September 7, 2001 - THANK YOU PRESENTS

In the Pacific the cultural mores concerning hospitality are quite unlike those in the Western world. In some places villagers are obliged to offer visitors food and shelter no matter how little they have themselves.

If you happen upon a local celebration you will almost always be invited to attend and if food is available it will be shared. Show any interest in fishing and the local men will call by your boat next morning and take you fishing at their favorite spot.

It is not unusual to be invited to someone's home for a meal or to drink Kava (a local brew).

	This dancer in Wallis has been rewarded with the FPF1,000 bills in her hair.

Offering money for hospitality can be considered offensive and is rarely expected. Also if there is nothing to buy on the island, money is of no use. However in Tonga and Samoa, singers and dancers at festivals are openly given money - sometimes clipped to their hair, stuffed down the front of their shirt or stuck to the coconut oil on their skin - by the audience. This is not a touristy gimmick, it is a local custom which allows a certain amount of redistribution of wealth (the money received is pooled by the singers and used for their village) and signals the giver's status within the community. We watched this custom in Tonga and Samoa where typically the equivalent of US$1 bills were given, but in Wallis, where we are now, one group of singers was reported to have received CFP400,000 (about US$4,000) during their performance at last year's annual festival. We watched one man put about CFP25,000 (US$250), all in CFP1,000 (US$10) bills, one to each singer. The French administrators of the island seem hard pressed to find enough ways to give away the French government grants.

Festivals aside, it is worth stocking up on suitable thank you gifts for day to day use. Imported (and therefore relatively hard to get hold of) food is almost always welcome, and the women enjoy pretty items. For children, pencils and books are appreciated by both the children and the parents.

If we take someone's photograph we offer to send them a copy, or if taking digital photographs, print off a copy to give to them the next day.

Sometimes people will offer to trade with you for local crafts, fish, fruit or vegetables, and so having a supply of appropriate giveaways means you collect some useful items without diminishing your carefully rationed provisions.

Whereas in most areas it is up to you whether you make a gift, in Fiji there are more specific requirements. If you want to anchor off a village (which they perceive as the equivalent of pitching your tent in someone's front garden) you must make a gift of Kava (the root from which they make the drink) to the chief or you will be asked to move on.

Conversely in some areas cultural mores mean that people are reticent about saying they want to trade. In the San Blas islands north of Panama we have had a dugout canoe by the boat for an hour while we made small talk before we realized that they wanted to trade. This is especially true in Vanuatu, where you may need to take the initiative and ask if they would like to trade something or else you could be there all day.

We never give or trade alcohol. It can cause problems and although in both the Marquesas and Tonga we were asked for rum by fishermen (we said we hadn't any), the chief often prefers alcohol to not be available on the island.

Giving things as a thank you or for trade seems to work well, but we avoid wandering through villages handing out sweets to the children. The result is that you (and the next visitors) will be pestered all day and also the parents chastise the children for being a nuisance. It is not the best way to establish a relationship with the local community.

Listed below are some of things we carry specifically to give away and they have worked well for us in the past.

FOOD
Sugar
Litre packs of dried milk (easier to store than longlife)
Flour
Rice (not so much for the South Pacific but useful in South America)
Packets of instant coffee
Biscuits
Coca Cola

GIFTS FOR WOMEN
Perfume (especially Marquesas)
Hair bands
Combs
Lipstick (especially French Polynesia)

GIFTS FOR CHILDREN
Pencils
Writing Books
Children's picture books
Magazines

GIFTS FOR MEN
T-shirts/caps
Fish hooks and line
Batteries
Videos