Onesua Preschol

The Onesua Preschool caters for about 14 3-5 year olds, mostly the children of school staff. There is one teacher, Leanne Roberts but Mums stay sometimes to help.

At the start of the year they met at Leannes house but now have moved to a spare classroom. Leanne has managed with very few resources: a few toys, cuisonaire rods, chalk and blackbaord and a few books.

Throughout the year we have had visits from several NZ groups ( St Andrews College, St Orans, Rangiruru, Turakina Maori Girls College and St Andrews Church Otahuhu) - many of who have helped out for a morning or two at preschool and donated to a range of things - so now there is a casette player with childrens songs, jigsaw puzzles, a box of books, paints, balls and a wider range of toys.

In addition we have been making contact with the preschool Association, with the hope that we can get the preschool registered. This would mean Leanne and prehaps others would be eligible to take part in a training programme. We also have put Leanne in contact with a retired preschool teacher trainer who has given her lots of new ideas of simple toys and activities that can be done with local material.

The Preschool associated with St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Otahuhu has made a generous donation which has contributed towards a lockable storage cabinet (currently being built), storage boxes, paint, blocks , puzzles and even small things like towels for the children to dry their hands.

We are hoping we can get some training for a few local ladies and that next year the preschool could expand as there is no preschool at the two closest local villages . Davey and Grace are a key part of the preschool and bounce off there about 7:30 each week day morning. It runs just to 10am but by then Leanne is ready for a rest.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and thank to everyone who has contributed to the preschool :-) It is making to difference to all the pikininis at Onesua.

Guest House Repairs - September

The Focus of Septmber was the maintenance and repair work of the Onesua Guest House. This was greatly assisted by the visit of John Wright, a builder from Rolleston, who escaped the Christchurch winter to serve for a month here in Vanuatu.



After 10 days working at Talua Bible College , on Santo, working on the toilets and showers for the married students, John joined us at Onesua. For two and half weeks Roger and John with Kalsary (the Plumber) and Mark (the Onesua carpenter) worked hard on the guest house. In this time they completely renovated the bathroom. In the past the toilet has frequently blocked, the shower had broken and the bath was rusting. ... so after a good look and plan everything was pulled out. New drains and toilet were installed, the bath repaired, a larger shower area build and a second shower installed over the bath. A small bathrrom cabinet was put in, shelf built, new hooks and curtains but up and everything given a coat of paint. Transformation!



In addition the kitchen windows which were rotting out were repalced and the wood repaired. This was all finished approximately 1 hour before the arrival of 10 visdators from Rangiruru Girls College in Christchurch - Just in time!



Thanks to John, The Global Mission Office in NZ, Rolleston Community Church and the guys hard work.

Children’s Day – July 27

This Sunday we celebrated Children’s Day. This is a public holiday in Vanuatu. The kids had been preparing for a couple of weeks with Paula and Mrs Katrina and all the Mamas busy making new shirts and dresses for all the children (matching blue and pink!) We then all met together to paint them.

The children all gathered in the morning dressed up in their new clothes and marched to the chapel with a banner and balloons. As we got close a string band was playing and they sang songs until the children arrived outside the chapel. The parents then put salu salu around each of their children’s necks as well as sprinkling perfume and powder.

Roger gave the children’s talk during church – mostly in BislamaJ - three stories about lions.
After church we went home briefly to bring our food back to share – and then enjoyed a small feast together - including a roast pig – the children being the honoured guests.

After this the children dressed up to present their book characters. Each child had been given a new story book a few weeks prior. Their task was to prepare a book review then make a costume representing their favourite character. They bravely took turns standing in front of the audience, in costume, talking about their character.

A small gift was then presented to each child and the Celebratory Cake cut. Roger had been commissioned to do the cake but spoke sweetly to Paula for “a little” assistance J

All in all a fun Celebratory day and a neat way to bless all the pikinini here

June Update

Ebule News

Getting Water in and Keeping Water Out

Focus at Ebule this month has been water. The good news is that after digging up the water line, the main break was discovered and repaired and now water can be pumped up to the tank and then can be distributed to the students staff and garden. Previously everyone was using rain water from some small tanks but when the rain stopped, the water was used up and this project became urgent. Now all the houses have water and the garden can be watered without carrying buckets. It has unearthed lots of small plumbing issues with taps etc,,, but at least its progress.

A group from the Presbyterian Church at Takara (a village about 4km from Ebule) have been re-roofing one of the staff houses for us also – this time to keep water out. The old roof was removed, new roof poles cut and then the roof replaced with Natangora. The major section of the roof is now complete and they will return next week to complete the small section over the bathroom/laundry area.

Also made good progress in the garden. The plants initially struggled, largely from lack of water, but now the first Chinese cabbage and beans are almost ready and potatoes, cabbage, carrots and lettuces all coming along.



Currently Rogers main teaching focus is working with the students on small motors – repairing generators, lawn mowers, weed eaters etc. Ebule really needs a good lawn mow – so yesterday they did a deal – and fixed up a lawnmower for an Australian down the road in exchange for using it to get the grass down. The students are particularly motivated if it will mean mowing enough ground to play soccer J
Well that’s Ebule over the last few weeks

Thanks for your support and interest

Roger and Paula

Refrigeration Course

Refrigeration Workshop.

During the 2 week May holiday Ebule RTC Hosted a workshop on repairing refrigerators and air conditioners. Becos of the run down state of Ebule we were worried it would ever get off the ground – but sure enough on the day the course was due to begin 10 students arrived from around the Island.

The tutor, Sam, has worked for a refrigeration company in Vila for several years. After a small amount of theory it was in to some practical. Several fridges and freezers “turned up “ from the local community and the process began of regassing, hunting for leaks and diagnosing faults. As you can imagine in a climate such as this fridges / freezers are incredibly useful but get a bit of a hard time on limited power / power surges / generators and continually being turned on and off. Roger gave a morning session on understanding basic concepts behind refrigeration – and on some basic maths.

According to Sam there is no formal training available in this area at all and his training has simply been on the job. So this was really a first. On a couple of afternoons the students helped in clearing ground for the Ebule gardens. Elder Naura and his wife worked had at keeping the students fed well on rice, fish, bananas, manioc and stew.

In the second week the students had a one day field trip to Vila to look at different air conditioning systems. This involved turning up to various organisations and asking to look through there buildings - or climb on their roofs!! – to look at how their systems worked.

The final night was dinner at Bamboo Beach and presentation of certificates. So despite the odds the course was a relative success and we hope the students return with useful skills

End of Term One

May 7 2008

Well it’s supposed to be the dry season now – and we did have a pretty good week last week – but we have just had 40 hours of continuous rain and it is still thundering! In the middle of the night it felt a bit like the start of Noah’s flood. This morning while walking around the school Paula heard big crash and saw a huge branch of a tree crash down. But there seems to be no major flooding as yet and we are grateful for a warm and dry house. Speaking of warm – we must be adapting as yesterday we woke up to a rainy day the kids put jerseys on. Over we breakfast we checked the temperature out of interest and it was 26 degrees c!!! Many of our local friends are wearing jersey.

Ebule RTC
It is holiday time for the students this week and next week. But Ebule is hosting a short course in Refrigeration.. So10 students have come and had their first day of classes yesterday. Roger is enjoying a break from teaching but is still present to make sure they have power and food and so can sit in on some classes. We’re hoping they might have a look at our fridge later in the week and see if it is at all fixable. The freezer works but not the fridge. There are still huge maintenance issues at Ebule so Roger is working at getting wider community support to help and perhaps a team from NZ.

The term finished well for the students. They have finished fixing up a chicken house for the 14(?) that are now laying, have fixed up a pit to look at and repair vehicles and have prepared ground and planted a garden. After the holiday there will be many seedlings ready to be planted out. In addition they get regular teaching in mechanics, electronics maths and some carpentry.

Family
Its holiday time from preschool too and all the students at Onesua have headed home so its lots of playing with local kids. When it fine its off to the beach for a swim or walk on the reef – or gathering nuts – or kicking a soccer ball. We are working at improving our Bislama and are making progress – but because many people at Onesua speak English it’s easy to revert. David probably gets the most frustrated when he can’t understand We have tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons and Island Cabbage coming on well in our garden as well as corn, beans and lettuce seeds germinating. Paula is helping out with cataloguing the 700 books in the school library and also with Sunday School.

New Zealand Visitors - April

April 2008

Visits from New Zealand

This week we have enjoyed several New Zealand Visitors. Firstly a group of 10 students and 2 teachers from St Andrews College in Christchurch . These student got to experience life as a student at Onesua College. One day they joined with students for every party of daily life beginning with duties at 5:30 am! By 9:30pm that night they were exhausted. They boys helped Roger one morning at Ebule clearing land for a garden an they helped in the library, preschool and at a local school. On their final day the boys performed a great haka in front of the school .

We have also enjoyed a week with Roger’s nephew Heath here for a week of his school holidays from Kristen School in Albany. He was able also to experience classes at Onesua, help Roger at Ebule and go snorkelling everyday . We also had a few special trips with him. The first – on Anzac day ----was to a war museum jut up the road from here. The museum itself was in very bad repair but we had the amazing experience of going out in a dinghy to a spot where we could snorkel over a war plane. In only 2 metres of water it was an amazing experience. Even David was able to go under to touch the tail. Roger of course went right inside to sit in the pilots seat an prepare for takeoff.

The following day the Principal of Onesua took us over to his home Island- Nguna. Here we had an amazing day snorkelling, diving swimming as well as a lovely local lunch of pawpaw, rice, fish and banana.

Our NZ visitors also left us with several treats – chocolate, marmite, dried fruit and even a bag of potatoes! And hopefully we left them with some good experiences of Vanuatu

March News

Saturday 23rd Febraury
We discovered somewhere in the afternoon that we had no white plastic box of computer bits, with all our software, cables and battery chargers. This concerns us because I was sure I got every item like that out of the container and into the truck, so maybe it is still in our garage at home?
This fired me up about going back of the final load of stuff in Vila, including some furniture I had purchased off some Australians. So taking the neighbours family we head into town at 1.30 pm. I attempted to do several things in town, to check out the hardware stores and see what they had, but on a cloudy slow Saturday pm it was only the Chinese trading stores that are open for business. They are sell evrysumting (things) from jandles to machetes to fresh meat. It’s a jungle in there! So I bought more jandles, a large round plastic bath for the kids and more mosquito coils since I hope not to be back in Vila for the next week and Grace had been asking for a bath. She loves water play and she can be having the pinetarsol while she does it. In the finish a glass top table for outdoors, two mountain bikes and the basins I was ready for the return, which somehow takes me under two hours. The kids want to have a bath. The only other thing we can’t find is a box of pots and pans which I finally have to conclude fell out the window somewhere. So much for big loads.

Sunday 24th
Our neat neighbours told us church is at 10 am so we had slow morning tidying up, enjoying our first coffee and pawpaw in the new table setting out side. Whereas the commissioning service had been long and formal, the church service is small and friendly, mostly Bislama but some English. We are again officially welcomed. The Children enjoy it more because they can move around and eat snacks and draw. The chapel has a nice shape, is over 40 years old but still solid. In the afternoon about 10 teachers from the islands around Efate turned up for a 5 day workshop on literacy. Elder Manu has it mostly under control but needs my small Yamaha generator for lighting. I wired in a plug and gained lighting in three buildings.


Week 25th to Fri 29th
I continued helping Manu with the lights, running and nice long while house wire across the lawn to attach in the old managers house. In the afternoon the students turned up again, so we planned resuming our studies the next day. The dorm they stayed in has no lighting, water or toilets, but I see to it that they all have mosquito nets.
Tuesday was special for the heavy rain, it having been oppressively hot the day before. We persevered with classes and devotions focussed on Genesis 1:1-5. Alex from Pentecost had picked up a Bislama Bible in the old manager office and took it to the dorm to read, so he helped me out reading it out in class. Naturally not everyone is comfortable doing this. Alex seems to be a good sort of student, communicative and helpful, but also honest about the problems with the place. I hoped he would stay. A new student turned up called Edwin from South Santo, a friend of the two others from there I believe. Over the next two days I tried to build a bond with these 6 people, eating bush food with them, including crab sucked from the shell, and explaining how we could still have a valuable year. However with no curriculum I don’t really know if I will legitimately be able to offer these young people certificates at the end of the year.
On Wednesday a loud difficult student called Isaac did not appear, they said he was in Epau village. That afternoon I had a walk in the bush to get a feel for the size of our place followed by and couple of hours fixing the brakes on a bus that came by to ask if we could help. Having earned ourselves 1000Vt, I spent much of it on steak for the students at the local home kill farmer, Patrick from Taranaki. We are very lucky to have good meat available a short walk away. That night the three boys visit us to say that their parents are unhappy with the condition of the school, and that they will probably head to a Rural Training Centre near Vila
I woke early on Thursday morning and wondered down to the sea, and sat on a bench. The early morning bus with a few people already aboard lumbered past me into Onesua. Later at Ebule I found out that three of my students had been on that bus and were leaving for good, after having told me of their concerns. Kenny the tutor wanted to go to Vila as his Grandfather was in Hospital, and Austin wanted to go with him, not wanting to be left alone. I was then down to Lesley the female from Nguna who lives with Jonathon. So on Thursday I took the opportunity go to Vila and suggest we close the school and fix it up first. Elder Johnnie has more students he assures me and that he will be there on Sunday to have a look.
Alex left with the bible, I realized I should have stipulated that he regard it as a loan and give it back if he intends to leave.

Sunday 2nd March

Elder Johnnie turned up with quite an entourage consisting of local pastors and the members of the Ebule (emergency) management committee. I thought that with only one student I would not be having a commissioning of the school, but a truent came back and two new local boys arrived to begin studying. The commissioning church service for the school was quite long but acknowledged honestly the “human catastrophe” that had occurred here. I was in some shock that this was happening. Following a large lunch we had the committee meeting in which they asked if Naura or I should be the acting manager. Rob Meier helped me out understanding some of the proceedings, one item being steps underway to bring Robert the Santo manager to justice for his theft a year ago. I wanted them to come and see the dorms, and I wanted to confer with Andrew Bell at Global Mission before accepting anything. So after the meeting we wandered up to the windmill and looked at the petrol pump beside it, followed by an inspection of the dorms. A lot of vandalism is evident to them. As I hear about how functional this place had been two years before, I realize how valuable this place had been to the local communities in training the young people. I don’t know why a place like this can go backwards so rapidly, undoing years of local and overseas input, and yet so little repercussion fall on anyone?? And the main culprit it seems has the temerity to ask for compensation after plundering so much for himself and selling it in Vila.

Monday 3rd to Friday 7th Mar
My four students, three boys and Lesley, begin again. This time we have Elder Naura living with us and he minds the students. He is easy going a gets on well with the boys I think. On Tuesday after getting the petrol water pump filling the tank on the hill, I took one of the local students Gideon out snorkelling, my first time over the reef. Wednesday was a national holiday, Chiefs day. So a devotion in the assembly hall, followed by a lazy lunch, then I went to collect the boys from Ebule to take them for a swim. We ended up by accident at Paunangesu, a beautiful and friendly village be the sea. The children befriended us and we had a great time swimming in warm seawater. Davie and Grace had their very first mask and snorkel and flippers attempts. It was just so funny, they are completely uncoordinated underwater and looked like drowning spiders. Later Gracie tried to play soccer with the six year olds. She has this really odd way of kicking the ball, it looks like a sort of curtsy, and then her leg flies out, misses the ball, but connects with it on the way back to her body, so the balls goes backwards. All these lovely back kids sat there laughing, watching her little pantomime, while the six years old kick it around better than me even.

Villages are an interesting mix of tidiness and order, and dilapidation. Traditional thatch and corrugated iron, age old food techniques and lawnmowers and televisions, I hope I can video it some time without offending people. No one so far has asked us for money or things, just a bit of curiosity with my inverter that I can use to power appliances during the day. Quite a few people have asked about the cost of my mountain bike, which we use for small rides to Ebule or to buy vegetables.

Thursday we worked some more on the pump and water line, then I got sick and had to be driven home for a rest.
Friday Naura went to town to pick up his wife, expect to see him on Monday afternoon.

Week 2 in Vanuatu

Thursday 21st Feb

Just over a week in Vanuatu, having some big lessons in patience, cultural adjustment, graciousness and stunning beauty. We are all having so many impressions, its hard to list them all.

Sunday 17th February aa

Sunday is the big Commisioning for Onesua Presbyterian College where we are staying and many of the PCV head office guys I am supported by are there to launch the high school year. AllThey emphasise excellence and faithful bible study. We get a mention, a welcome and prayer. The kids pass out in the heat. Local kids come to the rescue and play with Gracie in the shade while Davie sleeps in Paula’s arms. I stare at the palm trees and bright sunlight, trying to take in where I am. I have real trouble recognising Ni-Vans I have recently met, many of the young people look the same to us, though in reality there is huge variety of shapes sizes and styles. We don’t understand Bislama but it is very evangelical. Later we have a swim at a local rocky beach. The kids slip over and get grazes. I treat them with hydrogen peroxide, iodine and antibiotic cream, so they heal without incident. Coral scratches can be merciless in this climate.

Sunday afternoon, after the above swim, the two Ebule caretakers, who are also local chiefs, myself and a Ni Van volunteer mechanic tutor called Kenny, went over and walked over the Ebule campus, and into various classrooms to get an overall impression of what the Ebule Rural Training Centre has to offer now, after much theft, vandalism and neglect. I am impressed how fast the jungle can reclaim things, with huge leaf vines growing over the trees, and paw paw volunteering to grow anywhere. Still there are many larger tools left in the mechanic shop, furniture in the classroom and leftover cooking gear . The saddest thing however, is the boys dorm, where most damage has been done, all toilets and showers smashed and broken, most fittings gone. The reasons for this senseless stuff go back to the previous manager of 2006 who apparently was a heavy kava drinker and user of school funds, and over the vacation, stole a lot of the tools and mattresses. The result was in 2007 the boys became angry disaffected despite volunteer effort to prop the place up. So the boys ended up doing the same but worse toward the end of the year as the place had become unmanageable. AusAid built a lot of new classrooms and labs, and these buildings are still very solid.

It was sad and creepy to spend time in the old office, looking at photos of the place in better times-only two to three years ago it was still being hailed as a ground-breaking institution. Many people still think of it that way.

My co-manager does not show up in Vila as expected so I will have to start without her. No one knows where she is, I half suspect she has realized the job is not for her?? Which is a shame for Ebule as she and her carpenter husband would have a lot to offer.

Monday 18th
Two students turn up so we start cleaning up the girls dorm for them. Isaac and his cousin Tony are likeable but loose young guys from the place I visited last April, they know some of the people I met at Navota farm on Santo.
The mechanic tutor Kenny cooks for them. To keep them well fed all I have to supply is rice, tinned tuna, oil, sugar, salt and dry crackers. The rest they can easily get from the bush, especially now that the place has been left to itself. I the afternoon another boy from South Santo, Austin, turns up with little gear and no mosquito net. I loan him one of ours noting that I have trouble communicating with him. One more student comes, Alex from Pentecost who is a relative of our friend Richard Leona, he is likeable and a strong English speaker. He will prove to be a good translator for me, even though he doesn’t know what translate means. Our first female student, Lolo from Nguna Island, arrives wishing to study Electrics. Phillip the Peace Corps guy is a superb electronics man, but has become busy helping Onesua College with its various power and water problems. I take Lolo up to Jonathon, the Onesua Headmasters house to stay a few nights - they are from the same island and happy to help her out.

Tuesday 19th
I discover that Austin (see above) is a Francophone. I say Bonjour, je parle un peur de Francé. He spends the rest of the day trying hard to communicate to me in French, and I discover that I can recall very few words outside my stock phrases. We gather in a class room and open all the storm shutters, having a session talking about where we came from and why we are here. Wishing to acknowledge the sad state of the school, I do a wee bible study on Nehemiah and the broken down walls. I wish to ask them to help me rebuild them but of course they as yet have no stake in the place to want to do that. Neither do I really but it is not hard to see the potential of the place. Many of them love the location away from the city. After a big lunch cook up on the open fire, we have a swim and another session, drinking coconuts and being honest about wanting maybe to go home. They tell me they didn’t come to work (as labourers). The sad things is I know that there are Aid and Development groups who have plenty of resources to pour into such a place, but are not willing to touch Ebule because they know what transpired here. During the day the American Peace Corps worker, Phillip Utter comes and gasps as he discovers what pipes have been ripped up and stolen, and his hard work of last October/November all smashed. He also explains that Onesua have their own looming crisis over water as there are so many water leaks in the system-like our continuously flowing Cistern and that the big pumps they are using are breaking down. I am starting to feel alarmed.

Later that night I hear laughing and student hijinks going on

During the day Davie and Gracie attend and preschool at College, singing all our favourite songs like the wheels on the bus. Davie is chronically shy. They are starting to play well with the kids next door who love our duplo. Also the neighbour gives us a large pandanas mat for the lino floor, much appreciated and so glad to live next to gracious people.

We discover that Onesua has a Co-op shop and sells bread milk and eggs, and many other items at reasonable prices. This is a wonderful discovery. Next we want to find affordable cheese -10 cheese slices costs $6. ON the whole we are spoilt for food. We can have paw paw feasts with fresh lime squeezed over it, giant avocado and mangoes 5kg for $10 in a nice coconut frond basket. Bananas are similar, however you have to eat them quickly in this heat.

I enjoy another swim with the class today at a beach resort just down the road with a beach restaurant-one is supposed to buy a drink before using their beach, but the owner waved it for us as he is the school caretaker, chief Rosse.

If the issues involved weren’t so sad, I would find this days events very funny and interesting, but at least I enjoy the students company. My hardest issue is whether I can legitimately promise the students a certificate for this year if they stay and work. I decide in faith to offer them that I will see to it that they do get one, allowing them to go on in studies else where, if they commit themselves to the year.

Wednesday 20th
Have decided to go to Vila and see about our cargo which should be ready now. All the Ebule students have urged me to go and give them a lift so they can see the Fiji, Vanuatu soccer game.So in the morning I decide I should take Paula and the kids and all go! Island time has great flexibility for leadership.

However note that if abused the students can react! Philip Utter comes over before we leave to tell me Thursday is a national Holiday, in honour of Walter Lini the founding Prime Minister. No one else thought to tell me which is interesting. Also he tells me that last nights laughing was in fact students complaining and reacting to the breakdown of the water system and that they are going to be sent home for a week! While its gets repaired. I am feeling a bit unsettled about these things, especially after the wonderful commissioning service on Sunday. The term had already been going three weeks before.

We head off with our five students, this time going on round the island to complete the round Island trip. It is sunny and warm and fascinating. Old plantations on the flat land and beef farms, with villages and long stretches of encroaching jungle, tempting glimpses of the sea. At one place we stop to admire some WW II memorabilia. I make a mental note to come back and buy and coke bottle. Elsewhere I have seen large buildings and Oil tanks rotting in the bush, a monster drag line steam crane and spent .5in machine gun bullets. In some ways time has stood still here.

Then we hit a lava flow hill and another and finally a really steep one that I have to crawl over in low gear. Paula is at her limit for steep terrain, but then it stops and become just a bone jarring bumpy ride and I wonder when the road will either disintegrate completely or get repaired.

After a two hour journey we descent a steep rutted hill which we are gratified to see even the Ni Vans are sweating to walk up. And then suddenly we are at the Cascades Resort with beautiful limestone waterfalls and the road is perfect from there to
Vila. On the way in I spot all the hardware stores I want to visit.

I get the computer email connection working at the Telecom IT division and Paula shops for a mop and jandles. We are excited that our cargo will arrive about 3pm on a truck to the PCV compound. While waiting I catch up again with Rob Meier and tell him about the latest developments. He has done a good job of preparing us for out there, but is a little discouraged by some of my news, as are Meto and Pastor Kasikau. These men are working very hard to keep things going, I wish there were more people to help them. Later I have to be honest with Meto that the Ebule school might not get off the ground as hoped, but that I will try my best to keep a core of students. I know I can’t manage 20 students in a place that has no water or power and only open fires for cooking, especially if I have no teachers.

Later we find our cargo is held up by customs for closer inspection in the “yellow” line. It will be free by Friday at the earliest. We went for drive and got a little lost. It gets late so we decide to stay in Vila at the Coconut Palms to enjoy the holiday. We are all coming out in heat rash, particularly Gracie.

Thursday 21st, National Holiday.
A deliteful swim in the pool and an English big breakfast later, we are all feeling about normal again after yesterdays disappointment.

Heading back to the PCV compound we decide to pick up all the rest of the items Rob has set aside for us for Ebule. The previous day the new VSA team turn up and are being introduced. I meet Rob Wait and wife Katie who take over from Rob Meier in two weeks. Rob is very generous in his help and donation of tools, many also sent by St Marks parish in Christchurch. We are so lucky to have a house with a “sleepout” where I can store things. We load up the faqithful Isuzu with all sorts: a broken Kipor generator, a new steel bender, material, inverters, Barbara’s teaching books and drawings for human health and parts for the Ute.

There is a pharmacy downtown who recommend pine ta sol for heat rash, so we buy and big bottle. Gracie can be beside herself at times in the afternoons with discomfort. We had all noticed it on Monday last, I put it down to fungal infections, but fungal cream did nothing for it. After our obligatory visit to the market, we head off on the good road about midday, having bought the basket of Mangoes, drinking coconuts, beans, cucumbers and bananas. We also bought our first bottle of home make coconut oil for cooking. I wonder why they don’t sell this in super markets in New Zealand, poly saturated oils being the best for frying because they are so stable!

Only having sunny warm days here, we drive back home looking forward to a swim. At Eton beach we meet Dora again whose daughter is at Onesua studying Accounting and Economics. The kids are delighting and amazing us with their growing confidence in the water, Davie can swim for about 7 feet and gracie copies him but goes about 1. It will still be a while before they can actually get their heads up to breathe. Dora looks after Davie and Grace, going hermit crab hunting, while I take Paula for her first snorkel on coral. It is so different with no rocks, only various corals or sand, amazing shapes and neon fish darting around. For all the problems we are finding there are some wonderful compensations.

On the problems, I am being reminded by various people I meet that the key at Ebule is to talk to the local chiefs and find out as best I can what is a sustainable Island way to build and run a school, starting with the story from their perspective of what happened at Ebule. What happened is not unusual, but we need to re-examine what sort of school they would take ownership in and try to maintain. I have heard a lot about a Kiwi Manager Tony Martin who was here for 5 years. He ran the school well and had an incredibly well equipped machine shop going. Then it all ran on into disrepair and got plundered. Maybe they need a much smaller place that specializes in appropriate technology, starting with welded D14 rod fire grates to hold pots above the open fires for cooking. Vanuatu has lots of water, fortunately, though plumbing knowledge is not so good. Maybe this is an important area.

Sunburn creeps up on us, Paula looses her precious goggles, but a local finds them floating and brings them over to us. We drive home, feed the chickens and move the goats. Down to three goats now. College is quiet with all the students gone home, our neighbours have put brought our washing in, turned off the gas and locked the door which somehow we neglected to do. While sharing some Pawpaw with Winnie, her kids bring us their best couch, having noted that we don’t have one!!!!
The power goes off early so I fire up inverter off the truck battery so I can start writing this up. Yesterday was the first day we could properly send emails.

Friday 22nd
It was a hot night, 31 Celsius, 80% humidity. It was also bug night, I killed two spiders the size of large coffee mugs and two fast moving flying cockroaches, they still take about 10 minutes to pacify with Mortein. I am fascinated by the spiders eyes which shine like headlights in my headlamp light. We are glad we bought lots of headlamps. Paula does not even want to look at the spiders I am killing late at night.

The rash is going but Gracie is going to need another haircut as her scalp torments her.
I have to ring up and find if our cargo is released.
The cargo is released so I much go to Vila and be there to supervise getting it off the truck at the PMC compound (Paton Memorial Church where the church headquarters are, just above Vila town centre). On my drive in to Vila, I pick up a hitch hiker who gives me a bilama leason. He has a small chilli bin of fish to sell at the market, having caught it by line off his “white wood” dugout canoe.
The seeing our container arrive is a very exciting, and though it takes a long time to unacrew, it seems undamaged and untampered with. Graham Roff and I seem to have made it solidly enough. I lift out every item and it goes into the carport. Later Philip Warilli the head joiner at the town workshop, helps me reload the Ute with everything I can manage, and cover it all because it is starting to rain. By the time I am heading back, it is dark and raining buckets, with flashes of lightening. I think about the river crossings…a wise man can change his mind, a fool seldom will. So I turn back to town and stay the night with elder Johnnie.

Saturday 23rd
Though the drive out is drizzly and wet, I made it in under two hours! Paula and the kids are fine, having got the message I was staying in town. Strangely someone tries to get in during the night when Paula has two teenage girls for company sleeping in the living room, he was shaking the front door and ran away when the girls shine a light at him. Later our niegbour speculates that it was a boy friend not a burglar. Still we feel its important to put most things away. The basin and copper pipes can stay out.

The Visas On Their Way

Yesterday was another busy one in the big city. The people sending us gave us three hours of their time going over our priorities for the work we are going to do. Rev. Andrew Bell chatted about his time in Zululand before coming to New Zealand for two years, twelve years ago. Kerry Jones came in for the time we were their to meet us again and go over arrangements. While there she received fresh news via email from Meto that our visas have been issued and the work permits will be just a formality. Since the earliest we can get them is Monday, we won't be on our way till Wednesday 13th. But hurray for progress!!
We are not going to fix Vanuatu, we are going to work in partnership with the people to see how we can help them develop their skills.
We are not going to judge Vanuatu, but to love the people and worship God in a new way with them
We are not going to work ourselves to the bone, but to learn how to live and work long term, so that we can be maximum use to them. We are also going to enjoy the beautiful country that they have.
We are going there to learn their language and culture. They in turn will learn some of my techniques and ways of doing things
We are not resourced enough, nor do we think it will will ultimately help to pay their bills or debts, but we can help in many other ways, and provide help with building up the training school.
Our job is not to change everything, but to work with them how they know it works.
Andrew blessed us and helped us with with various pieces of administration.

Beyond that we have numerous smaller things to take care of: fixing the SD card reader on the computer so we can download photos, buying an electric nit comb, ensuring our cell phones are the type that work over there, and seeing our Henderson doctor to get some prescription medicines for likely tropical problems. Gracie and Paula now have shorter haircuts, and everyone has sandals and crocs to wear for the year.

Rob Meier is now up there, using funds raised in Christchurch to buy a truck for the urban workshop. This will release to us the Isuzu ute for Ebule. He is finding it hot apparently and we are looking forward to meeting up with him during our three introduction to Vila. When we arrive, Ebule should already have staff and students!!! Hope they are getting on fine without me.
Please pray we can get most everything finished and leave in a reasonable rested condition.

Waitangi Day

Wednesday that feels like Sunday!
My sister Phillippa, Davie and I went out early to Waikumete Cemetery to Mum's grave and Nana Joan Levy where my father is remembered having been lost at sea in 1983. We were pleased with its condition, though we need to decide on the headstone. One is certainly not stuck for ideas for graves these days, the Polynesian areas are very colourful and diverse! I explained to Davie again about who my Mum and Dad were, he was particularly curious why Dad was not wearing a life's jacket that on the boat when he fell off that night. Later we were to have lunch with Aunty Fay, my father's older sister.

We shopped for sandals at K-mart and gifts at an emporium. Headlamps and tooth brushes.
Later we were out in Manurewa enjoying a stroll at the Botanic Gardens with Paula's sister Myra and Dave Smith. We explained that our latest countdown was a departure on Wed 13th of Feb, due to the Visa's probable arrival in Auckland by Saturdayish. This gives us another week of.....getting ready and a sort of holiday. Living in our friend Mark's house while he is on Safari is certainly a gift, and if we stop going shopping for odds and ends soon, we might have a trip to the beach or some such. It is very pleasing how Paula's health has responded to prayer and the right medication, though we feel we still have some unwinding to do.
Tomorrow though we are privileged to spend a couple of hours with Andrew Bell from the GMO who is sending us to this position. Though very much looking forward to a new life in the Islands, we are very aware that it will have a different pace of life and an inner working that we will know very little about. I have studied very little anthropology, though its always better to go and find out for oneself.

Vanuatu Ventures

WEDNESDAY 30th, Depart Palmerston
Having originally planned to leave Palmerston North on the 12th of January for a nice little break before leaving for Vila on the 19th, it was something of a shock to be working madly till the the 30th of January trying to get FREE! Even our friends were relieved to see us finally go at 4.30pm for Auckland, with our grossly over burdened trailer and its large container of goods on its way to the freight forwarding company in Mangere. Goodbye Craig, Maria, Alister and Elizabeth. Goodbye all you house groupies and especially Graham Roff. Thanks Mens' group and Mike Tait-Davis. See you St Albans, Brian and Simon Redmond and friends. Come and see us when we get a little bit settled up there and can set up a place for you to stay, and know a little bit of the sights and sounds.

As for our trip to Auckland, we have 900 kg on the tow bar so we went carefully through the night. Thanks to V, and motelliers closing up at around 10pm we drove all the way, arriving at our West 'Auckland house-sit at 2am. Next day we investigated getting a dangerous goods cert for our little plumbing torch, but at a cost of $100 for a $22 cylinder, we gave up and sealed up the container without it. Did I leave one buried at the bottom of the container, Graham!!! I hope not but we'll just have to wait and see at Vanuatu Customs where it will be openned and assessed for duty. Possibly not much to pay as its mostly old stuff and its for a "church" project which often by-pass such necessities.
We are now catching up on sleep and doing little chores for the up coming travels. On Saturday we brunched with some BCNZ pals still their doing their stuff-thanks Fleck family from East Taiere for a great Breaky. Along the way we asked Davie, now 4 and a bit, if he remembers things from our 17 months up here in 2006/07. He does not remember roads, he remember swimming pools, friends, and buildings like his preschool. Today he remembered my old boat, and the first fish he caught off it. I was working hard this Monday 4th feb to clean it up and get it covered for winter. It got rain water in last year due to parking it down hill, so this time it should be better. I need to either sell it or plan to get it up to Vanuatu if it would be useful there. From 2003 to 2006 minister Roy Pearson made great use of his yacht to travel around and transport materials. However for this year I am in demand as a teacher of basic trade skills and farming, water borne activities will be a treat for us.