The Land of the Soap Eaters

They eat what! I exclaimed, as Tekaai, loaded my bags and buckets onto the airport’s rusty scale.  With great solemnity he restated, “The people of that island eat soap. They may try to feed it to you during your welcome bootaki to see if you are like them.”  My mouth dropped.  “You’re kidding right?  They really expect me to eat soap?”  “Yes,” he responded, as we balanced a kerosene stove and several buckets of food onto the scale.  “Eat it,” he said, “and ask for seconds,” he patted me on my shoulder and proceeded to walk away. Just as people from Maiana, where Tekaai was from, had an extraordinary ability to tell believable lies, people from Abaiang were apparently known for eating and enjoying soap.

The soap eating habits apparently dated back to the mid 1800s, when I-Kiribati made first contact with black birders and missionaries.  Peruvian black birders sought plantation laborers from Kiribati, and enticed them with cloth, tools, tinned foods, and soap.  Missionaries arrived around the same time with similar objects and promises of spiritual salvation.  Enticed by the soap's smell, I was told that the people of Abaiang began eating it, producing this reputation.  To make sure I would fit in, Tekaai jimmied a bar of soap into the handle of my red bucket.  “It is for good luck” he yelled, as he walked away.   

A few minutes later, I buckled myself into the 16 passenger island hopper.  When we reached the end of the runway, the co-pilot turned around and yelled, "Are you ready?"  After a unified affirmation, he pushed the throttle, and within minutes the main island shrunk behind us.  After ten minutes, coconut treetops were once again buzzing past the windows as we landed on Abaiang’s airfield. 

We taxied across the field to a small one room brick building.  There, families waited for friends and relatives.  As the propellers sputtered to a halt, they started making their way to the plane.  Once parked, the pilot walked to the rear of the plane and opened the door for all passengers.  One by one we exited and began unloading our luggage.  I kept an eye out for anyone who looked as if they were involved with Peace Corps, but did not see anyone.

Getting luggage from Air Kiribati on Abaiang

Being of Mexican descent, I did not fit the I-matang white skinned, blonde haired image.  I could tell people were trying to figure what I was.  Many may have assumed I had family coming to get me, but unfortunately after the airfield cleared I was still in the field with only mosquitoes to keep me company during a beautifully fading sunset.  Not knowing where to go or what to do, I sat on my bucket.

Black Birders - Those who recruited people through trickery and kidnapping to work as laborers. For less than a year between 1862–63, Peruvian ships (and a few Chilean ships under the Peruvian flag) combed the smaller islands from Easter Island in the eastern Pacific to Tuvalu and Kiribati, seeking recruits to fill the extreme labor shortages in Peru. ^[1]

• Maude, H. E. (1981). Slavers in Paradise. Fiji: Institute of Pacific Studies.