Vanuatu 13

During the week our attention turned to a village called Erakor. Out there are 1200 homes, with around 6900 people, who, as mentioned earlier in the week showed a glaring omission in response planning. Somehow, the village had just been missed.

This was nothing but accidental oversight, so the group that coordinates shelter responses stood and looked to us all to see who could do something. Some slightly optimistic Salvationist officer put up his hand and said The Salvation Army would do something (don't know who that was...), so we drove out to Erakor to have a look and start doing "something".

We met Joseph, Aron, and a range of others who were just grateful to see "someone". The fact that we were cobbling together a response -  Salvationist workers with Red Cross tarpaulins and rope we needed to cut as we went along - was a better 'something' than 'nothing'. That said, and as incomplete a start and inadequate a response as it is, the few days we've been working there have been quite satisfying.

My role here has often meant that I'm the guy in the meetings, doing the liaison work, writing the proposals and budgets and looking after the team. As this was an "all-hands-on-deck" situation, and some of our hands we were hoping to arrive in country are still a few days (or weeks) away, I was able to get out and join the crew.

We are all sunburnt, have slightly orange hands from the rope we were cutting, and are quite stiff from walking to 800ish (so far) of the homes to assess the damage and cover up those that needed support - 276 households so far that were leaking or damaged. This, of course, doesn't include those homes that have already self-repaired. Hopefully in the next week we can finish this first assessment and response and start something more substantial - probably around the school there, which is around 75% destroyed.

In the meantime, it's back to Vila to complete the three days of admin that I haven't done while out in the field. Each week we need to submit activity reports and stocktakes to the government so they can coordinate the response and the resources of all the agencies. We need to provide submissions to the sectoral clusters so that they know we are meeting internationally agreed standards for humanitarian response. And as we are The Salvation Army, there is internal reporting to complete.

(We're not alone, though. A Red Cross colleague volunteered to do something the other day, and then quickly asked that it not be minuted... until he gets permission in triplicate from Geneva!).

The guys on the other islands are working hard, too. This week they've distributed cookware, blankets and tool kits to families on Tanna. They've also been working to position a massive 50,000L water bladder that has been donated to Vanuatu, through The Salvation Army, on the island. And, they've been working on our truck! To get around Tanna is quite an effort (some of the best and scariest driving of my life) and our vehicle has needed new tyres, shock absorbers and a new CV joint.

On a lighter note, there are some fun things about living and working overseas, such as discovering new places. Like "Au Peche Mignon" on Lini Hwy in Vila. If you're ever here, they certainly have the best coffee in town!