Snippets from Around the Flat

Martyn was trying to pull the nails out of a piece of wood left lying around our yard last week. He wondered why the nail wasn't budging ...

The hammer was here when we moved in - hope it didn't cost much. It was from the Warehouse, so not local.

We are expecting visitors soon so we gave the spare bedroom a spring clean (even though there is no Spring season here). We found some souvenir fans to brighten the room a bit.

Public Works have finally decided to replace the water main down our road after it began leaking again this year. It was patched up several times last year.

Tony our landlord decided to take action to fill the holes in our road. He got a truckload of tiles that had been stripped out of somewhere and dumped it in one of the holes.

As it was being dumped, we wondered will they remove the bits of cardboard boxes? You can see the answer. There are lots of very sharp edges, so we will not be taking Ethel out that way, even though the mud has finally dried out.

The new unit above the studio flat next door to our flat is going up rapidly. Tony was thinking 3 storeys, but may stop and 2 and build a BBQ deck on top instead. 

Hyjinks on the last days of Classes

With all the topics covered and still a bit of time up our sleeves, Nicola decided that she, Judy and I should put on a small play for the students. 

We hammed it up big-time, acting out a scenario demonstrating appalling hygiene practices. Here's me pretending to have a leg wound which Judy cleaned up in a very perfunctory manner and left the 'bloody' cloth on the table where she and Nicola were acting out preparing food for a fundraiser for the Aid Post. They put liquid glitter on their hands and were shaking all the students' hands, welcoming them to the fundraiser.

I reappeared a bit later as the Zone Nurse come to visit the VHW and pointed out all their dreadful mistakes. I also checked the students' hands and found glitter on some of them, indicating 'germs'.

The students thought it was hilarious!

We also completed preparing the booklets that the students need to take with them on their practicum at the clinics so they can record all the different tasks that they may, or may not, get experience at dealing with. It all depends on the problems that the patients arrive with.

This is Estelline, one of our students, helping out with the stapling, and Judy in the background.

We taped over the staples, 

and the students were very impressed with their professional-looking booklets 😁 They are away for 2 weeks now, returning for graduation on the 10th July. Still plenty of work next week for Judy, Nicola and me to complete a report to MoH, tidy up and store all the equipment, and prepare for graduation.

Earthquake this morning 8.15am a 6.2 magnitude

During this morning's devotions at the PCV we were shaken by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake.  It was only about 35 kms off Port Vila.  We were shaken but not hurt, and there does not appear to have been any damage to our flat that we can see.  We haven't heard if there has been any major damage to buildings or injuries at this stage.

Completing the VIP Toilet

At the Ministry of Health's invitation, all the VHW students went out to Etas village just outside Vila to see the VIP toilet slab they had created put into position in the village. We piled into 2 mini-buses and the back of the MoH truck and drove about 15 minutes out to the village. 

I was a bit disappointed with this part of the demonstration - the pit had certainly been dug but the top edge had not been properly framed up ready for the slab to sit over it. Iou Pousin, the National VHW Co-ordinator did give a very good description of what needed to be done to complete the toilet.

Our slab was carefully positioned so it didn't fall into the hole, which was about 1.5m deep.

The cylinder that forms the seat was roughly positioned. It eventually needs to be sealed to the slab to stop anything nasty escaping onto the floor.

One of the men demonstrated how the fly mesh is fixed over the top of the vent pipe, however the vent pipe is supposed to extend up past the roof of the toilet. 

Here is a WHO diagram of how it is supposed to work once finished. It is still a long-drop, but much improved on the most basic design. Smells get vented up out of people's noses, and flies try to go out through the vent pipe but die in the pipe instead. A reduction in flies directly impacts on the general health of the village. It is an effective and cheap solution for sites where there is insufficient water supply for a flush toilet.

When the contents of the pit is nearing the floor slab, a new pit must be dug and the superstructure moved to this new location. A tree can be planted on the site of the old pit, so it is also environmentally friendly. 

Making a VIP Toilet

On Friday the VHW students were invited to help make a VIP toilet at the Ministry of Health (MoH) campus. "Why a toilet for VIPs?" I hear you wondering. Well, it actually stands for Ventilated Improved Pit toilet. I will explain later.

Preparations are made to pour a concrete slab to cover the pit. 

The students were encouraged to hands-on in building the formwork.

As well as the slab, a concrete cylinder needs to be poured to form the toilet bowl.

The cylinder is reinforced with chicken wire.

 After all the formwork was prepared, they hand-mixed the concrete and poured it into the moulds.

Openings were cast in for the waste hole and the ventilation hole.

On Monday we returned to the MoH to remove the formwork and see how it had turned out. All hands on deck to lift the slab so the waste hole former could be removed.

The formers at top and bottom of the cylinder had not been oiled so they were very difficult to remove without breaking up the concrete cylinder - a good lesson in what not to do 😁.

The finished components ready for assembly. 

Tomorrow the MoH has invited us to go to Etas village, about half-hour drive away from Vila to see our components assembled over a pit that has been dug by the community there, and to see how the whole unit works. Keep watching for the next exciting installment!

ICC Church and World Cup Flags

Annette lead the worship this morning at the ICC Church.  She was very good (not that I am biased at all). She has lead worship in our home church of Knox Christian Centre in New Zealand, so she has had experience of leading worship, this was here first time leading at ICC.

Then there is the World Cup in Russia.  Vanuatu people are passionate about sport, and particularly football. So even though Vanuatu has not yet got to the World Cup the people support the countries playing in Russia.  Many flags can be seen around Port Vila. Buses and trucks have flags flying, schools have flags on the fences and people wear shirts of the teams they support.  It reminds me of  how New Zealanders supported the Rugby World Cup when it was hosted in New Zealand.

This is the view over Seaside Community, about 2 blocks from our flat.

Tall trees are climbed and flags are flown from poles at the top of the tree.

Ethel is Officially Named, and Unexpected Visitor

Today we officially named Ethel, with some stickers we picked up in NZ. The stickers are smaller than we would have liked, but they are gold and very classy 😆.

And of course we want to advertise PCANZ (Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand).

We also had an unexpected visitor. The photos don't do it justice, it was huge! We got it out once, and then blow me it came back the next day (of course it was the same one! or was it a brother or sister????)

Its legs were about as long as my fingers! Of course it would come in after Martyn had left for work before me one morning so I was on my own. I tried to chase it out but I lost it. I know! How could I lose something that big!??? They can run fast and get through very small gaps.

It turned up later in the wardrobe, when Martyn was home. He managed to chase it outside and over our back wall. They are harmless but just a bit big to share the flat with 😟.

Mammas Laef (Life)

On the VHW course this week we had a visit from Maryse from Mammas Laef. This is an organisation who make washable sanitary pads for girls and women. 

Many girls don't have access to disposable pads or tampons, or their families can't afford to pay for them. They are so ashamed if they get any blood on their clothes, so usually when they have their period they just don't go to school. That ends up being a lot of schooling that they miss out on.

Days for Girls is an  international organisation that also works to improve this situation for girls, and they make pads to send to developing countries as well as assisting with funding for countries like Vanuatu who make their own.

Mammas Laef is based in Pango, just on the southern edge of Port Vila, and they have a group of women who make the kits as well as a few trained advocates like Maryse who teach people about them. Currently they only have enough funding to supply the islands of Efate (where Port Vila is) and Tanna. There are many more islands where their product has not yet reached.

Each kit contains a holder and several pads. The holder has a waterproof layer and it domes around the girl's panties to keep it in place. Soft cotton fabric is sewn into pads that fit into the holder.

The kit can last a girl 3 or more years before wearing out, and each one costs about $25 NZ.  They are also much more environmentally friendly than disposable pads.

For more info about Mammas Laef - click on this link:

http://www.sista.com.vu/mammas-laef/

And if you would like to make a donation, click on this link:

https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/mammaslaefvanuatu