The trip to Tarawa took a whole week. We arrived on Beru on our third day at sea. I was as sick as a dog. I vomited all the way there. We went ashore and were welcomed by a number of families. I took for granted that they were Viane’s relatives because Beru was his home island. We were back on the boat before dark and arrived at Tabiteuea where the ship stayed for two days. We were taken to Buota village by a woman whose husband was away in Nauru. On Tabiteuea, I noticed that young girls of my age were going round with grass skirts only. Our caretaker wore the same grass skirt and tibuta every day. Because there were four of us the woman came with us to sleep in the maneaba. It seemed other people sleeping there all the time. We used mosquito nets because the mosquitoes were bad. The woman was very kind: she made us new clothes. I realised then that people were wearing grass skirts not because of lack of clothing or money, but because that was the ordinary daily wear.

Before boarding the ship Ioane, Viane’s son, and I were standing outside the church in Tanaeang, the Catholic centre on Tabiteuea North. He was trying to show me the church. It was made of thick cement walls with its white paint wearing off. While looking at the sanctuary, a Sister entered and she seemed to be fixing something around the altar and then disappeared to the back. Ioane said, ‘See that’s what the Sisters do. They pray every day and look after the church’. I did not have anything to say.

Nonouti was our next stop. Here the Sisters were on the beach to meet the new arrivals. Taeaniti could not make me approach the Sisters to say hello. I walked in the other direction. They were dressed in white long dresses that reached to their ankles, with long sleeves, and veils which seemed like hats showing only their eyes to their chins. Their ears were well hidden away. Here, too, in Nonouti I attended my first Mass. The Sisters ran a primary school in the Catholic station and had girl boarders with them. These girls took good care of us. We only spent a day here. By evening we were back on the ship and left for Abemama. We went ashore at Manoku only for the day. It was a relief to be able to go ashore because I was so sick on the ship. Though the ship spent the night in Abemama, the four of us had to return to the ship for the night by order of the Captain. The last stop was Kuria. Viane had another brother living there with his family. They were very kind to us. We finally reached Tarawa on 16 January. We stayed in the Captain’s home in Teaoraereke, the headquarters of the Catholic Mission.