End of Year 2008

Rogers refelctions on our last month in Vanuatu for 2008...

November was a month of finishing off tasks that had been started earlier in the year. We were very busy and got quite tired by the end of the month, but I Roger felt that I had achieved little. We were helping Jonathon, involved with the wind up of Preschool, doing photos for students and classes, fare welling students, getting things from town and trying to finish of some admin, like talking to the Police man about the conviction of the former manager. Maybe I was wrong to try but it just seemed like it was wrong to just let him get away with the 2006 theft of all valuable school (and fellow staff) property, and then for him to turn around and seek damages from the school for unpaid salary! Some possible donors feel the same as me and are not so interested in helping Ebule “again” unless things like this are followed up. Yet the more we look into the situation facing young people on Efate, the more essential it appears that there should be a Rural Training Centre like Ebule that can take in semi educated teenagers and give them the beginnings of a trade. Efate is the Island young people drift to in search of opportunities and there is no where else like Ebule for size and wealth of facilities.

My November focus was to be the Onesua carpentry classroom/workshop renovation. We received materials for the work in Mid November along with a large shipment of things for a school Manioc Drying Shed project. Various mistakes were made in the ordering and loading of materials for both projects including damage in transit, so time was spent sorting this out. I helped with some tiling in the Manioc shed which will make flour for the school kitchen and be used for processing freshly picked coffee beans from the Onesua plantation next year.

My two nephews, Cameron and Jackson came to Vanuatu for a holiday, and came out our way for a weekend in late November. While they were there they helped me with a large cabinet I am building for the preschool classroom. On the Saturday we launched an outrigger canoe that a local man built for me, complete with an outboard bracket for a tiny 2 horse out board I had brought over. I had had a dream all year to go out to the “Sand Island” for a picnic. It is a true desert island on its own reef two kilometre offshore from Onesua. We built a shelter and all the local kids came out for a day of swimming, canoeing and snorkelling. At midday the waves washed right over our gear under the shelter but we clung on and had a good day, the nephews getting very sunburnt but having a great time. A week later we met them again in Vila after they had come back from a wild old time in Tanna doing the live volcano tour and “chief for a day” tour, plus eating lobster and drinking kava, (interesting effect shame about the taste).

Campus got down to our vehicle being the only one going. I was about to do some work one day when I noticed a big crack in the chassis. This began about a week of vehicle work, stripping off the tray and welding that. And then doing it again the next week to fix and fuel leak and another big chassis hole, plus fun with oil changes and steering components that are cracking up, as well as the alternator over charging things. By mid December I had the chassis problems fixed but some others still to be worked on. We also had to get our next years permits sorted out, handing over about $1400 cash for the privilege of living and working here next year. It seems a little annoying but everyone confronts these barriers in doing volunteer/mission work and we thank God that at least we serve in a country that welcomes what we do and we can talk openly about the work we do and the gospel if we want to.

We started preparing the kids for the return home, trying to spark their memories of people and places before hand. Gracie worked out what to wear when she got off the plane-a thick pink sweat shirt that she called a Jersey. And Davie wanted to eat some strawberries and apples. Dad was looking forward to bacon, Mum to chocolate covered strawberries.

I had a week left. I decided to spend half a day reassembling my generator so we would have power when the school ran out of diesel (fast approaching) so got it going with the new parts supplied by the Osbornes. It ran well. I then packed it into its rather complicated casing with various wires and tubes. It ran terribly and stopped. I took it apart and tried various things to coax it to life. It came to life and I tested in with a drill. Fine. I tested it with a belt sander, fine for five minutes then things went pear shaped and it would not run despite have a good carb and a healthy spark??? What’s going on?? I emailed the supplier and he said something almost unrepeatable-it needs a $350 part!! I stopped working on the generator on the fourth day feelng depressed, and fixed the village pastors cheap nasty two stroke generator in two hours flat and it ran beautifully. What!!!! Such is life in the tropics, you spend a lot of time fixing vehicles and power supply and growing your food, things we take for granted at home and let someone more capable handle for us.

Paulas work at the library came to an end in November when the students left and she was more able to work on preschool and photos. She hosted a lunch for the Preschool association from Vila and Mum’s that may be willing to assist the teacher next year.

We had a lot to do with our neighbours at times, taking them in our truck with us to Vila when they had a bike to fix and inviting them and a handful (as in about 15) of their relatives over for dinner one night, in the aftermath of a wedding. Later in the month we also farewelled them at the beach. We had just loaded the deep freeze full of ice-cream into the bow of the boat, followed by their truck/motorbike followed by about ten bags and fuel cans and ten of them, it was a both wonderful and scary, but apparently they have since survived the 40km of open ocean voyage back to their home island. I am exaggerating of course, they could island hop as they went getting some shelter from the 1-2m swell as they journeyed North, but I wouldn’t be game to do it.

And that was the day I was putting the finishing touches to our shutters, to make our house hurricane proof while we are away. I repaired some, and put new hinges on others. Then through all of them I drilled and 250mm long hole, right through the stud and wall linings inside. Then they each got secured down with a 300mm long bolt and large square washer. You wouldn’t do to your house, but it does give us a great sense of security knowing that its safe till we get back, probably. We are waiting for the big one, as North Efate hasn’t had a cyclone at all for 4 or five years.
Enough about cyclones. We loaded up the truck one last time and headed to town on Dec 16th, this time to stay at the famed Sutherland House for our last night. Our friends Ginnie and John had us for dinner and we played with their kids doing puzzles and singing Christmas carols. Next morning at 6am Ginnie picked us up in the truck and took us to the airport. Goodbye V