SITAG's new kitchen

Thursday, June 30

Last night, we stayed up late eating vegan chili and not so vegan apple crisp with ice cream and playing games with Jenin (the young woman here to help one of our colleagues) and the trio.  After another failed attempt to get the trio on a boat out to Malaita yesterday, God placed a friend from their village in their path to help them make new arrangements.  We got them on a different boat early this morning so they can catch a truck and then catch a motor boat to arrive in the village late this afternoon.

Then we began a big motu party to inaugurate SITAG's new outdoor kitchen.  We had lots of help making cassava pudding.  Betsy and I went to Central Market yesterday and bought a big fish, and Rosina brought two huge bags of cassava this morning.  Solomon Islanders, Canadians, Australians, and Americans all worked side by side to prepare a feast to say "thanks" to our SITAG staff.  Rosina, Olivia, and Jenin scrape cassava...

and one of the amazing Wycliffe Associates volunteers from Australia helps to scrape some more.

Betsy and a SITAG friend scrape even more cassava (we made LOTS of pudding).  I knew that the Solomons contained a large diversity of languages, but I didn't know that many different ways of making pudding existed, too!  Betsy showed us how to make cassava/banana pudding from her area of Malita, Freida showed us how to make balls of pudding like her Kwaio in-laws, and I showed the ladies how to make pudding like our friends in the Russell Islands.  I also learned that our Solomon friends like the burned edges of the pudding best, while we tend to like the softer middle of the pudding.

Even the kids helped a bunch.  By the end of the day, we were exhausted, but the fish and pudding feast tasted yummy and we got to say thank you to our many Solomon Islands' friends who keep SITAG running smoothly.