There is pleasure in living off the land

Alfred Rousiou lives a simple life. Apart from his clothes, the 22-year-old from Vanuatu, an archipelago in the South Pacific, does not really own much.

He and his elder brother, Philip, make a bit of money renting out huts to tourists and escorting them up a volcano close to their home on the eastern side of the island of Tanna. Their financial needs are modest. After all, the nearest shop is a couple of hours drive and it is half empty.

They grow most of what they need, living off the land that has been in the family for many generations. If they want vegetables, such as carrots which don't grow on the volcanic soil of their land, they buy them from one of the villages on the other side of the island.

Alfred and Philip built the huts they and the tourists sleep in using natural materials found in the woods nearby.

Alfred is not married but is never lonely. He lives in the homes of his three brothers and in his free time plays with his 11-year-old nephew, Joel, or with his nieces. Sometimes they hunt birds with a catapult, or climb banyan trees. The climate is near perfect and the landscape beautiful.

Alfred has little but he wants for nothing.

"We don't think about money because we have land. We can live an easy life. We have a garden with mangoes, bananas and other fruits. We just need a little money for soap and kerosene. That's it," he says.

It is carefree lifestyles such as Alfred's that helped Vanuatu gain the title of the happiest country on earth by the New Economics Foundation.

In its "Happy Planet Index", which aims to reflect the number of happy years of life an individual will enjoy, while taking into account the amount of resources they use, Vanuatu scored 68.2. The UAE, in comparison, came 154th with a score of 28.2 points.

Jenny Suran, 23, who works as a waitress in the capital city of Port Vila on the island of Efate, says: "The biggest thing is that in other countries, when you walk on the road you never say 'hello', 'goodbye' or 'how are you'.

"But here, when we meet someone, even someone we don't know, we say 'good morning' or 'hi'."

Wealth has nothing to do with the happy expressions on the faces of the people here, because Vanuatu, apart from its beauty, has little. The country's poverty can be gauged from the main hospital's collection boxes that dot Port Vila.

Kalo Dick Marikiwia, 44, the administrator for the chief and his council in the village of Mele, situated close to Port Vila, estimates that the fewer than 5 per cent of the young men in his village find full-time jobs.

In a country where more than three-quarters of the population survives on subsistence agriculture, wealth and earnings are considered far less important.

"The majority of people don't have permanent work. They just work in the garden but they have enough for the day," he says.

"And no one has to buy land. Everything has been laid out since time immemorial. Most people make their own houses, particularly on the islands."

Trouble in paradise

However, there are issues rumbling beneath the surface. Chief among them are concerns that some Ni-Vanuatu, as people from this island nation are known, are selling off their land to foreigners. Kalo feels they are making a fast buck without thinking about the future.

"They get the money but they forget about the years to come. There's nothing [left] for future generations," he says.

Other issues of concern stem from the increasing levels of migration to the main urban centres, particularly Port Vila.

Tourism is a growing industry in Vanuatu — more than 60,000 people visit the islands each year — and most of the jobs it generates are concentrated in the capital. Five-star resorts have already sprung up to cater to travellers from Australia and New Zealand. Many new developments are also planned — both in the capital and elsewhere on Efate.

These developments have begun to attract natives from the outlying islands and this has the potential for creating tensions.

In March, three men died in Efate when migrants from Ambrym, one of the many islands, had a fight with people from Tanna. Several houses were burnt down in the ensuing riots, which were partly sparked off because of allegations of witchcraft. The riots were terrifying for many Port Vila residents. However, compared to other Pacific nations such as Fiji or the Solomon Islands — both of which have suffered significant ethnic strife — such problems in Vanuatu are limited.

Of greater magnitude is the problem of unemployment that migration to Port Vila creates. Usually, those without jobs support themselves through subsistence farming. But migrants, separated from their lands, sometimes turn to crime. Petty theft and robbery is on the rise in Port Vila and foreign governments are advising their citizens to take extra care while travelling to the country.

Soloman James, 19, who often travels to Port Vila from his home in the north of Efate to look for work, says: "Sometimes, people [create] problems such as stealing from the town and some people cause problems because they drink too much."

Another downside to the migration is that extended families are split up. Pethcy Bwibwi, 35, comes from the islands of Pentecost in the north of Vanuatu but now lives with her husband, two daughters and a son in Port Vila, where she sells clothes in an indoor market.

"There are not many jobs back home. I go back and visit my dad, mum, brothers and sisters once every three years. Sometimes, I have to send them money," she says.

Back on Tanna, Alfred Rousiou is certainly not among those looking at moving to Port Vila. He has always lived in the shadow of the island's rumbling volcano and that is where he wants to stay, surrounded by greenery and birdsong, and close to his extended family. "We are happy because we are free," he says.

Vanuatu: Facts and figures

• Located to the west of Fiji, about 1,090 miles east of northern Australia. Made up of 83 islands of which 69 are inhabited.
• Earliest archaeological evidence dates back to around 1400BC.
• Colonised by Europeans in the mid 19th century and governed by the British and French as the New Hebrides until 1980 when the Republic of Vanuatu was created.
• Population of 211,000, of whom 98.5 per cent are Ni-Vanuatu who are of Melanesian and to a lesser extent, Polynesian descent. More than 90 per cent are Christians.
• Per capita gross domestic product of $1,571 (2006 estimate). About 40 per cent of the total GDP of $349 million comes from tourism. About 80 per cent of the population lives off subsistence farming.
• Classified by the United Nations as a Least Developed Country.
• Bislama — a form of Pidgin English — is the main language. However, English and French are also official languages. There are more than 130 vernacular languages.
• There are 52 democratically elected members of parliament (MPs) and the prime minister is usually the head of the party with the highest number of MPs. The president is elected by the MPs and the heads of provincial councils.
• The country has nine active volcanoes and as many as 2,000 events of seismic activity every year.
  
  —Sources: British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Lonely Planet Vanuatu and New Caledonia