Thanks for the link. A thorough BBC report. Enjoyed hearing Lebot's thoughts. With the local farmers now getting 400% more for their product than just a few years ago, life in the rural areas must be much better.
Overall this is a good, positive report. The deeply negative parts (seem to me) to be more about people who would have problems with any form of substance abuse and/or addictive traits. It is easy for some people to abuse anything or anyone. To others it never crosses their mind.
Yes, I had not thought about the potential for propaganda from Church groups. That has been brought up before and when I think back to the BBC story it seems to fit. I hope I did not imply kava can inspire abuse or prostitution, etc. Not my intent.It is important to put things in the right context. Prior to kava bars, young men of Port Vila consumed spirits. According to all available reports, it was mayhem.
As for people abusing kava, there are certainly some who enjoy drinking a bit more than perhaps they should in the context of their family responsibilities . But the stories about men/women prefering kava bars to family home never consider the possibility that perhaps some people's families are in crisis and have deeper issues from which the social kava circles provide some kind of escape.
Most of the negative stories are driven by a deeper agenda and are often linked to a local church's propaganda. We all have been drinking kava for a while and surely we must be a bit skeptical and critical of the stories suggesting that kava makes people abandon children or turn to prostitution in order to "buy a shell". It's simply ludicrous.
It's FAR. You can find affordable flights from Fiji, NZ and Australia, but for the rest of the planet you have to go to one of those 3 places first on your way to Vanuatu.They were saying that Vanuatu doesn't have a well-developed tourism industry. Any ideas on why that would be?
Infrastructure and advertising.
Makes a lot of sense! It's up to Vanuatu if they want to get more tourists but it's another story to make it happen if they do. Infrastructure can't just pop up overnight. I have a lot of trip ideas but a lot of them are very involving and could be out of my comfort zone, Vanuatu possibly falling in this category. But having grown fond of kava the past couple years, visiting Vanuatu may be worth a visit. Some day...!It's FAR. You can find affordable flights from Fiji, NZ and Australia, but for the rest of the planet you have to go to one of those 3 places first on your way to Vanuatu.
And for overseas tourists bouncing thru Fiji, one they get there, they're already in the beautiful South Pacific, in a country with more services that cater to tourists.
Almost sounds like I'd be best off asking someone in Port Vila if they know what specific islands like and what to bring. Might be hard to procure the best gifts once you're there. Off the top of my head, I was thinking a bunch of shirts. Some old clothes (clean of course!) and maybe packaged food that can be easily shared. Maybe some kind of memento, but depending on the memento, it could be hard to share with everyone. >=?Gift-giving in kastom villages can be awkward sometimes. If you favor only a few people, you could risk the rest becoming jealous. There are a few safe bets, though. Presenting a gift to the chief allows him or her to distribute it as they see fit. Or in less strictly kastom areas where skul is tolerated (meaning school, but also church to some extent), books and writing materials for the children is a fine idea.
Most people I tell kava about don't know or never heard of Vanuatu before in their lifeInfrastructure and advertising.