Ni-Vanuatu Villages

We've recently returned from a trip to Vanuatu in Melanesia. We stayed on Hideaway Island, once occupied by the people of Mele Village, the largest customary village in Vanuatu. In the 1960s, the villagers decided that the island was too small for them and they moved to the mainland.



Those Ni-Vanuatu people who live in the city earn little and pay a lot for their expenses. Those in the villages earn less but are proud of their self-sufficient lifestyle - no rules, no stress, no need to buy anything much at all.

I suspect that life is harder than the villagers let on but it was interesting to see how they live sustainably.