Sachets

 Islanders love their sachet (pronounced sa-shay). An event isn’t a good event without a sachet.

Getting organized for sachet filling

Sachet is the word most commonly used for plastic bag in the island language.  But in the context of events, it takes on the meaning of ‘goody bag’.  No good island ceremony with the exception of funerals can be completed without sachets.  Whether a wedding, circumcision, coming of age celebration, birthday party, or religious ritual, there is the expectation that everyone will receive a goody bag— a sachet.  

What goes in the sachet does not vary a whole lot.  Normally you’ll find a drink (juice or soda), some kind of baked good (locally made or highly processed snack cakes), a chocolate bar (or something to that effect), and some hard candies.  This being an opportunity to show off wealth, the quality of the items in the sachet will vary.  A poor host’s sachets will be a simple plastic bag, and the cheapest versions of all of the above. A rich host’s sachets will be a decorated paper bag, brand-name soda, and boxed baked goods from a local bakery, etc. 

Since, every person who attends the ceremony is expected to receive a sachet, this becomes both a big job and an expensive part of hosting an event.  On occasion, we’ve been asked to help out with the preparation of the sachets, like we did a couple months ago when our friend’s daughter was to have her coming-of-age party.  Since our home is conveniently located near downtown, they gathered everything at our house and we stuffed sachets together.  We made an assembly line, one person opening the little plastic bags, one person stuffing the drink, another adding the cakes and candies and another adding the chocolate bar and tying the top.  This event was small but we still did more than 125 bags.  For a wedding, it could be in the from 500-700 sachets, maybe more.  It’s monotonous but not hard work and it is fun working together.

At the same time I felt somewhat dismayed by all the trash we were creating.  Everything we were putting into the plastic bag was individually wrapped and then going into yet another plastic bag.  Any foreigner who goes to the beach in our town is appalled to see the plastic bottles that clutter the shore.  In some places the trash is so thick that you can’t see the sand.  Where does it all come from?  I had my answer as I stuffed another bottle of cheap soda into another plastic bag.  Think of all the ceremonies happening all the time; the thousands of empty bottles being discarded; the thousands and thousands of plastic bags and wrappers discarded every day!

It made me wonder what things were like before— in the years and generations before all this plastic and processed products came to the islands.  Did they pass around a jug for the drink?  Did they wrap things in a banana leaf?  The sachet may be a modern innovation but I have asked and no one seems to know what was done before and if there was a time when people didn’t expect to receive a sachet. 

Pile of finished sachets

If it is a modern innovation, it is one that has become firmly grounded in island culture.  It is seen as the greatest shame if not everyone at the event receives a sachet.  When sachets are given out, people take it very seriously, demanding that they receive their share and getting angry if they are accidentally passed over.  Sometimes there is even a rush on the ones handing out the sachets. They have to hold the container of sachets far over their head to keep people from grabbing the sachets willy-nilly.  If you know the host well, they may give you a second sachet as an extra honor.  On occasion I’ve been given 4 extra sachets—one for each member of the family.  

Whatever the history, an event isn’t over until the sachets are given out.  At one of the men’s wedding events, many will leave as soon as they are handed a sachet even if it is in the middle of a prayer. Even if the organizer yells at people to sit down, he can not often stop the mass exodus.  They got what they came for—their sachet—so it’s time to leave!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our road trip has gone really well (only one day remains).  We have been blessed to see so many friends and family and even to make some new friends.  We’re especially thankful to see some friends and family we didn’t expect to see.  What a gift!  Despite what looks like a hectic schedule on paper, the pace has not been too bad.  We feel like we’ve gotten to have lots of good quality time with people (although we could always wish for more) and there have been moments of rest within the travel—like one new place we stayed where they had a swimming pond out back!  Our daughter got her phone back (the one she had left on the plane).  We got to visit her college and see the doctor, all of which went very well and was very reassuring.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please do keep us in prayer as our whirlwind tour of the US continues.  We’ll finish our road trip tomorrow and fly off to California a couple days later.  Pray that we can get needed rest and restoration in the times between travels.   It is wedding season in the islands and we’ve already heard from one good friend that he has gotten married (sachets and all).  We pray that he will have a good marriage and be a loving husband and father.  We pray for transformation for him and his wife.  Ma Nadjma let us know that she hopes to be married again soon— pray for her and her kids in this transition— pray for a healthy marriage and family and that they all might embrace and follow truth together.  Our daughter will be starting a new treatment— the medication will have to come via a specialty pharmacy— pray that we can figure out the logistics of getting the meds not only now but also once she’s at college.