i have just heard very sad news from the States. during my visit to erromango, i met an exceptional young man by the name of john roberts, who was finishing his two year peace corps service in south river. he was a most inspiring person and so happy to be serving his time with peace corps. soon after my visit with john, his parents sent me an email requesting photos from my visit to south river. just today, i received word from john's dad, bearing the sad news that john was killed in an accident: he was helping a family in their garden and a tree was cut but fell in the wrong direction, hitting john and another villager and killing both of them immediately. john roberts died on october 11, 2007--just one month before the end of his service in south river.

there are many things that i will remember from my visit to south river, but two of the most memorable experiences from my time on erromango were with john:

1) sharing scotch fingers with peanut butter looking at the beautifully picturesque village of south river from paul and judy's spot. we had talked about all the wonderful things about being young and he had told me all of the things he had hoped to accomplish... like making a difference in the world by helping others

2) sharing taro that he had stashed in his pack on the red dirt hill at the 11 mile marker and john's gentle encouragement on my long walk back to ipota.

i had insisted john visit me in hawaii when he was done with peace corps... even though this will not happen, he will always hold a dear place in my heart.

as you may have read in a previous blog of mine on Matador, my time on erromango was the highlight of my 6 week trip to indonesia, australia, vanuatu, and fiji. john was a wonderful, kind, and generous person and my great time in vanuatu is very much thanks to him. he will always be in my thoughts. he had so much promise and i am so sad to hear of his tragic death…