50 Years After – Remembering FRE1

Dang. Just turned 100, and i was ‘old’ even way back in 2003. But i remember it still like it was yesterday. The 2 young gals in the seat ahead of me in the van from LAX thru the smog to the Omni, so excited, I knew they must be Peace Corps like myself, and indeed Janessa and Ellen Fennel were. I met Chesa in the lobby, Ryan in the room, Jim in line at registration, Alissa at the table in the conference room…

What followed was great overwhelming adventure. And then it was all over.

After all the tataus, teary heartfelt Farewell Songs, and final somber yaqona toasts of 2005, it was, moce, back to the US.

But it couldn’t feel right again: the rush, massive traffic, red-necked men in massive rich pickups flipping me off as they pass, me racing only 85mph in a 75mph zone, or for my microsecond delay before acceleration after the light turns green. Ubiquitous anger, everyone pissed off all the time. Impersonality. Selfishness. Obese wealth.

So i fled back. For a little yaqona, dalo, and a tabua, the they gave me a plot on the hill above the koro, overlooking the sea. They helped me build a bure, clear a teitei. And here i’ve remained ever since. Growing my own food. Fishing the iqoliqoli. Helping as i can: Repairing the church. Building new concrete homes. Attending soli. Retrieving ripped roof tin after the cagi laba. Once a year, clearing off the graves of their ancestors. Hunting the wild vore. Drinking a lot of grog.

What i have to show for it is callused ankles, incipient kanikani, lifelong friends, and the peace of simple satisfaction.

OK, i admit it: i’m a bum.

But the others of FRE1 weren’t like me; they made something of their lives! There are marriages (some of them 3 and 4 times!), children, grandchildren, successful businesses, artists, politicians, teachers, scientists. Of their stories, here’s just a few:

	After a PhD and clinical success, Lien authored the You Can series of self-help books. The first, You Can Throw Away Your Cell Phone, sold over 100 million copies, translated to 37 languages.
	Jeff’s media conglomerate, RewaCorp, a darling of Wall Street, successfully executed a hostile takeover of Rupert Murdoch's Fox TV.
	Mary, recognized now as one of the great blues-harp musicians of all time, is, at age 74, on the road again with her ‘Dua Tale!’ tour.
	Brandon is rumored to live in a bure levu in the Laotian jungle, allegedly with 12 wives, 42 kids, and his own private army, protecting what may be the largest (unofficial) bird sanctuary in the world.
	Katrina went home to devastated New Orleans, changed her name to Kata (her true moniker having unpleasant connotations in that town), and started her own non-profit, based on the Fijian model of unquestioning generosity, ‘Thola Vata’ [cola vata, spelled correctly, means ‘live together’ vosa vaka-Nadroga, but surely would’ve been pronounced to suggest a sugar-laden beverage], building it to a billion-dollar enterprise, helping folks all over the world. She retired at 49 to open a string of very upscale Fijian restaurants in Sacramento & Seattle. Maybe you’ve seen her program on Public TV, “Cooking With Kata”.
	Karen was named US Secretary of State when the Democrats finally reclaimed the Presidency, and was instrumental in securing the Chinese and EU aid to rebuild a once-great nation all but destroyed by 40 years of uninterrupted Republican insanity.
?	As for the PCVs of the Northern Division, it’s a mystery: no one's heard anything from them since early 2004. But i'm sure they too are doing well & good.
	Tai Jim went on to start a religious cult near Provo, yaqona drinking a holy sacrament. Remember what he always said, each time he was ripped off in Suva: “I learned something.” Well, he learned plenty, but maybe not quite enough, as he’s currently doing 40 years in the Federal Penn for a string of bank robberies that nearly drove the Great State of Alaska to bankruptcy. They finally nabbed him at the Canada border when Customs mistook his kilo of waka tuki for Mexican Brown (that's heroin, for you Methodists). But it seems 2 years in Fiji well-prepared him for incarcerated boredom: he's 113 & still going strong. Hell, he may even serve out his sentence.

One thing's for sure: Peace Corps: it'll change ya!

God bless us all.

When we left here, many of us felt we hadn’t accomplished enough, but we must’ve made an impression (and what goes, comes, eh?): After the coup in 2040 - i don’t mean in Fiji, i mean the one back in the USA - Fiji created its own PisKorp, yes that’s what they called it, and sent volunteers to America. Their mission: to teach Red & Blue how to live together. (OK, y’all don’t have to like each other, but stop shooting.) Needless to say, the methodology starts with sitting around the tanoa, ritually consuming something muddy brown.

Those young idealists i knew, most of them 23 then, now are like 71. What with the changes in Social Security, they’ll be able to retire in only another 16 years (unless they change it again, government bastards!).

God willing, I’ll be long gone by then, memorialized in too much concrete under some maqo tree, or, better, lost at sea, kakana ni ika. May i greet that final End like i do the sun of every new miraculous day.

I’ve lived too long, trouble now even recollecting what i had for breakfast (ok: tavioka). But i do remember FRE1…

with love, maikeli 18sep2053