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April 2004 - Paul Jeffries
March came and went with a bit of a roar…and April was just as hectic.
Flying back to New Zealand on the 31st March was the start of it. Having flown into New Zealand at noon, I snuck a few hours of time with my family before attending a Vodafone function for the World of Difference recipients. It was great to be home, all be it 3.5 kilos lighter!
I spent the next two weeks raising awareness for our project with several corporates, and acquired more building and plumbing materials to be shipped to Vanuatu on the July container.
On the 14th I was back in the air to Vanuatu to inspect the devastation caused by cyclone Ivy further down the coast. It was the first time in two months that two thirds of the island was accessible. Landslides and high water had cut off most of the province. We were very lucky that only one person was killed in our area, although thousands of people lost houses and belongings.
I spent fourteen days traveling around the Island to assess the ruin, and most importantly the water supplies. Many villages had lost not only their pipe work, but also their tanks for holding water. People in several villages that I visited had to walk a number of kilometres each day to collect water.
One village in particular had to collect their water from the low tide mark where there is a spring of fresh water. As you can guess, this meant that every time it was low tide, (irrespective of the time of day or night) members of the village had to carry water in whatever containers they could find. Taking it back to the village was a three-kilometre hike up hill. I almost cried when I saw what was involved.
Immediately Malakula Medical Relief Trust (MMRT) made this village a number one priority and started gathering materials to assist. We hope to start by fixing their tank (hit by a falling coconut tree), and supplying new pipe work to the 900m of landslide-affected mountain. With luck we may get water back to this village by the end of May or the middle of June.
One thing that I have learnt the hard way is that. ”It won’t happen over night but it will happen”. So for now it is back to talking to suppliers and raising funds to carry out this project.
This month…slowly we are making a difference. Lukim yu. (Bye for now)
Paul
