The Halfway Mark

We've successfully reached halfway on the Village Health Worker (VHW) training course, hooray 😃! We're at the end of week 5, just 5 more to go, and the last 2 of those are their practicum out in a clinic somewhere around Vanuatu. Some will go to clinics around Efate, and others will have to fly to Santo, Malekula or Tanna so that there are enough clinics to go around for them all to get some good experience.

My last entry was about the tippy taps and fly traps. 3 out of 4 of the taps are still standing and being used most days. They are a source of much interest whenever we have visitors to Korvan. The fly traps were moderately successful, catching a few flies even though there are not many around at the moment. It was a disgusting job having to empty them though! (I get all the best ones on this course 😆). 

There has been plenty happening in the classroom since then. PCV's own Terekea Kaltabang, the Disaster Risk Co-ordinator, came and gave a very interacative class about preparing for disasters of various types and how to react after one happens.

The Disaster Risk Reduction Cycle (note the laminated cards made by yours truly).

Elder Richard Tatwin, PCV Health Secretary, suggested that we visit their clinic and we thought that was a great idea. Nicola and I took groups of approx 10 down in rotation so everyone could fit in and have a good look around. Fortunately it is an easy 10 minute walk from Korvan to PCV Health.

Here PCV Health eye care worker Sarafina is telling a group of students about the assessment of patients for reading glasses and screening for eye diseases which must be referred to the hospital. Prescription glasses can be made at the clinic when all the machinery is functioning as it should.

Here PCV Health dental care worker Morinda (right at the back) is showing students one of the 2 dental treatment rooms.

Because I am away in NZ for 2 weeks, it has been a scramble to get all the resources prepared ahead of time so that Judy and Nicola can keep up the great work they are doing in the classroom. Modules on First Aid, Common Diseases and Immunisation are happening while I'm away.

Remember that store room we cleaned out and which was looking pristine? It didn't take long for the termites and geckos to mess it up again. The borer bomb was obviously not effective on them. This is why I am reluctant to store any of our resources in there until we can either get the plywood shelving treated to rid them of termites, or get several large plastic boxes to keep everything in.

Another challenge is  the uncooperative lock on the other resource room door -

keep trying Nicola!

More Building Work at Our Flats

Tony our landlord has started another stage in his building development at our group of flats.  The single story house that Tony, Mary and their family lived in last year has had the roof removed while we were in New Zealand over the Christmas period.  Tony is adding a story onto the ground floor.  

The addition will be a concrete floor.  The supports are in place to support the floor while the work is completed to set up the reinforcing steel, tie in the walls and pour the concrete.

Supports and beams supporting the ply for the pouring of the concrete

Reinforcing mesh ready to be put in place. Note Ethel's parking area.

Reinforcing steel

 George and his team putting the plywood in place on which the reinforcing will be positioned ready for the concrete pour

The flat between our flat and the building site (which is to the right of the photo) is used to store the roofing steel, and will be used as a base to mix additional concrete and hold the reinforcing steel currently stored on the ground.

PCV Presentation of Gifts

Tuesday afternoon the PCV and staff presented Cindy Vanuaroro with gifts to mark the occasion of the wedding of one of her sons on Friday.  Cindy is the General Secretary for the PWMU in Vanuatu. (i.e the Boss).

The gifts were presented on behalf of the PCV and staff by Elder Meto Nganga Acting General Assembly Clerk. (Pastor Allen is attending the Santo Presbytery meeting and so was not able to attend this afternoons presentation.)

Cindy may you have a blessed Friday and weekend with your family.

Around Port Vila

I believe in supporting local businesses.  The restaurant Kucina Filipino is owned and operated by our neighbours, Ram and Sonia.  They are from the Philippines and have lived in Vanuatu for many years.  They also go to the ICC Church as well as us.  The restaurant is down on the main street in Vila close to the water front. So if you are in Vila have a meal at their restaurant, they serve very yummy food, and they have a fairly new rotisserie on which they cook chicken and occasionally pork.

When there is a need to adjust the data projector in the ICC Church that is mounted from the ceiling, we have all the high tech gear.  Here Korey fine tunes the angle of the projector on the screen with a broom.

Chinese Aid Supplied Water Tanks

An agreement was signed between the Ambassador of China to Vanuatu, Mr. Liu Quan and Prime Minister Charlot Salwai last September for the Chinese Government to provide 146 water tanks to communities in need of safe drinking water.

Storing water in Vanuatu is a problem especially out in the islands.  The villagers need a good supply of clean drinking water, especially during the long dry season.  The tanks catch rainwater from buldings roofs.  A good tank supply may also be needed during the tropical cyclone season when water from rivers can become dirty with the runoff from the hills.

The agreement was to supply 131 of 6,000 litre water tanks and 15 of 10,000 litre water tanks. The tanks arrived this week and are stored on the parking area beside the Conference Centre.  

Storm Water

Beside the Tropical  Corner roundabout there is a massive storm water soak system.  The two ponds total about 50 metres long and 20 metres wide, and about 5 metres deep.

They are designed to take the water in the tropical cyclone season. The land is very porous and so the water soon soaks away.  We haven't seen water in the second pond yet.

Bottom pond

Top pond  (Tropical Corner roundabout by the red sign in the photo)

 Annette's Vanuatu Driving Licence

Annette received her Vanuatu driving licence today.  There were a few delays in the application process to request a licence.   Basically she needed a photocopy of her New Zealand licence and passport.  Then fill in the application form, go to the police station to have the application approved  and pay 5,000 Vatu for the clearance. Then Annette needed to go to the Vanuatu Customs Department to pay a 5,000 Vatu licence fee. The the licence is issued.

While I was waiting for Annette at the Police Station, Au Bon Marche supermarket (which is opposite the Police Station) were receiving some stock.  The access to the supermarket is limited for the delivery trucks to the side of a busy road.  Good exercise for the staff.

Tippy Taps and Fly Traps

On the VHW course this week we have been teaching the students about Environmental Health. One of their activities was to build a functioning tippy tap. The purpose is to be able to wash your hands using very little water - perfect if you have a very small water supply or you have to filter/purify all your water, or carry it a long way from the source to where you need it.

There are lots of methods for making tippy taps and they are used in many countries. We watched some videos on-line first then we made our own. 

We got 3 foot-operated taps working well 😅 and the students seemed to really enjoy this practical task.

Martyn came to demonstrate how to make a fly trap today. He made some very successful traps in NZ last Summer when we were inundated flies at home. All we needed was a used plastic water bottle, and unfortunately there are plenty of those lying around here, some scissors or knife, and some tape.

Tomorrow we will find out if they found anything stinky to bait the traps with, and see how many flies they caught. There aren't that many flies around at the moment though. 

We had a visit from a Kiwi family, Jenny, Jessie and Paul Faulkner from Nelson. They are here for a holiday and were keen to see what was happening on the course, especially Jenny who is a nurse. They are also keen to meet up with us volunteers and find out about life in Vanuatu.

Aquarobics

Annette convinced me that we should try aquarobics.  Makes a lot of sense in the tropics I thought. Air temperature 28 degrees, a swim to cool down and some exercise at lunch time. What could be better on a hot tropical day?

The pool was at a private house up in Bellevue. Our friend Nicola Young took us along to try it out today.  She has been there before.  Thank you to Nicola for suggesting that we go, and taking us there.

The home is owned by an expat couple that have lived in Vanuatu for 15 years, and now have Vanuatu citizenship. The lady is an artist and art teacher, and she takes art classes as well as leading the aquarobics.

A beautiful view out the back of Port Vila

Riding Gear on Ethel the Quad

You may (or may not 😊) be wondering what we wear when riding Ethel.  We take all precautions in selecting the correct gear, and definitely wear a crash helmet.

Two photos below show the different riding gear needed in the hot times of the year and the cool times of the year. All the right gear for the conditions 😂

Hot weather riding gear

Cool weather riding gear

Sunday Mother's Day

Mother's Day I  organised special day for Annette.  Breakfast organised (not in bed too many crumbs 😊)  Cereal, tropical fruit and toast.  Coffee served as well.

We went to church at ICC.  The service was led by Gilbert, we had wonderful worship singing led by Dave. Armin brought us the message, and he spoke on Isaiah Chapter 6.  Tank yu tumas to all of you.

We then came home and Skyped our Mums to wish them happy Mother's Day.  And the internet stayed working all the time we were on Skype.  

We then rode Ethel out to Breakas Resort for lunch, a swim and a lounge on the deck chairs reading in the lovely afternoon sun.  Here are some photos of our day.

Happy Mother's Day.

The view from our lunch table

Annette had prawns

I had Ceasar Salad.  Very yummy and lots of lettuce. I selected it as lettuce is very difficult and expensive to get here.

Time to relax and enjoy the view and read a book.

The views around the beautiful bay that the Breakas Resort is on.

Update on the Toothpaste Trial

  

Retired dentist Barry Stewart has returned to Australia with survey forms and a bag of coral (dead, not live!) to be made into toothpaste there. He had a bit of explaining to do to Australian Customs! However, he managed to convince them eventually and he and his helpers have since been analysing the data from the first phase of the trial, and are no doubt working on grinding the coral to the right consistency to make the next batch of toothpaste.

Here are a couple of photos of one Grade 1 student in the first week of the trial, and then after they had been doing the daily brushing at school and (hopefully) at home with the 'locally made' toothpaste for a week. The pink/purple colour is the dye that shows up the plaque. 

The result looks great, but of course keeping the brushing habit going is the hard part. Lots of work has been done over the years in schools encouraging children to brush every day, but it never seems to last, for many different reasons. 

Sometimes, it might be one enthusiastic staff member who drives it, but when they leave it dies out. Or the school runs out of supplies of toothpaste and nobody bothers to ask for more (or the supplier does not follow up), and once again it dies out.

The graph shows the big decrease in the amount of plaque on the children's teeth with the initial examination in week 1 shown in blue, and after they have been brushing regularly for a week shown in red. We expected there would be lots of enthusiasm initially though, so whether that improvement can be sustained over the 3 months of the trial remains to be seen when we carry out the 3rd and final examination in July.

The children keep their brushes at school in a special cabinet so the brushes don't touch each other and stay clean. (The children each have another brush at home as well.) The teacher applies the toothpaste each morning,

then they go outside and brush. Keep up the good work Central School 😁.