Humanitarian Work in the Islands Continued . . .

As promised, here is a brief report on the other wonderful missionary couples we work with.  The couple called to Vanuatu is from Germany.  They arrived on the island nation of Vanuatu on Monday, March 9, 2015.  Just four days later, Cyclone Pam hit the islands of Tanna and Efate on Friday, March 13th with 180 mph winds.  Our couple have been up to their eyebrows with the recovery on the two islands receiving the most damage.  Many people question why it is taking so long to rebuild.  The answer:  This is a complicated, large dollar project.  The humanitarian project provides materials and training for those who's homes/shelters were damaged so they will be able to rebuild a stronger, safer family shelter.  Some of the homes are totally gone.  Those people will receive basic training and material to help rebuild a safer structure.  Others will get supplies to make repairs.  Teaching people to "help themselves" and become self-reliant is a big part of the project.  Our couple has been visiting and making assessments of all the homes that are in need of repair.  This has been done on both islands.  There are no street addresses, so a local person has to go with them to help locate the people and do the assessments.  It has been an arduous task.  The assessments are now complete and technical specialists have helped to streamline the project with a few changes here and there.  Several "model" shelters have been built and it looks like things are starting to move forward.  Needless to say, they have not had a lot of time to think of anything but the Cyclone Pam rebuild.

We actually have two couples doing humanitarian work in Fiji, a missionary cople from Switzerland and couple from Calgary, Canada.  When we were there in August we visited a village which wanted help improving their community hall.  This community building was also use to hold church meetings.  A humanitarian project was approved and the before and after pictures tell the story.  Local people did the work themselves.

In Samoa we had a couple from Redlands, California.  They helped to provide clean water to many communities.  They were also instrumental in distributing used school furniture shipped from New Zealand to needy schools in Samoa.  They also helped build a walkway so children could more safely cross a stream to get to school.  This couple finished their mission the end of January.  Our new missionary couple replacing them are currently on the job.  They are from Las Vegas, Nevada and have just arrived in Samoa after a few days of training in New Zealand.

On the tiny island nation of Kiribati (Tarawa) we have a couple from Kaysville, Utah.  Since Tarawa is a very flat atoll (a coral island) there is always a problem with flooding.  This missionary couple have helped several villages build seawalls to protect village families from flooding; a constant threat.

In the Solomon Islands, our couple does double duty as self-reliance and humanitarian missionaries.  They have been helping people to secure and install rain-water catchment tanks as well as helping teach dental hygiene and assisting the young women to assemble maternity packs for new mothers.  They were also able to help provide local schools some needed badly needed sports equipment.

In addition, we also have two couples who operate the Church humanitarian dental clinics on the islands of Tonga and Samoa.  They are retired dentists who have been called to serve for 18 to 23 months managing the dental clinics and helping improve community dental hygiene.  Their wives help in the clinics as well as with community training.  The couple in Tonga is from West Viriginia and the couple in Samoa are from Calgary, Canada.  The clinics are on the campus of the Church run schools and the services are free.  Originally the clinics were started so that the young missionaries turning in their mission application papers would get a "real" checkup prior to their mission.  The dental services are on a first-come, first-served basis and serve the entire community of both Church members and friends of other faiths.  Their objective is to improve dental health and to help the local dental community increase their skills and expand their services. 

"When called to (serve), we should focus our efforts on being what we are called to be, not on what we feel qualified to do."  Dallas H. Oaks. "Life's Lessons Learned"

Samoa "Food Initiative" and Sauniatu

This week Gary had to go to Samoa alone as Susan was recovering from minor foot surgery.  The vegetation in Samoa is beautiful.  Gary said that the climate and growing season in Samoa must be much closer to the “Garden of Eden” than most other places on Earth.

There are some great artists on Samoa and some beautiful wood carvings

Gary spent the majority of his time reviewing a humanitarian “Food Initiative” project designed to help the people of Samoa to grow better gardens, providing nutritious food for families and income from the sale of excess produce.  The location where skills are taught is the “Sauniatu”  (Sunny–Ahh–Too) Farm.  People are taught soil preparation, planting, cultivation, harvesting, nutrition, food preparation and product marketing.  People “come and see – go home and do”.  Many families are now eating better and bringing a little extra income home.

People learning the basics of composting and soil preparation.

Food preparation and basic sanitation are also practiced at the Sauniatu Farm    

The skills learned at the Sauniatu demonstration farm are 
taken home and put to work in family gardens.

 Extra vegetables can be sold which helps to bring in a little extra income 

This man’s garden is so successful that some of the hotels now come to him each week to buy vegetables for their restaurants.  His family now eats better and enjoys a little extra income from the sale of the produce.

Do you remember the post we made a few weeks ago where a New Zealand school donated their furniture, school supplies and sports equipment to a Samoan school?  Well Gary was able to meet the school principal and see the furniture, supplies and sports equipment, which had arrived in Samoa last week.  School is out for the Christmas holiday, but the principal said he, the teachers and all the students were so very happy to receive these donations.  They will make a real difference for the children.

It seems like this work trip was a little too enjoyable for him.  We’ll have to
make sure that when he goes to Samoa again, he won’t be going alone.