"School began at 7 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m. At 1:30 p.m. I would lead those students that wanted to participate in the Rosary. Every third week I was assigned 'duty teacher' responsibilities, which basically consisted of assigning the students various jobs around the campus, such as gardening, collecting wood for the school fires, clearing jungle and cutting grass."
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Greg with a young friend. Children as young as 4 years old learn how to work the land, fish and climb coconut trees for the sweet, unripe fruit.
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"If I did not have duty teacher responsibilities, I would usually use that period of the day for work in my garden. There were no supermarkets where I was. There were local canteens, which were small shops consisting of basic things like canned goods, rice, batteries, soap, spices and tobacco. I would always have a good supply of rice on hand, but, otherwise, if I wanted to eat something I either had to grow or catch it. I did both," Greg says.
"I became a good spear fisherman and skin diver. The boys at the school helped teach me. Three months into my year there, I was able to catch a nice fish within 20 minutes. It came to the point where I was able to choose what I wanted to eat on any given night. I could easily find fish, shrimp, lobster, octopus, eel, clams, crabs and snails. I wasn't always successful - especially in the beginning - but that meant no food.
"Despite my success learning how to fish, I was always hungry. Fish and rice every day gets kind of boring. I lost 20 pounds that year, and I'm a skinny guy to begin with. I look back at some of the pictures and laugh at how I looked.
"By 7 p.m. each evening the sun would be down. I would light my kerosene lanterns and occasionally would have electricity if diesel was available to run our generator. During the night I would do some class work or read or write. It was very peaceful. To be left with nothing but your thoughts got lonely sometimes, but for the most part I was very happy."
Fighting a near-fatal case of malaria, resuscitating a child who was foaming at the mouth from illness, and boating in an intense lightning storm with no land in sight (in an aluminum boat, no less) were among the most challenging days of Greg's time in the Solomon Islands. But those experiences, in the end, left him feeling victorious and at peace with life and his decision to work in the mission. One story that brings back the happiest days of the year involved a coconut tree.
"The children of the Solomon Islands learn to climb the coconut trees at a very young age, usually around 4 years old. Some of the trees rise 150 feet or more. They do this to get the green, unripe coconuts, which are great. They possess a milk that tastes like tonic water, and the flesh is very sweet and soft to eat. The only way to get them is to climb the tree.
"I wanted to climb so I commissioned a couple of my students to teach me. It's not complicated, but it takes strength and muscles I had never used before. It took me about two months to finally climb to the top of one. The view from the top was breathtaking. I think at that moment when I finally got to the top of the tree, the students respected me more, and my relationship with them deepened."
While at school, Greg was completely disconnected from the outside world, with almost no contact with his family on Long Island. "Because of the isolated conditions of the islands in the west, there was no telephone, e-mail or post office. There wasn't even electricity available for those things. The nearest telephone or computer was in Papua New Guinea. Even if I wanted to use a phone, I couldn't afford it. I was receiving a stipend of approximately 14 Solomon dollars a day, which works out to be $2 a day. A five-minute phone call to the United States would cost about 100 Solomon dollars. I think I only called home once or twice in the year I was gone. Mail would take about two to three months to send or receive, so it was a little frustrating."
Now back in New York and considering a career in medicine, Greg knows his year in the Solomon Islands was a precious, life-affirming experience. "Living and working in the Solomon Islands gave me a greater appreciation for my life at home. We are very blessed to live in a place where we have everything at our fingertips and have opportunities that you cannot find in a majority of places in the world.
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