National Oral Health Survey

The Survey started in Port Vila today (it has already begun in other parts of Vanuatu). I'm part of a team visiting schools this week. 

First stop, Fresh Water School, a huge school in a lower decile part of Port Vila. 

 The juniors are all at assembly in the open sided hall where we will set up shop.

 Each dentist works with a recorder to complete the examination, and others fill out a questionnaire for each child.

 At lunch time, it was bedlam, as the children all crowded around to see what was going on. Poor Rebecca and Jessica are trying to work somewhere in this mob. Several of the little ones were quite frightened, and we had to reassure them we had no injections to give them. Most have not had any dental treatment in their lives before. We saw lots of decayed teeth - oral hygiene and good diet is very lacking in some places.

 Good team spirit in the bus on the way back to the office at the end of a tiring first day.

 Day 2, at Central School this time. We have a clinic to use at this school so it's much quieter to work in. So quiet, this little guy fell asleep in the chair! The condition of teeth is much here, but still needs improvement. This school has a nurse who is giving plenty of good oral education, but for many it is too late - it needs to start at pre-school.

Weekend Housework, then Relaxing Time

Saturday morning was cleaning time. It was a lovely warm breezy day, great for drying washing.

 Martyn got stuck into cleaning the floor while I did other jobs.

Then on Sunday afternoon, Tony and Mary took us out to Eton Beach again for a swim and BBQ.

Busy week at Work

The Executive of the PCV met this week, made up of the Presbytery Clerk from each of the 8 presbyteries around the country, and some of the PCV staff from our office. The meeting lasted 3 days and included a bit of ceremony as it only happens 3 times a year.

There is a special banner and ceremonial drum used for such occasions. 

On Wednesday a team including some of the PCV Health staff left on the Medical Sailing Ministries yacht Chimere, bound for Tanna, Futuna and Erromango Islands to carry out part of the National Oral Health Survey and provide some medical services to isolated communities there. Anyone interested in following their journey, check out their blog:
 http://msm.org.au/things-are-going-our-way/    (much more professional than ours)

I will be working on the survey as well next week, but only around Port Vila. Here are some of the team I have been doing some training with.

 L-R: Nicola Young (Kiwi nurse living in Vila with her husband and son), dentist Aussie Barry Stewart, Sarafina (PCV Health staff), me, then Joanna, Jessica and Marie in the front row (youth volunteers).

Martyn was hard at it most of the week, but didn't feel too good on Thursday, so he took the day off and we both got our hair cut by a lovely lady called Yolanda who did a great job (well we think so). 

Green Tomatoes

After nursing our pathetic tomatoes through 2 cyclones, and feeding them on coffee grounds every day, we finally have 2 tiny little clusters of green tomatoes and more flowers coming on😃.

 The plants have grown quite tall and spindly, and the stakes Martyn cut from a big stand of bamboo are already too short.

There are dozens more plants growing wild at the end of the strip of ground beside our flat, probably self-sown from Maebry and Graeme's tomatoes. By the time they fruit, there will probably be loads going cheap in the markets 😕 but I'm not giving up on ours now!

Progress at the Flat

Building work is all go on the new flat  beside ours, with the plastering and paiinting finished and tiles going down. 

 The tiler is using a electric grinder for the ones that need cutting.

 He only has sunglasses to protect himself from the dust.

 Soon they will be pouring the concrete beams at the top of the gable on Tony and Mary's house,

and the gate across the driveway is up but not secure yet.

 A personnel gate will be added in the gap. A new plinth has been poured for the gate to run along,

 and extra columns have been poured to support the brackets for the top guides.

First Overnight Visit to Onesua

I made it to Onesua on Tuesday and stayed 2 nights, returning Thursday mid afternoon. Here I am setting off in the Onesua bus with my orange backpack (my leaving gift from Wintec), and surrounded by boxes and a flat of eggs on the seat beside me.

 The bus carries people to and from Vila along with boxes and bags of groceries. So it took about 2 hours to get to Onesua (about 130km away from Vila) including pick-ups and drop-offs and shopping stops.

 I took some photos of the campus:
one of the gilrs' dorms, note the small solar lights on the patio charging up during the day. The power is through a diesel generator and is on all day when there are computer classes going on, but only in the evening from 5.30 to about 9.30pm otherwise. I got caught out with my phone battery going flat and having to wait till the power came on to be able to recharge.

It is a large campus, very nice with lots of grass. The buildings are in constant need of repairs though.

 Chickens roam free around the classrooms.

On Tuesday evening they had devotions, and the children seemed to break into spontaneous singing.

Epule (or Epule, B's and P's seem completely interchangeable) College is the trades training centre about 2 km down the road from Onesau. I waked over there a couple of times to see the trainers in action in their classrooms. 

Here is Mululu teaching Hospitality (cooking, waiting tables, tour-guide etc). She only has 3 students; 4 more who started the year did not return after the mid-year holiday for reasons unknown, possibly difficulties paying the fees.

Here's another shot of her classroom.

Here is the workshop where some of the other classes are held (electrical, joinery, motor mechanic).

 It was nice being out of the city and being able to walk along beside the sea to get to and from Epule,

but a bit unnerving being in one of the Pam houses (constructed as staff accommodation after Cyclone Pam) on my own at night, with a couple of fairly big spiders, loads of harmless millipede types bugs which crawled in under the door each evening, and a mouse for company.

I tucked the mosquito net in all the way around the mattress so nothing would crawl over me in the night 😬