Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Nouvata Park Hotel
Noumea, New Caledonia
What a meal! What a friendly reception! And what a pleasure to meet club founder and historian Henry Daly!
The Rotary Club Noumea Ducos Boulari was as friendly and welcoming a group as I've come to expect from Rotarians around the world. They meet on Wednesday at noon in a very nice restaurant. Like all French people-- whether they are of French origin to start or not, and several of these fellows arrived here from other countries-- they have a particular penchant for eating well.
They started with hors d'oeuvres of excellent olives and potato chips at an open bar. I stayed with Seven-Up, since drinking in the middle of the day most makes me sleepy. Club members all came up to chat, shake hands and comment on their astonishment that I can speak French. Americans who speak fluent French are, apparently, rare as hen's teeth in the French-speaking world. There was, actually, quite a range of fellows from different countries, which is fitting, since New Caledonia is a country that has welcomed immigrants from many parts of the world. The original Europeans to settle here were convicts who decided to stay after their jail terms were finished. After the discovery of mineral wealth--primarily nickel but also cobalt and other minerals-- people came from all over the Pacific region and all over the world to work in the mines.
Henry Daly, "the dean of the Rotary Club in Noumea," as he was described, introduced himself and launched into a wonderful long story of meeting a pair of German spies on an ocean liner between Europe and New Caledonia just before World War II. Henry, born in 1918, may be pushing 100, but he's as clear and a bell and full of a wealth of information about the country. His family is one of the oldest of the Europeans on the island, Irish -- "from Dublin, not Belfast," he is quick to point out.
Over a dozen oysters...which I declined...Henry and the other past presidents and secretaries of the club sitting at our table, regaled me with stories from their club and their land. It turns out that the Americans built a very large base here during WWII, and Henry was the guiding force in getting the monument to the Americans erected.
Rotary President Michel Turbatte explained that the American presence here during the war prevented the Japanese from conquering the island, something many feared. The local indigenous population, called Kanaks, were impressed with the easy relations between American blacks and whites, and also liked the way they were treated as employees. "You don't say anything against the Americans here," said Michel. In France, where relations across the Atlantic are a little pricklier, its quite rare to find such unabashed praise. In Noumea, there's even a section of town called "Motor Pool."
Henry actually wrote the book on the Americans in New Caledonia. A prodigious work of research, it is filled with photos and detailed history. Henry even came to Washington, D.C.and Boston to complete the research. Unfortunately, all that research is WEIGHTY, and I could never have picked up my backpack if I had to carry Henry's book.
Instead of oysters, I had a lovely salad along with club president Michel, who is a vegetarian. After that, we dove into an amazing tuna steak "facon Rossini," which I guess means covered with goose liver and sitting on a piece of toast, a most delicious combination. A small dish of vegetables completed the main course.
For dessert, there was chocolate cake with cassis sherbet, and tiny cups of espresso coffee.
What I especially appreciated with this group was their generosity with information about their country. I learned all kinds of things, for example, their name for English speakers is "pokens," from "English Spoken." And they were curious about what could have brought me here. I must say, my first speech-- all about my Rotary Club Ambassadorial Scholarship to learn Nepali in Darjeeling, India-- didn't really spell out how I landed in THIS part of the world.
So I made another speech! I explained about Jean-Francois' sabbatical from High Point University and that he is using it to make the rounds of some parts of the French-speaking world: Tahiti, New Caledonia, Southeast Asia and West Africa.
It turns out that one of this club's humanitarian projects is supporting a boarding school for Tibetan and Nepali refugees in Sikkim, a tiny country between India and China, one of the Himalayan kingdoms, like Bhutan and Nepal. In fact, Michel will be going to Darjeeling in April and plans to stop off in Sikkim to speak with the Buddhist monk who is spearheading the project.
Club President Michel Turbatte with visiting Rotary Ambassador Trish Perkins. Notice the necklace of medallions with the name of each past club president. For the oldest clubs, I learned, the necklace can reach the floor!
Here is an audio clip from one of the English-speaking members of the club, Tony Hornabook, originally from New Zealand: Download RotarySpeechNoumea.WMA
For more photos, click here.
