French Polynesia '08: the island of Huahine
Teura Carawine, Ui, Robyn White, Marie-Claire and Pascal from Taha'a and their son Toromona travelled to huahine to have a meeting with the Baha'is of that island and do some additional service. We stayed at the home of Piera, a farmer and long-time Baha'i, who lives 10 feet from shore next to a small town on the Southern shore of the island.
Huahine is not nearly as much of a tourist destination as other islands so it is very rustic and peaceful. From Tahiti, you can get to neighboring islands by planes—-the expensive way—-or by sleeping on large cargo ships, which is how we went. To get to Huahine from Tahiti, the boat Hawaiki Nui takes eight hours. We slept outside on the back near the cargo. I didn’t sleep much because night on the Pacific is spectacular. There were stars everywhere, then the moon became as powerful as a stagelight. Later in the night, I saw a lightning storm on the far horizon lighting up a section of the horizon like a set.
Here are Ui and I in front of the boat:
Here is the majestic island of Moorea as we pass it on the ship:
Piera is one of the Baha’is on the South shore of Huanine. He works his family's land. His home was blown down by a cyclone in the 90’s.
Here is Piera breaking open a coconut using the spike and then a machete to extract the white part:
Here are coconut shells used to help crops grow by sheltering them:
Here I am drinking the delicious coconut water:
Here is a community meeting of the Baha’is of Huahine. I was translating for Robyn as she went over some points about community development:
Piera raises some roosters for combat. Here he is taking some out for practice:
Piera has placed a crown of leaves on me:
We studied and practiced using this booklet which explains the Baha’i Faith. On islands like Huahine, people are much more comfortable speaking Tahitian than French so the booklets were in Tahitian. Here is Marie Claire presenting it to her husband, Pascal:
Here is a video of Teura presenting it to Piera, explaining the life of Baha’u’llah in Tahitian:
Here are some shots and a video clip of Huahine, though these don’t do it justice:
Huahine is not nearly as much of a tourist destination as other islands so it is very rustic and peaceful. From Tahiti, you can get to neighboring islands by planes—-the expensive way—-or by sleeping on large cargo ships, which is how we went. To get to Huahine from Tahiti, the boat Hawaiki Nui takes eight hours. We slept outside on the back near the cargo. I didn’t sleep much because night on the Pacific is spectacular. There were stars everywhere, then the moon became as powerful as a stagelight. Later in the night, I saw a lightning storm on the far horizon lighting up a section of the horizon like a set.
Here are Ui and I in front of the boat:
Here is the majestic island of Moorea as we pass it on the ship:
Piera is one of the Baha’is on the South shore of Huanine. He works his family's land. His home was blown down by a cyclone in the 90’s.
Here is Piera breaking open a coconut using the spike and then a machete to extract the white part:
Here are coconut shells used to help crops grow by sheltering them:
Here I am drinking the delicious coconut water:
Here is a community meeting of the Baha’is of Huahine. I was translating for Robyn as she went over some points about community development:
Piera raises some roosters for combat. Here he is taking some out for practice:
Piera has placed a crown of leaves on me:
We studied and practiced using this booklet which explains the Baha’i Faith. On islands like Huahine, people are much more comfortable speaking Tahitian than French so the booklets were in Tahitian. Here is Marie Claire presenting it to her husband, Pascal:
Here is a video of Teura presenting it to Piera, explaining the life of Baha’u’llah in Tahitian:
Here are some shots and a video clip of Huahine, though these don’t do it justice:
posted by Hillary at 11:10 AM
1 Comments:
Hello. By way of introduction, my name is Roger Neyman, a Baha'i from Oregon in the United States. I've been travelling by sail boat from Panama to the Marquesas and am now in the process of heading home.
I'm in Papeete for a few days, and am very much hopeing to connect with the local Baha'is while I'm here. If someone could write me at rpneyman@gmail.com with information, I would very, very much appreciate it.
Thank you.
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