This was one of the highlights of Funafuti, especially after thinking that fresh vegetables would be hard to find. On Tuesday and Friday mornings you go early in the morning (when we were there it was 7:00 on Tues and 6:30 on Fri) and put your name on a list, which is basically a queue. Then you come back an hour later and you get to go in order to pick out piles of vegetables: cabbages, green bell peppers, lettuce, and cucumber. We were also able to order for pick up on a Thurs morning, and there were a few additional things available, like green beans.
When we were there, we met two young Taiwanese men who are university students doing their internships there. Apparently 8-10 years ago Taiwan funded this project to teach the Tuvaluans to grow vegetables above ground, in containers. Now it’s operated by the Tuvaluans, except for the occasional interns.
A trip to the vegetable garden
Gresham Family Exodus 