Tonight we are on the way to the airport to pick up Major Paul Westlake from the United Kingdom. This is a significant moment in the Vanuatu response, as I now move from Team Leader into handover mode. I have until Monday lunch time to bring Paul up to speed on 10 projects across five islands and try and help him into the role as best as possible.
This afternoon was also significant. It's not often that there is a ceremonial handover of items and demonstration of appreciation. But today it happened in a nice way.
The principal of Vila North School, Elina, had invited us to a small ceremony to hand over the items that have procured - sports equipment, tarpaulins for the teacher's homes, building materials to fix their toilets and roofs and curriculum materials for the teachers.
We arrived to find that there was a stage with appreciation certificates, the local TV crew and newspaper, and front row seats for Craig and I, along with Samaritan's Purse and UNICEF who were also thanked for their support. There were speeches from the principal and school council president, speeches from the NGOs (I think we each spoke for 30 seconds max), prayers from the school teachers and parents and then some food. Quite a memorable occasion to share in.
Elina felt that she needed to hold this appreciation ceremony before they could start to use the materials. The actual reconstruction works that we are supporting now start in earnest and it is hoped that by the end of next week we (well, Paul and the new team) will be able to handover both of the repaired toilet blocks to the students and staff of the school.
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