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.
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