Tax Haven
Vanuatu is known as a tax haven.
This is great for investors! However, the down side is that the government does not have the means to be able to hand out a free education to the children of Vanuatu.
In the far flung corners of this tiny archipelago nation there are many places where there are barely enough qualified teachers to go round. School rooms, either non existent or in very bad repair. Teachers with no resources, such as basic books, blackboard and chalk, or even pencils.
Mr Lini the Prime Minister said when he visited the area, ” The government does little to assist these people, even though sometimes all that is needed is just $US500 to bring a classroom into use.” That was before Cyclone Fuma decimated the area in January. Gale force winds broke the windows and destroyed what little resources and exercise books the teachers had just received.
The Ni-Vanuatu culture is an oral one, with stories being handed down from generation to generation, through song and dance. Yet many of the children desire to embrace the 21st century. They want to be pilots, doctors, teachers, nurses, carpetners. They want to use computers and enter the modern world, while still embracing their island culture.
In July 2006, Vanuatu, made famous by A. Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific, was ranked as the world’s Happiest Country on Earth, by the British New Economics Foundation’s (NEF), ‘Happy Planet Index’.
While the people always greet you with the brightest of smiles, the ranking had more to do with their ecological footprint, besides their wellbeing and impact on the environment. The top five happiest places to reside were Vanuatu, Colombia, Costa Rica and Dominica, with Panama trailing close behind, (USA was ranked 150, France 129 and Russia 172).
When natural disasters occur, like a cyclone, the far northern communities of Vanuatu are left to battle on their own.
The children may get basic primary school training, (many seated on mats on the ground) through very limited government assistance and through short-term people from Donor Organizations, but most students will never have the chance to go to high school, without financial assistance.
They look to you for help. You can make a difference in their community.
If you take time out to visit them, you will be treated like royalty. Just take some picture books and school supplies. The children will surround you with their love, once they get past the initial shyness. You will participate in every day village life. An experience of a lifetime.