For a few on the team, it's been an eventful day or two. Craig tells me that the trip to Tanna on the Touaraken was like your worst experience times 1000. Apparently Darren threw up for 24 hours. At least all of our gear has arrived and the team are safe, albeit recovering.
For the rest of us, it's very quiet in Vila. Frustratingly quiet. It has rained very heavily (so heavy you can't see the house across the driveway) for the last few days and there's been little we can do. The admin is even drying up, so I spent a bit of yesterday afternoon reading a novel! I'm hoping that today we get some quotes for the works we want to do at the Erakor school, and can get out to do some procurement ready for the next stage of our projects.
The good news is that there is a new team leader available from May 29. We are still negotiating whether I will be here for a handover day or whether I need to come home earlier.
In the meantime, we get to spend some time reflecting. I've got to say that this has not been your regular disaster, in that the people here are the friendliest, most patient and most gracious people that I think I've ever met.
Even when they hold a protest, they just show up and sit on the lawn to wait for someone to speak to them. When we are distributing essential emergency materials, they sit and wait in line. Whenever we visit a home we are welcomed and blessed. We can't even walk down the street in the evening without dozens of people wishing us 'good night'. It all makes for a calm and pleasant experience, even amid the urgency of an emergency.
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