So this will be interesting. I'm updating on a small device while sitting on the grass outside the National Disaster Management Office while waiting for the next coordination meeting. See how I go.
The last 24 hours have had all the highs, lows, fun bits and difficulties of this work.
I flew to Tanna Island with my Tanna team with the intention of flying on to Erramango to do an initial assessment in a village we've been asked to work with. Turns out that our plane couldn't land there, and it would have been a waste of time anyway as the ADF are doing a great job there now.
So I decided to stay the day with my guys and see if I could help there. We met with John, a hydro-geologist from Samaritans Purse who is helping us restore the water supply to our villages. He brought his testing kit and we brought a heap of piping and connectors. The boat that was to take us around the island was broken. We found another but the captain wouldn't sail on a Sunday (nice in some ways). So we looked like we would have to walk.
The UNICEF rep who is looking after water and sanitation on the island offered to drive us as far as he could, which turned into one of the most hair raising 4wd experiences of life - including everything from sand climbs to 3 river crossings and a number of times that we thought he would completely burnout the clutch.
We got up to the village, just in time for me to have a quick look, meet the local pastor and then turn around for the hairy trip back. The good part was that our team got their plumbing supplies and our specialist up to the water source and work has started.
Upon return to Vila (flying in a small chieftain through a tropical storm) I went to meet the chief of one of the urban areas, where our corps outpost is. Turns out his daughter is a new Salvation Army soldier here, so he's sympathetic to our work. We were able to explain to him the immediate work we are hoping to do in his area, which includes an informal needs analysis.. We don't want to overdo the assessment, as we want to get on with some practical work in the urban area, and we are aware that Save the Children are doing a compressive assessment next week with Oxfam.
From today on we will have a person in this area of Port Vila most of the time and it's our hope that I'll get a person into the team from Australia Eastern Territory very soon to fill this role.
In the meantime, my break between the Heads of Agency meeting (7am!!) and the water team meeting is almost done, so time to go.
Monday 30 March 2015
Saturday 28 March 2015
Vanuatu update 4
So things change.
We found all sorts of logistical difficulties in landing and moving some of the gear, but none the less we managed to get all the food and most of the water out to our villages in Tanna.
Some new opportunities opened up today in the area where our corps outpost is in Port Vila. We connected with a local NGO who are struggling to serve the community with the extent of needs and their limited resources. We've offered to help, and starting this week we are therefore able to adopt the local village around our corps without tredding on other agencies turf. Sounds funny to say that, and no-one is really territorial, but we are very well coordinated to ensure the best spread of support and the least (if any) duplication.
The partnerships are developing well. To facilitate the first distribution in this area we are using gear that we have sourced from Samaritan's Purse, including hygiene gear and household kits, that we are going to deliver to 200 families in the neighbourhood. We will use another NGO's truck to get to our centre as well. So four agencies are working together in cooperation in this area.
We are scurrying to write up a lot of our work into projects that will demonstrate our use of funds to the donor territories. It's pretty mundane work, but it's great to be able to get a few formalised things in place so that the international Salvation Army can get a picture of the work that is being undertaken.
Tomorrow our Tanna team will be back in the field getting ready for distributing household items and starting the longer term solution to the water problems. I will be heading to the island of Erramango for our first look after being invited by a local mission to come and help. This will be purely an assessment visit, but it will help us know if there is work we should be doing there.
And our Port Vila team, including my newly arrived Admin guy (PRAISE THE LORD), will prepare for our first urban distribution and start to assess the community we've now adopted for longer term assistance.
We found all sorts of logistical difficulties in landing and moving some of the gear, but none the less we managed to get all the food and most of the water out to our villages in Tanna.
Some new opportunities opened up today in the area where our corps outpost is in Port Vila. We connected with a local NGO who are struggling to serve the community with the extent of needs and their limited resources. We've offered to help, and starting this week we are therefore able to adopt the local village around our corps without tredding on other agencies turf. Sounds funny to say that, and no-one is really territorial, but we are very well coordinated to ensure the best spread of support and the least (if any) duplication.
The partnerships are developing well. To facilitate the first distribution in this area we are using gear that we have sourced from Samaritan's Purse, including hygiene gear and household kits, that we are going to deliver to 200 families in the neighbourhood. We will use another NGO's truck to get to our centre as well. So four agencies are working together in cooperation in this area.
We are scurrying to write up a lot of our work into projects that will demonstrate our use of funds to the donor territories. It's pretty mundane work, but it's great to be able to get a few formalised things in place so that the international Salvation Army can get a picture of the work that is being undertaken.
Tomorrow our Tanna team will be back in the field getting ready for distributing household items and starting the longer term solution to the water problems. I will be heading to the island of Erramango for our first look after being invited by a local mission to come and help. This will be purely an assessment visit, but it will help us know if there is work we should be doing there.
And our Port Vila team, including my newly arrived Admin guy (PRAISE THE LORD), will prepare for our first urban distribution and start to assess the community we've now adopted for longer term assistance.
Thursday 26 March 2015
Vanuatu update 3
Today there were some significant forward steps in the work of The Salvation Army as we respond to Cyclone Pam.
In three remote villages on the island of Tanna our team was able to facilitate the distribution of over 5 tonnes of food support on behalf of the World Food Program. We also were able to support the delivery of 9 tanks filled with desalinated water and fly in some water bottles that can be used to decant from the tanks and drink the water.
We moved a step closer to the development of a long term shelter program that will be undertaken in partnership with a local NGO "Liberty for the Nations", and touched base with Samaritan's Purse again, whom we hope to partner with in the fathest south area of Atamon. Three of our team will travel there tomorrow to conduct a final assessment and meet with salvationists in that remote place. It hosts the only other Salvation Army outpost apart from Port Vila.
While the work still feels quite ad hoc, we are building a good base for longer term responses and making good connections with all the different groups that are responding in the same areas that we are.
The team loses Gavin tomorrow, who has been instrumental in liaison with donors and our host territory (Australia Eastern) during this first week. We will miss him.
Personally, I'm finding it very quiet tonight. Gavin and Darren are being looked after by our donor at another site, Craig, Mike and Stephen have gone to Tanna and stayed overnight, leaving Damaris and I together in Port Vila... and she needed an early night. It's interesting to sit by myself and just look around the hotel. It was obviously in good condition and quite popular a few weeks ago. Now the doors don't lock properly, there's damage in most of the walls, the wharf, decking and lower outdoor eating area are destroyed... not at all the picture that it looks on its website.
It was good to receive an updated travel advice today and see that the Australian Government is again supporting travel to Vanuatu, especially the northern (far less affected) islands. Tourism accounts for 40% of income in the islands so it's critical to get that going again.
In three remote villages on the island of Tanna our team was able to facilitate the distribution of over 5 tonnes of food support on behalf of the World Food Program. We also were able to support the delivery of 9 tanks filled with desalinated water and fly in some water bottles that can be used to decant from the tanks and drink the water.
We moved a step closer to the development of a long term shelter program that will be undertaken in partnership with a local NGO "Liberty for the Nations", and touched base with Samaritan's Purse again, whom we hope to partner with in the fathest south area of Atamon. Three of our team will travel there tomorrow to conduct a final assessment and meet with salvationists in that remote place. It hosts the only other Salvation Army outpost apart from Port Vila.
While the work still feels quite ad hoc, we are building a good base for longer term responses and making good connections with all the different groups that are responding in the same areas that we are.
The team loses Gavin tomorrow, who has been instrumental in liaison with donors and our host territory (Australia Eastern) during this first week. We will miss him.
Personally, I'm finding it very quiet tonight. Gavin and Darren are being looked after by our donor at another site, Craig, Mike and Stephen have gone to Tanna and stayed overnight, leaving Damaris and I together in Port Vila... and she needed an early night. It's interesting to sit by myself and just look around the hotel. It was obviously in good condition and quite popular a few weeks ago. Now the doors don't lock properly, there's damage in most of the walls, the wharf, decking and lower outdoor eating area are destroyed... not at all the picture that it looks on its website.
It was good to receive an updated travel advice today and see that the Australian Government is again supporting travel to Vanuatu, especially the northern (far less affected) islands. Tourism accounts for 40% of income in the islands so it's critical to get that going again.
Tuesday 24 March 2015
Vanuatu Update 2
Here in Port Vila it's been a crazy day as I've hit the ground running with briefings and assessments.
Less than half an hour after I arrived, our team returned from Tanna Island with their findings. These include data on three villages (about 1000 people) that are yet to receive assistance in an area that The Salvation Army has some contacts. We are consider an immediate response to get water in tomorrow and then a longer term response to help with water security.
There has been some good news today as the food supplies delivered by various military agencies (Australian, French and Kiwi) have arrived and are being distributed by government agencies out to the islands. This helps the NGO sector concentrate on other areas.
Tomorrow we are meeting with key donors and also attending three coordination meetings (one for heads of agencies, one for food security and one for shelter). I'll also be meeting with two other NGOs that we are partnering with (potentially) while the team look at flying the water to where it needs to be.
On a personal note, the team seems great. We have obtained two rooms to work from at a hotel (which includes our current sleeping accommodation), but it has power and wifi, so we're pretty happy with the set up. At the moment we are sitting near the seaside working on our various laptops and planning for tomorrow.
Less than half an hour after I arrived, our team returned from Tanna Island with their findings. These include data on three villages (about 1000 people) that are yet to receive assistance in an area that The Salvation Army has some contacts. We are consider an immediate response to get water in tomorrow and then a longer term response to help with water security.
There has been some good news today as the food supplies delivered by various military agencies (Australian, French and Kiwi) have arrived and are being distributed by government agencies out to the islands. This helps the NGO sector concentrate on other areas.
Tomorrow we are meeting with key donors and also attending three coordination meetings (one for heads of agencies, one for food security and one for shelter). I'll also be meeting with two other NGOs that we are partnering with (potentially) while the team look at flying the water to where it needs to be.
On a personal note, the team seems great. We have obtained two rooms to work from at a hotel (which includes our current sleeping accommodation), but it has power and wifi, so we're pretty happy with the set up. At the moment we are sitting near the seaside working on our various laptops and planning for tomorrow.
Monday 23 March 2015
Vanuatu update 1
Today begins a new adventure with the people of Vanuatu.
Vanuatu is an island nation, geographical located in the South Pacific near the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. It has a mixed history that includes occupation by the British, French and Japanese at different times.
Just over a week ago, Tropical Cyclone Pam wreaked havoc on the islands affecting, in some way, the entire population.
The Salvation Army has a very small presence in the islands. There is an outpost sponsored by the Australia Eastern Territory, some youth work and contacts in a few villages on an outlying island. For this reason, The Salvation Army is sending an expat team to support the local salvationists in responding to this disaster.
Most of the team arrived last week, but I negotiated to wait until today so that I could share the news of my secondment personally with our congregation at Perth Fortress.
The team have already registered The Salvation Army has a disaster response agency, joined the coordination groups that are relevant to our work, set up conversations with most of the other key agencies in our areas of interest and found some accommodation in Port Vila. A 'rapid response' proposal has been put together for an initial distribution of food to a few affected communities, some in partnership with "One Small Bag" and then we will look at longer term, sustainable responses.
Vanuatu is an island nation, geographical located in the South Pacific near the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. It has a mixed history that includes occupation by the British, French and Japanese at different times.
Just over a week ago, Tropical Cyclone Pam wreaked havoc on the islands affecting, in some way, the entire population.
The Salvation Army has a very small presence in the islands. There is an outpost sponsored by the Australia Eastern Territory, some youth work and contacts in a few villages on an outlying island. For this reason, The Salvation Army is sending an expat team to support the local salvationists in responding to this disaster.
Most of the team arrived last week, but I negotiated to wait until today so that I could share the news of my secondment personally with our congregation at Perth Fortress.
The team have already registered The Salvation Army has a disaster response agency, joined the coordination groups that are relevant to our work, set up conversations with most of the other key agencies in our areas of interest and found some accommodation in Port Vila. A 'rapid response' proposal has been put together for an initial distribution of food to a few affected communities, some in partnership with "One Small Bag" and then we will look at longer term, sustainable responses.
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