Gift(s) to a village in Malaita - HEEELP!!!!

Dear All (and especially Solomon "gurus", such as Laszlo, Watsoff or Ozziegiraffe),

I have a real problem concerning what to do and I wonder whether you would be able to help/advise me...

Some time ago I have received an invitation to stay for some time (I am not sure how long now, it can be anything from 10 to 40 days) in a village in Small Malaita. Apparently the village have been disussing the possibility of building me a hut there, although I do not know the final outcome of these discussions so I am not sure about my accommodation (which is fine anyway, as I have my own hammock-tent).

Knowing the local Solomon customs, and being generally of an opinion that a guest should not come empty-handed when visiting hosts (be it Solomon Islands or any other country in the world), I asked the man I am in contact with about what gift would be most ok/perfect etc. for the village/chief/hosts. I have received the following response:

"[...] is happy to be your local guide [...] He also advised on the kind of gifts his tribe will be expecting: 5 shell money (traditional currency), SBD$4,200.00 and 2 pigs."

Now, if my expedition or trip were well financed by sposors or if I were a rich man, I would probably accept it as it is without further questions and much ado. However (apart from the fact that I have no clue as to how much shell money and/or pigs may cost and where to get them), my trip/expedition will be on a very tight budget, and the SBD4200 (which I understand is USD550 or so) alone is one-third of my average monthly budget!! (statistically, the result obtained by dividing the whole amount I will have by four months of stay).

The question that I have is not so much whether you think it's steep (I am almost sure it's a ripoff), but how to behave in such a situation. How to respond to the village/my contact and be very polite but very firm, not lose these guys' respect, not to come out as disrespectful, and still be able to live among them? What shall I do in such a situation? Wouldn't the situation in other villages be similar? True, they don't know me, I hadn't stayed with them earlier, I am not their friend or acquaintance - if this was so, maybe they would have "required" less or nothing at all. But even for someone on a large budget it is very expensive, while for someone on a tight budget it is simply exorbitant! I may be inclined to buy them a pig or two (though I do not know the prices of pigs, and I am not sure how to transport the pigs to the village), but not much beyobnd that... Besides, the price they quote will probably get the whole village going for at least a month if not more...

Any hint(s), piece(s) of advice, comments etc. are very much welcome.

Many thanks

Kind regards

Wojtek

Hehe, I always tell people that Solomon Islanders are rather worldly and materialistic by Melanesian standards! ;-)

To be honest, once a set fee has been quoted, I see little to do besides either accepting or rejecting it. You could of course try "negotiating", but if your visit is based on such commercial negotiations from the very beginning, you can be pretty sure more will follow.
I also find the amount quite steep - and pigs and big bundles of shell money won't come cheap either.

I don't know what you were expecting from the villagers (guiding? showing you secret traditional rituals? etc...) but for merely staying there this seems a "bit" too much to me indeed.
As for the house - while I find your idea of living in a hammock-tent ridiculously impractical (sorry), I'd save them the effort of building one by moving in with a family.

Unless your social skills are very poor, it should be possible to find village(r)s with a less expensive "welcome".

PS: If you have to name "Solomons gurus" and include me, next time please at least reverse the order of those named! ;-)

I would expect to pay the equivalent of $30 US a night for village accommodation, including food. Don't even bother to take a tent, any people in villages would consider it an insult if you did not stay in the village rest house.
I guess the large fee requested is because they have offered to build a house for you - surely there are villages you could stay that already have a rest house. Where is the village in Small Malaita?
Shell money (red money) is ten strands joined, and at nearly 2 metres long, or for Are-are people, single long strands. The going price in the Honiara market is about $500SBD (apporx $70 US) for one.
As for pigs, they should be available in the village area. Deepending on size, $300 - $1000 SBD each.
Somehow I think these people think you are gullible and are planning to take advantage of you.

Laszlo, Ozziegiraffe, Many thanks for your responses.

Let me first start with the hammock-tent issue - it is only to be used in areas in the jungle outside of any villages/settlements. If you walk through the junlgle and the night falls down, you need to sleep somewhere. Likewise, if you run your research/observation programme at night in the jungle, it would be good to have some shelter. Last time when I was doing some observations, actually the locals liked my tent so much they wanted to sleep in and they were very eager to put it up and down. I was only intending to use the hammock-tent IN villages should I NOT receive any other accommodation (which may be unlikely).

Now, as regards the issue of what this "payment" is for: yes, obviously if I do come to visit a village, I do not come there to sit there all the time and do nothing apart from observing the local life. Yes, I will need a guide or guides - indispensable in any jungle trip, whatever its aim and however short or long it's going to be - but I had written to those guys a long, long time ago saying that my budget is rather (or very) tight. However, I have offered to devote my time in helping them in whatever way I can in their tasks, duties, chores etc. I am very much willing to devote my time to them. Had I such an opportunity, I would also devote my money to help them, that's for sure (though it might create an ever-increasing appetite for money) but I don't. Now, If you're saying (Ozziegiraffe) that the "going rate" for accommodation plus food is USD30 per day, then maybe they think that I am going to spend a month or more with them. Taking into account the fact that my overall stay in the Solomons is 120 days and that I intend to see three islands, that makes it statistically 40 days on one island, however, there are at least half a dozen places on each island I need to see/be in/at, so it is obvious that I will not spend with those guys more than 10-15 days.

By the way, out of curiosity, when you arrived in the Solomons for the first time, weren't there attempts to con you or rip you off? And if you declined the offer, how did you cope with it? See, in my particular situation or circumstances, I cannot come and see just ANY village or settlement. These need to be places near to the sites I want to see. Are they sacred sites (does that partly answer the queston of the steep price those guys quote?)? Well, yes and no. Some sites are because the locals believe they have to do with ancestors (which does not preclude some of them to take parts of those "ancestors" (or ancestors', whatever) bones home. The sites where people see what they term "Dragon Snakes" do not seem to be sacred, It's just that it may be very difficult to get to them. etc. etc. But here is another question I have to you, Ozziegiraffe and Laszo. Assuming for a while that ALL the sites one wants/needs to visit are sacred, just how much money would one have to spend on shell money, pigs etc. etc. Would I have to be a millionnaire? If they want what amounts to approximately USD 1000 to 1200 for a stay of 10-15 days, then it means I would need at least 10 to 15 thousand US dollars for the whole stay JUST to buy gifts, not to mention any other expenditure. Considering my whole budget is anything between 0,5 and 0.75 of that amount, that makes it very steep... Is there any way to move around Solomon Islands slightly (or much) off the beaten track and major tourist areas without having to carry loads of money AND to achieve all (or at least most part) of the set goals?

Many thanks

Kind regards

Wojtek

Laszlo, one more thing: this - I thought so at least - has/had nothing to do with commercial negotiations. Simply, I heard it from many sources, including thorn tree, Lonely Planet guides, the Lonely Planet phrasebook etc., that the local kastom (as well, I think, as the generally accepted customs of behavious of the guest towards the host(s)) require one not to come empty-handed and that if in doubt it is advisable to ask. i was expecting something along the line of perhaps some canned tuna, some sugar, rice, flour, etc. etc. I was even expecting a request for a pig or two (I am ok with that part of their demand), but they came up with this.

Again, I would like to ask you (and Ozziegiraffe) a question on how YOU coped with a situation when you were invited to a village for the first time, when no local has known you. Were you not quoted some exaggeated or exorbitant fees? And if so, did you refuse to pay them (and if so, how did the locals react?)? or did everything go smoothly and nobody demaded anything from you (or their demands were reasonable)? Surely, before you became known to some of the locals, you must have had some similar experiences?

Best regards

Wojtek

When I was invited to villages, it always happened spontaneously (by a local I met along my travels, so I always had a local friend to go with by default), and the locations were not specifically chosen by me as musts. As I didn't actually plan to go to those villages, I had no presents with me at the beginning at all and there were no negotiations either. I simply contributed afterwards. In such cases, contributions of food along with some cash are really OK I think, as long as they are proportional to the length of stay.
But I never stayed longer than a few days, never had a house built for me, and never insisted on staying in particular villages selected by me.

The one exception were the traditional Kwaio whom I did want to visit, but who proved so commercial-minded that I dropped the whole idea very quickly and left without staying with them a single night. Fortunately I had no pressing reason to have to stay in a place where the locals clearly only wanted my money (and lots of it, too).

Again, if you do insist on staying in particular villages, for a longer period, and seeing sacred sites, you may just have to accept what they want. Or try and negotiate. Given that you say you have written to them long ago, it is obvious that it was you who wanted to stay there, and not they who invited you for love. In this case, this is rightly up for a matter of negotiation.

As for sacred/kastom sites, we have to accept that these are often far more valuable in the eyes of locals than in ours. A pile of stones or a specific hill/lake has no real value in our eyes but it may have in theirs, and as these are their kastom places, we just have to accept their ideas about their value. Though I must add that in all the Pacific nations I've visited so far, Solomon Islanders seem to be the only ones to often try and charge significant amounts of cash for accessing such sites. In other countries they were either cheap, free, or simply off-limits altogether.

The idea of many visitors of "physically" trying to "help" villagers in their daily chores is very naive. You are far more likely to be a hindrance than real help, and will also most likely use up much of the time villagers would otherwise spend on carrying out those chores themselves. This is one of the main reasons why compensation (in useful presents and money) is rightly expected, especially if staying longer than a few days.

Wojtek, I was working in Solomon Islands with local people, and have always visited villages with people I already knew.
The only people who have ever asked something exorbitant were the Polynesian people of Ontong Java, who wanted a friend to pay to take videos. (This was demanded by a local who was a trained anthropologist, and thought my friend had commercial interests). In fact, all my friend would have done with the video is used it to raise money for the local people, so the demand for money backfired.
Even the people I have supported for years understand that my money supply is finite, and I can't always help them.
Some tribes even ask other Solomon Islanders for kustom fees to travel on their land - this happened on my first visit to a group of villages in Gela.
You might find that if you stay at Chester House in Honiara, and ask the Melanesian Brothers who run it for help, what you are trying to do will be much easier. The brothers survive on very little and have houses in most of the most remote areas of the country. In addition, they are respected by everyone.
Their headquarters is in Western Guadalcanal

Dear Laszlo,

Many thanks for your response (and Ozziegiraffe, of course, too).

It isn't and wasn't like, you know, I wanted or had to stay in THAT specific vilalge. The guy I got in contact with has sort of "selected" this place for the reason that the locals clam thay have had an experience with something or have seen something etc. Initially the correspondence was only about those guys seeing something and wanting to tell me about it. Only then, afterwards, as it happened, it turned out it would be a place I would live in.

I of course understand that in order to get to "off-limits" or sacred sites you would probably need to pay more than if you wanted just a stroll in the jungle (although, as you say, laszlo, in some other countries of the region the fees were smaller or non-existent). What I am afraid of is this: I am coming to the solomons with a very specific reason, i.e. research, although research of a very peculiar kind (i.e. the topic of the research would be peculiar). I ant to devote as much time as I can to actually getting to places that interest me, although obviously given the terrain, climate and local customs it does not always necessarily means fast. Assume I pay them all they require (hardly possible, but just for the sake of the argument). As you said, what is sacred and extremely important to them may not be so to us. So what guarantee do I have that - having paid that large sums of money - I will not be shown a pile of stones (and what I am looking for are skeletons or skeletal remains, and not just ANY remains)? or, what if they show me pigs bones (whether I can tell pigs bones from hominoid ones is an entirely different issue)? or, they say, gods (or the weather, or whatever else) is not favourable, or the guides need more money, or would I pay for a rucksack for one of the porters, or, or, or... What guarantee do I have that amongst a lot of talk and many promises or excuses I will be shown something else than nothing or something "normal" not worthy of attention (of a white guy anyway)? What guarantee do I have that I will not waste a week, two, three - or more - of my time staying in a jungle village (in itself a very pleasant and interesting experience, no doubt) and really not even beginning my research? That - on top of the exorbitance of the demand - is something that worries me most. And, Ozziegiraffe, interesting you say when you appeared in villages you paid nothing or very little because you were in a company of some local... The guy I correspond with will also accopany me, and yet the high price has been set...

Best regards

Wojtek

As for those "guarantees": I'm afraid you will never have any!

The difference between the locals that accompanied OG and the one that offered to go with you is obvious: the latter is primarily motivated by financial gain and may well be the very person responsible for the high fees.
Time to do what common sense dictates, I'd say: look for someone and someplace else.
And all that is obviously better done once there, not by email.

I did not say that I paid little or nothing to visit villages - I always take a significant contribution, generally to food, in the form of rice, sugar, tea, soap and other goods which the villagers often have no money to buy themselves. This can amount to hundreds of dollars, at least.
My first stop before setting out by ship is one of the wholesale stores in town. I also pay such things as outboard fuel, etc.
Indigenous people are as prone as anyone else to take advantage of gullible visitors, and are likely to promise whatever you want to see. I have seen this on television programs made about shark calling in Malaita, for example - in fact I have sat in my Australian living room with a friend from Malaita, laughing at what the film makers believed, and knowing the locals were taking advantage of them.

Indigenous people are as prone as anyone else to take advantage of gullible visitors, and are likely to promise whatever you want to see.

Especially when they know visitors are ready to pay for it! ;-)

Ditto Ozzie at #6 & 9 ... I always take food, mostly rice and tinned stuff that I know my friends like. But, like Ozzie, I've only stayed in villages of friends and have never been asked for anything. The only time I had to pay for accommodation and food was on Bellona, in the Guesthouse owned by the family of 5 Bellona islanders I hosted for free when they were in my part of the world - hosted the first one for 3 months, the others for about 4 weeks on an off; gave the last lot 2 bicycles to take back with them as well, and did the owners of the guesthouse a rather expensive favour after my first stay there. But I don't mind, it's their livelihood after all and not a rip-off, and on the 3 occasions I stayed with them I was the only visitor so they are getting much of an income at all.

When I stay with my 'family' in Honiara it can end up costing me more than it would if I stayed elsewhere, but that's not because they ask for money, they don't. They are just incredibly poor and it wasn't uncommon for all of us to go food-less for a day because the money ran out; they have a large number of wontoks to support so I end up supporting them to a certain extent as well.

I forgot, I also came out tops because when I brought my 'family' member back here in 2000 he presented me with a custom red-shell money belt, a 10 foot long 7 string affair, longer and more expensive than most custom belts. Totally out of the blue, I was overwhelmed, to say the least.

I stayed with a friend in Lata once for a week, along with about half a dozen relatives from Honiara. We were booked on Solair for the afternoon, and they changed the flight schedule without telling anyone, including one of our groups who was a flight steward with the airline, and who had come home to attend his mother's funeral. The next flight came a week later.
When I got back to Australia, I claimed the trip on insurance, and sent the insurance refund money to the friend's sister in Honiara (my closest friend in the country, who I rented a house from for a year). She was able to send about a year's food and clothing supply to the family in Lata and the Reefs.
What goes around comes around.

So true, Ozzie - good one.

Hi,
Not sure if this is helpful as it doesn't apply to Sol Islands but to PNG but it kinda sounds similiar to something we experienced so maybe its a Pacific island thing.
We had two experiences where we 'offered' a gift of choice to people who had shown us hospitality. Once we asked what we could give them, the requests were crazy expensive such as laptops, mobile phones, etc. so we had to agree between ourselves that we would not offer gifts but instead would just get something like those practical things like contributing to the family's food supply, fuel, etc. I think when you start offering people choices there maybe an expectation that you are wealthy. Its one thing to ask how much to stay somewhere but when it goes beyond that its a bit much.
Hope this helps.

People who have never had more than a few dollars (or Kina) have no idea of the relative value of things bought with money.