Dear Editor – On the eve of Mother’s Day, early in the morning, I saw two missed calls on my mobile. So I tried calling the number and it turned to be a friend that pre celebrated the mother’s day earlier as he had plans to travel in the evening.
The friend answered my call and request for pick up at Lela Beach, Kakabona, West Guadalcanal.
My day began with the same chores by dropping kids at school, and then I headed straight to West side.
The city traffic was enough to zigzag at 40km/h and I drove past Rove trying avoiding potholes at Tamlan, still traffic was 10m apart for vehicles heading towards the Honiara City.
I stopped at White River 02 market to get me my first chew for the day. This driving trip was an illusion of the movie Transporter.
Putting my speed at 40km/h, I drove past Savo Market and ahead of me about 100m I saw groups of betel nut vendors starting their daily business at the Marara Market, there I saw few relatives jumping on to the back of a 3 ton truck, in their hands are 20kg bags of betel nuts, then I drove past Kovuare night club and saying to myself this will be the house for the mothers tonight, so I drove straight past the ramp.
I am a frequent goer, whether on foot, drive or OBM and live for 15 years on West Guadalcanal until the crisis. Today I feel so connected to the places and this episode is just one of them.
As I past the graveyard and some 50m ahead I saw smooth, white rounded pebbles of limestone origin formed together with rounded black basalt to create beautiful writings along both sides of the road.
The cleanliness I saw that morning takes me back to the days when I was at King George VI High School on that same stretch travelling to Selwyn College for our rugby friendly match – this one is much beautiful and calm.
As the saying goes, “just because my path is different, doesn’t mean I’m lost”.
But just be thankful, grateful and have the sense of ownership to the wonderful things we see and you will have more to be destined your way.
The good news is that 4 cruise ships will be visiting us soon. Your communities will be one of the pieces of story for our visitors to tell about Solomon Islands.
Keep up the good work.
Wilson B Rafiau
Henderson South
East Honiara
