Picton Castle’s trading day was viewed by the villagers of Banam Bay, and a few more nearby villages besides, as a grand thing. Much excitement and anticipation on all our parts. So, what is this trading business in a remote village on a jungle island anyway? Well, its not haggling or scowling at what is offered. It is an exchange.
The important thing to bear in mind is this. It is very difficult and quite expensive for the villagers to get clothes and cooking gear. A good cooking pot is $50-$60 in Santo or Vila. It could take a month or more to gather that kind of money. But they also have to get to the town where that pot is for sale – what with trucks and ferries and staying ashore away from the home village just getting a simple t-shirt becomes a very costly proposition.
So, we bring stuff they need or desire, and trade it for whatever they have. We could just as well give it away, but trading puts us all on an equal basis and its good fun and very social too. The crew make friends as they trade. It is a great activity for all concerned.
How do we go about this? Well the chief sets a time and passes the word to the area villages. Out crew bring all their trade goods ashore, spread them out on a rough hewn table, or on the grass and the locals come by, see something the like and offer something for the object. For our part we had lots of good pots and pans, plates and mugs (very popular!), some crew had soap, fishing gear, machetes, old shoes, boots, kitchen knives and the like – and clothes. The islanders had fruit, vegetables, palm leaf sleeping mats, bows and arrows, some stone carvings, some bamboo flutes and woven shoulder baskets. We draw the line at chickens, puppies and so on. The kids love nail polish, calling it “paint-on”. This and much more is freely given away.
Our crew spread out their wares in the shade of a big tree in the clearing and soon it was quite the hubbub and circus. Offerings back and forth, once agreed upon, shake hands and the deal was done. Lots of laughter and chatter.
The kids clothes went very quickly as did the kitchen gear. By the end of the morning’s trading, all was gone and traded and it seemed that all parties were quite pleased with the result. A good trading day at Banam Bay. A good time had by all.
