Mand Alive!

My partner, Rohaizad, has been going down to the village of Mand every Sunday afternoon for the past couple of months to do drama with some of the young people. Yesterday I decided to go along with him, since they were going to be mounting their production.

It's a bit of a drive to get there, since it's in Madolenihmw. It's about an hour's drive south. The roads are mostly good, well paved, although there are massive potholes here and there. After passing the turn-off to Nan Madol and PATS, we drove on about a mile and then turned off to the right and took a narrow road back into the jungle.

When we entered the village of Mand, Rohaizad was surprised to find that the place seemed deserted. No one was playing volleyball or basketball or even walking down the street.

When we approached the nahs (pavilion) where they rehearse, we realized where all the kids were: sitting there waiting for him! When we drove up, they jumped up yelling and applauding. It was so exciting!

About 25 kids rehearsed their performances in the nahs, then were given "Mand Drama Club" t-shirts before walking over to the community center to perform for the adults.

The performances ranged from exciting and hilarious, to kids quietly reading from their papers, but the audience loved it and the kids were fired up. All the performances dealt with eating local foods.

It was so thrilling to see the excitement in the kids eyes and their pride when they finished performing. Although my entire weekend was wonderful and included a beautiful trip to Nahlap Island Resort, that was definately the high-point of my weekend.