Shell necklace

These necklaces hang in our bathroom. There is nothing particularly remarkable about them, but there is a story behind them. They were given them to me in Tahiti when I was 10 years old and returning from an emigration to New Zealand. Two young girls were selling these on the dock side and one of the girls draped them around my neck. My mother remonstrated saying she did not wish to purchase them but the girl said they were a gift. When my mother asked why, the girl replied it was because of the colour of my hair. At the time, my hair was a very fair, yellow blonde which is hardly ever seen in Polynesia. I did the morning shopping at the market. The tennis lesson was cancelled but we all still turned up and had a practice. I went onto the French conversation where we discussed the meeting that took place in the village last night about getting a health centre. We are officially in a ‘medical desert’ and a solution has to be found but it is complicated.