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.
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