They call it America’s pastime, but baseball is spreading to nearly every corner of the globe. One remote place where the great game has expanded in recent years is the small country of Vanuatu. Youngsters growing up in the capital city of Port Vila on the island nation in the South Pacific are quickly taught cricket and not baseball or softball. Baseball’s only appearance on the island was during World War II when United States Servicemen were stationed there. But that started to change five years ago when Country Director for the Peace Corps in Vanuatu, Kevin George, started playing baseball at the local park.
Vanuatu routinely rates as the happiest country on the planet according to the “Un” Happy Planet Index, but without baseball it was not the happiest place on Earth for Peace Corps volunteer Jeremiah Johnson. For Johnson, who is about half way through a 27 month commitment in the Peace Corps, baseball has always been an important part of life. He grew up playing baseball, competing in Little League in Portage, Michigan and continuing his career in high school and college. So when Johnson got to Port Vila to work for the government on fishing development and land conservation projects, it was no surprise that baseball would follow him.
Since December when the Country Director for the Peace Corps in Vanuatu left the island, Johnson has taken the reins, leading the Port Villa Independents team. Every Sunday 15 to 25 eager kids show up at Independence Park where Johnson is more than ready to teach and coach. And teaching and coaching children is nothing new to Johnson who often volunteered his time at West Portage Little League in Portage. The difference this time is the equipment the youngsters have to use. There is no baseball field at Independence Park. Johnson and his pupils must make do with overlapping cricket, soccer and rugby fields to play their baseball. Home plate and the pitchers mound are cricket leg pads and the bases are rice bags. There are only two bats and two overly large batting helmets, which is one reason why they use special safety baseballs instead of the regular hard baseballs. “Boy and girls of various ages and abilities play together, so to avoid injury we use the safety baseballs,” Johnson says. And they only have a dozen of those so every ball must be accounted for before play wraps up when the sun goes down on Sunday evening.
The lack of quality equipment does not stop the children from enjoying the game. It was not until Johnson took over that kids started doing their own pitching and catching and started to truly appreciate the nuisances of the beautiful game. Usually a Sunday in the park consists of a scrimmage, but every once in a while Port Vila will take on their cross island competition. “A Peace Corps volunteer started working in youth sports in Ekipe on the other side of the island,” Johnson explains. “From time to time, we play a Port Vila versus Ekipe game to display baseball in Vanuatu.” And thanks to volunteers like Javier Alaniz and Seth Dallman, the game is expanding into the rural areas of Efate Island.
Johnson is starting to take a backseat during the games. “I let the kids run everything now that they have a strong foundation of the game,” Johnson explains. “If baseball is ever truly going to stick on its own in Vanuata, the kids who are playing now need to be able to do everything on their own and pass their knowledge and experience on to the new players.” Even the parents and community have started to rally behind the Port Villa Independents and other teams that are sprouting up across the island. Yet, for Johnson, it is all about the kids and the game. “I always enjoy sending an older player to help coach at first base. It always makes me smile when I hear them yell out “gud ae, gud ae” (good eye, good eye) at a batter who lays off a bad pitch.” For Johnson, now it truly is the happiest place on Earth.
If you would like to donate used baseball equipment to support the baseball effort in Vanuatu, please contact Jeremiah Johnson at portvila.independents@gmail.com |
