Saturday, June 6, 2015
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Waterfall Hike
A boat came to the anchorage
yesterday from the Solomons with a bishop onboard. The men all came to the
waterfall, took a bath and washed their laundry. Then they went in for a
service, delivered rice, and left. Quick visit, but effective!! I learned a
lot, washed our laundry today!
Shannon
Fresh water baths!
Valiant is launching seeds down
the river and chasing them. Great day!
Shannon
She was using a coconut half to
water the plants.
Shannon
I had all the fresh water I could
use at this cascade, so I washed our living room linens and even cushion. Now
they are clean and smell fresh!
Shannon
Feeding coconut to the fish.
This photo was taken from our
waterfall hike today. Note the gorgeous clear water and coral below!
Shannon
Going to dinner onshore!
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Wedding Celebration
We baked a wedding cake for a local wedding on the island.
Preparing a Greeting for the Couple.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Monday, June 1, 2015
Volcano
Additionally on clear nights you can see the reflection of the lave on the plume.
It is a different world down here.
Courage
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Tropical Medicine
Treating the chief's brothers toe.
It had been infected for the last couple of
months from a puncture wound when he got a large stick stuck in it.
Courage
Natural Blond Native
This is one of the natural blond beauties. She is 25, has a beautiful daughter, and her husband is in New Zealand picking fruit to make some extra money.
She lives in a house with her mother, daughter, and her husbands 4 sisters. She was Shannon's primary aide when Shannon was running the clinic today.
Just a wonderful person.
Courage
Random events of 5-29 and 5-30
We had a fun day for Intrepid's birthday. We went swimming with tons of local kids, had a pizza party with balloons and presents, and even gluten free cupcakes!
Today we went in to do our daily dressing changes on the chief's brother's big toe that I did the I&D on two days ago. The swelling is going down, his tenderness to the toe is improving. We are pleased with the results. His wife has plenty of dressing supplies to do daily dressings. Today, I also noticed other wounds in the village dressed with the supplies I left. I think they will be used well.
We met some people from the village at the end of the bay. They indicated that they go fishing when the winds pick up. This morning they paddled out to the boat, and we traded fishing gear for fresh fruit. This island was less wiped out from the cyclone, only banana trees fell down, but most everything else held up. We traded a shell for some rope also.
On shore, twice now people have asked us to change NZ dollars for local Vanuatu money. They have no place they can do that here, so we are all set for when we go to NZ.
Then we met a woman named Judy. She came to our dinghy to meet us. Apparently the man, Pule, who came to our boat to trade fruit for fishing gear, is getting married tomorrow. She asked if she gave us self-rising flour if we could make the wedding cake. It is quite hard in their village to make a cake. They cook over open fire, so have to cook with a lid on the pot and hot rocks on the lid to get it to rise. I used to make fruit cobblers that way as a rafting guide and it was a great treat out camping, but this is how they cook and live daily. We walked with her to her house, she showed me her kitchen, separate building across from the sleeping house. She had a collection of flour, eggs, margarine, and sugar for me. I just took the eggs since I am low on those, everything else we have, no problem. So, I am tasked with making a wedding cake!! I think their expectations are low, but I sure hope it turns out! I'm sure the cake will be fine, but we've had so many issues making a smooth frosting that doesn't pull the cake apart and spreads smooth and easily. This shall be my challenge.
So tomorrow we go around 9:30 am to bring the cake to the church and get to watch a local wedding. They set up tables with cake outside the church for the "reception". Courage was thinking of bringing a bush knife as a wedding gift. In the US, this would be quite unusual, but maybe here??? It will be fun to see, this is definitely something new for us. Haven't seen a local wedding, well, pretty much anywhere.
We were going to leave today, but now it looks like tomorrow after the wedding we will be departing.
Also, at the village with Judy and Pule, we donated 3 water filtration units. By Judy's house, the water comes from a well. There is no lining, it is just dirt/mud. The water comes up light brown. The have a drum to collect rainwater, but it's concrete and has cracks, so it leaks at the base and won't hold water. The other 2 water filtration units go up in the main village where there are 22 houses and a few wells, but no clean water. We sent them in today, but will set them up tomorrow.
Shannon
Today we went in to do our daily dressing changes on the chief's brother's big toe that I did the I&D on two days ago. The swelling is going down, his tenderness to the toe is improving. We are pleased with the results. His wife has plenty of dressing supplies to do daily dressings. Today, I also noticed other wounds in the village dressed with the supplies I left. I think they will be used well.
We met some people from the village at the end of the bay. They indicated that they go fishing when the winds pick up. This morning they paddled out to the boat, and we traded fishing gear for fresh fruit. This island was less wiped out from the cyclone, only banana trees fell down, but most everything else held up. We traded a shell for some rope also.
On shore, twice now people have asked us to change NZ dollars for local Vanuatu money. They have no place they can do that here, so we are all set for when we go to NZ.
Then we met a woman named Judy. She came to our dinghy to meet us. Apparently the man, Pule, who came to our boat to trade fruit for fishing gear, is getting married tomorrow. She asked if she gave us self-rising flour if we could make the wedding cake. It is quite hard in their village to make a cake. They cook over open fire, so have to cook with a lid on the pot and hot rocks on the lid to get it to rise. I used to make fruit cobblers that way as a rafting guide and it was a great treat out camping, but this is how they cook and live daily. We walked with her to her house, she showed me her kitchen, separate building across from the sleeping house. She had a collection of flour, eggs, margarine, and sugar for me. I just took the eggs since I am low on those, everything else we have, no problem. So, I am tasked with making a wedding cake!! I think their expectations are low, but I sure hope it turns out! I'm sure the cake will be fine, but we've had so many issues making a smooth frosting that doesn't pull the cake apart and spreads smooth and easily. This shall be my challenge.
So tomorrow we go around 9:30 am to bring the cake to the church and get to watch a local wedding. They set up tables with cake outside the church for the "reception". Courage was thinking of bringing a bush knife as a wedding gift. In the US, this would be quite unusual, but maybe here??? It will be fun to see, this is definitely something new for us. Haven't seen a local wedding, well, pretty much anywhere.
We were going to leave today, but now it looks like tomorrow after the wedding we will be departing.
Also, at the village with Judy and Pule, we donated 3 water filtration units. By Judy's house, the water comes from a well. There is no lining, it is just dirt/mud. The water comes up light brown. The have a drum to collect rainwater, but it's concrete and has cracks, so it leaks at the base and won't hold water. The other 2 water filtration units go up in the main village where there are 22 houses and a few wells, but no clean water. We sent them in today, but will set them up tomorrow.
Shannon
Sea Mercy Post
Tanks for Vanuatu! Above & Beyond the Call of Duty.
When the crew of Sea Mercy's Disaster Relief vessel "Lil Explorers" (Courage and Shannon) got word that the people living on two of the remote islands in Vanuatu were in grave danger and at risk (their water catchment containers had been destroyed by Cyclone Pam), they made a decision to find a way to help. Where everyone said it could not be done, they said they would find a way to help. The question was how to get the water tanks on their vessel and secure them enough to make the 80 mile sail to the devastated remote villages in order to deliver them? These pictures show that where there is a will there is always a way. Be warned, these pictures are not recommended to be viewed by the "faint of heart" sailors.
The good news is that containers (water tanks) made it safely, were offloaded safely (floated in), the remote island people were so grateful, and Lil Explorers and her crew came away unscathed and as hero's. We'll post the full story (along with offloading pictures and video) when they return to Port Vila and have internet again.
Thanks Lil Explorers!
When the crew of Sea Mercy's Disaster Relief vessel "Lil Explorers" (Courage and Shannon) got word that the people living on two of the remote islands in Vanuatu were in grave danger and at risk (their water catchment containers had been destroyed by Cyclone Pam), they made a decision to find a way to help. Where everyone said it could not be done, they said they would find a way to help. The question was how to get the water tanks on their vessel and secure them enough to make the 80 mile sail to the devastated remote villages in order to deliver them? These pictures show that where there is a will there is always a way. Be warned, these pictures are not recommended to be viewed by the "faint of heart" sailors.
The good news is that containers (water tanks) made it safely, were offloaded safely (floated in), the remote island people were so grateful, and Lil Explorers and her crew came away unscathed and as hero's. We'll post the full story (along with offloading pictures and video) when they return to Port Vila and have internet again.
Thanks Lil Explorers!
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