Pasante Hélmer Velandia:

Clear patterns of spending were discernable. For some the RSE means significant life changes. New houses, payment of school fees, and investments in land or transport and small business were the most commonly cited uses of remitted funds. However several respondents reported having spent money on customary obligations, particularly marriage contributions.

A recurring theme in the urban context was the relationship with the home island of the respondent. Not a single respondent was born in Port Vila, although some Efate islanders were interviewed from nearby villages. This was not a case of urban workers earning money solely to enhance urban lives. Delilah (interviewed 30-7-12) was typical of others when she said “All the money went to family in Tanna. Now they have two solar panels for light.”

Everyone interviewed regarded the payment of school fees as of very high priority, possibly second only to meeting customary obligations:

127 _{The use of the term Western work ethic is used in lieu of a more accurate description and opens a large and} multi-layered discourse, which if examined would include some reference to Weber, F.W.Taylor, and early writers on capitalism such as Marx. However it seems preferable to allow a vague and more open

acknowledgement than presume that the Western work ethic is a natural state of being appropriate for all societies.

Meeting custom responsibilities is expensive. I paid for my wife’s dowry and my little boy’s circumcision ceremony. (Ike, 25-10-12)

I have made more than a million vatu [$15,000 app] altogether. I used Western Union every month. All the money went to family. The first year I paid for a roof for my house. I bought solar panels. Two of my boys have had marriages and I gave donations of 50,000 vatu for the marriage dowries. (Eric, 1-8-12)

The RSE experience was not of life changing significance in all cases. Oden (interviewed 25-7-12) was a cook at the Melanesian hotel in 2005. “Now I am cook at the Waterfront. Life is much the same.” Fred (interviewed 25-7-12) was doing hotel security. “After I worked a small time in New Zealand I started doing hotel security again. I spent the 90,000 vatu on food, money to family.”

Perhaps more typically, small changes came about to enhance an existing lifestyle. Eric (interviewed 1-8-12) is a fisherman with craft skills. “I make wood carvings which you see in Goodies [shop] and Drug Store [chemist]. Especially wooden pigs. I bought some tools for carving, including a skillsaw.”

For many others the desire to build a new house or possess some land, often in peri-urban areas adjacent to Vila, has been a driving force:

It [the RSE] has been good for me because I have been able to pay for land in Santo to build a house for the children (Tori, 10-8-12).

In 2007, I lived in Menples. It was in 2010 I moved to Etaus. I paid 416,000 for the land at Etaus. I also paid 100,000 for my father’s funeral. That was the story of 2007/2008. (Charles, 8-8-12)

I have bought some land near Club Hippique at Tahouma. I want to build a house and garden there. I need to make more money yet and it will be a nice house.

(Carol, 28-7-12)

I paid for land in Vila in Eratop. There is enough land for three houses. I paid 750,000 vatu. Plus school fees for my boy’s two children in Malekula. (Lisa, 15-8-12)

Several respondents used the RSE as a springboard to start small businesses, not always successfully:

In New Zealand I bought chainsaws, furniture. I wanted to buy a sawmill in Vanuatu but it was very expensive so I bought more chainsaws. My sister is from Pentecost but she bought land in Santo. I bought a fibreglass watertank and sent it to Pentecost. In 2011 I purchased a car in Vila, a Hyundai. I wanted to have a taxi but the quota is full. (Leon, 26-7-12)

I made good money to pay the school fees. I have one child in year 12 and one in year 8. I paid for some kava to start a small kava business. I think I made 300,000 plus some equipment in the container. I paid for an electric cooker and some clothes for the kids. (Fiona, 14-11-12)

The payment of school fees is not restricted to those with children at secondary school or University of South Pacific. Often wider family obligations come into play.

I have two brothers at USP [University of the South Pacific] and Malapoa and three sisters; one at Ule and one at Onesua. I paid for two, about 200,000 vatu. I bought a solar panel for my grandfather for him to use for a guesthouse and store at Pango. (Adrienne, 13-8-12)

For some the RSE means a change in status from rentier to landlord:

Many have been paying for land so they can build a rental property. While they are in New Zealand the cash flow keeps coming from the rental, especially in Prima and Vladimir estate. (Rendel, 10-11-12)

If it was not possible to quantify the earnings in such a way as to attach levels of significance, it was nonetheless possible to gain insight into what level of earnings constitutes success. For example, in Mele village there is an expectation that three years of RSE equals a house:

The first year I paid for the roof materials and the second year I built the foundations, then the walls. I will finish it next time. (Olo, 31-7-12)

DR: Three seasons would be enough for a house worth about one million vatu? Yes, if you include a toilet and bathroom you would go close to a million if you stay in Mele, because the sand is free so you need mesh wire. I encourage them to use bigger size with 2 mesh wire they can complete the house up to the roof with savings from two seasons. The next season put in a verandah.

DR: You think it’s consistent with a good season being maybe 300,000 vatu? Yes, in a very good season they make 500,000 vatu plus. (Alex George, 31-7-12)

Four main uses can therefore be identified for RSE savings. The first is to support the fabric of kinship obligations. The second is to advance through education. The third is to materially improve the lives of families at micro level. The fourth is the establishment or growth of small businesses to provide ongoing earnings. However the effects of the RSE on families are both positive and negative.