Vanuatu 20

So the night is settling in, and for the first time in around a week it is not raining. It's coming up to 8 pm, which, sad to say, is when most of the team go to bed to read. It gets a little boring in the evenings here. Unless you go out for a meal or to visit people, there's nothing to do except read or, if you're lucky, do some internet surfing. I've seen two football matches at the pub in the last few weeks - the sum total of TV I've watched since March 22. 

I can contrast that with quite an eventful day. We have another island that we've been asked to assist over the weekend. It is the island of Mataso, with only 200 inhabitants, around 60km (as the crow flies) north of Port Vila. 

The people of Mataso were evacuated when TC Pam struck and have not been able to return because of the damage to thier homes and infrastructure. IOM (International Office of Migration) have been coordinating efforts to return the 37 families to thier homes. 

The Salvation Army is assisting by replacing their fishing gear and providing tarpaulins to go around their toilets (for privacy mostly). We are also providing water containers and water purification tablets, and sending some of our team out on Wednesday to check on hygiene and sanitation and provide education materials for children on what we call WASH in the humanitarian game (all things Water Sanitation and Hygiene). 

Today the group of us still in Vila (three of my team are currently staying on Tanna Island and on Wed I need to go down to Aneityum Island) were busy procuring missing items, getting things from warehouses, arranging deliveries to the wharf and making deals with other agencies that had gear we could use. 

This, as with all things, will be an adventure for Phil and Lilyrose as they will travel to Mataso on the Solomon Islands Patrol Vessell, the Akui, which is on loan to the Ni-Vanuatu government.