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Published: October 23rd 2008
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Maternity check up
Midwife Sara played the baby's heartbeat in stereo. Once back on Alvei we found out that the ship had been stuck out at sea for two days due to heavy weather. Unfortunately the Clinic team never made it to the Tasiriki dispensary while the Mobile team was trekking through the mountains. Strong headwinds from the South pushed against the ship, forcing them to sail out to sea. As they tacked back and forth through the gale, they made little headway but did manage to damage the ship’s steering a bit. Alvei eventually managed to make it to the Tasiriki anchorage, but only after beating into the wind for 48 hours. The stop was short for them, because they only had time to fix the steering issue before they had to head back up the coast to pick up the Mobile Medical team.
After the dicey pick-up from the beach, Alvei returned to Tasiriki with both the Mobile and the Clinic teams. This second trip South was done in much more favorable winds, and the following day was spent on shore at the Tasiriki clinic. Our medical teams met up with the nurse and hung out in the clinic for the afternoon while I made travel arrangements for the
Taking a dive
Mark's grandkids call him 'Adventure Pop.' Watching him jump from the yards demonstrates why. JMC team’s return to civilization. It was a productive day for everyone and it was nice to not be hiking up mountains as well.
It took a day to motor back to Luganville on Alvei where we received some very good news indeed. All the trouble with the container delivery turned out all right because in Luganville we found our boxes finally delivered as promised. It was quite an unexpected swing of good luck and really helped our expedition to Big Bay. The Ripster shore boat was in the crates that were delivered, which allowed the Mobile Medical to cover a much larger area of Big Bay. The Ripster is a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) that was originally designed for the US Marine Corp, but Project Marc managed to purchase it in the States for a fraction of the cost it is normally sold to the military. It was somewhat ironic to me that this machine designed for killing was being used for medical aid. Henk had it in mind to name the thing HAV for “Humanitarian Assault Vehicle”. The name didn’t stick, however, so we all just kept calling it “The Ripster.”
Freshly outfitted with our new
Ripster Assembly
Without George Young we would have been lost...mostly because the boat didn't come with a manual. gear, Alvei and the doctor teams headed up to Big Bay. The Clinic team pitched camp in the village of Tolomako (a village in the Southwest corner of Big Bay) while the Mobile Medical team planned to execute their first humanitarian assault strike in the brand new Ripster. The Mobile team planned on two trips up the West coast of Big Bay. The first trip was to a nearby village named Jereviu, where the plan was to stay there for three days and then to return to Alvei for re-supply. The second trip was to last 6 days and take place further up the coast. One similarity between trips was that each excursion included a pair of Alvei crew to act as camp managers. This turned out to be an amazing help in the end, because it allowed the doctors to focus on ‘doctory things’ instead of worrying about camp logistics.
The first trip (to Jereviu) saw the treatment of over forty patients, which was led by the unflagging efforts of Dr. SueLin. The Alvei crew-turned-camp-managers for this stop were George and Victoria, keeping us fed and laughing with their hard work. Our base camp was a little ways
Jereviu Aid Post
This aid post is in great shape. The community and aid post committee are very supportive. away from the village itself but it allowed us some privacy from the curious eyes of the villagers (this turned out to be quite a comfort). During the couple days of our stay the doctors treated patients, visited the local school, and worked with the local village nurse. There were a lot of children with scabies infections and a quite a bit of arthritic pain, but overall we mostly performed basic medical care.
The three days sped by quickly, and soon we were headed back to Alvei. However, it was a short rest for the weary since we only had a single afternoon on the ship before heading out the following morning at sunrise. The second expedition for the Mobile Medical Team had a different pair of camp managers (Mark and Carolla) as well as twice the amount of supplies. The Ripster was quite loaded down for this longer, second excursion.
This second trip included a number of deliveries to aid posts along the coast to help the Vanuatu Ministry of Health. They had tasked us with medical supply deliveries to their stations in Big Bay because getting the supplies to these remote locations is often impossible for
Aquatic Mailman
The yellow bag is the medicine resupply package. The people were grateful for it, despite the delivery method them. Due to the sea conditions when we went, it was nearly impossible for us too. The surf was quite forbidding up and down the coast and didn’t allow us to land for such deliveries. So, like on the West coast, there were swimming deliveries to the beach at each of our stops. I’m sure the locals found it quite unusual to see their medicine for the season delivered by a furry white man who swam through the waves with a waterproof dry-bag. Despite the unorthodox methods, the medicine got to where it needed to be and many aid posts were re-supplied. (I also discovered that I need to work on my backstroke.)
Our second base camp was set up in the village of Vunap (3/4 of the way up the Western arm of the Bay). The original plan was to land in Pessena where a dispensary is located, but the sea was too rough to land the boat there. The best choice was to take the team and the Ripster around the peninsula to see if there was a better landing, and it was there that we found Vunap. At first approach it seemed as though we couldn’t
Clinic day Fun
Sara and Amy treated quite a few people in Jereviu land the boat. The people of the village came out to meet us however, and a local man guided the boat through the reef to a safe landing. It was a funny thing to see this shirtless Ni-Vanuatu man on the shore guiding us in with hand signals towards what appeared to be an impassable reef. As we started to back away from the reef, the shirtless man dove into the sea and swam out to pull the Ripster by hand through the only opening in the coral. Once ashore it turned out that our shirtless local pilot was actually the assistant chief of the village.
We were welcomed into the village by what seemed to be its whole population. Dozens of children helped to carry out gear from the shore and all the men helped pull the boat out of the water. The shore here is made up of large stones, and the waves are strong enough to push them far up against each other. After landing a boat here you must pull it up a shear 8-foot wall of stone to get it clear of the water. If the village hadn’t come to our aid, our small
Dr. Chris in Action
Newborn illness is never fun. crew would never have been able to land the boat.
Once safely ashore, we were welcomed like visiting royalty. There was the largest Nakamal we’d ever seen (which was put to our disposal as housing), public kitchens were offered for cooking, as were showers and outhouses. It was such a warm welcome, and the people were so friendly that I was glad the waves had been too rough in Pessena. It was a real blessing that the original plan had been thwarted and that we ended up in Vunap. After only a few short hours the people took us in so well that the place felt like home.
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Mom
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The Son of His Old Man
Rapha, How perfect--a swimming mailman! mom