International Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Day

Today our new DRR Co-ordinator for PCV, Terekea Kaltabang, put on a big display to the public at the container cafe beside the office, to raise public awareness of the need to be prepared and know how to react in a disaster situation.

She was ably assisted by Elders Martha and Cyrelline, and Leinagus.

 Here is Terekea on the left. She's doing a great job so far.

The recently completed roof over the containers is providing a bit of welcome heat relief and shade in this area. Most days we are hitting 30 degrees C.

Farewell and Thank you Dinner 

On Thursday night we went to a Melanesian Feast night on Erakor Island. It was a thank you by MSM for all the people who have been involved in the National Oral Health Survey who are still here in Port Vila. 

We had a lovely buffet dinner, we were entertained by a Custom dance group from Futuna Island, and there was fire dancing. We ate at banquet tables set out on the beach with a tent roof overhead.

The funniest part of the evening was an awards ceremony organised by Deb Allen at right and Nicola Young at left, which saw awards for best fish gutter, best disappearing act every day at 5.00 pm (for kava), and several others. Annette won the award for the most graceful exit out of the dinghy into the water!

 Here is Nicola presenting PCV Health worker Dick with his prize for best dancer while working. Bob at left won the prize for the disappearing act.

Team shot with a photo bomber at the back! No idea who the guy is to right of centre in the background 😆

A One-Day Sail

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to go sailing on Chimere - both of us this time! The MSM Supporters' Tour is in progress and Rob has done 2 full day excursions and a half day one on Chimere for some of the generous supporters from Australia who cannot (or don't want to) go on the actual missions. 

An Australian Navy vessel was in harbour, here to help out with the Ambae evacuee relief efforts.

A Titanic moment - fortunately ours had a happy ending to the voyage 😆

Then it's "Look Mum, no hands!"

 Our passengers included Australian supporters and people from Paunangisu Village, which MSM has a special relationship with. Many of them had never been on a sailing ship before.

Martyn got roped in to work. If you think that sail looks at a very strange angle, it's not a sail, it's an awning to give shade on the deck once we stopped sailing.

 Martin Burgess (who says he hates kids) gave the children a great time by racing against the bigger dinghy with a load of adults in it. Check out their smiles! They also loved zooming around in tight circles.

The dinghy race to lovely Hideaway Island.

We enjoyed a lovely day sailing there and back and snorkeling off the beach. There were 40 people on board, and it was a beautiful day, very calm though. Even the slight heeling over of the Chimere on the way back was enough to get some people concerned about tipping over. Martyn would have liked it to be more challenging, but it wasn't to be this time.

Thanks MSM for a lovely day's sail.

Heart Warming Advertisement for KLM and nothing to do with Vanuatu This is what KLM does with left behind items on their flights. Sound up, click link, watch full screen. https://www.youtube.com/embed/NK-T_t166TY?feature=player_embedded

Update Sunday 8th October 2017

Well the last few days have been a special time for us.  Annette getting used to rooms she can easily move around in without bumping into someone or something, using a shower that is bigger than the Chimere's galley, with hot water! And me adjusting back from bachelorhood. It is good to be back together again, and not having to rely on at times very poor network connections, and often none at all.  We also had some very good news that Kirsty (our eldest daughter) will be visiting us at the end of October.

On Tuesday evening we went out for dinner with those members of the MSM Mission 4 team who were still in Vila. We went to the Melanesian Hotel and had probably the best meal of anywhere we have eaten out in Vila.
L-R back row: nurse Cathy West (and Annette's cabin mate), dentist Wellan Jerethy, sailor Martin Burgess, Annette, Co-owner of Chimere Barry Crouch (and no he wasn't standing up on anything, he really is that tall!), oral health volunteer Deb Allen. Front row: sailor Matt Bryant, dental assistants Bob Natuman and Barkon Japheth, captain and co-owner of Chimere Robert Latimer.

On Wednesday evening Martyn went to our church Men's Group - they had a MEAT only night, Men Eating Animals Together. Not a salad in sight!

On Thursday it was Constitution Day, a public holiday. We went for a walk down to the waterfront and found a ceremony happening on the site of the signing of the Constitution. We were just in time to hear part of President Obed's speech, and to hear Pastor Allen introduce a hymn.  

The army was on parade, 

and also the Vanuatu Military Force Band. 

On Friday morning at devotions, Rob presented Ps Allen with a stole, made by an Australian supporter of MSM. It has Vanuatu images on one side and Australian on the other. We joked about where to add a Kiwi onto it.

On Saturday nights, the Nambawan Cafe has a free movie night. We decided to go and try it out. They were showing Free Willy, and we arrived in time to get front row seats. They have a big screen set up on the waterfront, and you can sit in the cafe looking towards the harbour, enjoying the movie in the open air but with a roof overhead. Just as well as there were a few showers in the evening. They had a bit of trouble with the sound, but it was a very predictable movie so we got the gist. 

On Sunday morning on the way home from church, we saw this police truck and couldn't  resist taking a photo of the number. On closer inspection, we found a policeman sitting in the passenger seat, so thought we had better ask if it was okay to take the photo! It was, and we chatted and found out the emergency phone number in Vanuatu isn't 911, it's 111 same as in NZ 😆