Peace Corps Adventures in Vanuatu

On December 6th, the day of our swearing- in ceremony, my host father, Kaloat, comes and finds me at our hotel. He presents me with an Island Dress he bought for me to wear at the ceremony. I was so honored. It takes a 30 minute truck ride and plenty of walking to locate me, so he really went out of his way to find me. So then he proceeds to tell me that he will be the only family member at the ceremony, since his daughter (my host sister) Naomi gave birth prematurely to her baby. She must have been only 7-8 months pregnant, so I was amazed he even survived the birth. Poor little guy...I think he was born on the floor.
A couple of days later, I am strolling through the Mama's market in town and I bump into another sister, who proceeds to tell me that Naomi and the new baby are at the local hospital to get him checked since he is so little. I ask her if the hospital allows visitors, and she proceeds to take me herself. She also says that my host mom, Elsy, is there with the baby too, and would love to see me. So I get to the hospital, and say a small prayer that I will hopefully never need hospitalization in Vanuatu. It's not a well-equipped place, and definitely not sterile and appropriate for sick people. So I waltz right in to the children's ward, and find my family in the last room. The little guy is just lying on a regular bed, no mosquito net or anything medical-equipment-related attached to him. Oh wait, he was wrapped in a blanket, even though it was a million degrees. Anyway, I get to hold him, and he reached from my fingertips to my elbow. To my surprise, my mom asks me what I want to name him. I thought he had a name by then, being two days old. So, I had heard of families naming babies after the volunteers, so I guess they had hoped it would be a girl to name her after me. So, at that moment my friend's son popped into my head, so I said, "You should name him Jonathan." And they did! I saw him again when he was 3 weeks old, still going strong. That's one of my best volunteer moments...the first picture shows Jonathan and my host dad, proud grandpa.