French Polynesia '06: Some beautiful faces

Here are random pictures of some beautiful faces of the children of Polynesia:

French Polynesia '06: Tahiti music project

Music project in Tahiti

I also undertook a music project of recording versions of Baha'i prayers and excerpts of Sacred Writings with Tahitian melodies to be used as teaching tools. We recorded four believers who sang and arranged together nine songs in Tahitian, mostly Hidden Words, prayers and excerpts from Ruhi books. A friend of mine, Sebastien, brought his recording equipment to the Baha’i house in Paea. He added some didgeridoo. I will take the tracks back to the U.S. and do some additional instrumentation with the input of the local believers about what they would like to have on it. I hope to have something prepared to send back so that the cd can be duplicated and given out to friends.

The singers were Poereva, Andre, Teura and Marie-Christine. They are all amateur but I was really amazed at how professional they were. They did all the vocal arrangements, rehearsed by singing on the beach after work and recorded them with a high dedication to excellence. They were intent on doing their very best. They sang together in the bathroom (for the tile ech0) all at the same time so if one made a mistake, it had to be redone. There were not separate vocal tracks. they did a very very good job --- as good as many pros I've worked with. They demonstrated an inborn musical sense.


Teura and Max dancing on the porch of the 'Baha'i' house in Paea, Tahiti, where we recorded.




Poereva, Djanni, Andre, Marie-Christine and Teura going into the 'bathroom' studio




Marie-Christine conducting; she's a dancer and has a great sense of rythm.




Stephane, a friend, eating with the singers during the break. The meal was prepared by Max, who will be opening a patisserierie and coffee shop on a beautiful small island and Christine, a chinese friend.




Teura, Andre and Poereva listening attentively to feedback and directions. Poereva works as a Pharmacy assistant and is the Auxiliary Board member for the Baha'is.




Marie-Christine giving some more directions.




Me listening attentively to the vocal harmonies and checkign that they are in tune. I am not that good at this but over the yeras I have developed a better ear for 'in-tune' vocals.




Sebastien, my friend who lives in Faaa, engineered the project. he is from Normandy and married a tahitian woman. he plays the didjiridoo, makes drums, dj's and teaches.

French Polynesia '06: Rurutu in the Austral Islands

Rurutu in the Austral Islands

I made a trip to Rurutu in the Austral Islands to visit with a Baha’i there. She and I got together three times to speak about some basic aspects of the spiritual teaching of the Baha’i Faith. The Austral Islands are a small island chain in the Southern section of French Polynesia --- after that, it’s the Antarctica. The weather is much more temperate than the heat and humidity of other islands. Rurutu is known for being in the breeding ground of the humpback whales and for its hats made from dried pondanus plant.

The high point of my visit there was the opportunity to take a small fishing boat out to sea on a stormy morning and swim with two humpback whales, each measuring 15 meters in length! For two and half mostly stomach churning hours we went out in the rain and wind and fog crashing over three meter swells. 4 of the 7 passengers were leaning overboard heaving. The little girl was crying and no one had life jackets. We went back to the little port and dumped the sea sick people and headed back out into calmer northern waters.

After a while we saw two large tails. The driver cut the engines; we watched for twenty minutes as part of their bodies would come out of the water. They were a male and a female, each about 15 meters long! Whales have come to these waters to give birth and train their young before going to Antarctica. Whale hunting is no longer allowed. The last whale hunt on Rurutu was in 1957; one whale fed most of the island. The whale meat was wrapped in the fat that is just under the whale’s skin --- usually about 6 inches of it. The meat would keep this way for long periods of time.

After twenty minutes, it began to storm again and the whales disappeared. I told the driver over and over again “They’re gone, we can go back” and he kept smiling and nodding “No” and closing his eyes. A diver went into the sea to find the whales and see if they were asleep; from the water he gave the thumbs up. So, just as I was freezing and ready to go in, it looked like we were going into the water. I had never worn a wet suit so I was relieved to feel how warm it became when I had it on. I put on the flippers, the mask and slid into the water from the back of the boat after being told “Don’t make any sudden moves or splashes”. Well, above it was grey, rainy and windy, but below the surface it was a beautiful rich deep blue. I swam over the swells, trying to keep close to the other divers.

Swimming near two 15 meter long whales in the open ocean is pretty much a spiritual experience. They are huge but move very gracefully and swiftly. These two were sleeping near the ocean floor. It was hard to gauge the distance because of the optical illusion created by the water. Then they woke up and swam around each other, the male courting the female. At one point they passed right beneath us. I was a little panicky thinking that if they came up for air that would be it. As I was lying flat, I could really feel the size of the swells and I got that ole’ funky feeling. So I came up for air and, just as I did that, the female whale came completely out of the water vertically and then crashed down about thirty yards away with a big “Whomp!”

I stayed in the Temarama pension, a sort of bed and breakfast, which had lots of charm. There were French people who were moving to Rurutu and looking for places to live. The Chinese owner of the pension knew everyone on the island got everyone what they need including places to live etc.. We had dinner all together in the evenings. Many Chinese were brought to these islands by private companies to work the fields. Terenae’s mother is Chinese and several Baha’is on Huahine had Chinese grandfathers. The owner’s brother ran the main grocery store in the main town, his father owned the only large restaurant and the family had a house on the highest point on the island.


Rurutu from the plane --- a dark and stormy day




Just off the plane -- beautiful flowers crowns with 3 different scents, particular to the Australs




The coastline of Rurutu




The grave of a matriarch in a local graveyard --- see the necklaces of shells hanging? In Polynesia, it's flowers when you come and seashells when you go!




Inside one of the many caves in Rurutua looking out at the Pacific. I had a good long mediation and prayer time in there. Now I understand why Buddhist pilgrims made use of the transcendent atmosphere of a cave.




Main street




The 'pension' where I stayed, clean and pretty, $85 a night --- thank-you VISA!




Some of the guests chatting and smoking before dinner --- teachers, forestry inspectors, and the owner who is the Chinese gentleman.




As we were looking for the humpbacks we came across this fisherman who needed help with his large catch.




The back of the humpback whale --- about 15 meters!




Me with a wet suit -- they are very warm! It had been storming and cool.




Terenae and I




Two women of Rurutu with the famous hats

French Polynesia '06: Huahine Island

French Polynesia is a territory of France in the South Pacific that includes the Marquesas Islands, the Tuamoto Archipeligo, the Leeward and Winward Islands, the Austral Islands and the Gambier Islands. Including the ocean, it has a surface area the size of Western Europe and a population of a little over a quarter a million. Its most famous island is Tahiti, the subject of much fantasy and myth for Europeans. To know more information like this, scroll down to “Goodbye, Siberia, Hellooooooooo Tahiti”.

I had the good fortune --- and knowledge of French --- to be able to return there to visit Baha’igroups on the islands of Huahine and Rurutu, as well as begin a recording project of the Baha’iScriptures sung in Tahitian style. Here are some pictures and comments:

Huahine Island, Leeward Islands, French Polynesia

After arriving in Tahiti, I was asked to travel to the scenic and rustic island of Huahine to teach classes on the Baha’i Faith. A world wide curriculum is being used for this. The Baha’is of Huahine had set a goal of having at least one person go through the whole sequence of courses. One of the participants was a Polynesian man who worked as a laborer and was Catholic and a very eager seeker and student of spirituality. I taught course #6 in the afternoon, went snorkeling, ate fish, then taught course #7 in the evening. After that I stayed up late in the Center with the cool late night air, learning Robert Johnson on the guitar. I brought the new transcriptions (see below).

I lived at the home of Ioane and Evelyne Vahinemoea . He is a fisherman and small farmer. We ate outside once a day in the late afternoon, usually a delicious meal of freshly caught fish and rice. Also there was time for papaya and small sweet bananas from New Zealand. Huahine has a population of about 5,000 people and some tourism, mostly in the forms of little hotels with bungaloes on the beach. There are one or two buses a day going around the island. On the horizon you can see the traditionally sacred island of Raiatea and its neighbor, the Vanilla King, Tahaa. Vanilla is grown all over these islands, and its sweet smell is everywhere.

Huahine boasts the only Baha’i Center in French Polynesia. It was built by hand by the local Baha’is who are mostly fishermen and artisans. One Baha’i had been a prominent politician before becoming a Baha’i and was able to arrange extensive coverage for the opening of the Center. It is built in haito, a very dense and heavy wood with an aluminum roof and walls open to the outside. There is a beautiful hand-painted wooden sign in front of it. It sits on the property of a local Baha’i family who also maintain a beautiful garden in which they plants seeds from trees brought from the Baha’i Gardens of the Holy Shrines in Haifa, Israel!

The islands are heavily ‘churchified’ having been evangelized exhaustively by the London Missionary Society and the Mormons in the 19th Century. There is much discussion about the Bible, and social life is tied to the Church. The Baha’is of Huahine are planning a public meeting titled, “Jesus has returned – what are you waiting for?” which they hope will create some discussion on the Bible.

Around Huahine

The plane to Huahine

From the sky

The coast of Huahine

(need I show more?)

Ioane next to a Haito tree--very dense wood which can burn for long periods of time and grows almost anywhere, so it is used by the side of the sea to strengthen the stone borders.

Hubert Bremond and granddaughter on the right

Tina and her daughter Kaia under a fishing net

A 'snack' --eatery across the street from the house. See the beautiful colors above.

Aluminum rings around the coconut trees to keep the rats from climbing all the way up and eating the fruits

Around Ioane and Evelyne's house

Ioane and I in front of the hand-painted sign for the Baha'i Center

Tema and Jan's sons and Tina's son

Welcome lunch with Ioane, Evelyne, son Haumanu and his wife, Jeva

The property of Ioane and Evelyne --their home on the right was built from scratch, the Baha'i Center is on the left

These two trees on the right and left were grown from seeds brought from the Baha'i gardens in Israel.

Ioane with his fishing gun. It has two prongs beneath the main arrow so that the first fish can be stuck on them, thereby attracting more fish with their blood.

The back area with the cooking area (24hr wood burning fire under the kettle) and about 20 roosters and hens which make an unbelievable racked at 2 a.m.

Haumanu preparing coconut milk sauce using the traditional board with the circular saw to dig out the coconut

Jeva and Evelyne preparing the fishes of the day. Many islands are surrounded by shallow water protected by a reef that is plentiful fish.

Eating fish and coconut (on the left)

Ioane giving a haircut in the back.

The road outside the house

Classes #6 and 7 on the Baha'i Faith

Class #6 in the evening

Speaking with Tema's oldest son

Tema and Francis

Rita and Tina doing a skit

The graduates of Class 6

The graduates of Class 7

The Raurii family, Tema and Jan and their six children

Community gathering in the Baha'i Center

The Baha'is of Huahine

The children of the Baha'is of Huahine

Where I slept, upstairs in the house

A scruffy little dog who was always hungry because the cats got to the fishbones first