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Seaplane Was Our Transportation

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Collection	Volunteer Photos
Photo Title	Seaplane Was Our Transportation
Photo Description	Whenever the seaplane came to the island...usually twice a week, the children would run through the village announcing they had just heard it flying overhead. They would scream "Si bi eaa" for "Sea Bee Air" the name of the plane. The plane was piloted by a man named Norm who was from New Zealand and he was loved amongst all of the islanders as he brought goodies from Funafuti, the Capital island, and for us letters weeks old, and news from a place far from our new home. Snow, large supermarkets and cars on roads were distant memories as we learned to live and adjust to life on an island only 2 by 3 miles with a lagoon in the center. Vaitupu, our island, was completely flat and covered with lots of coconut trees and the most loving people in the world. When the sea plane service was no longer subsidized by the British government it no longer flew. That was 1983 and to this day there is still only a once in awhile cargo boat to the outer islands. The seaplane made a huge difference to communication and transportation to the outer island. We took the last plane out of Tuvalu as Peace Corps withdrew the Volunteers when the plane left since there would no longer be a way to have adequate emergency evacuation of the Voluneters form the island. It was a sad day.
Contributor	Vicki Dilley
Region	Pacific Islands
Country of Service	Tuvalu
Service Dates (Beginning)	1980
Service Dates (Ending)	1983
Sector	Community Development
Decade	1980s
Keywords	Transportation
Resource Type	Photo
Format	JPG
Date created	2010-06-30

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