Rafiki is an African girl name. The meaning of the name is `Friend`

Life passes another one past

tears are only for my own pain

your pain no longer lasts

and your love will never die

You sailed the sea saltily

stood proud by your masters side

stood guard against the evil squirrel

and took snuggles in your stride

Gently you placed your chin on my knee

lovingly you'd groom our friend

it’s how we know your gentle soul

those memories won’t end

So we ran in your park today

celebrating your heart, your play

how from the start you let us in

and let us forever call you friend

Rafiki

Cargo Cult Culture

Packing to film on a small island in the Pacific is like packing to film on a small boat crossing the Pacific. If you didn't bring it with you, good luck finding it on Tanna.

At the base of the Yasur volcano lives one of the two John Frum villages on the island. The ground rumbles the voice of god from the active lava belches mere metres away. Sometimes it rumbles the tectonic plate disco. When I was there it also shook with the pounding of the passionate feet of the people who worship the teachings of John Frum.

While Jimmy was navigating the pothole stricken roller coaster ride that took us across the island just after sunrise, I noticed a book beside him. It was about the man who brought Christianity to Vanuatu. He was heralded as a saint. Likely he convinced them to stop eating each other which would have warranted some bold attention.

Jimmy is Bahá'í, which is just one of the dozens of religions on this small island. Describing Bahá'í, he used an interesting template.

" Jew's prophet is Moses. Their book is the Old Testament and they worship on Sunday. Christians prophet is Jesus. Their book is the Bible and they worship on Saturday or Sunday. Bahá'í have no prophet, no book, and we worship every day." I've since looked further into Bahá'í

I'm fascinated at the idea that they have all of these prophets recognized as part of an evolution of mankind.

For the John Frum followers their prophet is obvious. I never heard about any book that they may follow, but they worship every Friday by sharing songs that came to them over the past week. On this day though, it's not Friday, it's February 15th: the anniversary of his visit.

Photographers swarm in the faces of young men, proudly painted with the red letters "USA". The people taking the photos are from every country except the USA and they are treating their subjects like zoo animals. I watch them as they make no eye contact with their subjects, jump in front of them, pointing their cameras inches from their faces, and then walk away without a smile in their direction.

At first it seems bizarre that they are dancing in front of an American flag in front of a volcano. Gradually, with every dance, their attire gets closer and closer to what we might imagine people from this place may dance in.

(except for the Christmas tinsel)

Reviewing the interview from Chief Isaac, I can only understand 20% of the Bislama he is speaking, but I think I get what he is saying, and suddenly it all comes together.

John Frum told them not to abandon their traditional ways as the missionaries would have them do. They dance before us, decades later, in the ways of their fathers before them, with a pride and passion that makes the earth move.

The French seismologists told them that they had to evacuate the village 20 years ago because the volcano was going to erupt. They danced instead, and they are still here. The French are not.

And so the American Flag and military uniforms may seem out of place, but this prophet deserves his following for what he has brought to these people everlasting.

It also makes me curious: are we not due for a new prophet?

Auckland

It's funny what passes by between postings.

The Sky's the Limit crew returned to Los Angeles to catch some pick-ups that will help to flesh out our episode nicely. LA is a brutal city to film in, and doing it properly via Film LA is best to avoid if at all possible. It's costly, painful paperwork and the last visit we were never asked to provide proof of a permit anywhere we went. Locations are less excited about being featured in a travel show than any other city. This time the weather cooperated unlike our last trip here, and we're all happy that we returned and managed some amazing footage.

Currently we find ourselves in Auckland New Zealand. Gio and I had planned to arrive in Vanuatu in advance of the rest of the crew so that we could sort out logistics since it is a very hard location to plan from Canada. There are places that benefit from face-to-face contact immensely and I assume that this is one of them. They are culturally protective and the permits are still detailed, but communication challenges make finalization of plans near impossible.

Cyclone Jasmine hit the day we flew out of Vancouver, forcing us to wait for the next flight from Auckland 3 days later. There are far worse places to be stranded and we've made the best of it, getting a nice sunburn and exploring the city from the left-hand lane. People are less friendly than one would think and I assume they think that we are American. While here I have managed to connect with contacts that friends have passed on so that we arrive in Vanuatu as less of the strangers than we had previously been, so perhaps it's all for the best.

The entire crew is now here and we are about to head out into the city for the night before grabbing our flight out tomorrow afternoon. I'm hoping all of our equipment will make it as well since we are so far beyond the weight limit requested for luggage on this small plane.