The trip to Twoulwi was a great way for me to see some more of Lagonav, understand the water issues better, and see a different kind of work in the field.

Benaja is the fourth-grade teacher in Matenwa, but he’s also a member of Lagonav’s association of community organizers, AAPLAG.

As we crossed the island, we saw how dry the treeless landscape becomes. It hasn’t rained since September.

Farmers have to drive their animals to the few wells to let them drink. The wells are scattered, so it can take a lot of time. They might not be able to get their animals to water more than once of twice each week. This well is in Sous Filip.

This is the center of Twoulwi, a small port on the southern coast of the island.

Here are some of the boats that make the trips to the mainland. They go between Twoulwi and cities like Miwogwann and Tigwav.

And here are fishermen at work drawing in a net. They didn’t catch much.

The meeting took place in a wall-less covered space right at the water.

The most interesting part of the meeting for me was when the participants took magic markers in hand and drew a map of the local water sources.

There was a parallel meeting with kids.

Here’s a final photo of Benaja.