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December 2004 - Paul Jeffries
Olsem Wanam long Vanuatu...
December was a month of mixed emotions for me. I sit and think back over the year and am very pleased with the works we managed to carry out during the year and yet sadly it is coming to an end, of sorts....
My term as a participant in the World of Difference program has come to an end. A remarkable time for sure, there were plenty of highs and lows and a few somewhere in between.
There is so much to say and so many people to thank ...To all those at Vodafone.. you know who you are....I love y'all heaps ... you guys are great....the calibre of your staff Neil is beyond words...I made great friends and it was a pleasure to work along side you all...Jill, Michelle your support and patience (at times muchly needed), is a credit to you both... I'm sure this years WOD people will feel the same.. Bea, Ants, Kat and Dave...you rock...I'll have you all again in Vanuatu at anytime.
Poppa Tom if you read this, that's ditto for you.
The Vodafone New Zealand Foundation.....what can I say?? (plenty !!). With the financial, technological and human resources you made available to me as a person and the Malakula Medical Relief Trust as a whole, you pushed our project ahead by two years, conservatively speaking. I think the opportunity you gave me was one of the greatest things that could of happened for the peoples of Malampa, Vanuatu.
It was and is a privilege to have an association with you. Long may you continue in this remarkable way and long may you make a difference for the many people out there in need.
My fellow Trustees...guys without you, we couldn't have traveled so far down the road to achieving what many said was unachievable..keep up the hard work.
Many things stand out as highs of the year, obviously participating in the WOD program being the main one, but many others:
Giving out over 150 red Vodafone World of Difference beanies was huge.(we still see them on the heads of the locals).
The transformer T shirts.... the hundreds of boxes of donated goods.
The memories of the Vodafone team building water tanks in Malampa....
Twelve 20,000 litre water tanks built this year...
The seven and eight 20 foot containers of charitable aid goods sent to Malampa and distributed.
The establishment of a local man to head our Vanuatu water project.
The belief that the Malakula Medical relief Trust is here to stay.......
The overwhelming knowledge that what we are doing is important, worth all the hardships and inconvenience at times, and is sustainable.
There weren't too many lows for the year:
Being away from the family ranks right up there.
Getting malaria was no fun...nor relapses...
Raising the finance needed for each years continuance isn't a lot of laughs and is very hard work (harder than working in the 40 degree heat).
Witnessing the poverty and needless deaths that occur on too regular a basis is the hardest to come to grips with...People still dying from TB or Diabetes needlessly.
The devastation on a regular basis from cyclones...mother nature can be a real B sometimes.
I guess the beauty of having lows are that you can have something concrete to get to grips with. Take the challenge head on and with help and tenacity, make a difference.
The only people left to thank are my family....My wife Andrea has been a rock...not the easiest of things having a husband swan around the pacific and be left at home to raise four kids. Matthew (10) Emma (8) and Thomas and Luke (4). The money was tight and the hours long.
I may be the one getting the headlines (and the tan) but Andrea is the one doing the hard yards... Love ya Babe..without you I couldn't even start to make a Difference..
Vodafone.....an honour. Paulj
