Thank you for caring

The media seem to be very good at getting the bad news out, but not so good at making sure of the follow up good news.

We  had  many emails from friends around the world concerned about our welfare after a series of large earthquakes to the north west of Vanuatu. The predicted tsunami did not eventuate.

Thank you for caring!

We regularly get earthquakes where we live, just a part of living on the pacific rim. In Vila alone during June/July we had 3 over 6, and quite a few around the 4.5 to 5.5 mark.

Last Thursday the early warning sirens started at 9.30am, and the  residents of the city soon evacuated to higher ground. Schools closed, and resorts were evacuated. The small islands of Ifira, Erakor   and the villages on the coast were all deserted. Everyone was relieved and thankful that the predicted disaster did not happen.

One very enterprising young man  came up with a novel idea. He climbed onto the roof of his church, set up his video camera to capture the predicted tsunami wave. He had with him, his surfboard, his suitcase packed with his precious books, and his wedding shoes.

Honouring the Chief

This morning a special service was held at Pango Family Worship Center  to honour the new chief of Pango Village. The previous chief had held his position for 49  years but stepped down due to ill health. The new chief was installed two weeks ago at a special ceremony in the village. He  had been one of the founding members of the church many years ago.

The Chief and some of his counsel sang a hymn “a cappella”  in their village language. After the church service, there was a feast to honour the chief and many gifts were given to him and his wife.

The Chief plays a very important role in Vanuatu   Village life.  He is very respected.

A Tale of 3 Villages

We have just returned from a research trip out to Malekula  Island approximately 200km north of our island..

We thought we’d share some of our photos with our supporters.

Palu  Village – a village high up in the mountains in the  North West of the island.  The truck went in as far as it could, then a one hour walk up the mountain range to the village. In some places the track was very steep and along the top of the mountain ridge, very narrow.

We were the first white people to ever visit this village which is perched on the side of a steep slope. The positioning of this village is because of the natural spring that forms the head water of the river that flows down to the sea. People drink, wash clothes  and bathe in this river.  The houses are of bamboo construction with Natangora leaf thatch on the roof. The  smaller children of this village (grade 1- 2) walk down to the Breha  village  a distance of 4 kilometers for school and live there during the week. The older children also board in the village below, but walk another 4km each way to a bigger village to school.  The village does have a small kindergarten with 6 students.

When ill or in need of urgent medical aid, people from this village are carried down the mountain on someone’s back to the aid post in the next village. If they need more treatment than the aid worker here can provide, it is another 4km walk to the bush clinic at Leviamp village on the coast. Further treatment would mean a 1 hr ride in a truck to  the nearest hospital where there is one doctor.

If a villager wants to go to the main centre on this island they must leave at 3.30am and walk  to reach the main road to catch a public transport at 6am. Villagers are subsistence farmers who grow their own food and produce copra which is carried down the mountain bag by bag.

The few AOG families here walk an hour each way up and down the mountain range to the AOG outstation Breha village.

Breha Village  – this village is accessed by a dry weather track. The   majority of the people  walk the 4 km downhill   to Leviamp village. Four wheel drive vehicles can only use the road in the dry season as it is impassible when wet.

This village has a basic aid post, a piped water supply from the river, and a Kindy to grade 2 school. Grade 3-6 is at Leviamp village a 1 hr walk each way. Houses bamboo construction with Natangora leaf  thatch roof. The people grow their own food, harvest cocoa beans to sell, and produce copra which is taken down to Leviamp to ship to Luganville.

There is an AOG outstation in this village.

Leviamp 1 & 2

A large village in two sections,  with 2 good primary school’s  that go to grade 6. Beyond this children have to board at another village for secondary. Children must past a entrance test at year 8 level if they want to go further in their education and they must leave the island and board for years 9 -13.

This village is at the mouth of the Leviamp river. The piped water supply  was damaged in a cyclone 20 years ago, because of this  the people walk to the river to bathe, wash their clothes and collect water for their homes. This village has a small but basic clinic run by two nurses.

There is a large AOG church in this community.

A Bike for Epi

Pastors from the 7 churches on Epi Island gathered  this morning for the official (MOU) signing and handover of the bike. This bike will be used by Pastor Ben who is at present the Senior Pastor and oversees the 6 other AOG churches on the Island of Epi. He had asked last year if we could source a bike for him to travel around the churches that are under his oversight. At present he walks the long distance between villages.

A family from our home church heard about his need and generously donated the funds to purchase the bike and  tools needed to keep it in good repair.  The use of the bike is to enable the Senior Pastor greater ease of travel in his visitation of the churches on Epi. The bike belongs to the position not the pastor. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the AOG National Executive, the  the Epi Pastors, and Ps Russell on behalf of the Donors.

Needless to say there were grins all around, and laughs as Pastor Ben took the bike for his first tentative ride.

Our Sunday in Lounapiktuan Village

The Assembly of God Church in  this village was the first AoG church  to open on the island of Tanna many years ago. It was planted by a missionary from Fiji. Lounapiktuan is a village very high up on a mountain ridge on the western side of Tanna.

The village is very picturesque with Bamboo and Palm thatched houses and very productive vegetable gardens set on a narrow ridge. The road ends at this village.  The views  are just spectacular.

Robyn ran an open Sunday School for 40 children, and Russell preached at the morning service. There were mostly women as the men had gone to overseas to pick apples. We were given a very tasty lunch cooked by the church ladies, and served by Salome the pastors wife. Taro, Manioc in coconut cream, soup (stew) made from chicken, and other island vegetables. We have grown to love the variety of Island Dishes that these women cook over small fires on the ground.

After lunch we had a guided tour of the pastor’s prolific food garden, this garden is on a sloping hill and has very rich black volcanic soil.  Our drive took us past many small villages with houses made of bamboo and thatch. This village  depends on rain water , when the tanks empty in the dry season, the women walk 2 hrs to the sea to wash their clothes. The children walk 2hrs each way to  the nearest school in all types of weather.