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Published: November 12th 2009
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Superheroes
Here's David and Heather doing the job Travelblog August 2009
This year’s August excursions took me to around the islands, but in all honesty, I had very little to do with this expedition. This expedition was all about a pair of real heroes. This expedition was all about Dr. David and Heather Churcher.
Dr. Churcher is a modern day Superman. He’s an expert sailor, dentist extraordinaire, and last but not least…Australian. Indeed, this guy would make the comic book Superman look like a lazy slob.
Like Project MARC’s founders, Henk and Nelleke Meuzelaar, Dr. Churcher was a cruising sailor with a medical background that found Vanuatu one year and decided to come back and help the people here. Vanuatu has an amazing pull on its visitors and it is not uncommon for the aforementioned scenario to happen.
Dr. Churcher contacted me earlier in the year and expressed his desire to do some work in the rural areas of Vanuatu. He wanted to know how to go about getting licensing in the country and how to arrange with the local government for him to do his work. I told him of all the work that Henk and Nelleke had gone through with Project MARC, and
The Fleet in Banam Bay
Here's our team in Banam instead of re-inventing the wheel, he asked if he could work under MARC’s umbrella. (I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t try to convince him this was the best idea. I’m always on the recruiting path). Through MARC’s agreement with the government we arranged for his Vanuatu licensing and all systems were go.
When we met at the Beachfront Resort for the first time in person, I was amazed at how young the guy was! He was retired from a career as a dentist with his own practice, but he was in far better shape than me. I had yet to learn that this was simply his Clark Kent façade. The real superman had yet to unfurl his cape.
During our meeting we came to an agreement over the best path and course of action for the month. His schedule dictated a few things, but overall he was open to help out wherever he was needed. The tentative path included stops in Maewo and Malekula. Banam Bay and Akhamb Island were on the list for South Malekula, and Lambumbu Bay was on the list for the North of the island.
David and Heather had retrofitted
One of Many Patients
Here's the consultation before the work their ship, ‘Courtesan,’ to act as a floating dental clinic. Much of the dental gear had been designed and built by the captain himself. You see, during his career he had apparently designed quite a few pieces of equipment for other land-bound dentists. The whole rig that he carried was powered by his scuba tanks, which he could fill with ease on his ship.
Ironie, Steve, and I caught up with Courtesan in Banam Bay, Malekula. We made it there after stops in Maewo and had some of our own work to do, but setting up Dr. Churcher with the communities there was definitely on the agenda. After a hiking tour to alert the villages that a Dentist was in town, we also arranged for some dental hygiene classes to be taught at area schools.
The first day of the clinic was a little slow but as time went by our numbers picked up. Traditionally in the rural villages, a dentist only pulls infected teeth. Many
Teaching
Dr. Churcher taught a lot of dental hygiene classes as well. Here we all are at the Alua School. people showed up for just that, but many others received better help than mere extractions. With Heather as assistant at his side, Dr. Churcher filled cavities and rebuilt decayed teeth. One small boy had only rotted stumps for upper teeth, but the Churchers rebuilt his entire upper deck and gave him a brand new smile. What made this pair seem like true superheroes in the eyes of the community was that they used local anesthetics, unlike other dentists they had seen. Getting ‘kava mouth’ before an extraction made the whole process a lot easier.
The classes in the schools and villages went over really well too. David is great with kids and is an excellent teacher. The Churchers even brought along free toothbrushes for children in areas where they taught hygiene classes. I tried to help out where I could, by acting as translator and secretary for clinic days, and facilitator for village visits. I translated a few key phrases for the Churchers to use in clinic, and showed them how I approach new villages and set up things before holding clinic days.
After a hygiene lesson in Retur Village, some friends of Project MARC took our team
The office
Here's the main saloon of SV Courtesan up to the local waterfall. As usual, it was amazing. Steve, Claudia, David, Heather and I had a great time and it was nice to have a bit of a break.
All told, the Churchers visited over a dozen villages, treated nearly a hundred patients, taught in multiple schools, and affected hundreds more through their time with Project MARC. If possible, it would be great to have them come back next year to further their work in Vanuatu. I’ll definitely be seeking funding to have them come back.
The end of August placed me in Port Vila with old friends onboard the Alvei. Due to unfavorable winds, Ironie couldn’t complete the delivery to Efate and I had to catch a plane from Norsup to Vila. It was good to be back in port with all the familiar faces in the capital. There was some work to be done and supplies to procure, but we still found moments, here and there, to have a good time.
New recruits were gathered up and preparations were completed. September marked the beginning of our projects in Malekula. The Aid Post Upgrade Program and Clean Water Initiative were to take off in
Team Ironie
Steve, Claudia, and me Banam Bay with our newest batch of volunteers. We were eager to get started and spirits were high. As August ended we were all looking forward to the start of September.
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