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  On Gigila Island in 2008 while the men were busy building Toloyot, we women were very busy with projects other than seeing our men off to work well stocked with food and ‘Mossie-off’!

Most days one or all of us visited the school and the village of Valeha. To get to the school we had to walk for half an hour or so around the rocks and beaches through four villages. It always took longer than we expected because Cathy would regularly be stopped to attend to the sick. Somehow just before we reached the school, the children would know we were there and come tumbling out of the school. We would be greeted with much delight on both sides.

They were studying local medicines and it was the idea of Alex (Alex Mateer) off Roxanne 1) to make a book using photos of the children and teachers holding the various plants, plus a description in Misima language and English. This book would then be laminated to keep out the moisture, and keep dirty fingerprints off! ‘SY Erica’ became our office as Yot Top Publishing got busy.

Alex holding up the front page of the finished book for the School

This book gave rise to another book, this time for the village of Valeha, where the medicine man went with Cathy and myself into the bush to identify natural medicine plants and trees. Cathy took the photos and I took the details and later Cathy compiled a book with the descriptions and purposes of these medicines, aided by much consultation with the medicine man. This book is for the islanders to be able to recognize and use these natural remedies themselves. Often, we found, knowledge is kept by only a few and strongly guarded as this knowledge is ‘mana’.

Cathy with the finished copy of the Bush Medicines book for the islanders

We also made a book to record the making of Toloyot, showing the stages of the fibreglassing, antifouling and making of the superstructures. Eric gave step by step instructions and Cathy put it together beautifully, so it is an object of pride as well as information for Gigila Islanders.

We expect the next book from Yot Top Publishing to record the building of the new school on Gigila in 2010

Yot Top Publishing ~ from left to right ~ Alex Mateer ~ Cathy Gray ~ Gina de Vere

SY Roxanne 1 ~ SY Erica ~ SY Caesura