Blogs from Vanuatu, Oceania - page 6

In the midst of all that is happening with our Clinic Construction Expedition there have been several side projects. One of these took the form of an immunization campaign. While building at the construction site continued, another Project MARC team assisted the Vanuatu Ministry of Health with the delivery and administering of "Stik Meresin blong Olgeta Pikinini" (Bislama for Vaccine). The campaign itself only took a week. The preparations to make it all happen took up the week and a half prior. Here’s the story. Earlier this month Project MARC was asked to help with the immunizations along the West Coast of Santo by the managers of Rural and Maternal Health for the province, Valma Banga and Lilly Peter. We had originally planned to work with one of their teams in the Big Bay area during ... read more

20 August 2010 Children’s Day Again, Children’s Day was a big deal in our village as well as at the school. First, the church hosted a celebration for all the kids the Sunday before the official holiday. Before the big day at church, my host parents wanted to do something special at their house too. I volunteered to make pancakes for breakfast. With my parents, their three kids, a cousin who also lives with them, Justin and I, and anyone else who may drop by to be fed, I decided to make a humongous, 6-egg-batch of pancakes. (As I write this in retrospect, I cringe at the loss of so many eggs in one go. Eggs are a precious commodity found only sporadically on the island, and selling for 50 vatu!) These were toted over ... read more

I’ve spent 8 days in Vanuatu and I am loving it. This is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. The scenery is phenomenal and the people in Wusi are even better. Perfect weather coupled with great people and great food and I feel like I’m on vacation and not Volunteering with Project MARC. I spent my first four nights in Vanuatu in Hotels. The Hibiscus was for one night and The Beachfront Resort for three nights. As I landed in the dark on the first night for the first time in a foreign country I was very uneasy. I was looking around for a familiar face, or someone with a sign holding up “Nathan Brodie”. After about 15 minutes of looking around I had to act though, the airport was closing, Taxi’s ... read more

It’s amazing how sailing can be so much more enjoyable when you aren’t seasick! I found that out the hard way. After stocking up on supplies and preparing the boat, my aunt, uncle and I set sail for Vanuatu. I knew there was a good chance I might get seasick on our first open water passage of four days but hoped my seasickness patch would work its magic. It also didn’t help hearing the horror stories the night before our departure talking amidst other cruisers at the island bar. Some of them still got unbearably seasick after sailing for years. Years! And here I was with what, maybe six days of actual sailing experience. That thought alone made my stomach feel queasy. But when the moment of truth came and we motored out beyond the reefs ... read more

10 July 2010 Ukelele Justin has a new favorite island pastime: tinkering around on the ukulele. He has acquired two this past month; one he made with the help of some students at the school, the second one a friend made for him. They have slightly different sounds, so one gets played for “island style” music and the other gets picked up when he wants to play “the blues.” He’ll be serenading in the background of phone calls for the remainder of our service, and plans to bring the instruments home with us to a life in the US of A. World Cup Gambule got into the loop with the world wide spectacle of the World Cup. A satellite dish and special cable box had to be paid for and picked up in Vila so that ... read more