The hospital has now lost most of its drug supply due to no refrigeration as well as the lighting for operations.. ---- a different world.
Cheerio for now.
Leo
Week 7 Solomon Islands
ONE DAY IN OUR LIFE
Our day starts at 6.30 in the morning, at 7am we go across to the dinning room and join the priests, for breakfast usually toast or rice.
7.30. Assembly, this consists of raising the Solomon Island Flag and singing the National Anthem then a pep talk, classes start at 8pm.
I think I have an easer time than Angela; many of her students cannot read or write English. Pidgin English is the only language they know, especially the boys from the Islands or the Bush students who live in the forest, where the English comes into Pidgin English, I don’t know we haven’t a clue what they are saying between them selves. Angela has quite a battle to get them to speak our English.
I have a much easier timetable my lessons are all visual on a computer screen and the students love computers, my first year students had never seen a computer before.
My first session is with the Junior Home Economics class 8.00 till 9.20 followed by the Senior Carpenters 9.30 till 11.50, with 20 minuets for lunch. The Sr Electricians
are next 12.10 to 2.10pm, then a thirty minute siesta, if I’m lucky!!!
The teachers come in from 3.pm till 5 pm. My instruction from Fr Ambrose a very scholarly priest from India, is to coach all the teachers to submit their student’s results electronically, to a central computer, also to instruct them on how to publish a 12 page quarterly magazine and print 70.copies. Most of the teachers have never used a computer until now.
At 3pm I have 6 teachers coming in from other Don Bosco Schools to learn basic computer skills. I’m thinking now of my days in the Marines when you soon realized NEVER volunteer.
Our school records need updating so I am writing an Access Data Base for the Don Bosco Technical Collage with Fr Albert from 8 till 9.30 each evening.
This assignment is very interesting, as I am learning many things about our students.
I had not realized that so many of them do not have a surname just Jr or Sr, some even have John 1 John2, John 3 etc.
Often in a morning you see boys arriving, wet through after walking 5 or 6 miles in the monsoon rain, or sitting on the back of a lorry with no cover.
Each week more students arrive from distant parts of the country. One new arrival I had this morning had spent a month getting here, the roads are still impassable, and with so many bridges down he had crossed 120 miles of jungle and rivers traveling by foot, canoe and boat. James is only 15 years old; it shows how desperate they are for an education. (What English mother would let her son set off on a journey like that on his own?!!!!)
Cheerio for now
Leo
Week 8 Solomon Islands
Can it get worse? Yes it can, we normally go for our evening meal about 7 pm by which time it’s quite dark, and our torches are a necessity, We live about 500 yards from where we go to eat, part of the way is usually flooded when it rains, the priests have constructed about thirty stepping stones across this area.
This enables you to keep your feet dry, however tonight the water was so deep we couldn’t see the stones, so we had no choice but to hitch up our trousers and wade through the water, hoping you are keeping in the centre of the road. If you go just 5 feet either side or you will be in 6 feet of water, that’s just part of our life here because you just have to laugh at the situations you find you’re in.
Most of our assignments have been to countries that have been in civil war situations in the resent past, either in the country we are in or the neighbouring country.
One of the highlights of our evening meal is listening to the situations the priests have found them selves in over the years.
Fr Ambrose was telling us about his experiences here during the unrest, he had only just started building this school when the civil war broke out it was impossible to move about for about six months till the Australians under the umbrella of RAMSI stopped the war, one day a Malightan knocked on his house door and demanded the key for his car, and told him he would kill him if he did not hand over the keys.
Tanaka a Japanese brother who was helping to build the school went on the roof of the house and started taking photo’s of the terrorist who left promising to come back, by this time a large no of refugees had started to arrive at the house so he never returned..
Today Angela had a near escape (perhaps) she has found we are near the sea, even though its down rather a rough track through the forest, so she likes to walk there.
The sandy strip is only about 8 foot wide strewn with bits of wrecked ships from the last war and covered with flotsam and tree logs, however we didn’t know it’s a favourite place for the crocodiles to hide waiting for some unsuspecting white person to come a long.
Evidently they lie on the shore, whip their tail around and knock you of your feet, twice this week a 3 meter crocodile has been shot just on the strip where we walk each evening!!!
I will log off for now and let you know in the next email why we both have made a full page spread in the Solomon Island National Newspaper and South American Newspapers-----
Cheerio for now
Leo
Week 9 Solomon Islands
This week we finally got through to near where our 35 Deaf and Dumb Teenagers live, yes I now have 35 new Deaf and Dumb pupils,” more later”.
This is the village that Br George set up for the Deaf and Dumb, 90% of the people live in the forest where Malaria is still a big killer. The big problem is when Malaria is not treated quickly enough it can cause illness leaving the patient deaf and dumb, and they become outcasts.
On this site he has built dozens of grass huts with the help of his boys to accommodate students and helpers, one of the teachers is a young New Zealand girl who is living in a grass hut and teaching them sign language she is an incredible girl.
I often wonder why these settlements are so far away, in this case about 30 miles away, the reason being that a large tract of land is needed that has no tribal problem with the owner ship.
Also they need good fertile land to grow a large amount of foodstuff; this is referred to as a garden!!! Most people need to be totally self sufficient at growing their own food, this land is usually on the banks of the rivers where it is most fertile, but often gets washed away in the frequent floods----------
Today was the first time we have been able to get through to Aroligo where they live. I have never seen such devastation a ten mile stretch of road and bridges had been totally washed away by a giant landslides, trees, boulders logs, and debris 30 foot high in places, it had blocked the road completely, only now have they been able to bulldoze all the way through.
Our four wheel drive is now able to pass, and the deaf and dumb students can now get to back home, 35 on the back of an old lorry forever getting soaked in the frequent rains,
The little bit of free time we have left on Friday night and Saturdays I now have a class for 35 Deaf and Dumb teenagers. When we met Brother Georges with his Deaf and Dumb students I felt quite sad that I was unable to communicate with them.
I happened to mention to Fr Ambrose I thought it would be a good idea for them to learn about computers, we mentioned this to Br George and he asked me could I help.
I jumped at the chance of trying to teach these boys and girls computer programs, it will allow them to communicate via hand held devices to other people, and eventually learning programs that will allow them to get jobs in the outside world.
It has been a huge success and it is now going to be part of their education program. Two of the Salesian Sisters have agreed to continue the program I have set up for this project
Our students and teachers have been thrilled to take part in this experiment and we have been able to give one to one help. It was a bit crowded in the computer room, very hot with all these bodies, no, air-conditioning here, but I felt quite thrilled at how it went, nine weeks ago most of our teachers and pupils knew very little themselves about computers, most of them now feel like experts when teaching these teenagers.
As a result of this the Solomon Island newspapers heard about it and gave us a full centre- page spread two days running and now we are told it has been taken up by the South American newspapers, also we got more coverage on the local radio,
Not bad for just to Brits.
Cheerio for now
Leo
---Week 10 and 11 Solomon Islands
More problems the generator broke down so we had to nip over to Australia for a spare part, in fact it was a heavy alternator weighing 25 kilo it took all of our 20 kilo flight allowance..
As soon as every one knew we were departing for Australia a list of spare parts came in thick and fast, I also needed many parts for my computers
The Don Bosco radio station was also desperate for new parts as were the Sisters at the Hospital.
Not like nipping 3 miles into Chorley just a 3,000 mile round trip to Brisbane ,
Any way I was quite successful. I emailed an old friend from Adlington Bernard Rudd and asked for his help he put me in touch with another person originating from Adlington who spent two afternoons with me collecting all our spare parts, his girl friend worked for the airline Virgin Blue and managed to get a waiver on our excess luggage which, by this time we were over 90 kilos,
Only Radio no phone here ,any way we are now back in the Solomon Island fixing all the spare parts and rebuilding some of our broken down computers. It will keep me busy for a few days.
Having finished designing one data base for this school, I have now been asked by the local cottage hospital run by three sisters, two from Italy and one from Peru ,who run the newly built hospital about 30 miles from here.
I am writing three data bases, one for the maternity ward to record all births and deaths and provide birth certificates, another one for all admittances and one
infections. With this we can provide graphs of all new infections and see if the incidence of any particular infectious disease is rising, giving them a warning of what is happening in the general population
The Family that lived near here wus caught in the floods
It is considered to be the best hospital in the Solomon Islands, at least it’s definatly the cleanest, they only have one doctor who comes here one and a half days a week. its very difficult to get doctors to volunteer to come mainly because of the high incidence of Malaria.
The hospital is very busy all day, lots of Dengue Fever, Malaria, Broken Bones, Bad Cuts with the Machetes.Vaccinating hundreds of children, Pregnant mums, and all the other problems that a small hospital has to deal with.
This hospital is financed by voluntary subscription from abroad mainly Italy . Setting up a data base just to track vaccinations is essential for the sisters, having to write them all in a book that is 3 feet wide then searching for past vaccinations, checking blood types etc is just too slow,
A data base will make life easier for them.
Cheerio for now.
Leo
Our Deaf students at the end of first day
It has been a huge success and it is now going to be part of their education program. Two of the Salesian Sisters have agreed to continue the program I have set up for this project
Our students and teachers have been thrilled to take part in this experiment and we have been able to give one to one help. It was a bit crowded in the computer room, very hot with all these bodies, no, air-conditioning here, but I felt quite thrilled at how it went, nine weeks ago most of our teachers and pupils knew very little themselves about computers, most of them now feel like experts when teaching these teenagers.{mosimage}
As a result of this the Solomon Island newspapers heard about it and gave us a full centre- page spread two days running and now we are told it has been taken up by the South American newspapers, also we got more coverage on the local radio,
Not bad for just to Brits.
Cheerio for now
Leo
Week 13 Solomon Islands
Thursday, 9 April, 2009 6:49
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Before I leave any of the schools I have taught in I ask my pupils to write their biographies.
Their lives are so different from our children, many of them have come straight out of the bush with very little education until they come here, or have failed form three and get no further chance of an education.
Ninety percent of the country they live in is still rain forest, many very rarely see white people unless they have to go to a cottage hospital run by our Sisters.
Here are a few of them, hope you enjoy reading them
Leo
Panapasa Anderson
I am very happy to write this story and it is a privilege to be at Don Bosco Technical Institute. As a Bosconian, I’m enjoying studying here and I learn so many skills since I attended Don Bosco.
I feel sorry because this is our final year in the school. During these three years I felt at home and very comfortable with the spirit of the school. So, it is very sad to leave Don Bosco but I am still part of the Salesians of Don Bosco family.
In my family I have two sisters and one brother and only I and my sister living with my aunty here in Honiara. My sister is doing her studies at Coronation while my parents are back home in the Island of Gizo. My mum is a business women and my father too that is why is very hard for her to be with us here in Honiara. They are working in order to pay our school fees and support everyone at home.
Thank you to Mr. Leo for this opportunity to share my life with some of our friends in England. I will be very happy to have a friend in England to continue this friendship.
Cairns Sarere
I was born on the 16//08/1992 I am a form [3] student at Don Bosco Technical Institute Henderson Solomon Islands I first go to Don Bosco School in 2007.
My favourite subjects is English I like English because I want to speak better English
When I’m working in big company in the future. I’m happy to be at Don Bosco Because Don Bosco School is the best school in Solomon Islands it also gives me opportunity to work with some of the things that I had never used before especially Computer and lathe Machine. And it is also my dream to become a Bosconian.
I come from the Eastern part of Malaita Province and I had two brothers and two sisters. My mother’s name is Esther she is a Christian and she also a Malaitan. My Father’s name is Alick he is a Police officer but he died on the16/03/2003.
I and my brother’s and sister have lived under the care of our mother. In my province we have different culture. Some of our them are still living in the jungle of Malaita, and people always sacrifice pigs for the Ancestor’s, Because if the people don’t sacrifice any thing they will be killed by the Ancestor’s, or if any other people from different Country go there for example Europeans they will also killed because the ancestor’s of the Islands don’t know who the people are. And what tribe they are coming from.
I like listening to heavy metal music because I like the way they play their music.
Cairns Sarere
My name is Iema Tumuri;
I was born in 1993 23th of September.
In my family I have four brothers and two sisters, and I am the sixth
One in the family. In year 2007, I did my study in Gizo; the Western
Part of Solomon Islands.
I was there when the Tsunami hit Gizo; I was very scared when it happened.
And I’m very sad because on that day my grandmother also passed away because she was drowned and killed by the waves. We searched for her for three days and we found her body under the roofs and broken houses. It was a terrible and unforgettable devastated experience. After one week, my mother decided to send me to Honiara to continue my studies.
I continue my studies at Don Bosco Technical Institute, it is a great enjoyable school
Hi my name is Lois Niuika
I come from Guadalcanal province, my age is 17year old .I am the third born of my family,
I have five brothers and three sisters. My eldest sister is usually helping my mum at home. My second born sister is still doing her studies at the high school. While I am doing my study here in Don Bosco Technical.
I am very happy while I am doing my study here.
My family lives in Solomon Island in Honiara. My father he is a farmer man, during my holidays I usually help my father at our home to do work in our garden.
When we come together in our homes my mum is very happy to see all of my brothers and sisters. We speck in our own language, Pidgin and English.
My name is Adrian Aihari.
I have one brother and two sisters. We My name is Adrian Aihari.
I have one brother and two sisters. We live together and have a happy life.
I ’m really happy to write my story about myself.
It’s a privilege to be at Don Bosco. I love my school so much because I am happy to be with my classmates and also with my advisor. My advisor comes from Samoa , her name is Sr. Sialei. She tries her best to teach us and advice our class to be good students.
My hobby is to play valley, listening to the music and playing with children
My future plan is to be a Teacher.
My name is Patrick Chottu Rapeka;
I was born in August 30, 1990 in Honiara Central Hospital. I'm part Savo and India. My Father is from Savo Island and my mother is from India. I have one sister and four brothers including me, and I’m the last borne in my family.
My first brother is Douglas he’s in Australia and my second brother is Hendry he’s at home with his wife. My sister Melissa is in college studying to become an Home Economic teacher, my second to the last brother is Francis, he’s in Bishop Epale school and the last one is me I’m studying in Don Bosco Technical School. It’s my third year in Don Bosco School. I'm happy to be at Don Bosco, I learn a lot of skills, made lots of friends, good values about Don Bosco, and have seen and heard lots of stories and movies about Don Bosco.
I live in White River with my mother. I wake up early every morning to catch the bus to school. If I am late I will go for punish after school that is after 3:oclock. So I try not to be late to school. My mother pays my school fee all of my school years. Sometimes my brother in Australia he dose pays my school fee too.
My favorite game is basketball and rugby, but I love playing football and soccer. During the school holydays I usually go back to my home, and go hunting for birds. And at night I go looking for flying fox. I love fishing and diving, but I love diving at night most, because all the fish a, asleep, so it is very easy to shoot them and take them. That’s all I can say about me.
Hi, my name is Carolyn Labukode.
Iam 16 years old and I’am a form three student of Don Bosco Technical Institute Henderson. I love playing with small kids and also playing sports too. My favorite sports are Volleyball and soccer. I love those two games because every morning break and lunch break we always played them.
At school I have many friends, and my best friend is Evanca and Diana. In my class there are only eight boys and eight girls and we always work together and doing things together both in and outside the class.
In my family I have three brothers and three sisters and my mum. MY dad was not staying with us, so we only left with mum. We lived at Vura village North West Guadalcanal. I’m a third born child in my family. My big brother and my big sister did not complete their school because no one to help my mum to support them. So they stay at home helping my mum to work in the garden and doing other things to generate income to support me in my study. My mum was not worked in town, but she just work at home in the garden.. My other small brothers and sisters were still in primary school.
Since I went to school especially when I came to Don Bosco, my mum faced a big problem. Not any other thing but about bus fare and school fee. Although she faced a big problem but she manage to give us bus fare and pay up our school fee.
Since the last two years, I’m really, really enjoy my study here. I thought to myself that this school is the best school throughout Solomon Island. My hobbies are reading, telling stories, and playing.
And my future plan is to become a Teacher