VSA blog posts

Volunteer helps remove chemical hazard from Arawa

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:21:57 +1300

Bougainville volunteer Dave Hall has been instrumental in getting a potentially disastrous chemical hazard removed from the site of the former water treatment plant in Arawa.

Thanks to Dave’s efforts, 65 rusting chlorine gas bottles that were left behind when the plant was closed during the Bougainville crisis in the 1990s have now been salvaged and sent to Australia for processing. At least four of them are believed to still contain chlorine gas, which is highly toxic and can kill everything it comes into contact with.

The remains of the deserted water treatment plant

“During the First World War it was known as mustard gas, and it was used by both sides to kill enemy soldiers in the trenches,” says Dave, a civil engineer who is on assignment as a public works officer for the Arawa Urban Council.

Dave first noticed the bottles when he arrived in Arawa in April 2010 and he was immediately concerned that they might start leaking.

“If they did leak there was a real possibility someone might get killed.”

However the Urban Council could not afford to pay to get them removed, despite the danger they posed.

The abandoned chlorine bottles

Eventually Dave managed to track down the bottles’ owners, Dulux PNG, and approached them about the possibility of salvaging them. The company offered to do the work free of charge, and earlier this month a group of Dulux representatives arrived in Arawa and organised for the 65 bottles to be loaded into a container and sent to Australia for processing. The four most corroded bottles were sealed in special cylinders.

Sealing the corroded gas bottles in special cylinders on Kieta Wharf, Arawa

Dave says having the bottles gone is a weight of everyone’s mind.

“It’s really good to know that we are all safe from this potentially disastrous situation. The town manager, Mark Sivutare, is particularly grateful to Dulux for doing this work free of charge.”

Hannah Stewart, PNG Country Programme Manager

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:32:43 +1300

Hannah Stewart talks about living and working in Papua New Guinea as a VSA Country Programme Manager.

Hannah, far right, visiting VSA volunteers

How long have you been working at VSA?

I’ve been with VSA since April 2007 working initially in the Wellington office. I’ve been a Country Programme Manager since April 2011.

What exactly does a Country Programme Manager do?

Everything and anything basically!

I work with local partner organisations to help them identify how a volunteer could support their work in a way that also fits with VSA’s strategic direction. I’m also the face of VSA in PNG and liaise with a variety of officials and people working in various government departments. And of course I support volunteers during their time on assignment.

How do you support volunteers in the field?

It kind of depends on where the volunteer is based and what he/she needs. I provide practical, logistical support around things such as baggage, housing, trips to the doctor, opening bank accounts, but also give support relating to any assignment or personal issue.

Do you visit all volunteers regularly?

I try to. The PNG programme is quite spread out, based in three different provinces. My office is in Kokopo, East New Britain so I see the volunteers based there regularly. For volunteers in rural East New Britain, I try to visit at least once a year but I also see them when they come to Kokopo. For volunteers in West New Britain or New Ireland, I try to visit once a quarter but at minimum twice a year.

Is there much of a volunteer community in PNG? Do volunteers live and work near each other?

We try to cluster volunteer assignments together as we know that this is better for volunteers and helps them be more effective in the work they do. Our largest programme is in East New Britain and volunteers there do see each other regularly.

Where’s your favourite place in PNG?

I still have a lot of PNG to discover but I’d say, for now my favourite place would have to be about 20m down in the ocean! I love to scuba dive and PNG really does have some of the best diving in the world.

Your favourite cafe/place to eat?

Kokopo doesn't actually have any cafes and there are only a handful of places to eat out! My favourite place to eat would have to be the local market. The fresh produce is amazing and the cooked local food is pretty good too. It seems to amuse the local people no end seeing a white meri (women) eating local food at the market and that's all part of the fun too.

And the best thing for you about living and working in PNG?

It would have to be the people. PNG people are incredibly warm and generous people. It's a pretty complex and complicated society to work in but the people make all the challenges totally worth it. Oh, and did I say that the diving is pretty good too?

VSA in view 2011

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:30:51 +1300

In 2011 our volunteers worked with over 100 partner organisations in three regions and 13 countries. Here is a snapshot of just some of the work achieved in partnership… Download VSA in view 2011 (PDF | 5 Pages | 2.2MB)

Literacy booklet to fill gap in Eastern Cape schools

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:34:40 +1300

The English-language version of a new literacy booklet for beginner readers written by South Africa volunteer Alison Bowis has now gone to the printer and will be distributed to around 5000 primary schools in the Eastern Cape early in the new school year.

The 28-page booklet, Developing Independent Writers and Readers in Foundation Phase Classes, is being printed with the help of a $50,000 grant from the New Zealand High Commission in South Africa.

The cover of the new literacy booklet written by Alison Bowis

An IsiXhosa-language version of the booklet will be printed and distributed later this year.

Alison says the aim of the booklet is to help teachers in rural schools use children’s writing to produce reading material for foundation phase classes – the equivalent of years 1 to 3.

“Basically the children turn their own work into books to use in their class libraries.”

Alison, who is on assignment as a reading and literacy promoter with the Institute for Training and Education for Capacity Building (ITEC) in East London, wrote the book because of the shortage of reading resources in many schools in the Eastern Cape.

Alison Bowis running a class at ITEC in East London

“I could see I wasn’t going to have much influence on reading because of the lack of resources – around 90 per cent of schools don’t even have a library. So I decided to focus on writing instead.”

The booklet has been something of a VSA affair. Alison wrote it, and Katherine Weka, whose partner Gareth Evans is a VSA volunteer in East London, took the photographs. VSA also provided a small grant to cover the costs of designing the booklet.

Alison, who previously worked as a reading recovery teacher at Naenae School in Lower Hutt, is on assignment with her husband John Bowis. He is working as a support worker at the Eastern Cape NGO Coalition.

VSA Photo Essay: Tanzanian Miners' rights

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:55:50 +1300

Returned VSA volunteer David Redman worked in Tanzania as a Research and Publications Adviser for Haki Madini, a Tanzanian organisation representing the rights of small scale miners. He finished his two year assignment in November 2011.

David’s organisation provides on the ground support with HIV/AIDS awareness, female empowerment and small business advice. It also provides advocacy support and along with other NGOs, developed a new mining policy that had a stronger focus on land and human rights.

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

This is me (left) on a visit to small scale miners and their families in the remote region of Kalalani (Tanga). This was part of a project with the Tanzanian Media Fund (TMF) to train journalists enabling them to talk about the problems faced by women miners in the mainstream media.

A miner shows a traditional method for sifting gold still commonly used throughout Tanzania today.

A small scale miner from the central dry region of Tanga crushes rocks, one by one, as part of a long labour-intensive process to (hopefully) separate out some gold.

A standard entrance to a gold mine used by many across Tanzania. These mines can often flood and collapse, resulting in death for some of the miners.

An artisanal miner shows us his method of separating gold from a local river.

Haki Madini brought out the sounds for International Woman’s Day in the mining village of Mererani.

At the launch of the Tunaweza (we can) campaign many local artists showed their support for a great cause. The Tunaweza is an anti violence against women (VAW) campaign spreading across Tanzania and East Africa.

In an effort to enrol ‘change makers’ a local drama group illustrate a common scene resulting from violence in the family.

As part of African Day of the Child (ADC), many schools marched through the centre of town to promote a diverse set of issues such as gender equality, sexual abuse against children, VAW and the importance of education.

Children’s books bound for the Solomons

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:35:09 +1300

More than 500 children’s books are now on their way to tiny Etemwarore School in the Solomon Islands, thanks to a $6,000 grant organised by VSA volunteer Laurie Williams.

The books include titles by some of New Zealand’s best-known children’s writers, such as Lynley Dodd, Joy Cowley and Margaret Mahy. They left New Zealand before Christmas and are expected to make their way to the school on the remote island of Makira by the beginning of the new school year.

Laurie applied for the grant through the Norman Kirk Memorial Trust after working with Etemwarore School principal, Edrine Waokahi, during a two-month assignment as a school leader mentor in Makira Ulawa province last year.

Etemwarore School, Solomon Islands

Laurie, who is now working as school leader mentor based in Honiara, worked with Edrine and two other head teachers in Makira, helping them develop their role as school leaders. He was impressed by her motivation and enthusiasm, despite the school’s lack of resources.

“As a principal Edrine is really up for new ideas about good practice. She and her staff are keen for their students to learn and go places.”

Etemwarore School principal, Edrine Waokahi

He says at the moment the only books Etemwarore School has are the regulation readers issued by the Solomon Islands Ministry of Education.

“It is a school with very, very few other facilities or resources, and no real way of getting them.”

Etemwarore School kindergarten class

The Norman Kirk Memorial Trust was set up in 1976 to commemorate the former Labour prime minister, Norman Kirk. It distributes education scholarships and grants to people and groups in New Zealand and the South Pacific.

Each year $6,000 from the trust is allocated to a VSA-related project. Previous projects include a new playground at Matauala School in Tokelau, and a new student learning centre at St Patrick’s College in Vanuatu.

Auckland-based company Read Pacific selected and arranged shipping for the books for Etemwarore School. The company has also donated an additional 65 books, as well as posters and ballpoint pens.

Laurie Williams hopes to make it back to Maikira to help the staff at the school set up a basic library system, and work out the best way of storing the books in the humid tropical conditions.

VSA Photo Essay: Living and working on South Africa's Wild Coast

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:07:02 +1300

Returned VSA volunteers, Judy and Roger Hogg, lived and worked in Tshani Village, on the Wild Coast of South Africa. They were on assignment from March 2010 until October 2011.

Judy worked as an Early Childhood/Junior Development Adviser, and Roger worked as an Adult Youth Development Adviser. Judy rates teaching local villagers how to plant new species of food crop as one of her greatest successes on assignment. Roger believed his greatest contribution was the collection, analysis and distribution of data on HIV/AIDs and orphans, while filling a support role for Judy.

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

Roger helping children with maths homework.

Judy teaching pre-school children gardening skills.

After school classes at the Mdumbi Ed centre.

Older village children doing homework on a Saturday morning.

Pre-school children on their first ever beach trip (5 minutes walk away from home!).

Pre-school children learning about composting.

Villagers at a seminar on planting small seeds.

Children prepare beans grown from the pre-school garden.

Port Vila all lit up for Christmas

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:30:25 +1300

In Vanuatu, the Christmas lights are up on the seafront in Port Vila, and an enormous blow-up plastic Santa is decorating the first-floor balcony of the VNPF building in Luganville.

“The Santa is accompanied by constant dance music blaring out at distortion levels from the balcony,” says volunteer Chris Smart, who is based in the VNPF building. “To the delight of the passers by looking up, the Santa actually somehow moves to the music.”

Christmas lights on the seafront in Port Vila, Vanuatu

Port Vila also recently hosted what volunteer Keith Hambrook has described as the most “krankge” (crazy) Christmas parade he has ever seen. It included a decorated boat carrying a NiVanuatu Santa, and an impressive balloon-covered truck bearing members of Keith’s partner organisation, the Prison Ministry.

“We decorated it with beautiful flowers and banners painted in blue with inspirational messages,” wrote one of the detainees after the parade. “You could hear singing and laughing, music coming from a radio station and see people on the side of the road cheering. It was a fabulous experience.”

The Prison Ministry float in the Port Vila Christmas parade

Meanwhile, in Bougainville, the Jandal Sisters – a singing group featuring several VSA volunteers – have been in hot demand in the lead-up to Christmas.

And in Tanzania, members of volunteer Anne Perera’s family were surprised to be presented with a live turkey to mark the festive season during their recent visit to Arusha.

Many of VSA‘s Pacific-based volunteers are returning home to New Zealand for Christmas – or heading to Australia. But more than half of our volunteers – including the last few still working in Africa – will be staying in-country during the festive season.

For them, it’s a chance to experience a different kind of Christmas, and to check out the local attractions. Among the activities they have planned are a trip to a dive resort in Papua New Guinea and a tiki-tour of South Africa.

In Vanuatu, several volunteers are getting together to spend Christmas Day at a boutique resort on the east coast of Santo, where they have a treat in store courtesy of Chris Smart.

“I hope to open a couple of bottles of New Zealand sauvignon blanc (Wither Hills and Oyster Bay) that I have saved especially for the occasion.”

* The VSA office in Wellington will be closed from 23 December to 9 January.

VSA Photo Essay: Testing the waters in Cambodia

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:55:29 +1300

Returned VSA volunteer Ken Wong worked in Cambodia as a Science Faculty Adviser with the Faculty of Biology at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. He finished his assignment in October 2011.

Among other things, Ken helped his counterpart Meas Seanghun collect data on freshwater fish and plankton populations in the Mekong River basin. The data is being used to monitor the impact of a proposed hydropower dam on the Sesan River, one of the major tributaries of the Mekong River.

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

Sor Ratha and I at my desk in the Department of Biology in December 2009. Ratha is a recent biology graduate now teaching at a private school and working at the Department on a voluntary basis.

Seanghun and one of her students, Min Malay, crossing over a partially fallen bridge after collecting samples from the Sesan River in April 2010. This bridge was still in this condition when we went up again at the end of the rainy season in November 2010.

Collecting a water sample from the Srepok River, Stung Treng Province, where we noticed a juvenile gorami fish, a threatened species in Cambodia.

Seanghun and Malay transferring zooplankton samples from the Se Kong River to a small plastic bottle containing a preservative - all under the bemused eyes of local buffaloes.

Seiha throwing a plankton net into the reservoir, pulling it back and draining the water to concentrate the plankton. This process is repeated and then specimens are transferred to a storage container.

Malay and Seanghun collecting zooplankton samples from the Sesan River. This area is a few kilometers downstream from the site of the proposed hydropower dam.

A workshop on modern genetics analyses at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Seiha (centre) is learning to transfer samples onto a gel that is used to separate DNA fragments for analysis.

Queues of students during a graduation ceremony near the main campus of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Feb 2011.

Tin (left) and Seiha cooling off after a long day of work collecting samples from Ang Trapeang Thmor.

VSA Photo Essay: Turtle conservation in the Solomon Islands

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:28:05 +1300

Tom Murray was one of our UniVol Project Friendship bloggers. Tom worked in the Solomon Islands as an environmental management assistant at the Arnavons Community Marine Conservation Area (ACMCA).

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

Hey! My name’s Tom and I come from the small town of Alexandra in the hills of Central Otago, New Zealand. This is me (right) pictured with local turtle patrol officers of the Arnavons Community Marine Conservation Area (ACMCA).

One of the Hawksbill turtles from the ACMCA. They are critically endangered. The main challenge for the conservation area is poaching. When times get tough and money is in short supply, poachers come from the villages and take turtles, turtle eggs, shell fish and fish, to eat and to sell.

Fellow VSA volunteer Gary King (right) and ACMCA conservation officers record data from Hawksbill turtle.

A close up shot of a Hawksbill turtle.

Turtle soup… Part of my job has been trying to find other ways for Solomon Islanders to get food and money so that they don’t feel the pressure to poach from the conservation area. With this purpose in mind, I would talk to the locals about how I might be able to help them make their lives easier.

Watching turtle hatchlings after their nest release.

VSA Photo Essay: Working with youth in Vanuatu

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:17:04 +1300

Mattie Geary Nichol was one of our 2011 Univol Project Friendship bloggers. Mattie volunteered at the Northern Care Youth Centre (NCYC) in Vanuatu as a youth worker.

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

Kia ora, I’m Mattie. I've been working at the Northern Care Youth Centre where Ni-Vanuatu youth who don’t go to school or have a job can come and learn skills, make friends and visit the clinic. I work with Charlie (pictured right), and together we make sure the clubs run smoothly and arrange different activities and workshops each month.

Northern Care Youth Centre pupils taking part in the hip hop competition.

Action from the volleyball tournament at the Northern Care Youth Centre.

The Northern Care Youth Centre football competition and torrential rain... I waited for the players to call it a day and for the referee to call an end to a failed tournament. But they kept playing. A few people slipped over and small lakes emerged on the grass but they all kept playing!

Teacher Bernadette from the Northern Care Youth Centre explains how to paint dresses to a sewing class.

A 'How to make weaving baskets' class at the Northern Care Youth Centre.

VSA Photo Essay: A Tanzanian kindergarten story

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:01:26 +1300

Catherine van Gessel was one of our UniVol Project Friendship bloggers. She volunteered in rural Tanzania at the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference (TEC) kindergarten. The kindergarten opened in January 2011 with 50 students aged 5-6 years old.

Catherine’s job involved two aspects - daily teaching, and developing systems so that the kindergarten will continue to run successfully in the future.

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

Kia ora, I'm Catherine van Gessel from Nelson. This is a picture of me (right) and my pupil Happiness from the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference (TEC) Kindergarten.

Me and the TEC Kindergarten class and support staff.

I arrived at school at 8am, but by 10am many of the students still hadn’t made it. I started asking a few questions, and at lunchtime was told that many of my students couldn’t come to school because there was a herd of eight buffalo on the road to school. Luckily someone living nearby had stopped the school kids from meeting the “mbogo” face-to-face.

Hadison Emanuel (left) and Elisiana Silvesta at TEC Kindergarten.

TEC Kindergarten kids hard at work.

The long road many of the children take to school…

VSA Photo Essay: Science teacher training in Bougainville

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:34:13 +1300

Returned VSA volunteers Gavin Reynolds and partner Andrea Dekrout lived and worked in Bougainville from May 2009 until March 2011.

Gavin worked as a science teacher trainer based at Hutjena school in Bougainville. A key success for Gavin was setting up in-service teacher training for all Bougainville secondary schools.

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

Demonstrating toad dissections with one of the science teachers at the first teacher training workshops since the Bougainville crisis. English, Science, Agriculture and Counselling teachers were given an opportunity to up-skill and share experiences by attending one of three regional in-service workshops held in Arawa, Buka and Asatavi.

Me with the science teachers at the Arawa high school workshop.

English teacher and fellow VSA Volunteer Jenny Wu and her colleague from Arawa high school. This picture was taken at the Arawa high school sports day which we visited just before crossing into the no go zone to visit Parparu village.

Me with Mr. Golu discussing logistics at the Hutjena High school sports carnival.

The boys 5000m race at the Hutjena school sports carnival.

Young performers at the Bougainville literacy week celebrations. Cultural groups from all over the region visited Buka Island to support literacy and share their traditional dances and music.

VSA Photo Essay: Community and conservation in Bougainville

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:16:40 +1300

Returned VSA volunteers Andrea Dekrout and partner Gavin Reynolds lived and worked in Bougainville from May 2009 until March 2011.

Andrea worked with the Autonomous Bougainville Government linking up with community and conservation groups at the grassroots level with government departments and helping them access donors and funding.

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

The Paruparu village is in the no go zone on the southern side of the island. It is not accessible by car so we walked for a whole day over the Crown Prince Range to talk to this community about climate change and environmental management. Pictured with me is Julie Mikua whose family hosted us.

My partner and fellow VSA volunteer Gavin Reynolds (right) with Charles Mikua, touring Charles’ demonstration farm which he uses to educate farmers in his area on environmentally friendly farming methods. The farm includes gardens, aquaculture and poultry production and is a fantastic educational resource in an extremely isolated part of Bougainville.

Mrs. Sava and her young son. The Sava family allowed me to access their land as part of a small scale survey of some of the streams on Buka island. The Pacific is prone to droughts during El Nino years and keeping the streams and their surrounding areas healthy is the key to ensuring Buka residents have food and water security in times of low rain fall. My aim was to use these stream visits to raise awareness about water management.

Mr Sava and his son.

Myself and colleague Lewis at the DPI (division of primary industries) setting a small live trap in the Sava Family stream. The abundance and types of fish and invertebrate in a stream can help determine how healthy the stream ecosystem is.

Ms Sava collecting subsistence foods near the survey streams. The damp areas around the streams provide habitat for a type of wild banana that do not produce fruit but have an edible core in their trunk. Such wild foods are valuable supplements for substance farmers during times of drought.

A young man prepares Banana leaves for cooking cassava at the Nazareth Rehabilitation Centre’s open day at Chabbai. The Centre works to prevent violence and empower women. The centre has a long relationship with VSA and all of the volunteers were invited to the open day.

Banana boat on the Carteret’s Atolls. The Carterts are threatened by sea level rises and we visited the Atolls to conduct a brief biodiversity survey. We planned to stay for 3 days but the ship we arrived on did not return as scheduled. Eventually we returned to Buka on this Banana boat which was fantastic but very scary. The trip took over 5 hours on the tiny boat in heavy swell.

Carteret’s (as above) as sea levels rise salt water is inundating the islands and damaging the coconut trees which are a major food source to the atoll residents. This tree is slowly falling into the sea.

VSA Photo Essay: Counselor training in Bougainville

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:35:58 +1300

Returned VSA volunteer Viktoria Degerman spent the last two years working with the teachers and pupils at Hutjena Secondary School in Bougainville.

Beginning her assignment in September 2009 and returning in July 2011, Viktoria's role was to work closely with two teachers who volunteered to be trained up as school counselors.

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

Telling stories with amused students - very rewarding ‘work.'

Hutjena Secondary School Sign - tall and proud in the scorching sun.

Saturday morning’s fitness dance in the library - girls only please!

Hutjena Secondary School pupils, taken by previous VSA volunteer Cecille Lee.

Proud, yet shy, Bougainville Triathlon Winners 2010 from Hutjena Secondary School.

Main bus stop. Little shade. A lot of heat.

Mr Panikun and Ms Koloua, Viktoria's counterparts, lining up in the counselling room.

Stunning Hutjena girls getting ready to perform during the Literacy Week.

A stoked and exhausted mix of friends after completing the breathtaking coast to coast trek in central Bougainville over Easter.

VSA Photo Essay: East African forest living

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:36:08 +1300

Returned VSA volunteer Yong Ly swapped life as an IT specialist in Auckland to volunteer with the Forestry Training Institute, located on a remote hill top 20km outside Arusha, Tanzania.

Setting off in 2009 and returning in July 2011, Yong’s role was to help upskill the institute’s staff in IT skills and GPS knowledge.

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

Forestry is a very practical thing so often the students would go out on field trips into the bush and sometimes I’d accompany them. I think part-time photographer and VSA Tanzania County Programme Manager Musa Naroro is laughing at my VSA hat.

A group of high school kids come to learn about forestry and get to see the saw mill in action.

The beekeeping course was set up by a previous VSA volunteer Reece Adamson and now it is doing very well with over 30 students getting their diploma and certificates in Beekeeping.

When you’re out in the bush and you need some seeds, why use a ladder when you’ve got a group of young Tanzanian lads who grew up climbing trees.

My little helper at the Central Markets in town. These boys hang around selling plastic bags or hoping to get some money for helping you carry your shopping. I don’t really need any help but why not give him some work, it’s better than begging on the streets.

These brass bands in bright pink shirts are a common sight during celebrations. In the wedding season, you can see and hear them blasting away in the back of a pickup truck. This time they’re leading the procession for the student graduations.

Special guests from different areas of Forestry come to attend the student graduation ceremony including a minister from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.

Their two years of studies are over, now these students are qualified foresters. It’s just like Graduation back home, except more African

One of the best things about living in the forests is that you can find these gorgeous black and white Colobus monkeys playing right outside your doorstep. I don't think I even left my porch to take this photo.

Want a lift? Hanging off the back of a truck crammed full of Masaai is pretty dangerous but it’s preferable to walking miles to get where you want to go and you might make a new friend.

Part of the adventure is travelling with other VSA volunteers to see amazing sights. Here we have the sunset behind Bruce, Ross and Ramona as they look out over Lake Natron and Oldonyo Lengai.

VSA Photo Essay: Converting containers in Zambia

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:54:13 +1300

Returned VSA volunteer Tim Lovell worked from June 2009 until July 2011 as a Carpentry Workshop Development Officer at the Chodort Training Centre in Choma, Zambia.

The main aspect of Tim's volunteer work was converting old shipping containers into internet cafes, libraries, classrooms and in one case a bank.

This Photo Essay was originally published on Facebook. Click here to visit VSA's Facebook page.

Tim Lovell (middle) with Chodort Training Centre staff.

The containers arrive in Zambia at the end of their lives. They are insulated, and in some cases get roofs to protect them from the heat.

The containers are then fitted out with furniture.

And fitted out with doors.

Next, the containers are given a base coat of paint.

And then a top coat.

It takes about 12 weeks, start to finish.

Next, they are loaded onto transport trucks. The process is slow and much care is taken not to damage the containers.

Once they are fully loaded onto trucks, they are transported to where they are needed. The recipients of the completed containers are usually aid organisations such as World Vision and Linknet.

New project will help South African children

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:56:59 +1300

VSA volunteer Victoria Gregory believes a new project being introduced by her South African partner organisation will make life better for many children dealing with the devastating impact of HIV and AIDS, and the long-term legacy of apartheid.

Victoria is about to finish an assignment as a Communications and Resource Centre Management Adviser with the Umtata Child Abuse Resource Centre (UCARC), which is based in the town of Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.

She says that UCARC’s new Children’s Rights Community Development Project will see the organisation expand its focus from individual cases of child abuse and neglect to the wider issue of children’s rights. The aim is to set up local children’s rights steering committees that will continue to advocate for the resolution of individual cases of abuse and neglect, but will also identify and advocate to find ways of overcoming systemic barriers that prevent children from having their rights met.

Child participation workshop

“The work UCARC has been doing until now is incredibly essential, but it’s band-aiding. The changes we are introducing will help make life better for a larger number of children by working at a higher level.”

The steering committees will be made up of representatives from a wide range of government and community organisations, including traditional chiefs, local body politicians, the police and government officials. The aim is to encourage rural communities to work more collaboratively to promote children’s rights and identify the needs of children, then implement real solutions.

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She says a steering committee might for example be asked to look at why a group of rural children are not attending school regularly.

“The committee may find that the children want to go to school but they can’t get across a flooded river during the rainy season. In that case, the solution would be to work with the government to have a bridge built.”

UCARC was established in 2001 to help children suffering from abuse, neglect and exploitation. This includes sexual abuse – an estimated 200,000 children are raped in South Africa every year – as well as the abuse and neglect commonly associated with extreme poverty.

Umtata Child Abuse Resource Centre staff

According to Victoria, the AIDS epidemic has had a devastating impact on children in South Africa, making them particularly vulnerable to abuse and neglect. More than three million children in South Africa have lost one or both parents to AIDS. In the Eastern Cape, about 10 per cent of the population now live with HIV.

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“The whole social infrastructure has collapsed – often all you see in the villages is elderly people and children,” says Victoria. “Their parents have either died from AIDS-related illnesses or in some cases they’ve moved to cities such as Johannesburg for work.”

Some of the most vulnerable are children who live in what are known as child-headed households. This can happen when their parents or grandparents die, and they are left to care for themselves. In some cases, 12 year olds may be caring for three or four younger children.

Apartheid also continues to affect the lives of children in South Africa, despite the fact that it ended more than 20 years ago. Poverty is still widespread, and in many areas education and health services remain extremely inadequate.

Some of the cases of abuse and neglect that UCARC deals with are heartbreaking. Girls as young as 12 are forced into prostitution or made to marry much older men so their family can get a “labola”, or bride price. Sexual abuse is common, partly because of the widespread belief that having sex with a virgin will stop you from getting HIV, or heal you if you are already infected.

Although her work can be emotionally draining at times, Victoria says it is also inspiring. One of the things that keeps her going is seeing how resilient her colleagues at UCARC are, despite the fact that many of them are coping with their own tragedies.

Victoria getting ready to attend a celebration at a children's disability home with colleague

“Staff are often attending funerals because so many of their relatives and friends die, but they bounce back and stay positive. I am so impressed by their dedication to learning about UCARC’s new approach, especially in promoting advocacy as a means to address broader children’s rights issues.”

She says the reaction from rural communities to the project has been very positive.

“They are asking us to establish the new steering committees as soon as possible. They say that parties need to work together to address the difficulties children are facing.”

UCARC’s new project has been developed following a major evaluation of the organisation carried out last year. The revised model will retain UCARC’s existing village-based child protection workers (VCPW). They will work with the new Community Children’s Rights Steering Committees to help make sure that children’s rights are respected. These include the right to health, food, education, protection and loving care.

As part of its new focus, UCARC has already started promoting the importance of children’s rights through regular radio programmes and newspaper articles in the Mthatha area. It is also working with government officials to promote alternative forms of identification for children who do not have birth certificates, so they can get access to the government grants they are entitled to.

“I’m very enthusiastic about this new model – I think it’s an approach that could work in many different cultures.”

Banana Road

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:07:15 +1300

VSA volunteer Ken McIntyre has one amazing walk to work: along Banana Road in Timor-Leste’s capital Dili...

I walk to work every morning along Banana Road. It isn’t far and it provides me with a window into the life of this part of Dili. There isn’t really a footpath. I share the road with the traffic although there is a rough grassy verge for part of the way that I use along with the goats, pigs and chickens.

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I thought it was called Banana Road because of the gentle curve in the road but apparently not. Then I thought it was because of the large number of bright yellow taxis which cruise along, plying their trade. Not so. Banana Road gets its name because it used to be a big banana plantation before it became the road it is today. Many trees still remain.

The road is always busy with motorcycles, cars, various trucks and the ubiquitous microlet. The microlet provides the public transport service around Dili and the number 6 service along Banana Road. They are small vans converted to take passengers. Generally women and older people sit inside while young men cling like fridge magnets to the outside. The cost is a 25 cent flat fare but I usually pay more. Often I get the seat next to the driver; a real honour.

Public transport Dili style

Most mornings I follow a tiny boy pushing a wooden cart laden with bundles of kindling. He can barely see over the top of the cart as he pushes it along. He seems to have sold most of his wood by the time I see him. I wonder if he will then go to school afterwards and if it was the same as a paper round. Firewood is not used for heating but for cooking, in particular in the evening and it is not unusual to see the wisps of smoke drifting in the still air along with the pleasant smell of the BBQ.

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I frequently see older men carrying bundles of green leafy vegetables, such as lettuces hanging from either end of a bamboo pole and balanced across the shoulder. They bounce rather than walk along the road with the spring of the bamboo providing the momentum. They are probably anxious to sell their wares before the leaves wilt in the rapidly warming sun. A man who sells fish uses the same method and the long bodies of the fish glint as their silver skin catches the morning sun. As I walk past him the whiff tells me he needs to sell them quickly.

Selling veg along Banana Road

Houses along the way vary. Most are concrete block and painted. Blue, terracotta and green are common colours. Further away from the city the materials change and many houses are sheets of plywood and corrugated iron. There is one house, recently erected, which is a shipping container with some sheets of plywood attached as an extension. It is parked on a large empty section under a huge mango tree.

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For the last part of my walk I turn off the main road and walk through a small community. Here the road degenerates into what could best be described as a dried up river bed. On one side of the road are fields of corn and tomatoes and other vegetables as well as lots and lots of banana trees, some mango trees and several very interesting kapok trees. On the other side are small, impoverished houses where the people who farm the land, live. The children here always call out to me and don’t stop until I wave and then they run back into their houses laughing.

This is only a snapshot as there’s so much going on. The afternoon walk back home is just as fascinating, but that’s another story.

December 2011 featured photo

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:54:24 +1300

Performing the haka, Vunapope Sacred Heart International Primary School, Papua New Guinea – by Mike Stewart

Last minute rehearsals of the International group before performing the haka to celebrate Independence Day.

Mike took this picture during his School’s Independence Day celebrations on September 15 (he is working at Vunapope Sacred Heart International Primary School as a teacher trainer).

Within the school there is a small contingent of non-PNG students that mainly have a Filipino heritage. Mike was given the task of supervising their performance.

This group performed bamboo and hip hop dances, as well as an Island hula. Then to finish in style the group learnt the words and actions to the Ka Mate haka, finishing with one minute of intense passion. Mike says the kids loved it.

“It was quite a mission getting a very quiet group of 30 to feel the power and passion required to pull off something like a haka (in unison!). But in the end we did it."

"The photo captures the excitement of the boys, the unity of the hip hop contingent, and the attempted last minute moko designs of myself and a fellow parent. Good stuff.”

South African connections

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:22:41 +1300

As VSA’s South Africa office closes in December* VSA Programme Officer Camille Kirtlan chats about the connections made in a country that still feels like home whenever she returns.

“You can talk about the tangible successes of VSA’s time in South Africa as much as you like but the personal relationships volunteers build are the stand-out successes of VSA’s work for me. Once you remove all barriers of race, age and gender what do you have left? Respect for each other and equality – people working together”, says Camille Kirtlan, Programme Officer at VSA. “These relationships have helped countless people to really believe in themselves and have the confidence to try new things.”

Camille is currently working in VSA’s Wellington office but is well placed to comment about VSA’s South Africa programme. She worked in the country for six years; first as a volunteer in 2000 and later as In-country Programme Officer.

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Since VSA’s South Africa programme began in 1993 nearly 100 VSA volunteers have been on assignment, supporting partners working on reconstruction and development projects, primarily in the Eastern Cape, one of the poorest regions of South Africa.

Last month Camille travelled back on behalf of VSA to say goodbye to colleagues and partner organisations, and to thank everyone involved in the programme for making it successful.

VSA Programme Officer Camille Kirtlan (second left) with VSA South Africa volunteers Joanne Lentfer (bottom left), Mary Moorwood and Jan Barber (bottom right).

Lasting connections

Camille built up many relationships during her six years in South Africa but perhaps the one that stands out most is her great friendship with Thoko Mlonyeni, manager of sports NGO, Imvomvo.

“Thoko was the first person I met in South Africa when I stepped off the plane to start my assignment in 2000”, says Camille. “And she was the last person I saw when I left in November 2011.”

“In 2000 Thoko worked as a Sports Officer at the East London branch of the Department of Sport and from the word go pretty much treated me as part of her family. In those first few months she would come round and make sure I was doing ok – nothing to do with her job but just because she wanted to make sure I felt welcome.”

In 2004 Camille helped Thoko set up Imvomvo, an NGO offering community club sporting programmes. Over the past eight years it has diversified to include an elderly citizen gardening programme and an early childhood centre. The latter was developed with the help of VSA volunteer Judy Moore who helped train the ‘mamas’ to teach at the school.

Imvomvo - from top left to bottom right: UniVol Greg Stevenson with the kids at Imvomvo; VSA volunteer Judy Moore with the mamas of the Winter Rose preschool; the mamas with the preschool children; Thoko with other participants at VSA's South African Partner Forum.

Imvomvo has since gone on to team up with New Zealand’s Maori TV in the filming of a six part documentary called Kia-ora Molweni. It features six Maori students who were each given a video camera and sent off on a three-week exchange to South Africa. While there, the students spent time with both Thoko and Imvomvo. (Kia-ora Molweni is currently showing on Maori TV Sundays at 7pm.)

The six Maori students who feature on Kia-ora Molweni currently showing on Maori TV.

When Camille returned to South Africa in November to say goodbye it felt like going home. “I saw one guy who worked at the Department of Sport when I was on assignment way back in 2000. He just came up to me and said ‘hey Camille I haven’t seen you for a while’ as though I’d never been away. You may be one face among millions, but it’s great people still remember you.”

So what about the success of the South Africa programme? “Hearing it from our partners is the best demonstration of success I can think of”, says Camille. Just a few examples make this very clear:

Nomonde Makaula and MCTT

Nomonde Makaula who worked at partner organisation Mehloding Community Tourism Trust (MCTT) wrote a letter to VSA in October 2011 to say how much she appreciated the guidance from VSA volunteers Elisabeth Degremont and Charles Coombe (pictured below with Nomonde). She wanted to say how committed Charles and Elisabeth were to supporting the community of Matatiele.

Volunteer Elizabeth originally recruited the talented Nomande straight from one of the remote villages to work as Operations Officer at MCTT. Nomonde has since been promoted several times, now working as a Regional Tourism Coordinator.

Sister Mary Paul and Bethany Children's Home

Sister Mary Paul, from the Bethany Children’s Home where VSA volunteers Joanna Lentfer, Jan Barber and Jill Bennett were on assignment, says how much she appreciated their work. But what impressed her so much about VSA was that all VSA’s Eastern Cape volunteers would come along and spend time at Bethany. “It was like one big family.”

Children's home. From top left to bottom right: Sister Mary Paul; VSA voluneer Jan Barber; Volunteer Joanne Lentfer during her assignment; VSA volunteer Jill Bennett with the children and staff at Bethany.

Thoko Mlonyeni and Imvomvo

Thoko Mlonyeni, Manager of Imvomvo maintains that if it wasn’t for New Zealanders and VSA volunteers, Imvomvo wouldn’t be doing half of the work it is currently doing.

VSA volunteer Judy Moore with Thoko Mlonyeni.

New Zealand high Commission

Staff at the New Zealand High Commission in South Africa believe VSA volunteers have helped the Commission spread its work because of those grassroots connections they develop.

* VSA's last volunteer working in South Africa finishes their assignment in June 2012.

Making life better for deaf Ni-Vanuatu

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:04:45 +1300

One of the most ingenious “home signs” that volunteer Jacqui Iseli has encountered since she began working as a Sign Language Adviser in Vanuatu is the one for “month” devised by a deaf man on the island of Malekula.

“He indicated the moon coming up, then used his fingers to indicate the number of months,” says Jacqui, who is on assignment with the Sanma Frangipani Association (SFA), an organisation that works with people with disabilities.

It is one of many iconic signs that Jacqui, a New Zealand sign language interpreter and tutor, has collected for possible inclusion in a dictionary of Ni-Vanuatu home signs. Home signs are the basic signs developed by deaf people in the absence of sign language.

“What I’m trying to do is to collect up a whole lot of home signs and produce a small dictionary that is relevant to Vanuatu,” she says. “The aim of the dictionary is to boost the self-esteem of deaf people, who are often too shy to use their signs in public, and to make it easier for hearing people to communicate with them.”

She says the dictionary will also be a useful resource for the parents of deaf babies and newly deaf children.

Jacqui talking to one of her students

Jacqui arrived on Malekula in September last year with her husband Howard, who is on assignment as a tourism adviser. She began her own assignment in July after running a two-week workshop on New Zealand Sign Language with the SFA.

Deafness is relatively widespread in Vanuatu. Causes include tropical diseases such as dengue fever and malaria, as well as infections such as German measles and meningitis. A lack of access to hearing aids compounds the problem.

“Probably some who are deaf could hear if they had hearing aids, but they’re too expensive and not practical in most areas due to the physical nature of the lifestyle, and the high humidity and high rainfall.”

Isolation is a real issue for deaf Ni-Vanuatu because the country is so spread out. Most have little contact with other deaf individuals and few get the chance to go to school, or they are withdrawn from school if they become deaf.

Students learning to sign

“Education really only became free in primary schools last year, and a lot of parents haven’t sent their deaf children to school because they don’t appear to learn much for the expense.”

Jacqui is working with SFA to help break down that isolation by developing a series of workshops for teachers and parents, introducing them to the home signs she has collected, as well as the basics of NZSL. She is also developing a plan for deaf youth living in Sanma Province, and is working one-to-one with several deaf people and their families.

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“Most of the home signs they have developed are very basic and gesture-based, so they don’t allow a lot of detail. We’re trying to develop their sign vocabulary so that they can discuss life more fully.”

The Vanuatu Government has signed the UN Charter which means that children with disabilities must be fully included in schools. However, there is no Vanuatu sign language to teach deaf children with. The government is now looking at introducing Melanesian Sign Language, from Papua New Guinea, for education purposes.

“It will be a long process,” says Jacqui. “In the meantime, we just have to do the best we can with what we have.”

December 2011 - returning volunteers

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:27:44 +1300

Featuring our volunteers returning from assignment during November and December.

MELANESIA

Tom Murray – Solomon Islands

UniVol Tom Murray worked mainly with community groups while on assignment as an Environmental Management Assistant at Arnavon Community Marine Conservation Area. “My role was really all about helping people to get more involved in the running of their own community. I spent a lot of time trying to get people to realise that the things they did and thought were actually important.”

In the remote village of Kia rubbish tends to get thrown out of people’s windows littering the whole village with no landfill or collection scheme. Tom met regularly with the youth group to help raise awareness of waste and health issues. After discussions and presentations, the youth group decided to dig some mini landfills to bury the rubbish and to raise awareness themselves so that everyone would actually use the landfills.

As Tom said, “the small things community members do don’t disappear over time. They are here every day raising awareness in their communities which means a lot more than if it came from someone like me”.

Tom, along with fellow volunteer Gary King, also worked with the Kia Mothers Union, encouraging one of their members to be on the conservation area’s board of management. This will hopefully happen in 2012 and provide a real chance for women to play a leadership role in the community. Currently there are no women in parliament, few in business and, in Kia, no female chiefs. “It might only be a small change but it has given the group momentum and faith that they really can make positive changes despite the tremendous barriers in their way.”

After only a week back in New Zealand, Tom took up a role with Maritime New Zealand as a field supervisor for volunteers working on the Rena clean up. After this, he’ll be working with the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

AFRICA

Ron Roberts – South Africa

Ron rates winning a civic award for a garden project he worked on with his partner organisation, GADRA Advice and Community Work, as a huge highlight of his assignment. The garden won best garden project and garden of the year in 2010 with the award presented by the Grahamstown Garden Festival Committee.

The garden provides food for people working and living at GADRA (all GADRA's clients are blind) and also for HIV/AIDs day patients from the hospital next door. Its success has resulted in a contract to provide the local fruit and vegetable market with vegetables along with eggs from a chicken farm that Ron, together with head gardener Bongani, also set up.

Nine more gardens have now been developed in the community for clients who are blind. The owners of these have been really successful in growing their own fruit and vegetables and have been selling their produce to neighbours.

Ron also opened a soup kitchen to provide HIV/AIDS day patients with a source of fresh vegetables to lift their blood count after taking their retroviral medication.

Ron is now on his way to Dubai to live with his daughter and son-in-law, along with his wife and fellow VSA volunteer Karen.

Karen Roberts – South Africa

Karen enjoyed her two year assignment working with partner organisation, Child Welfare South Africa (CWSA), the largest child protection NGO in South Africa. Karen was involved in the development of a strategic business plan, HR policies and staff performance managment plans for the organisation. She also helped develop the organisation’s volunteer programme, raising the number of volunteers from 16 to 30 while on assignment, so there would be enough field staff to work in the local community.

Volunteers lived in the township and met with families, evaluating children, taking children to hospital and working with the police department and social services.

Karen was particularly pleased to find that Zukiswa Nkosinkulu – Mbane who was originally a volunteer, is now fully employed by the organisation. In fact, several of the volunteers had been able to find employment because of their experience as a volunteer.

Karen together with husband Ron is now on her way to Dubai to live with Ron's daughter and son-in-law.

Judy and Roger Hogg – South Africa

Judy and Roger lived in a very isolated part of South Africa for 19 months and worked for Transcape Non Profit Organisation. While Judy worked with Mdumbi Education Centre, Roger was the IT manager, helping to set up an orphan's project, conducting analysis for the HIV team and undertaking general data entry.

Judy wrote lesson plans in art and craft, health, and outdoor and indoor games for use by untrained teachers in the preschool. She made resources and helped train teachers to run daily after-school classes. But she rates the work she did teaching people from her village how to plant a new range of food crops as the most satisfying.

“Showing people how to sow small seeds, such as onion, silver-beet, carrots, turnips, lettuce, green pepper and care for them in the dry season so they would have a constant food supply was great,” adds Judy.

She taught gardening to around 100 adults, providing them with seeds. Some people used to walk 7km to come to her lessons.

Roger undertook an analysis of a questionnaire survey to look at the benefits new born children received if they were born at hospital or at home. The results showed if a woman gave birth at a hospital there was a 90% chance that those babies would receive HIV/AIDs blood tests, immunisations, baby cards, birth certificates and could apply for a well-being grant. If the babies were born at home there was only a 40% chance that they would receive these things.

Also in his role as IT manager Roger had to run satellite wireless internet with the latest technology installed by Master's students from Western Cape University in Cape Town.

Now back in their home in Otago, Judy and Roger plan on taking some time out, cleaning up their place and spending more time with their new-born grandchild in Invercargill.

ASIA

June and Graham Vincent – Cambodia

June worked with Rural Economic Development Association (REDA), an organisation set up to help people who live with HIV/AIDS. She helped staff think more strategically about their organisation, especially helping them realise that REDA was one entity rather than just a sum of a lot of different programmes. This in turn helped REDA secure funding going forward.

June says she found developing the business plan with a group of eight people, some of whom didn’t speak English, a challenge. But the methodology they developed to report against tasks is working well with new tasks developed for 2012.

As well as her assignment tasks June and husband Graham became very involved in REDA's children's centre that cares for up to 30 orphan children whose lives are affected by AIDS. They managed to raise an impressive $12,200 for the centre with a further $4,800 going to Cambodia Centre for the Protection of the Children’s Rights (CCPCR) where Graham undertook some voluntary teaching work.

Now back in NZ, June and Graham are looking forward to a family Christmas and then some touring around New Zealand in their bus.

Ken Wong – Cambodia

Ken really enjoyed working with students at the Royal University of Phnom Penh while on assignment as a Science Faculty Adviser. "Some of the students could really see the opportunities for them beyond what they were currently being taught,” he said.

Among his roles Ken helped develop lab and research activities, taking students out to collect data on freshwater fish and plankton populations along the Mekong River. The data is now being used to monitor the impact of a proposed hydropower dam on the Sesan River, one of the major tributaries of the Mekong River.

Ken in particular loved working with his counterpart Meas Seanghun, a talented PHD student and also a teacher at the university. Meas had published work on freshwater zooplankton and was a great teacher to the younger students.

Ken is back in New Zealand for only a short period as he is going to take up another VSA assignment working with the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (SROS) in February 2012.

Bruce Burnett –Timor-Leste

Bruce really enjoyed his two years volunteering as an Auto Mechanic Trainer in Timor-Leste. “It’s great to realise that you can learn to adapt to another culture. The rewards come from respecting the other culture and not questioning it too much. While I was there, I just immersed myself in Timor.”

Bruce worked with six colleagues to revise the institute’s curriculum for auto-mechanic training, and to develop ways of assessing the training. The new curriculum is now with the Timor-Leste Labour Department and he thinks it will be used as a benchmark in the future.

Developing the new curriculum and assessment procedures was a learning curve for Bruce, but helped him realise that he would like to do more of this work in the future. In that sense, his assignment has opened up a new career path for him.

Bruce is now living in Christchurch and working as a maintenance engineer at a feedmill to earn some money. He was part of a group of VSA volunteers in Timor-Leste who helped raise $3,000 for the Christchurch earthquake appeal in March.

African film a popular fundraiser

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:53:45 +1300

The Top of the South Branch raised $1,673 at a screening of the film The First Grader and a raffle held in Nelson on 27 November.

About 150 VSA supporters attended the fundraising event.

Branch secretary Sandy Stephens says The First Grader – which was part of this year’s International Film Festival – was a perfect film for VSA. It tells the story of Kenyan man, Kimani Marugeman, who enrolled at primary school at the age of 84 after the Kenyan government announced universal and free elementary education in 2003.

The poster for the Top of the South branch fundraiser

“It was wonderful – a true story of one man’s enduring struggle for his right to education. It’s a must-see,” says Sandy.

Movie goers socialising after the Top of the South branch fundraiser

Top of the South branch members will be able to follow up their interest in things African at the next branch meeting on 13 December, when recently returned volunteer Catherine van Gessel will talk about her experiences in Tanzania.

Catherine has recently returned from a UniVol assignment as a pre-school programme adviser at the TEC Kindergarten in Karatu, near the famous Ngorongoro Crater.

In other fundraising news, departing UniVols Hannah Quigan, Matthew Potts and Lucy Dryden, along with departing VSA volunteer Melanie Philllips, also chose The First Grader for a joint fundraiser at Wellington’s Paramount Theatre on 7 November. They followed that up with a quiz night a week later. The two events raised almost $1500.

Hannah, who has been working as programme intern in the Wellington office, is now busy selling raffle tickets before she leaves for a two-month trip to China and India on 6 December. She starts her UniVol assignment in Honiara in February 2012.

Hannah is raffling $1000 worth of great prizes, including a meal for two at Wellington’s St John’s Bar, and two couch cushions and a bean bag from Inhabit Design Store.

Tickets are $2. For more information and to buy a ticket, contact Karla Paotonu, kpaotonu@vsa.org.nz

Best Young Volunteer competition winner named

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:52:05 +1300

At just-turned-13, Izzy Christie, winner of our Project Friendship Best Young Volunteer competition, already has a long history of volunteering behind her.

Izzy Christie, winner of our Project Friendship Best Young Volunteer competition

Izzy, a Year 8 student at Orewa College, does a regular Saturday shift at a local op shop. She’s also helped plant trees at a local park, helped out at a nearby kindergarten and primary school, handed out drink bottles to competitors in a women’s duathlon and delivered newsletters with her guide unit.

During VSA Project Friendship Izzy, a keen guide, sold friendship bracelets door-to-door, and to her friends at school. She and the rest of the Puriri unit sold more than $600 worth of bracelets.

Izzy, who has won an IPod touch, reckons she gets her volunteering spirit from her mother – and guide leader – Tori.

“She sets a really good example to our family – we do lots of voluntary work together,” says Izzy. “I really like volunteering because I like helping the community, and giving something back.”

VSA fundraising manager Karla Paotonu, says she’s impressed by how much volunteering work Izzy does.

“It’s great to see someone who hasn’t even started high school yet doing so much for her community. We wish her all the best for her volunteer activities in the future.”

Runners up

We also selected three runners-up, each of whom will receive a Whittaker’s chocolate pack.

They were:

Jessica Callaghan, Oamaru. Jessica, 18, is deputy head girl of Waitaki Girls’ High School. She is involved in a wide range of voluntary activities, including helping to organise Project Friendship. She also helped organise the school ball and she is treasurer of the school’s Young Farmers’ Club.

Amy Sandford, Wellington. Amy, 17, is a student at St Catherine’s College. She helps take the Sunday school programme at her church, and she also volunteers regularly at children’s camps held at El Rancho, in Waikanae.

Douglas Rauch, Coromandal. Douglas, 16, stepped in to help keep the local Scout group going after it was shut down. He is now one of the group’s two leaders. He helps lead the weekly meetings, and he has taken the 12 Scouts in the group on camps and to a recent Scout Jamboree.

New TV series with a VSA connection

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:52:16 +1300

A new television series with a strong VSA connection begins on Maori Television at 7pm on Sunday 27 November.

Kia Ora Molweni features six senior students from kura kaupapa Maori who were each given a video camera and sent off on a three-week exchange to South Africa in September last year. While they were there, the students spent time with two long-time VSA partner organisations in East London – Imvomvo and Aspire.

The Kia Ora Molweni team: Hoera (left), Juneea, Rea, Shawn, TeNiiwai and Judas.

The six-part series features former VSA UniVol Sam McLachlan, as well as Thoko Mlonyeni, the awe-inspiring manager of Imvomvo.

According to the producer, George Andrews, VSA was integral to the programme’s success. The students went to East London in the first place because of VSA’s long involvement there.

“You don’t just send a group of school students off to South Africa unless you’re sure they will be safe. VSA’s long connection with East London meant we felt confident about sending them there,” he says.

Returned volunteer and recently elected VSA Council member Shona Jennings was particularly important when it came to deciding what the students should do while they were in South Africa.

“She inspired some of the key sequences. She told us there were three things the students had to do – go to a game park, go into the countryside, and go to Nelson Mandela’s birthplace. They did all three.”

* Kia Ora Molweni runs at 7pm on Maori Television from 27 November 2011 to 1 January 2012.

VSA: discover the possibilities

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:05:40 +1300

VSA: discover the possibilities is a brochure about Volunteer Service Abroad and how you can get involved.

(PDF | 20 Pages | 5.8mb)

Constitution of VSA Incorporated

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:53:05 +1300

Download the constitution of VSA Incorporated (PDF | 14 pages | 600KB)

End of an era

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:55:58 +1300

VSA’s last volunteer to Vietnam returned home in June, marking the end of our 19-year programme there.

When former VSA director Chris Hawley went to Binh Dinh province in Vietnam in 1990 to investigate the possibility of setting up a programme there, he found the local people had not forgotten the New Zealanders who helped them during the Vietnam War.

Several New Zealand medical teams were based in the province in the 1960s and 70s, and the New Zealand government also funded a new children’s ward at the Province Hospital.

“Even after so many years, they still had a lot of respect for New Zealand and for New Zealanders,” Chris recalls. “They remembered that the New Zealand staff had been prepared to treat everyone, regardless of which side they were on.”

Clockwise from top left: Pre-schoolers take part in dramatic play at an early childhood education centre; A fishmarket in Qui Nhon; Anne de Bres on assignment at Binh Dinh Province Hospital; A woman in a leaf hat.

Anne de Bres, VSA’s last volunteer to work in Vietnam, says those feelings of respect were just as strong two decades later.

“People spoke very warmly of that time – it set the bar for the volunteers who went there in the future. One of my friends had actually been delivered by a New Zealand doctor, and from what I’m told, he saved her life.”

Anne returned from a short-term assignment as a nurse educator in the neo-natal department of Binh Dinh Province Hospital at the end of June, officially marking the end of VSA’s programme there. Anne went on three short-term assignments to Vietnam this year. They followed up on work she had done during a two-and a half-year assignment spent helping nurses at the hospital increase their knowledge and skills in caring for sick and premature infants.

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Like the other 60 or so volunteers who have worked in Vietnam since VSA set up its programme there in 1992, Anne treasures her memories of the place – and of the people.

“It’s like an eye feast – the colour and the vibrancy, the paddy fields which are a hundred shades of green. It’s a combination of a beautiful country and wonderful people – their generosity, their friendliness, openness and their ability to go forward.”

Health was a major focus of VSA’s work in Vietnam. The first group of volunteers to go on assignment in Binh Dinh province included a primary health care specialist and a maintenance adviser who helped get essential equipment at the Province Hospital functioning again. Since then volunteers have included medical laboratory technologists, physiotherapists, midwives, and nurses. In recent years, they have focused on training and mentoring local staff, rather than filling in-line positions.

“We’re proud to have been able to support our partners, the Binh Dinh Department of Health and the Binh Dinh Red Cross, to improve health services in the province,” says VSA chief executive officer Debbie Snelson.

Clockwise from left: Children releasing fish in Binh Dinh province; The gardens are a hundred shades of green; Small fish out to dry; Phuoc Nguyen in Wellington last year.

As well as focusing on health, VSA volunteers in Binh Dinh carried out assignments in rural development, fisheries and education. They were supported by a team of dedicated local interpreters, including Phuoc Nguyen who joined the VSA interpreting team in January 1996. He went on to become an indispensible part of VSA’s programme in Binh Dinh, becoming the programme administrator in November 2002. In January 2006 he took on the job of field officer based in the provincial capital Qui Nhon.

“He was totally committed to the job and absolutely loyal to VSA,” says Anne. “He was always there to help with problems or to give advice on how to make things happen – he always knew what to do when you were struggling to make headway.”

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Debbie Snelson agrees: “Nothing is too much for Phuoc. It’s been an honour to work with him; he is very committed to the development of his country, and he built a real engagement with the volunteers.”

Phuoc will continue to liaise on VSA’s behalf with the Nguyen Nga Centre, an organisation supporting young people with disabilities which makes the friendship bracelets for VSA’s annual Project Friendship.

Volunteering is good for your career

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:51:35 +1300

Going on assignment as a VSA volunteer is not only hugely rewarding personally, it can also be a good career move. Ruth Nichol reports.

Working as a VSA volunteer in the Solomon Islands provided Debbie Bax with some unexpected opportunities to develop her professional skills.

During the two years she spent in Honiara as a financial advisor for the provincial government of Guadalcanal she helped buy a ship from Korea, wrote speeches for the Premier, and worked in a flood disaster response team.

“You certainly don’t go backwards in your career,” says Debbie of her volunteering experience. “It gives you the opportunity to get involved in a lot more things than you might at home.”

The skills Debbie developed during her assignment helped her find paid work in Honiara – first with United Nations Development Programme and then working as a financial adviser for the Honiara City Council with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum.

Left: Tim Park (second from left) with Elias Y Mollel, and two supervisors from the Engorika Conservation Project in Tanzania. Top right: Debbie Bax relaxes with friends in the Solomon Islands. Bottom right: Anna Reid (left) celebrates Freedom Day with Restless Development in East London, South Africa.

She says the time she spent in the Solomons as a VSA volunteer was excellent preparation for her subsequent jobs there.

“Being a volunteer gives you a really different view of a place. You can’t afford to live the expat life, which means you do more things with local people. If you come as a consultant you don’t always get such a good feel for the place and the people.”

It also helped her take her accountancy career in a new direction.

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“I’m keen to keep working in the not-for-profit or government sector, and I’d like to do more development work in the future,” she says. “Doing a VSA assignment has definitely changed the direction of my career and opened up many more opportunities.”

Debbie is one of many former volunteers who have found that going on a VSA assignment is not only hugely rewarding personally, but is also a good career move. In 2004 former VSA selector Sheena Hudson wrote a PhD thesis based on the results of in-depth interviews with 48 volunteers who went on assignment in 2002 and 2003.

Almost all of them told her that the experience had influenced their career “more than somewhat”. About half said it had provided them with the opportunity to learn new technical skills, and a similar number said it had allowed them to develop personal skills such as self-confidence, patience and adaptability.

Above: Jill Best and a local library assistant sort through books donated to the university of the South Pacific in Suva in 1969. Some books were more useful than others.

Those findings are echoed in Valuing Volunteering, a 2006 study of 100 returned VSO volunteers and 99 managers carried out by the Chartered Management Institute in Britain. It found that majority of returned VSO volunteers rated the skills they developed during their assignments very highly. These included skills in communication, problem solving, change-management, and mentoring.

One senior manager who had employed many returned volunteers described the skills they learned overseas as invaluable: “It pushes individuals outside their normal comfort zone and the experiences they get from that can apply to their day job; they may also view the way they do things slightly differently in the future.”

That has certainly been the case for returned VSA volunteer Tim Park, who spent just over a year as a community environmental adviser with the Osotwa Mt Meru Community-Based Conservation Organisation in Tanzania in 2005–2006. He says the time he spent in Africa gave him a completely different perspective.

“In Tanzania it’s much harder to work on conservation and biodiversity because people have more urgent things to worry about, like finding work and food for their children. It made me realise that here in New Zealand we have a lot of easy wins, and we should appreciate them and just take them.”

Tim, who now works as biodiversity restoration advisor for the Greater Wellington Regional Council, says his experience as a volunteer also helped him become a more patient person.

“The attitude to time is completely different in Tanzania; things happen in different ways. It made me appreciate that you don’t have to get things done immediately, that it’s alright if they take a bit longer.”

Like Debbie Bax, he got a chance to do things on his assignment that he’d never done in New Zealand.

“One of the first things I did when I got there was to work with them to do a stock-take and prepare a report on what the organisation had achieved to date. I’d never done anything like that before and it was a real asset for them.”

He also got the opportunity to get up close and personal with the extraordinary African landscape.

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Africa pushed Anna Reid’s boundaries too; it also helped set her on an unexpected career path. Anna went to South Africa as a VSA UniVol in 2010, after graduating in law and development studies from Victoria University.

She was on assignment with Restless Development in East London. She helped run an HIV health education programme with local secondary schools, using dance and music to get the message across.

2010 was a year of firsts for Anna – she danced properly for the first time, and she lived alone for the first time. She also worked with large groups of slightly unruly teenagers for the first time.

“That was hugely daunting, especially at the start.”

She quickly learned what worked well in the classroom – and what didn’t.

“I think that was probably one of the best things I learned from my assignment. I now feel quite confident about going and talking to any group of people.”

The experience also gave her the confidence to apply for a job at MFAT, rather than pursue a career in law as she had originally planned. She has been working as a policy officer in MFAT’s special relations unit since December last year. The unit is responsible for running New Zealand’s development programmes in Niue and Tokelau.

“I don’t think I would have got the job at MFAT if I hadn’t been a UniVol – my academic marks just weren’t good enough,” she says. “It helped MFAT see that I was adaptable and able to live overseas. It also helped that I had development experience.”

Spending a year as a VSA volunteer in Fiji in 1969 helped set Tauranga City Libraries Manager Jill Best on her career path too. She worked as a library assistant at the then newly established University of the South Pacific in Suva; during that time she began library training by correspondence.

Several decades later Jill’s VSA experience once again influenced her life. In 2006 she volunteered through Local Government New Zealand to write a strategic plan to improve public libraries in Fiji. She wrote the plan with another librarian, Philip Calvert, who had worked as a volunteer for VSO in Fiji – “We were the obvious people to do it.”

Jill was dismayed at how basic the libraries in Fiji were, and she decided to offer some practical help. In 2007 she set up a project to gather donations of books and computers for Fiji’s public libraries. So far, she has been responsible for shipping more than 30,000 books and 75 second-hand computers. Another 24,000 new children’s books donated by booksellers Wheeler Books will be shipped next month.

Jill is now involved with a similar project in the Solomon Islands; she has also started helping the Nadi library computerise its systems.

She found her experience as a VSA volunteer essential for the projects – particularly when it came to specifying what kinds of books she was looking for.

“When I was on assignment in Fiji we got sent 59 tea chests full of second-hand university textbooks that we couldn’t use. I was very conscious about not wasting money on shipping unusable books for this project, so I put together a list of criteria for accepting donations. As a result we have been able to use 95 per cent of the books we’ve been given.”

Shipshape in Kiribati

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:40:29 +1300

Wearing naval uniforms to work is just one of the unique experiences Val and Birnie Duthie have had since they started VSA assignments in Kiribati in May.

When we first arrived in Kiribati we weren’t sure what to expect. People we talked to who had lived there were so positive, particularly about the friendly, welcoming people and the strong cultural values. But the news media painted a different picture of poverty, “third world” diseases and poor infrastructure. What had we let ourselves in for?

Flying in from Fiji our first glimpse was of a long, fertile-looking, very narrow strip of low-lying land snaking its way into the horizon, set against a backdrop of deep azure ocean. It looked magical.

Left: Kiribati sits against a backdrop of deep azure ocean. Centre: Birnie and Val Duthie (left) on parade at the Marine Training Centre in Tarawa. Right: Trainees at the Marine Training Centre stand to attention on the parade ground.

On the ground, the reality reflected both the positives and negatives we had anticipated. Kiribati is very different from other Pacific Islands we are familiar with. Neither McDonald’s nor KFC have reached here yet and tourist chain hotels don’t seem to be on the horizon. As the Kiribati Tourist brochure says, “Kiribati is for travelers, not tourists!”

We are working as ESOL trainers at the Marine Training Centre (MTC) in Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati. The MTC trains Kiribati seafarers hoping to get work in the international shipping industry. Our job is to help integrate a new English language curriculum at MTC; our trainees come to Tarawa from Kiribati’s 32 atolls.

For the first time in 40 years of educational experience we have to wear a uniform – beige for work and white (with epaulettes) for formal dress. Rather than using names, we address the cadets by their number – “Please stand up, 9135!”

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This is consistent with the naval regime at MTC. We check in at the gangway (entrance) each day via fingerprint recognition, and stand at attention at two full parades per day where the trainees (cadets) have uniform, hair, and nail inspections, and are given their orders. The campus is immaculate and the trainees are positive, responsive and respectful – as would be expected aboard a contemporary merchant ship.

Shortly after we arrived we had the opportunity to visit one of the nearby atolls, Maiana. The occasion was a first birthday party – a significant event in a country with the highest infant mortality rate in the Pacific. We had our first hint that this was no ordinary, New Zealand-style child’s birthday party when we boarded the plane along with several large, uncovered, lavishly-iced birthday cakes, which the pilot held while the passengers fastened their seatbelts.

Once we had landed on Maiana we continued our journey on the back of a truck – along with our precious loads.

When we arrived at the village we were surrounded by groups of people gutting and roasting eels, cutting up pumpkin, roasting pigs and decorating the baby boy and his mother in elaborate traditional costumes. Eventually (a word that is very important in Kiribati timekeeping) everything was ready and we moved across into the huge mwaneaba, or meeting house, for the party itself.

We joined about 300 people sitting respectfully inside the 40-metre long building, with a large empty floorspace in the centre. Eventually (again) the guests of honour (the mother and baby) arrived and sat on a ‘throne’ on one side of the centre. Local music started to play and a group of young people in traditional dress began to dance, carrying one of the birthday cakes. Their arms and heads moved in unison as they slowly danced their way around the central space, finally presenting the cake to the birthday boy. More dances followed, as well as speeches, tonnes of delicious food, impromptu dances by the imatangs (foreigners) and finally the presentation of specially woven mats to the foreign guests.

We felt so privileged to attend this ceremony and to see I-Kiribati culture in action – not as tourists but as courteously received guests. This insight into village life has helped us understand a little better who our trainees are and where they come from.

* VSA has resumed its programme in Kiribati as part of its recent decision to focus its work in the wider Pacific.

Making the turtles count

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:33:19 +1300

The village of Kia, a 24-hour boat ride from Honiara, is an idyllic base for helping to save the critically endangered Hawksbill turtle.

Longtime accountant and outdoor enthusiast Gary King reckons he’s found the perfect VSA assignment.

Gary is working as a management adviser with the Arnavon Community Marine Conservation Area (ACMCA) management committee. The ACMCA is the Solomon Islands first community-managed marine conservation area. It was set up in 1995 to protect the nesting beaches of the critically endangered Hawksbill turtle on three small, uninhabited islands known as the Arnavons.

Gary King, right, and conservation officers from ACMCA record data about the endangered Hawksbill turtle.

The assignment means Gary gets to live in an idyllic setting, in a house built on stilts over the water in the village of Kia.

Gary, whose career includes five years managing the Hawke’s Bay branch of conservation organisation Fish and Game, also goes fishing and diving regularly – seafood is an important part of the local diet – and he travels by motorised boat and a local-style canoe.

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The ACMCA is a partnership between three Solomon Islands communities, the Solomon Islands Government, the Isabel and Choiseul provincial governments and the American conservation organisation, The Nature Conservancy. It has become something of a conservation success story since it was first set up. The number of Hawksbill turtles nesting on the Arnavon Islands has increased by almost 400 per cent, and the population of coral reef fish and marine invertebrates has also increased markedly.

As an experienced accountant, Gary is well-placed to carry out his assignment, which involves helping local members of the ACMCA develop the skills they need to manage the project by themselves.

A Hawksbill turtle glides past.

“In the past The Nature Conservancy has done all the financial management; now they want local members of the committee to take over responsibility for it. It’s a big challenge, as they have very little experience of doing this kind of thing.”

Gary has worked with his local colleagues to develop an annual workplan for the project. They have also developed a budget and an accounting system, and are now starting to develop a strategic plan.

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Their next goal is to find more funding for the project, which is currently funded by the income from an endowment fund. As for Gary, the longer he lives in Kia the harder he finds it to imagine leaving.

“I love the people – they are hugely the best thing about the Solomons – and the environment. The 29-degree sea water is pretty awesome, and I like doing things in boats. It’s just wonderful – most people don’t get the opportunity to do this.”

Paradise rediscovered

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:10:48 +1300

VSA’s programme in the Solomon Islands is one of its most diverse, both in terms of the types of assignments available and their geographic spread. As Adele Broadbent discovers, the experiences you can have there are just as diverse.

When he’s at home in Honiara Laurie Williams can be found sweating over a hot computer (in this case no exaggeration) in shorts, a singlet and bare feet. During the working day at the city’s main state high school, King George VI, a shirt replaces the singlet and pressed trousers take the place of shorts – though keeping the creases in them is near impossible in the humidity.

This is the reality of life in Honiara – temperatures of 34 degrees plus, and 100 per cent humidity. Nobody moves fast and few dress up. There’s not a lot of point when even strolling down to the local shop leaves you drenched in sweat.

Top left: Village women with baskets. Bottom left: Local-style canoes. Centre: Abundant produce on display at the market in Honiara. Top right: A shop front in Honiara. Bottom right: Tropical fish for sale at the market.

Laurie, who is on assignment in Honiara as a school leader mentor, has already been ‘out in the provinces’ on a short-term mentoring stint on the island of Makira. His accommodation in Honiara is more westernised than it was in Makira, but not necessarily any cooler. Leaf houses, in which at least 80 percent of the Solomon Islandspopulation live, are designed to breathe in the stifling heat. They’re also easier to maintain than the ‘permanent’ accommodation preferred by westerners.

I was privileged to spend time with Laurie in Honiara in July as he was waiting for his accommodation to be sorted. We were housemates at St Agnes Mothers’ Union, an immaculate Anglican guesthouse just a gentle (but sweaty) slog up the hill from the city centre – and from the Lime Lounge, Honiara’s best latte stop. My excuse for going there was access to the internet, but the air conditioning and well-made coffees were a definite drawcard.

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Laurie had recently arrived from Makira – along with his VSA-recommended rattrap, which we used in a hilarious and fruitless attempt to get rid of a nightly visitor. Rats, though not numerous, are an unfortunate side effect of Honiara’s infrequent rubbish collection. Locals do their best to deal with the problem by burning the piles of rubbish that build up – plastics and all – but without much success.

Honiara is the gateway to this archipelago of 992 islands, which boasts some of the best diving, snorkelling and surfing in the world. The city was built in the 1940s and is now showing the inevitable signs of rapid growth and a lack of proper infrastructure. Power outages are an almost daily occurrence and congestion on the two main roads sometimes brings traffic to crawl.

Outside the capital most people live in villages made up of wantok – extended families. Honiara has hamlets of these, but it also has a disconnected and sometimes dislocated population of young people. At night, well-oiled patrons spill out of the Solbrew bars, and while I never felt unsafe I was careful about where I walked, and I only went out at night with other people – just as I would in many other cities.

Honiara may be run down but, as Laurie points out, it grows on you.

“You begin to see the smiles and the colour as opposed to the hungry dogs and the rubbish,” he says. “You hear waves of the most beautiful singing from the numerous churches rather than the rumble of broken car exhausts. And you wake up to a clear blue sky, a flat calm sea, and the wafting scent of the frangipani – what a joy.”

For westerners, flying into Henderson Airport, east of the capital, means flying into a piece of our history. The airstrip was built by the Japanese and taken by the Americans during World War II, and the Guadalcanal region was the scene of three years of bitter fighting. The sites of sunken ships and downed planes are now popular with Japanese and American tour parties.

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But it is the people that make the Solomon Islands so unique. You only have to travel a few kilometres out of Honiara to meet villagers and see their traditional leaf houses – many surrounded by beautiful gardens. Putting a little more distance between you and the capital means a more intense and intimate experience. People are curious and kind everywhere, but the further out you go the more you understand that in the Solomon Islands traditions vary from island to island, wantok to wantok, religion to religion.

If you want a relatively touristy experience, you can head to what the guidebooks call the Solomon Islands’ tourist mecca – Western Province. The towns of Munda and Gizo are said to be among the most beautiful in the Pacific. The province is also home to the famous Morovo and Vonavona Lagoons, and a growing number of excellent eco-tourism lodges in protected sites.

But it really doesn’t matter where you go – you are guaranteed a priceless experience in just about any island of this stunning part of our Pacific world.

* Adele Broadbent is VSA’s former communications coordinator. She spent six weeks in the Solomon Islands earlier this year doing field research for a Masters in Development.

Why the West Rules - For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:15:33 +1300

Ian Morris systematically reviews the last 15,000 years of human history, explains the rises and falls of the development of the ‘West’ and the ‘East’, and speculates about the future through “burrowing into the detail’ and providing insightful, and often humorous observations.

By Ian Morris

Published by Profile Books, 2011

The United Nations has been tracking the progress of human development since 1990. The annual Human Development Reports assess a range of ‘indicators’ of human development which comprise the Human Development Index (HDI). Countries can then be ranked and compared.

It has only been in the last 20 years that reliable data has been available to track human progress through the HDI and similar measures. Twenty years is a tiny blip on the lengthy continuum of human history. How can we measure human development over the last 15,000 years?

This is one of the questions Ian Morris addresses in Why the West Rules – For Now.

Energy capture, urbanisation, information processing, and the capacity to make war were the four traits that Morris settled on to establish a means of measuring social development, defined as “...a community’s ability to get things done.” (For the details of his study read the book or check out Ian Morris' website)

Morris systematically reviews the last 15,000 years of human history, explains the rises and falls of the development of the ‘West’ and the ‘East’, and speculates about the future through “burrowing into the detail’ and providing insightful, and often humorous observations. My favourite is the Morris Theorem that states: “Change is caused by lazy, greedy, frightened people looking for easier, more profitable, and safer ways of doing things. History tells us when the pressure is on, change takes off.”

Morris’ book is worth reading.

* Reviewed by Peter Swain, VSA International Programme Manager

Art on display

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:11:10 +1300

Eight paintings by detainees at Vanuatu’s Stade Correctional Centre have been sold in the last few months, and more paintings are now on display at the Correctional Services office in Port Vila in a bid to increase sales.

The painters are all members of “Mr Keith’s” art class, run by VSA volunteer Keith Hambrook who is working as an art adviser with Vanuatu’s Department of Corrections.

Money raised from selling the paintings will be used to buy materials for the art programme, which operates at both the men’s and women’s low-risk correctional centres.

The paintings are painted using housepaint on plywood, then varnished and framed. None of the artists have any formal training but with plenty of encouragement and enough materials they produce impressive results.

“They choose the subject matter and I’m amazed at the technical competence that they achieve using house paint and $2 shop paintbrushes,” says Keith.

Painted wooden fish made by detainees at the local women’s prison are also on display at the administration office, as well as carvings produced by men at Stade.

“It looks quite astonishing.”

Keith is now producing a 2012 calendar featuring the paintings.

In the news: October 2011

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:51:39 +1300

A look at VSA stories that made it into the New Zealand media between April – October 2011.

Returned volunteer Nicky Brown tells the Ashburton Guardian about her assignment in Cambodia and her new job at a local youth health centre. Download PDF (1 page | 178 KB)

Volunteer Bill Kingan talks about his recent short-term assignment in Samoa.

Volunteer Renee Yap writes about working as Legal Adviser in the Solomon Islands in NZ Lawyer.

Kaikoura High School deputy head boy Riley Priddle was one of hundreds of school students who took part in VSA Project Friendship 2011.

Returned volunteer Don Miller tells the Marlborough Express about the soil erosion work he did while on assignment in Vanuatu.

Volunteer Renee Yap tells the Sunday Star Times about life in Honiara. Download PDF (2 pages | 207 KB)

VSA’s social media expert Nick Latty writes about the year he spent in Tanzania as a UniVol for Graduate JetGuide Download PDF (2 pages | 329 KB)

Barry Binding tells the Kapiti Observer about his latest VSA assignment helping to build a new library – or stori haus – in Bougainville. Download PDF (2 pages | 252 KB)

Returned volunteer Tim Lovell talks to Fire Rescue magazine about the work he did in his spare time with the Choma Fire Brigade in Tanzania (see p10 & 11).

Bougainville Country programme manager Murray Benbow writes about life in Bougainville for the Sunday Star Times. Download PDF (2 pages | 280 KB)

Choices

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:11:31 +1300

In some ways, life in Vanuatu can be described as pretty easy. You aren’t burdened by choices and decisions all the time as these are often made for you.

The pair of shoes you wear depends only on whether you will be working in the garden or walking about town. Your evening meal will be decided by what’s ripe in the garden and your weekend plans are decided by which church you go to.

Unfortunately though, whether you go to school or not past primary is a decision made by someone else. At NCYC, the majority of young people we register finish school before or during high school because their parents can’t afford the school fees to continue sending them.

NCYC Youth preparing for a Hip Hop Competition arranged at the centre.

NCYC gives young people no longer in school a choice and a say on what they want to do. It gives people who are unemployed with nothing to do a place to hang out and gives Mamas the opportunity to learn new skills. The registration fee is not much more than $1NZ for a full year and people can choose to join any classes they want to. There are also workshops and places to ask for help and advice. It is a place that helps people take control of their life and future.

I have been so lucky to be part of such a great workplace this year. I have really enjoyed working alongside all the people that make it such a success: Charlie, the Peer Educators, the tutors, our nurses and management. By taking part in Project Friendship you allow volunteers such as Anna and myself to add our skills to NCYC, so you too contribute to its success.

NCYC Staff Diana, Lesley, Rossie and Marie Michelle celebrate the end of a volleyball tournament.

Thanks to all of you from everyone at NCYC and hope to see you taking part again next year!

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Former VSA volunteer helping drought-hit Tokelau

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:30:34 +1300

Former VSA UniVol Anna Reid has been involved in efforts to deliver fresh drinking water to drought-hit Tokelau.

Anna, who went on a UniVol assignment to South Africa in 2010, now works as a policy officer in MFAT’s special relations unit. The unit runs New Zealand’s development programmes in Niue and Tokelau.

Anna, picutred here, while on her UniVol assignment in South Africa with students from Tsolo community

Anna is part of a group of New Zealand government officials who sailed from Pago Pago in American Samoa to Tokelau on the United States Coastguard cutter, the Walnut. The Walnut has its own desalination unit, and it arrived at the atoll of Nukunono on Monday with 136,000 litres of fresh water.

The water was transferred into empty containers which were delivered to the local villages by truck.

Nukunonu’s faipule, Pio Tuia, told Radio New Zealand International that everyone is being issued a minimum of 10 litres of water a day. The atoll hopes to receive desalination units being sent from New Zealand soon.

Postcard palms, Tokelau

Tokelau’s two other atolls are also receiving water from the US Coastguard cutter.

The water shortages are the result of a drought blamed on a La Nina weather pattern. Tokelau and Tuvalu have both declared states of emergency due to severe shortages.

VSA volunteers have been working in Tokelau for over a decade focusing on education. To find out more about our education work in Tokelau, read our case study, Rethinking Tokelau education: Tokelau and the role of VSA volunteers.

Volunteer profiles

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:11:19 +1300

Find out more about the work of our volunteers and how their assignments are going through our volunteer profiles.

Bougainville

Josh Brooks, GIS/Survey Adviser, Autonomous Government of Bougainville.

Victoria Degerman, School Counsellor, Hutjena Secondary School

Andrea Dekrout, Research and Training Adviser, Autonomous Government of Bougainville

Susan Hinkley, Legal Adviser, Nazerath Rehabilitation Centre

Norah Riddick, Physiotherapist, Callan Services

Kiribati

Val and Birnie Duthie, English as a Second Language Trainer, Marine Training Centre

Vanuatu

Dianne Hambrook, Graphic Design Adviser, Wan Smolbag

Karen Henry, Tourism Business Adviser, Department of Tourism

Don Miller, Agricultural Adviser, Farm Support Association

Anna Ravendran, UniVol Youth Worker, Wan Smolbag

Papua New Guinea

Janna Candy, Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser, Kairak Vudal Resource and Training Centre

Michelle Hitchcock, UniVol Project Officer, KVRTC

Susan Kelly, Management and Administration Adviser, Catholic Archdiocese of Rabaul

Ant Rewcastle, Eco-Forestry Adviser, Toimtop Bio-Cultural Conservation

Mike Stewart, Teacher Trainer, Vunapope International Primary School

Solomon Islands

Celia Burton, Training Adviser, Kolombangara Forest Products Limited

Stephen Carter, Education Authority Adviser, Makira Ulawa Provincial Education

Adele Cubitt, Legal Adviser (Research), Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Simon James, Road Works Adviser, Ministry of Infrastructure and Development

Gary King, Management Adviser, ACMCA, SCA and Nature Conservancy

Bryce McGowan, Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Adviser, World Vision

Laurie Williams, Principal Adviser, King George VI High School

Renee Yap, Legal Adviser, Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening

Samoa

Jacky Fuller, Business Adviser, SBEC

Timor-Leste

Andrew Smith, Database Development Trainer, BELUN

Tanya Wilkinson, Marketing Adviser, Hamahon Feto Timor

Live Below the Line raises $14,000 for VSA

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:23:16 +1300

VSA staff and supporters raised $14,000 to support VSA’s education work in the Pacific during the inaugural Live Below the Line campaign held in August.

VSA is one of six charities that took part in Live Below the Line, a new fundraising initiative to help raise awareness about the challenges of living below the poverty line. Participants have to feed themselves on just $2.25 a day for five days.

VSA’s supporters included recently selected UniVol Madeleine Diver, who raised an amazing $2,115.00 for VSA, making her one of the top three individual fundraisers.

Madeleine, who is studying development studies and international relations at Victoria University, first became involved with VSA when she helped run Project Friendship at Napier Girls High School in 2008. She spent last summer working as a volunteer teacher in Indonesia.

Madeleine with one of her food creations

“That was an amazing experience. Doing Live Below the Line to raise money for VSA was a no-brainer for me – I wanted to help others do volunteer work, just like I have.”

The participants lived on oats, rice and pulses, supplemented by small quantities of vegetables, the occasional banana and – for the coffee addicts – several tablespoons of the cheapest coffee they could find.

VSA recruitment coordinator Carolyn Mark’s chickpea and potato curry got the thumbs up for tastiness. Graphic designer Alana McCrossin’s soda bread was quite a hit too.

But the prize for the most ingenious use of funds goes to VSA communications coordinator Lesley Smeardon, who had $45 to feed her family of four. She even managed to make a batch of oat and raisin biscuits, using margarine, two eggs she bought from a neighbour who keeps chickens, and raisins she found on special at the supermarket.

“I had to have something to put in my children’s lunchboxes – otherwise they would have mutinied.”

VSA will be taking part in Live Below the Line in 2012, and we plan to make it even more successful than this year.

New one year teaching assignments at VSA

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:07:11 +1300

Check out our one year teaching assignments in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Just one year out of your NZ teaching job for a lifetime of experience gained...

Papua New Guinea

English Teacher (1167)

Papua New Guinea Education Long Term (1 or 2 years)

Assist English teachers in secondary schools in East New Britain province. This assignment is one of four, under the Provincial Education Division of government, Secondary Inspectors unit, designed to assist local teachers and...
View full listing

Maths Teacher/Adviser (1634)

Papua New Guinea Education Long Term (1 or 2 years)

Improve secondary schools' ability to teach maths in East New Britain. The Secondary Schools Inspectorate Department in Kokopo is under the Provincial Office of Education. It provides monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of...
View full listing

Closing 25 Oct 2011

Bougainville

Maths Teacher (1613)

Bougainville Education Long Term (1 or 2 years)

Improve the teaching of mathematics at Asitavi High School in Bougainville. Asitavi High School first opened in 1960 as St. Mary's, Asitavi - a Catholic all-girls boarding school. It was one of the...
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Secondary Principal Adviser (3008)

Bougainville Education Long Term (1 or 2 years)

Provide training and mentoring for secondary school principals. Hutjena Secondary School (HSS) was established in the 1950s on Buka Island. It was closed in the early days of the crisis and reopened again in...
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Secondary Teacher Trainers (1908)

Bougainville Education Long Term (1 or 2 years)

Assist in the implementation and development of a new school curriculum. PNG Education Department implemented a new curriculum in 2007. This is an outcomes-based curriculum as used in New Zealand. This has been a...
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Solomon Islands

School Leader Mentors (1926)

Solomon Islands Education Long Term (1 or 2 years)

Work with school leaders in rural provinces to improve education standards. The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development (MEHRD) is mandated to oversee, lead and develop educational services in the Solomon Islands. MEHRD...
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October's new volunteers heading out on assignment

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:20:18 +1300

Featuring our new volunteers from this month.

MELANESIA

Bougainville

PRU WELLINGTON is about to leave her home in Paraparaumu to work as a Management Adviser with the Division of Community Development.

BILL SHIELDS is no stranger to volunteering having just returned from a VSA assignment in Cambodia working with Svay Rieng University. This time it is to Bougainville he goes to work as a Management Adviser (Media and Communications) with the Division of Media and Communication. In between assignments Bill kept himself busy as a volunteer with the Wellington Somali Council. Bill has really enjoyed his time there finding it really rewarding to learn about another culture and the history of the region.

Kapiti builder, BARRY BINDING has packed his tools and headed for Bougainville where he is on a six week short term assignment developing a project management plan for constructing the Bougainville Library. The library is the inspiration of Wellington writer Lloyd Jones, whose novel Mister Pip is set in Bougainville.

Once the project management plan has been developed and approved, Barry will return to Bougainville as a VSA volunteer in February 2012 to spend six months supervising the building process. Barry was previously a volunteer with Arawa carpentry, helping to train up would-be carpenters.

Papua New Guinea

Wellington doctors IAN and JANET MILNE will be heading out to PNG later in November to work as doctors at St Mary’s Hospital in East New Britain on a six months assignment. The many tasks they will be undertaking will include general practice medicine based both at hospital clinics and in local villages. They will also be doing general medical call in the hospital and contributing to the nurse training programmes at the School of Nursing.

Solomon Islands

DAVID WISEMAN has departed to the Solomon Islands where he is working as a Road Works Adviser on long term assignment with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development. He is based in Honiara and will be working closely with fellow VSA volunteer, Simon James.

Vanuatu

Christchurch based CHRIS SMART is off to work as a Business Adviser later in October for the Department of Cooperatives and Ni-Vanuatu Business Services in Luganville, Santo. He will be providing business training to help facilitate strong growth in Ni-Vanuatu business activities in the region. Chris has a lot of international work experience having worked for DHL in a number of countries including Kuwait, Bahrain, Ghana and Nigeria. He is looking forward to working in a new country with a diverse culture again.

MARY O’REILLY will soon be departing to Luganville where she is to take up a VSA assignment working as a Waste Management Adviser with Sanma Provincial Council & Luganville Municipal Council, Santo. Among her roles she will be looking at helping to develop a solid waste management plan for the province and supporting the public in waste management activities.

Auckland based JANE RUTLEDGE is leaving to work on a new project as a Marketing Adviser with World Vision. She is our first World Vision/VSA volunteer following the recent signing of a partnership between VSA and World Vision. Jane was previously on a two year assignment with VSA in South Africa working for NGO CIVICUS.

October 2011 featured photo

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:19:55 +1300

Pollinating vanilla, Talitu village, Timor-Leste – by Tanya Wilkinson

VSA volunteer Tanya Wilkinson took this photo while visitng a group of HAFOTI members in the village of Talitu, about 30 minutes from the capital, Dili. Tanya’s partner organisation, Hamahon Feto Timor (HAFOTI), helps train rural Timorese women to make and sell products to earn additional money for their families. Some of the products they make are banana and cassava chips, virgin coconut oil, tamarind sweets, and traditional handcrafts (tais and fibre weaving).

The women in Talitu produce marmalade made from pineapple and papaya that they grow. They also grow cloves, peppercorns and vanilla, and these are now selling in the HAFOTI shop as well as sold to larger buyers.

Tanya says it was a wonderful day exploring the gardens around the village and many mysteries about how things grow were revealed. "From the road you would never have known that the various small ridges and valleys were havens for so many plants that are quite exotic to us. I learnt that day that pineapples grow on the ground and peppercorns grow on vines that wind their way up tree trunks and cloves grow on large trees."

Of the photo she says, "These beautiful vanilla orchids were tucked away at first glance. The women shared how labour intensive they were. Each flower has to be hand pollinated!"

September-October's returned volunteers

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:23:14 +1300

Volunteers returning from assignment September-October 2011

POLYNESIA

Sipo Anae – Tokelau

Sports Coordinator Sipo Anae didn’t think there was enough equipment to run a sports programme at Matauala School on Atafu, Tokleau. That was until he obtained the key to an old shed and discovered a treasure trove of sporting equipment; brand new sets of rugby balls, tennis racquets and balls, softball bats and balls, hula hoops and skipping ropes that had never been used.

PE lessons began in earnest after that once a week with Friday afternoons dedicated to whole school sports, the first organised sports programme run at the school.

Gradually as the programme gained momentum teachers could see the increased confidence in students, particularly in those who found school work difficult. The programme went from strength to strength culminating in a school rugby team, chosen from students in year 9 – 13, travelling on tour to Samoa.

The aim of the tour was to give students confidence, teach leadership skills and help them set goals for their future. The team played four schools in Samoa and while they didn’t win any games, they scored tries against all the teams which was a huge achievement. The team finished the tour very happy and proud to be Tokelauan.

Sipo and his wife, VSA returned volunteer Siitia, have now returned to Upper Hutt where they are living with their two sons.

ASIA

Michael Sheppard – Cambodia

Having spent almost 10 of the past 15 years living and working in provincial schools in Cambodia, Michael Sheppard was very familiar with the way provincial schools operated when he took up a second VSA assignment way back in 2009.

The Child Friendly Schools initiative of the Cambodian Government was taken to four provincial schools during his two and a half years on assignment as a Primary Education Adviser. During this time Michael spent two days each week helping to build child friendly teaching skills among staff at the schools.

He focused particularly on helping them to increase the amount of work that occurred in the classroom and reducing downtime, especially for the brighter children who often had to wait for the less able children to finish their work but had nothing to do while they waited. He reckons he was able to see every teacher at all four schools several times during his assignment.

Thanks to a generous donation from two VSA supporters Michael was also able to offer each school the opportunity to develop a priority child friendly project.

The projects turned out to be as diverse as the schools themselves and included: the refurbishment of two libraries with systems put in place to get them up and running; and the construction of a new toilet block for an urban school of almost 1,000 pupils that initially had only four toilets (one of which was broken) and no hand washing facilities.

Perhaps the most satisfying for Michael personally, a former woodwork teacher from Tapanui in West Otago, was the safe design and construction of an adventure playground using local materials. Michael shared his carpentry knowledge with the children so they could learn new skills while they helped to build their own playground.

The project was extremely successful, leading to Michael writing a manual How to build an adventure playground to help other schools do the same. Michael had worked previously at the school 14 years ago while on his first VSA assignment and loved how the children took to the task of building their own playground with enthusiasm and spirit.

Michael is now heading back to Cambodia hoping to find paid work in a similar area.

Peter and Christine Gibbons – Cambodia

Education Adviser Peter Gibbons was given a first hand demonstration on how much primary children in Cambodia were interested in books and reading during a visit to a primary school near Takeo. Within 45 seconds of the school bell ringing, 60 children had squashed themselves into a tiny room to read the new books in the school library.

As part of his work with the Takeo Provincial office of education, youth and sport, Peter focused on primary school libraries, developing an ongoing plan looking at how libraries would be stocked and how librarians would be trained. He also worked with district education officers to see how their ongoing work could be improved.

Christine accompanied Peter on his assignment and got involved with the local ‘New Futures’ orphanage. Christine’s contribution involved setting up an accounting system and helped Nou Som, a colleague from the orphanage, to take over the financial administration which she did successfully. Christine is sure that having a more stable financial system will help the orphanage to attract more funding.

Both Peter and Christine have now returned to their home in Christchurch which was fortunately undamaged in the earthquakes.

Andrew and Alofa Smith – Timor-Leste

Andrew’s work with his partner organisation, BELUN, was all about sharing his information management skills so that two crucial databases for the country (peace and conflict and national databases) could be well maintained.

Together with his Timorese counterpart, Romaldo, he also identified two other organisations who would benefit from understanding how to use and maintain their databases. This culminated in an 11 week training course with nine students to help participants do just that. Each student left with a certificate and a recognised qualification.

Andrew loved his time in Timor-Leste and of his work commented, “while working with the staff at BELUN, every now and then, I caught a raised eyebrow or a smile of understanding and knew that I had passed a vital piece of knowledge or skill on to a colleague.”

In addition, Andrew also helped set up a registration system and database for a local orphanage his wife Alofa was volunteering with. The orphanage intially had no formal records of the children who lived there.

Alofa, who initially accompanied Andrew on assignment, became heavily involved with the local orphanage in Dili which was home to over 60 children. She was able to help set up a play group at the orphanage and helped to raise operational funds.

The orphanage acquired some land and a multi purpose hall, and Alofa assisted in setting up a mentoring system that allowed the children to be taught how to run a market garden on the land. In the multi purpose hall the children were also trained in sewing and computer skills.

Andrew is now working as an Application & Data Manager at the Waikato DHB. Alofa is setting up a community outreach programme at her church and continuing to support the Timor-Leste orphanage.

MELANESIA

Viv McGowan – Papua New Guinea

Viv had a short five month but action-packed assignment as a Tertiary Education Adviser at Kokopo Business College. In that time she was able to carry out a needs analysis at the college, which involved carrying out observations and reviews of about 13 people. She felt she made good connections with the heads of departments and some of the 'resisters' and floated the concept of moving away from 'chalk and talk' teaching to facilitated learning.

She also managed to contract malaria twice (two different types of malaria) and was sick for five weeks of the five months she was away. She ended up having to go to Cairns for more treatment. But she absolutely had no regrets becoming a volunteer – “I don’t regret it for a second. If anything, I learned that I am very robust.”

Viv is back in New Zealand currently but considering working overseas.

Renee Yap – Solomon Islands

While on assignment as a Legal Adviser with the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening, Renee Yap realised how hard it was for employees to find provincial legislation. Often vital information needed to understand the legal system would be hidden in files in dusty rooms, almost impossible to locate. Renee spent a lot of her assignment pulling together provincial legislation and created, for the first time, an online database that listed all this information in one place, accessible to anyone.

Now anyone working out of the nine provinces of the Solomon Islands will be able to access the database and get the information they need about existing legislation to help seal good governance in the Solomon Islands. As Renee says “Information and knowledge sharing is a big issue in the Solomon Islands. To find a way to publish the information and so share it was something I really wanted to do while I was there.”

The information will now be updated by one of the clerical officers who is taking the work forward.

Renee was also part of a team from the ministry that went around the provinces to deliver training to newly elected members of the provincial assembly. The groups were between 10-35 in size and her legal training was always the most wanted part of the training. People were desperate for legal advice” says Renee. “It’s a very under-resourced area.”

Renee is now back working at MFAT in Wellington as a Development Officer on the Afghanistan Desk.

AFRICA

Chandni Bedhesi – Zambia

Chandni worked as a Primary/Intermediate Teacher Trainer at the Sables drop-in centre run by the Kara Counselling & Training Trust. Between 40 to 80 street children aged 6 to 16 came to the centre each day for three hours of school work after being given breakfast and then counselling and activities.

Her role was to mentor and train the other teachers. But after funding was suddenly pulled from the centre, Chandni effectively had to manage the centre. But despite these difficulties she made a lot of progress.

While there, 80 children transitioned to school. In order to make that transition those children had to learn to read. They were also fed breakfast by 8 am every morning when previously it had always been late (between 10.30-11.00). A highlight for Chandni was the library she created using books sent by Irish donors that had been stored away unopened. As she says, “It became a highlight for me sitting in the library encouraging the children to read.”

An Irish teacher has come to take over her role at the centre, so she feels it is in good hands. Chandni is now back in Auckland staying with friends and thinking about what she will do next.

Kusal Perera – Tanzania

Kusal’s role as a Marketing Development Adviser with the Tanganyika Farmers Association (TFA) focused on training senior managers in corporate governance, strategy and sales. He was helping them to develop strategies to meet their goals. The key goal was to start making a profit. Last year they were able to break even for the first time in 15 years.

The TFA has high brand recognition in Tanzania selling agricultural supplies such as fertiliser and seeds and irrigation systems. It sells anything from a $1 million order for fertiliser to a 5 cent packet of seeds.

Kusal became the sales manager and appointed a sales team of six bright young graduates.

He worked with them to help them become more efficient and develop the infrastructure they need to handle future growth.

Kusal loved being on assignment finding it to be a tremendous professional experience. “The VSA experience has changed my life, especially in terms of career development. It taught me about leadership.”

Alison Bowis – South Africa

Alison Bowis worked as a Reading and Literacy Promoter with The Institute for Training and Education for Capacity Building.

John and Sunja Collie – Tanzania

John Collie worked as a Farm Management Adviser with Leguruki/King’ori Education Centre. His wife Sunja accompanied him while on assignment.

Innes Ritchie and Ken Heraty – Tanzania

Innes Ritchie worked as a Technology Training Adviser with Agape Learning Centre. Her partner, Ken Heraty, accompanied her while on assignment.

Olivia Owen – Tanzania

Olivia Owen worked as a Computer Skills Teacher Trainer with Neru School while on VSA’s UniVol programme.

Ken Wong – Cambodia

Ken Wong worked as a Science Faculty Adviser with the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Bruce Burnett – Timor-Leste

Bruce Burnett worked as a Auto Mechanic Trainer with the Dili Institute of Technology.

Malcolm English – Solomon Islands

Malcolm English worked as a Legal Adviser with Choiseul Provincial Government.

Peter Blinkhorne – Papua New Guinea

Peter Blinkhorne worked as a Finance and Management Adviser with Mahonia Na Dari.

We’ll update future issues of Talk Talk with news on our other returned volunteers as they settle in to life wherever they are.

Check out our current volunteer vacancies

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Busy in Bougainville

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:00:31 +1300

Lindsay Riddick is accompanying his VSA volunteer wife Norah Riddick while she is on assignment in Bougainville. In the 12 months since arriving, he’s been an extra on a movie set, a general handyman, amateur photographer and judged a local culture competition. He, like other accompanying partners before him, has found that you don’t have to be a VSA volunteer to find plenty of volunteering opportunities...

Shortly after I arrived in Bougainville I was introducing myself as an accompanying partner when VSA Country Programme Manager, Murray Benbow, said “there is no such thing as an accompanying partner, only unassigned volunteers”.

In my case I have been involved in a number of small projects that are voluntary. Without these activities I would have wasted the greatest opportunity of my life to learn about and experience a new culture. In my own way I hope I have made a positive contribution to an island that has given me so much.

Tunuru Mission

Within a week of arriving in Arawa I was introduced to Tunuru Mission Station by the NZ police team in Arawa who were planning to use it as a training complex. The station had many buildings in various states of repair. Initially my role was close to a business adviser mainly offering advice on priorities, different (Kiwi) ways of doing particular tasks. At times I was actively involved, digging holes for septic tanks and many other basic building tasks. It was a special pleasure to be working beside young men who had received their training at Arawa Carpentry; one of the first VSA projects initiated after the crisis.

The Mission Station was founded by one of the first New Zealand Volunteers to Bougainville Fr Emmett McHardy in 1929. This has been an added attraction for me and I am writing a brief history of the Mission Station.

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Bougainville Library (Stori Haus)

Lloyd Jones, Wellington author of the 2007 novel Mister Pip and VSA’s International Programmes Manager, Peter Swain first raised the concept of a library and cultural centre for Arawa in 2009. The project has had highs and lows but there is now a clear path to the opening of the Bougainville Library in mid 2012.

VSA volunteer Barry Binding with a model of how the Bougainville Library will look when built.

I have been liaising between Wellington and Arawa and keeping locals involved in the whole process. I am also part of a group working on providing materials for the library of a more local nature. This includes books in local languages and artifacts and crafts at risk of being lost. Just last week, I met with a local radio station, keen to provide its historical and cultural video and audio files for booths to be set up at the library.

Local culture

I decided to accept the invitation to judge a local sing-sing competition and was pleased to find that my marks aligned well with the chief judge. While I may not have grasped all the cultural detail of the performances, a quality performance always stands out.

I am working with locals and encouraging them to revisit their traditional culture. My interest in arts and crafts, particularly carving, makes me acutely aware of the way Maori art was severely compromised for many years. I am trying to alert locals to the risks they face before more traditional knowledge is lost.

In the movies

Because I was in Arawa, I had a unique opportunity to become involved with the Movie Mr Pip. Based on the Lloyd Jones book the story is set in a village near Arawa at the time of the Bougainville crisis. The movie was filmed on location at a nearby beach village. I had a great insight into the process of making a movie initially as stand-in for actor Hugh Laurie who is playing Mr Pip and at one stage as a painting labourer.

Author Lloyd Jones on set of the Mr Pip movie

Near the end of the shooting I accompanied Lloyd to and from the location and around the set. These location visits were fitted around our various appointments associated with progressing the Bougainville library project. With him I was privileged to see the film making process from another perspective.

Photography

Bougainville abounds with photo opportunities as a beautiful and colourful (in every sense of the word) island. I volunteered to record the Bougainville Land Summit which was the highlight of fellow VSA volunteer Sera Price’ assignment. Photographing Bougainvillians in a poorly lit room conference room is a real test.

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Household manager

Before leaving New Zealand I joked with friends that my role in Bougainville was to be cleaner and to create something edible each day from things I had never seen before. Such basic aspects of living take much more time in Arawa than in New Zealand.

Many food staples are in poor supply and it is not unusual to go to five/six shops before finding what you need. Often basic foods such as sugar and flour are not available for long periods. Most shops do not have display aisles and items are hidden behind counters rather than on display. All meat in Arawa, for example, is stored in chest freezers behind counters so we need to ask what is available every time we want to but some. More often than not there is nothing available. But we do eat a more healthy diet here than back home and a belt is now essential to keep my jeans up!

I guess it just takes longer to be domestic God or Goddess here than at home.

Ten reasons to volunteer in the Solomon Islands

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:56:39 +1300

Returning VSA volunteer Sara McBride offers her 10 personal reasons to volunteer in the Solomon Islands.

The unknown

The attraction of the unknown is a powerful thing and I knew nothing about this part of the Pacific. How many people do you actually know who have been to the Solomons? My guess is that number is pretty small.

New opportunities

I needed something new in my career and I felt I had something, in turn, to give. It sounds corny but I like helping people. I really do.

The challenge

I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to come to some place that promised adventure and interesting people.

The people

Despite my adventures (and I’ve had loads), I've been pretty safe and happy here. Crime is low and people are friendly. I walk to work every day and everyone I meet wishes me good morning, even in the capital Honiara.

The work

My work is just as diverse as my adventures. In one week I’ve worked on a gender based violence report followed by a budgetary submission on early childhood education. And then I’ve found myself off visiting communities working on risk reduction and climate change projects.

The unexpected

Coming here to the Solomons has been like opening one of those crazy containers where paper snakes jump out at you and confetti flies everywhere. It’s a whole bucket full of surprises. Volunteering here has fulfilled my interesting story quota for years to come.

Moving to Solomon time

One thing I’ve been able to rely on in the Solomons: travel delays. Mostly things kinda work here but I’ve been stranded at least once. I’ve enjoyed the chaos and the gentle understanding that we really don't control anything.

The ocean

The water clarity is amazing in the Solomon Islands. As a diver, say goodbye to wetsuits and dry suits. The water here is a constant 29 degrees, even at 20 metres down. The ocean is wonderful and a great place to see dugongs, dolphins, turtles, sharks and amazing sea life.

(Photo by Joanna O'Shea)

The beach

White, black and red sandy beaches...really the Solomons has got the lot. I’ve been on many an abandoned beach on a desert island with nothing but a few coconut trees.

The mountains

I can lose myself in the cloud forests and go for a bush walk in the rainforests on Guadalcanal, Makira, Malaita, Isobel, Choiseul, Temotu and Western provinces. Truly amazing.

Sara McBride is currently near the end of a one year VSA assignment, working as an Advocacy Adviser with World Vision in the Solomon Islands.

'Tis the season

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:52:22 +1300

Self-confessed fashionista Sara McBride never particularly considered herself ‘volunteer material’. But, like many other ‘non-volunteers’ before her, the flat white drinking, communication girl from Christchurch had the time of her life volunteering for VSA in the Solomon Islands. And somewhere along the way, she fell in love with this 992 island archipelago.

When I packed for the Solomon Islands last October, my main focus was on bringing one season clothes. Everything revolved around this concept: long, loose and light clothing were stuffed into my bag.

I am a notorious clothes horse. I wear things according to style and season. But here I was told there are only really two seasons: wet and dry and it is mostly one temperature – hot. All my favourite winter, spring and autumn clothes were either gifted to the Sallies or packed into one of four storage boxes.

The stilettos, platforms, mules and kitten heels were replaced with jandals, reef walkers and sport sandals. I remember breathing a sigh and hoping my small clothing sacrifice was worth it.

The induction was correct. I got off the plane in Honiara and was met with a blast of hot air. I said a quick word of thanks to VSA for their advice on the clothes. By the time I passed through customs, my light linen shirt was sticking to my back.

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I thought I wouldn't survive the heat but after a few weeks something began to change. I noticed that I could put a sheet on my bed and sleep under it at night. I arrived during the beginning of the wet season (Nov-April), which is hotter and muggier than the dry season (May-October). The rain came down gently, cooling the streets of Honiara and left a fresh glow around the city. My hair turned into a hilarious mass of ginger curls, completely uncontrollable even with the strongest hair product.

I noticed something else. There was definitely more than just two seasons in the Solomon Islands. This revelation dawned on me when mango season began. The markets began to fill with the bean shaped fruit the size of my hand. The tangy orange fruit was like nothing I had tasted at home; fresh, tart, and slightly slimey in a delicious way. Tea breaks were replaced with mango breaks and the usual gossip, common in NZ, was exchanged with my local co-workers.

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Aubergines and mangoes

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, mango season was over. Pineapple season began. The spikey, highly aggressive looking fruits were everywhere. Fresh pineapple was like nothing I had tasted in New Zealand. Travel clearly does not do the pineapple justice.

The traditional porridge I ate at home was replaced with thick slices of golden yellow pineapple. I ate pineapples till I could eat no more. Slices of pineapple were packed away in beach picnic baskets. My volunteer friends munched on the slices while sitting on white sandy beaches, chatting about their own assignments and adventures.

Pineapple season

Following pineapple season was avocado season. The tropical fruits and veggies went like that, constantly revolving and always surprising me at the local markets. The all important organic label is assumed here. You can't ‘fruit’ any other way.

With the fruits and veggies, my wardrobe changed too. My whites and cream linens were replaced with bright colourful clothes from kalico (second hand) shops. When the dry season began, my shorts were replaced with long skirts and even a long sleeve top or two. The air held a certain crispness that comes with the feeling of winter but without my nose and toes getting cold. The dry season saw me with less frizzy hair and it was cool enough to jog in the morning around the hilly streets of my neighbourhood.

Now, as my Solomon Island season is coming to a close in November, I think about the wardrobe awaiting me in Christchurch in those four boxes. And although I look forward to being reunited with my friends and my shoes, the season of my life has been an amazing, adventurous and wonderful time.

Charlie Johnson

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:05:11 +1300

Imagine turning up to your first day of volunteering and finding out your counterpart had just resigned? This was my first day working at NCYC. Luckily though, within a few weeks Charlie Johnson was appointed Youth Centre Supervisor and I don’t think I could have gotten a better counterpart.

Charlie taking time out during Independence Day

Charlie is from Ambrym, an island South East of Santo. He comes from a family of three sisters and two brothers who he sees when he goes back to his home island for Christmas each year. Charlie came to NCYC in 2007 and became a Peer Educator, meaning he went out into communities and talked to people about issues such as sexual health and drugs. He now looks after the Youth Centre. He organizes events, ensures clubs run well and is the go-to-guy for anything Youth Centre related.

Working with Charlie is great as he always wants to learn new things and is really enthusiastic. He is also lots of fun and will always have a story up his sleeve (especially helpful when you’re sitting around waiting for a meeting to start!). Charlie often tells me kastom stories (normally myths and legends) from Ambrym. These are stories about how people communicated on different parts of the island, how the first coconuts were found or how Ambrym got its name. After each story, he’ll say, “How many kastom stories have I told you now Mattie?” and make me recall every one he’s told me so I won’t forget. I exchange his stories for tales about Maui, like how he tricked Mahuika into giving him all her fire, or sometimes just tell him things about life in New Zealand, like what a winter with snow and hail feels like!

Charlie and I playing hand games

In his spare time, Charlie is a keen gardener. Banana, limes, pawpaw and pineapple grow in abundance in the front of his house as well as taro and manioc out back. He often brings bananas and pawpaw to work, and won’t let you leave his house without a bag overflowing with limes.

As much as Charlie likes NCYC, he wants to eventually return to Ambym for good. He always says, “When you come back to Santo, you’ll look around and ask everyone ‘Where’s Charlie?’ and they’ll all say ‘He’s gone back home, to his island.’” This works for me though, it sounds like a good excuse to come back to Vanuatu in the future and visit Ambrym!

Thanks to everyone who took part in Project Friendship. It is your support that enables me to volunteer at NCYC and work with Charlie.

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Never say kumara!

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:35:04 +1300

One of the biggest challenges of working in a foreign country is the language barrier. Communication is so important. As nervous as I was, one of the first things I learnt in Tanzania was how much can be achieved with a smile and some gestures. After the first few weeks however, I started to learn more and more Swahili. Getting a hold on the language has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had here.

Learning a new language can be a serious blow to the ego thougg. Making mistakes might be the only way to learn, but it can lead to some awkward moments. I tried to share some Maori once. It turns out “kumara” can be confused with a very rude word in Swahili. My other favourite ‘learning’ moment was using the verb “to understand” – “elewa”… which sounds almost the same as “lewa”- to be drunk. Asking the members of a community meeting if they are drunk will always be a highlight. The five year olds I teach also find it hilarious when I confuse “kunywa”- to drink and “kunya”- to defecate. Toilet humour is so universal.

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Despite these embarrassing moments, learning Swahili has been a highlight of my time as a volunteer. In rural areas few people speak English, so it’s been great to finally be able to talk with so many people. Tanzanians love helping foreigners to learn their language and always give a warm reception to those who try and use Swahili.

Here in the village most people also speak their tribal language Kiraq. The kids I teach are on their way to becoming tri-lingual. They speak a lot of Kiraq at home, Swahili in the community, and are beginning to learn English at school. I’m always amazed at their ability to switch between languages! Using English in school is one of my main focuses here, as secondary school is taught entirely in English. The more English children use in their kindergarten classroom makes it more likely that they will be able to complete their education and find employment.

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Thank you for all you support over Project Friendship! It is from these fundraising efforts that I’m here in Tanzania helping these kids get a successful start to their education. Here are some final pictures of the kids at TEC Kindergarten – all of whom now know never to say kumara.

Vailet and John sing a song about handwashing

Valentina

Priska

Noela

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Change

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:51:32 +1300

In the Solomon Islands there are no women in parliament, few women in business, and most crucially for where I am, in Kia, no female chiefs. This has big implications for development in the Solomons, not only because there is a huge domestic violence problem here, but because women have different ways of understanding things. But without the ability to take leadership roles in the village, they are unable to translate this understanding into positive change.

There are no women on the management board of the conservation area where I’m working. Women in the Solomon Islands are really focused on looking after their children. So when it comes to conservation and making sure there are always fish in the sea for their children to eat, the input of women and mothers is very important. The conservation area board of management sorely lacks this input. And when I spoke to the Kia Mothers Union when they came to the conservation area, I could tell that their enthusiasm would be very much appreciated too. Seeing this opportunity, I put my head together with another VSA volunteer, the mothers union, and my partner organisation, The Nature Conservancy, to try and find a solution.

The Kia Mothers Union visitng the conservation area

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Three months later, after many meetings with all of the above people, change is finally in the air. My partner organisation, The Nature Conservancy has agreed to use their influence over the conservation area (they were the ones who set the area up) to make a place for a woman from the Kia Mothers Union on the board of management.

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While this is not a place for a woman in parliament, it is just as significant for the woman of Kia. Finally they are getting a real chance to play a leadership role in their community. This has also given them momentum and faith that they really can make positive changes despite the tremendous barriers in their way. It is a small change but it is a seed for greater change and despite taking up only a little of my time this year, it will probably be, by far the most significant impact I will make in Kia.

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The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Solar solutions and high efficiency stoves

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:36:43 +1300

Last night I was at the duka (village shop) talking to people about buying solar lights and high-efficiency wood stoves. It’s not quite pre-school related so how did this happen?

One of my friends is working for a new business called Safi Solar, which is distributing solar-powered lights to rural areas in Tanzania. Most of the kids I teach live in homes with no electricity, so depend on kerosene lamps for light. Kerosene fumes are very dangerous, particularly in small, enclosed huts. Respiratory illness is one of the biggest killers of children under five in developing countries. Often, this can be traced to environmental factors, such as kerosene. Kerosene is also very expensive for families, especially as oil prices rise.

Examples of Solar lights on sale at the duka

Solar lights are a great solution, as they require no ongoing costs and have no harmful effects. As its coffee-picking season, people in the village have more cash available at the moment. A couple of weeks ago I asked my friend to visit, and bring some sample bulbs and lamps. That’s why I was promoting solar lights at the duka. It would be great to see some of my kids parents buy them to make their homes healthier.

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Most families also cook using wood fires. Although they are much more skilled at this than I am, it is still very time-consuming, with women and children collecting and carrying huge loads of wood. In this area, it is especially difficult as locals are not permitted to cut wood in the coffee plantation, and it is illegal to collect wood within the bordering Ngorongoro conservation area. Cooking over a fire also creates a lot of smoke, which is harmful for eyes. From a bigger perspective, cutting wood for fires is one of the major contributors to environmental destruction in Tanzania.

Earlier in the year I met a business woman who is selling high-efficiency wood stoves in the nearest town. These stoves cost around $15 and use only three pieces of wood to cook an entire meal. With great insulation and a smart design, there is hardly any smoke, and the heat is equivalent to a much larger fire. I brought one to the village as a sample, to see if anyone was interested. So far many of the mamas have loved the design, and one of the mamas is trying to collect people together to share in buying and transporting the stoves from Karatu.

Me and the niece of the duka owner with one of the high-efficiency stoves

Although this isn’t directly part of my assignment, learning about village life has taught me a lot about the realities of life in rural Tanzania. Small changes can make a real difference to people’s health and workload. Volunteering gives me a unique ability to communicate with people from all sectors of Tanzanian society. So I’ve been happy to get a cup of ‘chai’ (spiced tea”) at the local duka and chat to my kids’ parents about the benefits of solar lights and high-efficiency stoves.

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The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Bougainville Library another step closer to being built

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:18:31 +1200

The Bougainville Library project is about to take another step forward when VSA volunteer Barry Binding leaves Wellington on September 20 to spend six weeks developing a project management plan for the building.

The library – or stori haus – is the inspiration of Wellington writer Lloyd Jones, whose 2007 Man Booker Prize-finalist and Commonwealth Writers' Prize-winning novel Mister Pip is set in Bougainville.

VSA volunteer, Barry Binding, with a model of the Bougainville Library

As well as developing a project management plan, Mr Binding will also organise the timber needed for the project, and will prepare the site for building.

The library is being built on the grounds of Arawa High School in Arawa, the former capital of Bougainville. It has been designed by Wellington architect Paul Kerr-Hislop and will be built by trainee carpenters from Arawa Carpentry. VSA helped set up Arawa Carpentry in 1999 as part of the reconstruction process following 10 years of civil war.

Mr Binding, a Kapiti Coast builder, returned from a two-year VSA assignment based at Arawa Carpentry in May 2010. While he was there he built a model of the library to give local people a chance to see what it will look like. He is one of several VSA volunteers who have been closely involved with the library project.

He is looking forward to returning to Bougainville to start the next stage of the process.

“It’s really exciting to finally be getting ready to build the library. It will be a great asset for the people of Bougainville, and everyone is really looking forward to seeing being able to use it.”

Once the project management plan has been developed and approved, Mr Binding will return to Bougainville as a VSA volunteer in February 2012 to spend six months supervising the building process.

Lloyd Jones, chair of the Bougainville Library Trust, says he is delighted Mr Binding is involved in the project.

“We couldn’t have got the project underway without VSA, and no-one is more qualified or suitable to the task of building the library than Barry. He spent two years living in Bougainville, and he is held in very high esteem there.”

For more information, visit the Bougainville Library Trust website or contact Ruth Nichol, VSA Communications Coordinator.

What I like best about volunteering

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 10:34:02 +1200

Workshops are easily the best part of my job volunteering here. Setting them up and participating with the youth and mamas is such a fun part of my job. Here are my top three workshops that we’ve had so far this year:

1 Basket weaving

The basket weaving workshop was almost a disaster. We set it up weeks in advance, but the day before it was due to start the mama who was to run it pulled out. It turned out that she was not allowed to teach the weaving techniques of her island of Pentecost. Luckily, our crochet teacher, Lesing, stepped in to help us out and taught us all how to make baskets from her island of Malekula.

Weaving baskets

The workshop was great as many girls and women living in town haven’t learnt skills such as weaving baskets as they no longer live on the island they come from. I heard many comments weeks from people in the workshop who were now making their own baskets instead of buying them.

2 Cooking

Our first cooking workshop was an example of the youth centre working at its best. Just two weeks before the workshop a woman called Daniella came and signed up to the youth centre. She wanted to learn guitar and crochet. I got talking to her and found out that she taught at a school in Santo and was also very passionate about cooking. It was clear that we had to run a cooking workshop.

Food from a cooking workshop

Daniella only used ingredients from the market or cheap store ingredients – meaning that anyone could make her recipes at home. Lots of the girls were interested in the workshop and we even got a few boys learning to cook too. We made island cabbage with coconut, coconut jam, egg, pumpkin and kumala salad as well as a fruit salad. Delicious!

3 CV writing

This workshop is in my top three as it was a workshop I got to run. I had been asked to run the workshop but put it off for weeks as I was worried about how it would go and whether my Bislama would hold up in front of a big group of people. Finally, I decided to go for it. It was really rewarding as I got to help people write about all the good things they had done in their life. It was also exciting (and relieving) to have gotten through two and a half solid hours speaking just Bislama!

Looking at a CV

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The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Life with luxuries

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 10:06:30 +1200

When I first came to Vanuatu I thought I’d be living a life without luxuries. I really noticed all those things I loved and missed from home, such as Cuba Street, Black Forest chocolate and Sundays spent eating gelato on the waterfront.

Me outside Unity Shell Petrol Station – the only store open on a Sunday. A world away from gelato on the waterfront

After a couple of months here I had a friend come and visit me. He asked me what I wanted from home and it didn’t take me long to write him a long list that included chocolate, clothing and magazines among other things! Something happened between then and now though – I’ve adjusted to life here and forgotten about how much I missed all those things from home. A week ago my sisters came to visit and I felt stretched to think of anything that they could bring over for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I do miss those little luxuries from home. It’s just that I realise I don’t need Black Forest chocolate after dinner and that I am ok not going to the movies every few weeks. Vanuatu has its own range of treats to offer me such as fresh fruit, beautiful beaches and the fragrance of frangipani and hibiscus flowers.

Hibiscus flowers

I’m three months from coming home now and I think I’ll find myself in the same situation again. What will I do without pineapple for dessert? How will I survive on a day where the temperature drops below 25 degrees? Hopefully it won’t take me long to realise I can survive without these things too appreciate again all the wonderful things living in New Zealand has to offer. I think a few Pohutukawa trees in bloom and some fresh raspberries will do the trick!

Port Orly beach

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The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

VSA establishes partnership with World Vision

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:51:42 +1200

VSA and World Vision have established a partnership to develop and fill volunteer assignments in the Pacific and Timor-Leste.

The new partnership formalises the relationship that has existed between the two NGOs for several years.

Under the partnership agreement, the two organisations will work together to develop volunteer assignments with World Vision projects based in the Pacific and Timor-Leste. The assignments will focus on projects that have received funding from the New Zealand Aid Programme’s Sustainable Development Fund.

The volunteers will be called World Vision/VSA volunteers.

Bougainville, where one of the assignments will be based

The first two World Vision/VSA assignments have now been advertised. One is as a marketing adviser based in Bougainville and the other as a marketing adviser based in Vanuatu. In both cases the assignments involve working with local farmers’ organisations to help farmers increase their income, and also working with local World Vision staff to increase their capacity.

VSA chief executive officer Deborah Snelson, has welcomed the partnership agreement with World Vision, saying it is an exciting example of collaboration between development agencies to improve support for New Zealand’s development initiative.

Assignments will involve working with local farmers' organisations to help farmers increase their income.

“At VSA we want to make it possible for as many New Zealanders as possible to share their skills in developing countries. We are looking forward to developing more assignments in partnership with World Vision.”

World Vision chief executive officer Chris Clarke added: "This is a significant partnership for World Vision. It provides another way for Kiwis to make a hands-on contribution by lending their expertise to our economic development programmes in the Pacific."

Healthy living

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:24:35 +1200

After nine immunisations, a chest x-ray, four doctor visits, two dental appointments, a prescription for 180 anti-malarial pills and a huge medical kit, I was convinced that walking into Africa would be like walking into a medical minefield. I had medical clearance, immunity to diseases I had never heard of, medical advisors and evacuators on call…but I was still terrified that I was about to become the latest victim on an episode of ER or Greys Anatomy.

Eighteen months later I feel a little sheepish about these fears. The worst sickness I’ve had is the flu! In practice life continues as usual here, without constant fear. Many of the common health problems are easily treatable and preventable. A larger issue in rural Tanzania is education and accessibility to these prevention methods and treatments.

Me teaching a song about handwashing

At the kindergarten we are trying to incorporate some health messages as part of our curriculum. To help with this I talked to the nearby Rift Valley Children’s Fund who provide a de-worming programme at the nearby primary school. They were happy to include the kindergarten in their programme, so in July we administered de-worming tablets at school. This will continue approximately three times per year in the future.

Worms, particularly hookworm, are very common here. People get them through food or from ground infected by faeces. Hookworm is actually believed to be the leading cause of child and maternal illness in developing countries. Long term it leads to anaemia, malnutrition and developmental issues. So by treating all school children in the area, we are helping them stay healthy so they have a better chance of success in school.

Vailet and John sing the song about handwashing

Another key health issue is access to clean and safe drinking water. This has been one of my biggest lifestyle changes – not drinking tap water! The bugs are especially likely to attack my foreign immune system. I think of it like sandflies attacking tourists in NZ. The local residents have some immunity to the common bugs, but can still get various illnesses from the water. We boil drinking water at the school to try and encourage kids to use safe drinking water and take this message to their families. Like all lifestyle changes though, good things take time.

Treating for parasites and boiling and filtering water have been combined with messages about handwashing, teeth cleaning and good toilet practices to try and make the children as healthy as possible. The exaggerated fears of disease in Tanzania have become a little more subdued when faced with these more ordinary realities. My giant first-aid kit has hardly been touched.

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The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Fish and chips Dili-style

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:47:06 +1200

Andrew Smith missed eating fish and chips on the beach when he first arrived in Dili to take up an assignment with VSA. Then he discovered the Timor-Leste equivalent.

One of the first things my wife Alofa and I did when we moved to the Kapiti Coast from Hamilton in March 2010 was to buy a whole pile of fish and chips and head to the beach.

Surrounded by the smell of the salt spray and a flock of noisy gulls, we surveyed the view, ate the fish and chips, and agreed that there was a natural harmony here between the things we could see and what we were eating. I’m not quite sure why, but even the very best fish and chips taste better when I’m at the beach. As soon as I’ve sat down on the sand and sprinkled vinegar on my parcel of food a sense of familiarity and oneness creeps across my psyche.

Dili harbour

So, when we found out that I had been accepted to go on an assignment with VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) in Timor-Leste I wondered if the fish and chips would taste as good sitting on the beach in Dili.

In order to get there we had to fly to Brisbane. During the five hours we were stuck in the terminal I had a quick pie, knowing it would be the last pie I saw in a long while. Next it was on to Darwin for the night. In keeping with the “last meal” concept I decided to have a steak. We found the Victoria Hotel, not far from where we were staying, where I ordered a 16oz steak with mushrooms, fries and a side salad.

The steak was a monster, and cooked to perfection (medium rare). The mushrooms were chunky sliced field mushrooms in a creamy brown sauce. I devoured the salad and the mushrooms disappeared quickly too. But while I tried valiantly with the steak, it was too much for me, and I had to leave a third of it on my plate.

Net mending, Dili

The next morning we flew into Dili. During our day-long orientation, I took a note of the warung (local eateries), that serve all sorts of Asian, Indonesian and even some Western food. That day we stopped at the City Café for lunch. It’s an “up-market” warung – it has air-conditioning – and while most of the vegetables were new to me they tasted great. The fried and/or steamed tofu was excellent, too.

During the next few weeks we tried out other warungs. Most offer a smorgasbord of dishes. You point out your selections to the young girl behind the counter, who serves them and calculates the price – usually between US$2 and US$3 for a healthy and substantial meal.

Local specialities include nasi goreng and various soups. We also found excellent Thai restaurants and feasted on magnificent pizza at the Dili Club (which isn’t a club at all, but a restaurant and bar owned by a Kiwi).

But one thing we couldn’t find was a standard fish and chip shop. There was plenty of fish, but it all seemed to be roasted or served barbequed. I started to miss the familiar taste.

Eventually we found a Singaporean supermarket that sold frozen New Zealand “Dory Fish” – whatever that is – and organised a Friday night gathering of Kiwis for “fush and chups”. We battered the fish in tempura batter and cut up potatoes, then deep fried them in two large woks, one full of crispy fish, the other with crunchy chips. Eaten with salt, vinegar, lemon juice and tomato sauce, they were proclaimed a great success.

But delicious as the meal was, it didn’t feel quite right. I realised that the problem was not how the food was cooked, but where I had eaten it; it just wasn’t the same without the beach. I wondered whether such a thing would even be possible given the security issues in Dili, where there is no street lighting and little in the way of police patrols. How advisable would it be to be to sit on a beach eating food wrapped in paper in a country full of hungry people?

Cooking fish to sell

My questions were answered a week later, when a friend invited us to “fish on a stick” after work on Friday. We headed down to the beach where we found a collection of tents surrounded by a thick cloud of smoke coming from the many fires surrounding them. Cooking over the embers were skewers of sardines and mackerel, lined up neatly on their sticks like regiments of fish soldiers. There was also chicken satay, barbecue chicken, sausage and even squid on a stick.

It turned out that the stalls are run by local families who set them up in the early evening to provide meals for passersby, either as takeaways or to eat sitting on the beach.

On the beach

We bought several sticks of fish, then grabbed a small woven basket of saffron rice, some home-made chilli sauce and a cold drink, and found a spot under one of the tents to enjoy our meal.

The fish tasted smoky and magnificent. There weren’t any seagulls but there were dogs mooching around for scraps, and we could smell the sea. For the first time since arriving in Dili I felt that familiar harmony. It wasn’t fish and chips on the Kapiti Coast, but it was the Timor-Leste equivalent.

Andrew Smith was on assignment with VSA as a Database Development Coach with an NGO called Belun, which was set up to reduce tensions and prevent conflict in Timor-Leste. Visit Andrew's profile page here.

Toktok

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:31:36 +1200

“Parlez-vous francais?” A man yelled out from the side of the road as we drove up to Port Orly, a French speaking town in Santo. “No” I said, “Be mi toktok Bislama” No, but I speak Bislama.

At this point, the man asked me if he could jump on the back of our truck as he needed a ride to Port Orly and we chatted away for the rest of the trip.

Later that week, I walked into work to see Charlie laughing away with someone. I tried to join in on the joke when I suddenly realised they were speaking the language from Charlie’s village in Ambrym, an Island south-east of Santo.

A flag at Francophonie day – a celebration of the French culture and language

It amazes me. In general, Ni-Vanuatu speak the language from their village, this being the language of their family, culture and history. Then they speak Bislama, a language that every Ni-Vanuatu can use and is perfect for communication between Ni-Vanuatu from different islands. Finally, they speak either French or English (and sometimes both!) depending on what school they went. They can comfortably weave between three languages on a daily basis!

A sign made outside a house in Bislama selling ice-cream

I really enjoy the presence of many languages in Vanuatu and have fun speaking Bislama and English while trying to work out what is happening when people speak their own languages. While challenging, it is really cool when you get a word right or understand what someone is saying for the first time.

Give it a try at home. If you aren’t familiar with other languages, try and learn a few Maori words or, if you parents speak another language, get them to teach you some words. Try and use these new words each day and see what it’s like for a Ni-Vanuatu speaking different languages daily. It’s amazing, once you start doing this for awhile, the foreign words will become familiar and start coming naturally!

Gudlak lo ol yufala! (Goodluck to you all)

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The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Visiting Wagina

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:15:26 +1200

Yesterday I arrived in the village of Kuksin on the island of Wagina. The Wagina community is one of three partner communities in the Arnavons Community Marine Conservation Area (ACMCA) who I’ve been working for.

It is a new community – the people arrived here in the 1960s as refugees from the French and British nuclear testing on the Christmas Islands in Kiribati – and it is mostly people from this community who have been poaching in the conservation area. That’s where I come in.

No, I didn’t come here to pick fights. My job is to figure out how the conservation area might benefit this community more. If we can make that happen, hopefully the people here will appreciate the conservation area a bit more and stop poaching.

Turtle shell and turtle soup in Kuksin village

Today was to be one big day of chatting. I wanted to speak to as many people as possible about how they might like the conservation area to help their community. I started with the nurse, then the policeman, the local member of the conservation area’s management board, all 10 of the village elders, and finally, the leaders of the social groups in town – the men’s club, the womens union, the young couples groups (they have a group for everyone). This is one of the coolest things about volunteering, that I get to hang out with so many awesome people.

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While I was going around chatting to everyone, I also passed around the message that there was going to be a big meeting at the church tonight. At this meeting, I would deliver a short speech and together, we would try to decide how the conservation area could help the community out.

The Kuksin church where we had our meeting

The meeting went down well and we sketched out some good ideas for what we might do to help out here. By the time we finished, I had a whole list of things to do before I come back next time. The thing they wanted most though, was just information. Most people hadn’t heard much, if anything, about what the conservation area was doing. When we talked about what the conservation area was for, they weren’t only keen to see poaching stop, they were keen to help out.

This isn’t a problem that I can solve myself, not permanently at least. But if I can encourage the community leaders who are involved in the conservation area to actually talk to their people about it, it will make this whole year worthwhile. I guess that’s what volunteering is about; talking to people and helping them resolve their own issues. That also happens to be what makes it so satisfying.

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The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

VSA Annual Congress 2011

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:32:39 +1200

VSA’s Annual Congress 2011 will take place in Wellington on the 5th and 6th of November.

The theme to this year's Congress is 'Growing our volunteer pool' and it will bring people together from all over the country to celebrate their VSA connections. Participants will include many of the amazing young volunteers who have taken part in VSA’s UniVol programme since it began in 2007, and over 50 recently returned volunteers who have shared their skills with the communities they lived and worked with during their two year assignments.

VSA Annual congress 2010

Keynote Speakers will include Professor John Overton from the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Wellington's Victoria University, and Andrew Chalmers who is the President of Christchurch's Student Volunteer Army. Returned Volunteer speakers include Alice Keeling who was a UniVol working as a Special Needs Programme Assistant in 2010 in Papua New Guinea, and Nicky Brown who worked as a Shelter Services Management Adviser from 2009-2011 in Cambodia.

Congress will be held in the Council Chambers of the Wellington Town Hall, with the venue being generously offered to VSA by Mayor Celia Wade Brown. The event provides a chance for people to meet VSA's newly elected Council, and to hear about the new strategic plan which will guide VSA's work from 2011 to 2015.

New VSA unit to develop partnerships with business

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:35:56 +1200

VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) has established a new unit to develop partnerships with New Zealand businesses and organisations keen to provide their staff with the opportunity to undertake short-term volunteering assignments.

VSA chief executive officer Deborah Snelson says the main purpose of the partnerships development unit is to make it possible for more New Zealanders to share their skills in developing countries.

“Not everyone is in a position to take up a two-year assignment, and we want to provide New Zealanders with more flexible volunteering opportunities,” she says. “The new unit has been set up to work with private sector and government organisations who are interested in releasing their staff for short-term assignments in the Pacific and Timor Leste.”

She says the unit will mainly focus on establishing partnerships with organisations working in a number of specialised areas, such as agriculture, engineering, urban planning, business mentoring and local government. VSA will scope and develop the assignments, which will then be filled by staff from the New Zealand-based partners.

VSA volunteer Bill Kingan (second from left) at work as a Farm Business Adviser in Papua New Guinea.

“The new unit will make it possible for us to access a whole set of skills by collaborating with businesses and organisations who are keen to use volunteering to build staff capacity, while also demonstrating their commitment to social responsibility.”

The partnerships development unit is headed by Ruth Harrison, who took up her position this week. Ms Harrison brings a mix of private sector and government sector experience to the job; she most recently worked for the Department of Internal Affairs where she was responsible for administrating grant funding.

She says she is looking forward to the challenge of taking VSA in a new direction.

“After almost 50 years, VSA has a proven track record as an organisation that responds to changing needs. This latest move is yet another example of that, and I am confident it will give more New Zealanders the opportunity to volunteer.”

Kia youth group

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:13:15 +1200

Last night I went and helped out at a meeting for the Kia youth group. It was a real learning experience for me. This group was not like any I’d ever seen before and seemed like a great response to chronic boredom in Kia. There isn’t much else for young people to do here. There’s no high school and almost no work...

The youth group is a proper formal institution. They have a chairman and a chairwoman and a secretary. They have weekly group meetings and organise youth festivals, host volleyball games and educational talks. They also write funding applications to international aid organisations, and use the money they receive to get sports gear and musical instruments shipped out from the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara.

A group like this one really deserves some government recognition. The trouble is though, in a village as isolated as Kia, they pretty much are the government. That’s actually why I went to their meeting. They had been doing government work. They has organised weekly tidy-ups, picked up rubbish and built small bridges for the footpath that runs through the village.

Not an ideal playground. Local children share the beach with vast amounts of rubbish.

There’s no city council here to do this work for them. There is no rubbish collection or landfill, so rubbish gets thrown out of people’s windows and ends up littering the whole village. What they wanted from me was some advice on how they could stop people throwing rubbish around the village, and some ideas for where people might put rubbish instead. “What do people do in New Zealand?” was what they wanted to know.

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By the end of the meeting we had an action plan. We had to make a few mini landfills to bury rubbish in and raise awareness about rubbish disposal so that everyone would actually use the landfills.

The idea of a landfill was new and the group were interested to learn about how these things work in New Zealand and what life’s like for us. For all the things I told them about life in New Zealand, I still think that I learned more from them than they learned from me.

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The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Introducing laplap

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:10:00 +1200

Laplap is the national dish of Vanuatu. It is like a root vegetable cake and an acquired taste that I am still getting used to. Whenever we have a celebration or any important event, a laplap is prepared by a family member of someone at NCYC and brought in to share. Everyone adores the stuff and I have been lucky enough to see it being made. Here is the basic process of making laplap…

NCYC staff Jevin, Fiorina and Noella squeezing coconut milk into the Sorsor laplap- a special kind of laplap from Malekula

First of all you pound down a root vegetable such as yam, taro or manioc (or you can even use cooking bananas) into a paste. At the same time you grate the insides of coconuts until you have a nice bowlful of grated coconut.

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You then layer laplap leaves (these are like big banana leaves) and spread your paste on top. Next, squeeze a handful of grated coconut so the milk leaks out through your fingers and over the paste. You can then add cabbage or pieces of meat such as chicken, fish or even flying fox!

Laplap coming out of the oven

Now you wrap up the leaves so the laplap is wrapped up like a parcel. The parcel is then cooked similar to a hangi in an underground earth oven (the oven even shares the maori name ‘umu’).

The best thing about laplap is sharing it. I love eating it on the ground, with everyone sitting around it eating and storian (sharing stories). Though it isn’t my favourite food, I like being able to eat it with everyone else and wash it down with a fresh coconut.

Jevin, an NCYC peer educator and I opening up the laplap

Thanks to everyone who took part in Project Friendship. Thanks to you all I am able to be volunteering here in Vanuatu and sharing laplap with my workmates at NCYC.

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Celebration Time!

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:03:08 +1200

Happy Project Friendship week! I hope you are all enjoying your friendship bracelets and having a good time collecting different colours and giving them to your friends. Let’s find out what’s been happening here in Vanuatu and the work that you are supporting.

The youth centre has been a little quiet this month as most people are still tired from lafet – the celebrations that happened here at the end of last month. The 30^th of July marks Vanuatu’s independence and Vanuatu chooses to celebrate it not over one day, but over a whole week! So, I thought I’d share with you my top three reasons why it was so enjoyable.

The colours

The town is painted black, green, red and yellow – with bright bunting lining the streets, flags rushing past on the front of taxis and shop windows proclaiming “happy independence” all sporting the national colours.

Kids holding the Vanuatu flags they made at school for the celebrations

The Music

Live music is played on stages across town day and night. It’s mainly reggae (Bob Marley is regarded as King to many youth here) but there is also traditional music from different islands and even some country! What makes it so special is that a lot of the music is being played by bands from NCYC, by youth who have learnt to play instruments and joined bands at our youth center classes.

NCYC’s part

Finally, what I love most about Independence is that NCYC gets to show off all the great things it has to offer. NCYC sets up in the main park where it showcases its services by offering advice on family planning and other health issues, giving out free resources and even one day running a games area where kids could come and have their faces painted, play tug-o-war or cut prizes from a string blindfolded.

Kids in a jumping sack race run by Julie, a young person from NCYC.

It was such a great time of year to be here. Thanks so much to all of you who have bought friendship bracelets and allowed me to be working here with NCYC and be a part of lafet in Vanuatu.

Anna, a young person at NCYC and I setting up a game

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Celebrating VSA’s friendship with South Africa

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:57:36 +1200

VSA’s long-standing friendship with South Africa partner organisation Imvomvo has became even stronger thanks to a 12-day trip to New Zealand by Imvomvo manager Thoko Mlonyeni and sport development officer Zoe Tom.

Thoko and Zoe were accompanied by Bahayi Mtumane and Msoso Musuko from the Winter Rose Rugby Club, which works with Imvomvo on sports programmes for young people living in Mdantsane. Mdantsane is South Africa’s second-largest township (after Soweto), and is located just outside the Eastern Cape city of East London.

Zoe Tom and Msoso Musuko model VSA Project Friendship "country colour" bracelets during their trip to Wellington.

Thoko and Zoe visisted marae and Maori immersion schools in Wellington. They hope to take elements of the kura kaupapa system to help strengthen the language and culture of the Xhosa people, and in particular the children who attend the Winter Rose Pre-School.

VSA volunteer Judy Moore helped set up the pre-school, which provides early childhood education to about 60 children, when she was on assignment in East London from 2008 to 2010.

“Children all speak Xhosa when they arrive at Winter Rose Pre-School, but English is seen as being better and once they go to school they start to lose it; it’s about being proud of our culture and stories and language,” says Thoko.

Bahayi and Msoso’s activities included spending time with members of the Petone Rugby Club and touring the New Zealand Rugby Union Offices. They also visited Maori immersion schools, where there were interested to see how Maori culture and language is incorporated into sports and rugby training.

Former VSA volunteer Judy Moore (left) joins the South African visitors in a song.

According to Thoko, the visit to New Zealand would not have been possible without VSA.

“If VSA had not worked in East London we could never have come here; we want to thank VSA for the opportunities it has created for us.”

Celebrating VSA’s friendship with South Africa

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:26:40 +1200

VSA’s long-standing friendship with South Africa partner organisation Imvomvo has became even stronger during a 12-day trip to New Zealand by Imvomvo manager Thoko Mlonyeni and sport development officer Zoe Tom.

Zoe Tom and Msoso Musoko model VSA Project Friendship "country colour" bracelets during their visit to Wellington.

Thoko and Zoe visisted marae and Maori immersion schools in Wellington. They hope to take elements of the kura kaupapa system to help strengthen the language and culture of the Xhosa people, and in particular for the children who attend the Winter Rose Pre-School.

VSA volunteer Judy Moore helped set up the pre-school, which provides early childhood education to about 60 children, when she was on assignment in East London from 2008 to 2010.

Former VSA volunteer Judy Moore (left) joins the South African visitors in a song.

According to Thoko, the visit to New Zealand would not have been possible without VSA.

“If VSA had not worked in East London we could never have come here; we want to thank VSA for the opportunities it has created for us.”

Solomon living

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:10:15 +1200

While volunteering can be great when it works, there are big challenges to be faced even before a volunteer gets started. For me, these challenges are still haunting me even after having been in the country for six months – I’m still waiting for a meeting with the village chiefs before I can really get down to work in Kia.

Needless to say then, there is a lot of waiting involved in being a volunteer and I think I’ve had my fair share of down-time. It’s not all bad though. What might be wasted time at home, is a valuable chance to organise my day-to-day life in the Solomons. And even more importantly, it’s a great chance to go diving.

Some serious spear-fishing is required when we have visitors

Before I came to Kia, I had been told that food wasn’t nearly as accessible as it is at home. Almost every family here has a large area of gardens where they grow kumara, cabbage and other vegetables, and there is scarcely any meat other than fish. The shop in the village sells little more than canned tuna, rice, tomato sauce, crackers and all the ingredients to make bread.

I came prepared for this though, and brought my spear-gun with me so I eat fresh fish most days. I gather other things too – the latest additions to my diet have been seaweed and a specific type of mangrove bean that has to be grated finely and washed four times before it can be eaten.

Everything I eat has to be prepared immediately before meals as there’s no fridge here and food goes off quickly in the tropical climate. All of this takes a lot of time and can’t be avoided even if I do have a really busy day. It’s just an unavoidable fact of being a volunteer in a Solomon Island village and on the whole, it’s actually kind of cool.

The office

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:03:46 +1200

One of the perks of being a volunteer is that I probably have one of the coolest offices in the world.

Catching a turtle to be tagged at the Arnavons.

My work over here is run through the Arnavons Community Marine Conservation Area (ACMCA) and the Arnavon Islands has been my home for about a quarter of my time here. Despite the name, the Arnavons doesn’t actually have a community, it is uninhabited apart from the three conservation officers who staff the conservation centre, patrol for poachers and record data about the turtle population and their nesting.

Lesley Rubaha, an Arnavons conservation officer holding a turtle hatchling.

The main challenge for the conservation area is poaching. When times get tough and money is in short supply, poachers come from the villages and take turtles, turtle eggs, shell fish and fish, to eat and to sell. Part of my job has been trying to find other ways for them to get food and money so that they don’t feel the pressure to poach from the conservation area. With this purpose in mind, next week I’m off to Wagina to talk to the locals about how I might be able to help them make their lives easier.

Hawksbill turtle: critically endangered. Note the tag on his shoulder.

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Yumyumyum

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:02:50 +1200

What did you eat when you were in kindergarten? In Tanzania, most young kids eat ‘uji’ or porridge. It’s usually made of maize flour and water, sometimes with oils or sugar added.

In March, the TEC kindergarten completed the kitchen and we began serving uji. Many kids in Tanzania are malnourished, and food in schools is a great way to combat this. It’s also delicious, and warm in winter. I never believed it would be cold in Africa, but up here in the mountains it’s surprisingly chilly.

Hadison Emanuel drinking uji

Working to get uji provided at the school has taken coordination with village leaders, the TEC farm management and parents. The World Food Programme (WTP) provided flour, the farm management funded the kitchen building and parents provided each child with a cup and spoon. The WFP has now finished their programme here in Karatu to send food to areas with failed crops.

Last week we held the first parents meeting of the kindergarten to discuss the uji programme. The meeting went really well, with the parents agreed to contribute 20kg of maize per child per year. I practiced my public speaking by addressing the parents and then spent the next two hours trying to follow the fast swahili discussion. In Tanzanian meetings everyone has the right to speak and be listened to. It’s very participatory, but can lead to long meetings! I was impressed by how many parents came. It made me feel very positive about the future of the kindergarten.

The success of the meeting means uji will continue to be on the menu at 10am and 2pm. I’ve tried to learn how to cook uji, but my skills at cooking on over a fire need some work. Joyce Jacobs, a high school graduate who lives nearby is employed at the school to cook uji and assist in the classroom. It’s due to her hard work and the contributions of the community that these kids have such big smiles!

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

My favourite chore: baboon chasing

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:02:03 +1200

Ever been baboon chasing?

After school chores are a part of the life of kids around the world- when I was young I cleaned dishes, tidied my room, helped to hang up the washing, collected the mail. The kids I teach over here have very different chores, which take up most of their time out of school. They collect water from the village taps, wash clothes, collect vegetables and herd goats. A few weeks ago I was talking to my student Happiness Masay about what she does out of school, and discovered that it’s her job to ‘angalia nyani’- watch baboons.

Baboon chasing is one of the 'chores' for some of the students

What did she mean? I went with her the next day to discover.

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Happi lives in the small village at the very edge of the Ngorongoro Conservation area. Her family grows maize right near the bush, but it is not only her family who eat the maize. Baboons regularly raid the fields in groups of up to 40, stealing the maize. They will also raid the wheat crop, the coffee trees and vegetable garden. Happi and her older siblings take turns to stand guard over the crop and chase the baboons away, throwing rocks and sticks at them with an accuracy I couldn’t match. Sometimes her grandfather joins them with his spear and they eat baboon meat for supper!

Happi's house and village

Although it’s hard to imagine children working, their contribution is an essential part of rural life here. All village residents, both adults and children, have an important part to play in subsistence farming. Luckily, education is highly valued, so the community ensures that children remain in school. Our kindergarten teaches a different class in the morning and afternoon, to make sure that children can share jobs easily.

Happi in class with Melania

Chores may be work, but they are also a way to learn. To be honest, I enjoyed chasing baboons much more than I ever enjoyed cleaning my room!

Happi and I

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Getting the paint on...

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:00:18 +1200

This week – Project Friendship week – I’m cheating a little by sending only photos for the blog…

These are photos of my parents Marj and Herman van Gessel painting our classroom. On their visit to Africa last November they asked to get involved and make a contribution- and it’s made a huge difference! Our classroom now has brightly coloured elephants, giraffes, zebras and other animals dancing across the walls. The alphabet is painted above the blackboard and shapes line the back wall. The kids love it, and it gives the class a very “kindergarten” feel.

Our classroom before the paint

Herman stenciling the alphabet

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Marj drawing animals

Me painting shapes

On Monday Project Friendship week begins – over 32,000 woven friendship bracelets are being sold throughout the country to raise money for VSA. Thank you for all of your support and hard work! A small amount of money goes a long way here in Tanzania.

What a difference some paint can make

My parents showed me last year that you can help in many different ways. What could you do in your community?

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Supporters get behind sustainable tourism

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:36:49 +1200

Sustainable tourism and Project Friendship are just two initiatives our supporters are getting behind this August...

Getting behind sustainable tourism

Our June appeal raised $6,355.00 to support VSA volunteers working alongside local tourism operators in the Pacific. Your donations help send volunteers such as Linda Bennie who helped set up the training restaurant at the Torgil Rural Training Centre in Vanuatu. A great example of locally identified, locally relevant and locally delivered development.

VSA volunteer Linda Bennie with her first year students at Torgil Training Centre. From L-R: , Belinda, Shena, Devonia, Linda, Makelia and Ethel.

Members take up the challenge

In four weeks 424 members have renewed or joined as VSA members raising $16,765.00. Renewing or joining as a member is just one way you can show your support for VSA. There are five things you can do right now to support VSA:

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Send in a photo from your VSA assignment and a great VSA story to go with it for a photo exhibition to celebrate VSA's 50th anniversary in 2012. Read more

5

Buy a $3 friendship bracelet (of five!) from participating Body Shop, Levis and Four Square stores.

Find your nearest:

Body Shop store

Levis store

There are 99 Four Square stores in the lower North Island participating in Project Friendship 2011.

Project Friendship 2011 has started

Rugby player Neemia Tialata supports Project Friendship 2011

Schools, Girl Guides, Four Square, Body Shop and Levis stores are all taking part in Project Friendship to support VSA volunteers working with young people in the Pacific, Asia and Africa. Read more

VSA recruiting for tourism assignments

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:44:13 +1200

Tourism provides employment opportunities at a range of skill levels and offers a way to foster the development of isolated areas. Check out two tourism assignments we are currently recruiting for in Vanuatu and Bougainville:

Tourism Business Adviser, Vanuatu

Work alongside the Department of Tourism and support the delivery of business training and advisory services to Ni-Vanuatu tourism operators in the outer islands of Vanuatu.

Dancers, Tanna

Visit the job profile here

Tourism Adviser, Bougainville

World War Two relics, crater lakes, caves and mountainous terrain provide exciting adventure tourism opportunities in Bougainville. Work with the Bougainville Tourism Office and the Bougainville Tourism Industry Organisation to develop marketing strategies and operating systems that will support a steady growth of tourists.

Visit the job profile

Currently recruiting for many for assignments...

We are also seeking secondary school teachers, business advisers, marketing advisers, heavy machinery operators, management advisers, policy advisers and many more...

Visit our vacancies page for more details

Nicholas Latty, Communications and Fundraising Assistant

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:21:56 +1200

Nicholas Latty studied Law and Geography for five years at Otago University and then went on a UniVol assignment to Tanzania. On his return he came to Wellington to take his professional studies for law – which was when he was snapped up by VSA in search of a new member of its Communications and Fundraising team.

How did you come to work for VSA?

After returning home in December 2010 from a VSA UniVol placement in Tanzania, I hitchhiked through the North Island, fell in love with Northland, headed home to Christchurch, experienced a devastating earthquake then moved to Wellington to take my professional studies for law. A month later I saw the communications job vacancy at VSA head office, applied and got the job and haven’t looked back.

Nicholas visitng a Maasai settlement while on assignment as a UniVol with VSA

Your most memorable experience while working at VSA?

It is fantastic working for an organisation with a simple focus of making a positive difference for people. With that goal in mind it’s easy to get out of bed in the morning and come to work. The atmosphere in the Wellington head office is very homely and it carries that feeling that we are working as one big whanau.

My most memorable VSA experience was in Tanzania at the opening of the orphan care project I was working on. Battling from food poisoning, I had a speech to deliver in Swahili to local community leaders who were waiting on my every word. Furthermore, VSA Tanzania country programme manager Musa Naroro was present and proceeded to take some truly unflattering photos of me stumbling through my speech as I struggled to keep my breakfast down. It sums up my life as a VSA volunteer: getting on with the job regardless of the problems while being under the spotlight.

What is it that you think is the key to VSA’s success?

Our core philosophy of sending people, not money gives VSA personal connections with the partner organisations and communities we work with. This is VSA’s success, as people are more important than money. VSA volunteers are often embraced by the communities they work in, and contribute to community life outside the scope of their assignments. This reciprocal generosity often results in richly positive experiences for all involved.

What do you think is the quality that makes a great volunteer?

Patience. VSA volunteers are selected after a stringent recruitment process and always have the skills and expertise to do a great job. But if they can’t apply their skills effectively then their assignments will not be a success. A great volunteer is able to quickly adjust to their assignment situation and get the best out of their co-workers while keeping a cool head to the challenges and frustrations that arise. Leaving all preconceptions behind is wise advice. This involves patience and I believe you can never have enough of it when volunteering abroad.

If you could go anywhere in the world right now where would you go?

Tanzania. It has certainly left a big mark on my life and I miss speaking in Swahili. It is a visually stunning land and a gateway to the rest of the continent. I met people with no possessions, but the biggest hearts. I love being home but Tanzanian people maintain a realness I don’t find here.

If you could volunteer anywhere where would you volunteer?

Other than Tanzania? Guatemala. I have in interest in Mayan history and would love to live, learn and volunteer with an indigenous Central American culture.

Support our work

Check out VSA's current volunteer vacancies

The hidden benefits of volunteering

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:43:12 +1200

Douglas Hancock was a VSA volunteer in Tanzania, who took a year out from his job with the Ministry of Justice in Wellington to work as a Legal and Rights Adviser in Moshi. Now back in his old job he reflects on how his assignment has affected both his professional and personal development.

In March 2010 I was working in a policy/legal role in a government department in Wellington. I took a year away from my New Zealand job to volunteer for a year as a Legal and Rights Adviser in Moshi, Tanzania. I was fortunate to have a supportive manager who encouraged me to take this year away and could see the opportunities that volunteering would offer me in terms of my professional and personal development. I took a year’s leave without pay and was able to return to my job when I came home to New Zealand.

My first few weeks back at the desk in Wellington were certainly a bit surreal. I had come from a volunteering role, with a strong focus on slowly building relationships and passing on skills in a hot, dusty Tanzanian town, to a desk in an open-plan environment, meeting deadlines, working on a flurry of papers and projects and attending meetings.

Typical Tanzanian street

There are things I miss about my work in Tanzania. I miss the informality and the opportunity that working at the ‘coal face’ gave me to make concrete differences in the lives of both co-workers and stakeholders. I miss how close I was to communities of interesting people who made doing the work and going on field trips for work so enjoyable. I enjoyed the bicycle rides home from work past waving locals with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background.

I was also bit apprehensive about returning to the old job. Would I be able to settle back in again easily? I also think co-workers were initially curious to see whether I had undergone some radical transformation into ‘that guy’ who rails against the evils and waste of the developed world at every opportunity.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that my volunteering experience has added nothing but positives to my professional life in New Zealand. For example, I find work stress or inconvenience in a comfy office in Wellington much easier to keep in perspective now. It’s hard to get riled about a paper jam in a photocopier here, when some days I found it a real achievement to find a working pen in the office in Tanzania. I let more stuff just wash over me now and not affect my internal sense of Zen. This was definitely an essential skill I developed during volunteering.

Doug giving some training to colleagues in Tanzania

I’ve been pleased at how genuinely interested colleagues have been in the experience I had (once they realised I had not become a Bob Geldof clone). Answering questions simply and showing photos has been a useful way of reconnecting with colleagues. I even did a power point presentation for some stakeholders on the learnings of my experience (okay, with a few safari shots in it too) which was well received.

I appreciate simple things like work processes or procedures a lot more now, where before I might have just taken them for granted. I never thought I would be one to get excited about group email invites and room bookings and the ability to photocopy things whenever you want – but there you go.

Doug back at his desk in Wellington

My manager has told me that since I came back, I seem much more confident with setting my own work priorities and managing difficult work. I’m now leading a team on a complex project. Before going to Tanzania I would have been a lot more anxious/less confident with managing this type of project and all the competing pressures involved. Now this type of work is 'business as usual' for me. I attribute this to having to be a self-starter and using my initiative while I was in Tanzania..

My relationship management skills have definitely increased and volunteering has focussed my empathy and ‘reading people’ skills. Meetings with Wellington bureaucrats may be a bit more structured than meeting HIV client support groups in rural villages, but I’m much better at reading all those non-verbal cues which are essential to maintaining good working relationships. I attribute this to my time in Tanzania where I had to transcend language and culture barriers to find commonalities and engender trust with the people I met.

So if you ever find yourself trying to convince your boss to let you take some time away to volunteer, I can assure you that it’s worth it for yourself and for your workplace.

Douglas Hancock is currently working as a Senior Advisor with the Public Law Group at the Ministry of Justice in Wellington.

Support VSA

Check out our current volunteer assignments

August 2011 featured photo

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:04:02 +1200

Kandal Province, Cambodia – by Marianne Schumacher

VSA volunteer, Marianne Schumacher took this photo while working as a Strategic Management Adviser with partner organisation, the Cambodian Disabled People's Organisation (CDPO), an advocacy group with around 40 member organisations. The photo was taken at a Women with Disability Forum where Sophea (pictured) talks to the women from the villages about the roles of the Forum and CDPO's support role in this.

Marianne says while on assignment she enjoyed trying her hand at creative photography. This photo was taken using a Nikon body and a lensbaby.

Celebrating 50 years of VSA in Photos

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:59:33 +1200

We’re looking for photographs from returned volunteers to put together an exhibition to celebrate VSA’s 50th anniversary in 2012. We want to use the photos to tell the story of VSA’s work over the past 50 years.

If you have a photo or two from your VSA assignment that you’d like to share, send us a copy, along with a brief summary of the story behind it.

The idea is that the exhibition would run for two weeks each in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland, with the possibility of holding it in three or four smaller centres.

What kind of photos are we looking for?

We’re looking for great photos – with a great VSA story to go with them.

We want images that are engaging in themselves and that also:

tell a story about your assignment
create a sense of place
portray the essence of VSA – New Zealand volunteers sharing their skills with communities striving for change.

Ideally, we want photos that feature people, rather than landscapes – but if you have a brilliant photograph of the local scenery we’d love to see it.

We’re happy to receive both black-and-white and colour photos. Don’t worry if they’re not professional quality, it’s all about telling our stories through the eyes of VSA volunteers.

You can post copies of photos (please don’t send originals) to:

Alana McCrossin

Graphic Designer

VSA

PO Box 12246

Wellington 6144

Email a low-res version now

Here are two examples of our favourite shots and their back story.

Celebration time at Wawas village, Papua New Guinea – by Antony Rewcastle

VSA volunteer Antony Rewcastle who is working as an Eco-Forestry Adviser took the photo in the village of Wawas showing an initiation of young girls into the village. Wawas is located approximately 2km west of Toimtop village where Antony is living and working.

Of the scene Antony explains: "The photo shows the Wawas 'Custom'. The custom is an initiation of young girls (pictured within the group of older women - backs to camera). Everyone is singing and dancing around a large Tumbuan (forest spirit). Each tribe has different forms of them".

On location, Port Vila, Vanuatu – by Alison Moore

Actor and part-time film crew member Danny Marcel draws the short straw during filming of Wan Smolbag’s soap opera Love Patrol protecting equipment in a seasonal downpour.

This photo illustrates the practical challenges faced when filming on a low budget in a tropical country. The shot was taken in Port Vila by volunteer Alison Moore on the film set of series 4 of Love Patrol. Alison spent a total of nine years working with Wan Smolbag Theatre in both assigned and unassigned VSA roles that included photo documentation, publicity and set stills.

Alison says, "Wan Smolbag usually films during the winter months, the 'dry' season. But even in the dry season it never rains but it pours. And someone has to be on hand to protect the equipment, especially when for reasons of space or aesthetic effect the equipment is five metres above ground and out in the deluge! I had the luxury of snapping the photo from inside, in the dry!"

August's new volunteers heading out on assignment

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:27:01 +1200

Featuring our new volunteers from this month.

POLYNESIA

Samoa

BILL KINGAN is currently on a short-term assignment with VSA as an Agricultural Adviser with Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC). Bill was previously a volunteer in PNG. Bill says he is now half way through his assignment and everything is going well. “I have visited quite a number of farms and small businesses and am building up a picture as to the needs of my co-workers at SPEC and the farmers themselves. I am also starting to get some ideas of areas where future VSA volunteers may be able to assist.”

Tonga

TONY BRAY has just completed a one month assignment as a Technical Business Analyst with the Ministry of Tourism but will be heading out again at the end of the month for a further three months. Tony has previously been a VSA volunteer in South Africa and PNG.

STEPHEN ALEXANDER is from Dunedin but soon to depart on a six month assignment working as a Financial Control and Management Adviser with Tonga Business Enterprise Centre (TBEC).

MELANESIA

Vanuatu

JACQUI ISELI is on a long-term assignment working as a Sign Language Tutor / Adviser with Sanma Frangipani Association. Jacqui was already out in Vanuatu, accompanying her partner Howard Iseli who is working as a Tourism Business Adviser. Jacqui has been meeting up with profoundly deaf Ni-Vanuatu on Malekula and Santo and attempting to document their signs to assemble a small Vanuatu sign dictionary. In partnership with Sanma Frangipani Association she is also taking sign language workshops and raising disability awareness.

ANA TERRY is about to head off on a four month assignment with VSA working as a Graphic Design / Desktop Publisher Adviser with Farmer Support Association Venui Vanilla Co Ltd. Ana was a VSA volunteer previously in Vanuatu.

Bougainville

DONNA LLEWELL is about to head off to Bougainville on a one year assignment to work as a Legal Adviser with the Division of Lands and Physical Planning, Autonomous Bougainville Government in Buka. Donna has been working for the Crown Law Office in Wellington and was previously a VSA volunteer in Vanuatu.

JO-ANN ROWAN is soon to start a long-term assignment working as a Short Course Training Adviser with Tinputz Specialised Training Centre.

BERYL RILEY will soon be heading off to Buka to work as a Social Worker with Buka General Hospital on a two year assignment. The women of Bougainville and PNG have lobbied the government to have Family Support Centres established at all hospitals to coordinate services for victims of domestic violence. Beryl will assist local people to establish the Family Support Centre at Buka Hospital. Beryl currently lives in Tauranga and has been working as a psychologist with the Department of Corrections.

August's returned volunteers

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:27:42 +1200

Volunteers returning from assignment July-September 2011

AFRICA

Yong Ly –Tanzania

When Yong swapped his high-flying life as an IT specialist in Auckland to volunteer with the Forestry Training Institute living on a remote hill 20km outside Arusha, he didn’t quite know what to expect. He was hoping for an experience that was both rewarding and challenging. His VSA assignment didn’t let him down.

Yong’s role was to help train the institute’s staff in IT skills and GPS knowledge so that they had all the skills necessary to teach the 200+ forestry trainees that came through each year.

By far his biggest role was in the IT area, setting up a fully networked and virus-free IT system and upskilling his counterpart Simon to look after the IT needs for the school when he left. Describing the success of his assignment Yong commented, “I’m pretty happy with the progress made in this area. This morning, for example, I received two emails from Simon. The first asked for my help on a particular IT problem the institute was having. The second, minutes later, simply said ‘I’ve fixed it – no problems”.

Yong found the assignment personally a great challenge and life changing in many ways. Now back in Auckland, he is taking his time to work out the next step for him. “I don’t want to be complacent and fall back in to old habits. I want to build on my VSA experience. Whatever I do next, I want to be challenged – to grow and adapt.”

Mike Allard –Tanzania

Mike was working as an HIV and AIDS Programme Adviser with Global Service Corps which is an organisation that sends volunteers on short-term assignments to Tanzania, Cambodia and Thailand.

His main role was to help the Tanzania office set its goals, and decide its main focus going forward and Mike really enjoyed working with the staff on this. “It was really good to be able to give the staff an opportunity to talk about their vision for the organisation, and to come up with their ideas of what it could do to contribute to society."

The organisation now focuses on basic health, HIV and nutrition training, runs a chicken vaccination programme, assists with food drying and processing and provides sustainable agriculture advice.

Staff work in 48 villages, of which about two-thirds are Maasai. Mike found the staff commitment to the villagers inspiring. “Often they would stay in a village for up to four nights at a time, leaving their families behind in order to help those communities.”

Mike is now back in New Zealand working as a Community Development Officer with the Taupo District Council.

Tim Lovell – Zambia

Volunteering as a Carpentry Workshop Development Officer Tim’s biggest job involved helping to convert old shipping containers nobody wanted anymore into useful internet cafes, libraries, classrooms and in one case a bank!

Once the containers arrived in Zambia, Tim and the nine trainees from his partner organisation (Chodort Training Centre) insulated them and in some cases erected heat-protecting roofs. They were then fitted out with furniture and painted on the outside. This took around 12 weeks from start to finish for each container. The trainees were all graduates of the centre’s year-long carpentry course. Most of the containers were fitted out for aid organisations, such as World Vision and Linknet.

A key part of Tim’s assignment was working with the Production Manager, Mr Mwango to improve management systems and t share his skills with staff to make the workshop more productive. Tim also trained foreman, Denis, to run the production unit. Tim was able to download useful training material, including basic electrical training from the NZ Fire Service Website, and the joinery syllabus from the NZQA website. He also provided basic training in plumbing, machine and tool maintenance, and computer skills.

Tim is back living in Owhango again and a Station Officer with Owhango Fire Brigade and a Rural Fire Officer with Ruapehu DC.

ASIA

Bill Shields – Cambodia

Getting to know local people rather than living an expat lifestyle was a highlight for Bill, who was volunteering in Cambodia as a Management Adviser. Bill worked for partner organisation, Svay Rieng University, one of the few public universities in Cambodia.

He worked with the Rector and several others to develop a vision and mission for the university. He also helped develop a strategic framework to meet the Ministry of Education requirements. This was a slow process – it was hard to get feedback because everyone was so polite. He did eventually find a way of getting everyone to buy into it, and feels that it is now something they own. “It would have been easy to write a strategic plan by myself in just a few months,” Bill comments, “but if you did that no-one would take any notice of it.”

Bill also spent about eight months working with Veasna, the Director of Research, helping to write an application to get money from a $28 million fund set up by the World Bank. Veasna felt very daunted by the process, but Bill feels he helped him realise everything was possible if you took it one step at a time – “Veasna would say ‘It’s too big, we can’t do it.’ I said you need to break it down into bite-sized chunks – how do you eat an elephant? You do it one mouthful at a time.’”.

Bill says he learned a lot about himself while he was away, and as a result he is now a much more patient person. He enjoyed his time as a VSA volunteer so much he is now about to depart once again, this time to work as a Management Adviser with the Autonomous Government of Bougainville.

Marianne Schumacher – Cambodia

Marianne worked as a Strategic Management Adviser with partner organisation, the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation (CDPO), an advocacy group with around 40 member organisations.

Her work was at a strategic level – working with the management staff towards improved efficiencies, developing simple systems and tools together, introducing performance management and financial monitoring.

A key success for Marianne and the management team was the re-design of CDPO's community based rehabilitation programme, which positioned CDPO as a strategic partner to their 40 member organisations.

In terms of skill-sharing, Marianne facilitated the development of a comprehensive narrative strategic plan, coached the Advocacy Officer in survey design, implementation and analysis; advised on fundraising, financial planning, reporting, budgeting; and facilitated the development of a monitoring and evaluation tool to track programme performance.

Marianne is currently living in Auckland and would be interested in volunteering for VSA again in the future.

POLYNESIA

Siitia Lauvi – Anae, Tokelau

Siitia really enjoyed working with her Tokelaun teacher counterparts and focusing on an pre-school and primary education approach using the principals of Te Whariki - to use the immediate native environment and recognised cultural practices of a community in an education context. This was an alien approach to teachers who were basing most of their work on rote learning.

Siitia also used play as a key learning focus. At the beginning of 2011 a playground was opened at Matauala School Atafu with a government grant and Siitia’s work to promote education through play helped teachers and government representatives see what an essential part of learning a playground was.

A big success for Siitia in her assignment was the Vaka canoe races she organised for all early primary children where students made and raced the boats. The races really caught the imaginations of parents and grandparents alike, probably because they tapped in to the fishing and sailing traditions of village life in Tokelau.

The races were so successful that Vaka race day developed into an end of term celebration and became like a whole village competition. “The whole nuku (family) came and watched, then we all had a picnic together, we had the best time. This is education using Te Whariki principals, putting village ideas and customs into learning.”

Siitia is now back living in Lower Hutt and teaching at Tai Tamariki Kindergarten, Te Papa.

MELANESIA

Doug Tennent – Solomon Islands

Doug worked as a Legal Adviser for the Western Province Regional Government – an area he reckoned probably undertook 80 per cent of all commercial activity on the Solomon Islands. This included fishing, forestry and tourism.

Doug rates the work he did to get the Town Council started again in Gizo for the first time in six years as one his best successes while on assignment. Eight counsellors were appointed by the Provincial Government. These counsellors are now responsible from anything to keeping the market clean to working with the Japanese Government on a major new waste management project.

Doug is now living in Hamilton and has returned to the University of Waikato as a Law Lecturer.

Victoria Degerman – Bougainville

Victoria has spent the past two years working with the teachers and pupils at Hutjena Secondary School in Bougainville. She was there as the School Counsellor and to share her counselling skills with two teachers who were going to take over once she left.

Victoria's training helped her colleagues to judge how far to take matters and handle issues in confidence or when to refer more serious matters to the principal or the school administration. She worked with individual students on differing problems ranging from sexual relationships with older men in the community in exchange for gifts, to student fears of being possessed or at the receiving end of sorcery practices. In the latter situation, student counselling focused on education as well as individual choice and how to influence our own future. The fear of sorcery is really strong and a vast majority of students and teachers alike believe in the practices and effects of this culturally-anchored belief.

Recently the Bougainville education board announced that every school should have a counsellor. Victoria sees this as a great step forward but hopes those trainee teacher counsellors have the time to dedicate to counselling given most will have already had a full timetable and no financial incentive to top up their wages. As she says, "counselling and working with the pupils and teachers was the easy part. The more difficult aspects of the role included trying to ensure that the school based counsellors had sufficient resources as well as time to carry out the work”.

Victoria is currently taking some well-earned time off, travelling around Europe by motorbike. She hopes to return to Auckland to study and write her theses focused on Bougainville.

Sera Price – Bougainville

Sera arrived in Bougainville just in time to overlap with another VSA town planner, Kirsten Forsyth. Together, as Assistant Planners with the Autonomous Government of Bougainville, they set in motion plans to hold the first ever land summit in Bougainville. The first challenge was of course to help people understand what exactly a land summit was! Sera and Kirsten sent invitations to the 43 Council of Elder groups in Bougainville to attend district workshops to talk about the purpose of the summit and its aims.

The workshops were held in 13 districts on the mainland and one on Nissan island and were a great success. In Buka they even managed to run a workshop which attracted an even split between men and women “because we managed to speak to the women directly and persuade them to come. The rest of the workshops all over Bougainville were generally men only”.

The Summit finally took place in May 2011 over four days involving up to 400 delegates each day. The Summit was the first collective step toward developing a land policy for Bougainville and the first event of its kind in the region’s history. As a result of the Summit, Sera says two groups are being set up. First, the Lands Task Team within the government which will ensure ongoing momentum toward achieving a land policy for Bougainville. Second, a series of Land Committees will be established to help the land owning groups within village assemblies clarify customary processes, such as identifying inheritance rights, clan wealth, land-use activities and identify what they want going forward and how they are going to get there.

Sera is currently on holiday in Fiji before deciding her next steps work-wise.

Andrew and Alofa Smith – Timor-Leste

Andrew worked as a Database Development Trainer at BELUN and his wife Alofa worked as an Administrative Systems and Practice Adviser with the Dili Institute of Technology.

Jock Struthers – Cambodia

Jock was on a short-term assignment working as an Organisational Strategy Adviser with the Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights.

Sipoe Anae – Tokelau

Sipo worked as a Sports Coordinator with Matauala School.

Viv McGowan – Papua New Guinea

Viv McGowan worked as a Tertiary Vocational Education Adviser with Kokopo Business College.

Renee Yap – Solomon Islands

Renee worked as a Legal Adviser with the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening.

We’ll update future issues of Talk Talk with news on our other returned volunteers as they settle in to life wherever they are.

Check out our current volunteer vacancies

Support our work

Countdown to Project Friendship 2011 begins

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:54:49 +1200

More than 32,000 hand-woven friendship bracelets have now been sent to schools, Girl Guide units, Body Shops, Four Square and Levis stores throughout New Zealand in preparation for VSA Project Friendship 2011.

Project Friendship runs from 15 to 21 August. During the week almost 200 schools and Girl Guide units will be selling $3, colourful, hand-woven friendship bracelets. The bracelets will also be available at Body Shop and Levis stores throughout New Zealand, and at 97 Four Square stores in the lower North Island.

$3 friendship bracelets ready for sale

Project Friendship 2011 is once again focusing on youth. The money raised will be used to support VSA volunteers working with young people who are educating other young people, working to look after their environment, or bringing communities together through sport.

This year, for the first time, participating schools were offered the opportunity to have a returned VSA volunteer visit and talk about their assignment. VSA fundraising coordinator Kalra Paotonu says she’s been delighted by the response.

“I thought we might get 20 or 25 schools signing up, but we now have 30 schools with confirmed speakers and several schools we are still trying to arrange a speaker for.”

She says having the speakers will be a big boost for Project Friendship.

Siitia Lauvi-Anae and Alice Keeling participating in the Project Friendship speakers workshop

“There’s nothing like hearing a first-hand account from someone who’s actually done it to make the volunteering experience come alive.”

Ten of the 19 speakers attended a two-day workshop in Wellington last weekend to develop their speaking skills. Participants learned about the importance of using storytelling to engage an audience, and got useful tips on how to structure their presentations.

“We hope that all the schools who have a speaker will promote it to their friends and colleagues at other schools so that next year we can make Project Friendship even bigger and better,” says Karla.

Youth conference

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:19:38 +1200

The youth conference has turned out to be a youth health conference, a four day shindig with people coming from all around Kia and the surrounding islands. Some people travelled for three days by boat to get here and spent four thousand Solomon dollars on fuel for the journey. In fact, one small boat packed full with 15 people, turned up at the conservation area, three hours boat ride over open ocean from Kia, with a broken-down outboard motor and not enough fuel for the rest of the journey.

Yep, these dudes are keen alright.

Kia primary school: the venue for the youth conference and a giant mud pit.

The conference was organised by a doctor from a neighbouring island and was held at the school. The purpose was to raise awareness about health issues, such as diabetes, heart disease, malaria and AIDS. It didn’t sound super fun to me, but what do I know?

The response from the young people was epic and the village was humming all week despite the thunder storms. Even during the afternoon breaks, the youth group organised themselves to go and improve the drains on the only footpath in town and to repair the jetties.

I had a chance to say a few words too which was cool. I spoke to a crowd of about 100 people about water pollution, water borne diseases, toilets and rubbish disposal. As if public speaking wasn’t hard enough though, I had to do my speech in pidgin, the local version of English. But I think it all went down pretty well and either everyone was interested or they were good at acting it.

Me saying my piece.

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It was great to see that I could actually make a difference to peoples' thinking too. Most people hadn’t heard of lead poisoning before so they were pretty scared when I told them about the poisonous metal inside their batteries. Since they don’t have anywhere to put their rubbish, batteries are scattered all through the village. People don’t have internet here either and there’s not usually a doctor in town. This means, unless people do these kinds of talks, they just don’t get access to information like this.

No wonder they were keen!

Batteries are a major source of water pollution.

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

A typical day volunteering at NCYC

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:54:12 +1200

Although there is always something going on at the youth center, not every day is a football tournament. So I thought I’d show you what a normal Monday volunteering at NCYC looks like, and the everyday work that, by buying a friendship bracelet, you are supporting in Vanuatu. My average Monday looks a bit like this:

Before 7 am

My alarm clock isn’t really needed in Vanuatu. The whole country seems to wake up when the sun rises and the combination of roosters crowing, children playing and workmates texting “good morning” means that I wake up soon after them.

8 am

Charlie (my counterpart) and I open up the youth centre and video house. Youth start arriving to watch videos, wait for the computers or grab a guitar to get some practice in before class.

8:30am

Morning classes start – computer, bass guitar and acoustic guitar.

Meanwhile, Charlie and I write up a plan for what to do that week. This usually includes organising any speakers to talk to the youth, arranging meetings or working on Charlie’s homework from the English course he is taking.

Guitars lined up and waiting to be used.

9:00 - 11:30 am

Charlie and I focus on our workplan, writing letters to invite speakers to the centre and looking at what types of workshops we can run that young people will like. When arranging workshops, we have to think about how to let young people know about it (such as advertising through the radio or putting up posters), who we will ask to run it and what materials or any extra things we might need for it. Some of the workshops we have run this year include cooking, weaving and learning to play the mandolin!

11:30 – 1:30 pm

Lunch! We are lucky enough to get a two-hour lunch break at NCYC where the centre slows down for a while and people spel (rest). We can get freshly baked French bread at the store across the road or kato (a local doughnut shaped in a figure ‘8’).

After lunch, we often pull a mat outside and into the shade and have a small nap – carefully avoiding the mango tree and its army of red ants.

1:30- 4:30 pm

Afternoon classes start – computer, crochet, sewing, drums and keyboard.

The majority of the youth centre’s clubs run in the afternoon, so when we don’t have reports to write, the afternoon is spent running errands to make sure the clubs and centre run smoothly. This could be anything from picking up wool for the crochet class, calling the IT consultant in Port Vila to get the computers working again or trying on the sewing class’ latest projects to see how they look!

Charlie and I trying on some of the dresses the sewing class just completed.

4:30pm -

Night classes – hip hop and aerobics.

At this time, we close up the youth centre except for the big conference room as the hip hop and aerobics classes use it to practice in the evening. Once this is done, Anna, the other UniVol working here, and I wander down the road with NCYC staff and youth until we go our separate ways, whether to go to the market, meet family members or wait for a ride home.

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Fruit for friendship

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:20:27 +1200

One of the best things about living on a tropical island is the tropical fruit. I am lucky enough to encounter fruit such as pineapples, pawpaws and bananas on a regular basis, buying them cheaply at the market or being given them by colleagues and friends. What makes them so delicious is that they’re grown locally and organically and picked ripe to be eaten straightaway.

Pamplemousse, Banana and Pawpaw for sale at the markets.

Ni-Vanuatu (people from Vanuatu) are excellent gardeners. They are proud of their gardens and spend a lot of time there. When you ask someone here what they did in the weekend, other than church your best bet would be that they were in the garden. People grow all sorts of fruit and vegetables and with any that they don’t need for themselves, they load on a truck to send to the market, which is open all week and constantly being restocked with delicious fresh produce.

Baskets of vegetables about to be sold.

Of course fruit is primarily used to eat and sell, but Ni-Vanuatu also use their fruit as a way to show friendship. At NCYC, there are always a few people storian (storytelling) under a tree while cutting up a pamplemousse (a sweet grapefruit) or in the office, sharing segments of mandarin around the room.

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Anna and I have been given our fair share of fruit, whether handfuls of sweet green oranges or bunches of bananas that Charlie, my counterpart has grown in his garden. We even sometimes arrive home to find freshly fallen limes and pawpaw on our bench. This giving of fruit shows friendship, whether by brightening up someone’s day, using it to start up a conversation, or simply providing lunch for a friend. Not surpisingly, when I caught the flu one week, Charlie asked me only one thing, “Banana or pawpaw?” – which one could he give me that would make me feel better?

Judith, our boss at NCYC, peeling a green orange to share.

It just goes to show, there are many ways that people can show friendship. The giving of fruit is one of the special ways that people in Vanuatu do it. Giving friendship bracelets is one of the ways that we do it in New Zealand and it’s so great that doing this shows not only that you care about your friends at home, but you also care about friendship in Vanuatu.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Buffalo day

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:00:39 +1200

Ever had a snow day at school? Or had school cancelled for strikes or flooding? Well last week we had a 'buffalo day'.

I arrived at school at 8am, but by 10am many of the students still hadn’t made it. I started asking a few questions, and at lunchtime was told that many of my students couldn’t come to school because there was a herd of buffalo on the road to school. We went to investigate, could see down in the valley there were eight Cape buffalo! Luckily someone living nearby had stopped the school kids from meeting an “mbogo” face-to-face.

The road to school.

To me, this is just another example of the challenges of humans and animals sharing the same landscape. The TEC coffee plantation is perched on the slopes of the Ngorongoro crater- a huge extinct volcano which houses the densest population of predators in the world. Most animals stay in the bush during the day, but at night we often have visits from elephant, buffalo and hyenas.

It's not uncommon to see buffalo appear from behind a bush.

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Last year I was (un)lucky enough to meet an elephant while running… a bit too close for comfort, but amazing to see it that close! These animals are actually one of the reasons for building the kindergarten. Not only is it a long distance for the children to get to the local primary school, it is also dangerous. It’s especially a problem in the growing season, as the animals visit in the night to eat crops such as maize, wheat and vegetables. Apparently elephants love cabbages and pumpkins!

It’s taken some time for me to adjust to such amazing creatures being referred to as ‘pests’, although I can see the destruction they can do to the crops that people rely on for food. They are also can be aggressive, particularly buffalo. But, on the upside, they can give you a day off school!

Elephants can be a problem especially in the growing season.

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Mambo!

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:49:46 +1200

Hi, I'm Catherine van Gessel from Nelson. Thanks for supporting VSA and my work by taking part in Project Friendship this year. Thanks to your help, I'm volunteering in rural Tanzania at the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference (TEC) Kindergarten.

The kindergarten opened in January with 50 students aged 5-6 years old. My job involves two aspects - daily teaching, and developing systems so that the kindergarten will continue to run successfully in the future.

Berta is one of the girls in the kindergarten.

I stumbled upon the kindergarten building last year, while volunteering at the local primary school. This primary school is too far away for young children to walk to, so the kindergarten was built in a partnership between the local community, the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference (TEC) and some foreign donors. I started talking to the people involved and realized it was a great project that was lacking a bit of momentum to get it up and running. I made a proposal to extend my contract and work at the kindergarten for 2011, and feel lucky to be here!

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Living and working in Tanzania has been a seriously steep learning curve… but also a lot of fun. A new language, new culture and living in a rural area all took time to adjust to. But this was definitely helped by the wonderful people I’ve met here and their warm welcome- Tanzanian hospitality is taken seriously, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve been invited into people’s homes and offered food and sodas, regardless of how little they have.

Hadison and Elisiana playing with some blocks.

It’s also made easy by the kids, or ‘watoto’; they always bring a smile to my face. Most live in simple mud and brick houses with their large extended family, helping in the daily work of subsistence farming. They are super enthusiastic to be in school for the first time, and find everything we do very new and exciting. It sounds cheesy, but I always feel that they are teaching ME while we’re in the classroom- in language and local knowledge.

One of the classrooms at the kindergarten.

Volunteering here is an extremely rewarding experience, as well as a great adventure. Follow my blog over the next month and I’ll try to share a few stories of my experience and from the lives of some of the watoto here.

Asante and kwa heri! That means 'thank you and goodbye' in Swahili, the most commonly spoken language in Tanzania.

It's still not too late to give your support to VSA's Project Friendship. Register your school or youth group to take part in Project Friendship now.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Solomon time

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:45:02 +1200

Solomon Time was one very important idea for me to understand when I first arrived here in the Solomon Islands. It basically refers to the fact that over here, people aren’t usually “on-time” and almost everything takes twice as long as expected.

Solomon Time really hit me when I arrived in the country. As I was leaving the airport, my supervisor told me that the conservation area (the one I thought I would be working with) hadn’t been set up yet. I had also been told earlier that when I arrived, one of my bosses from the conservation area would introduce me to the village chiefs who could help me get started with work. Unfortunately though, it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Singing Pokareare Ana with the boys in Honiara.

I’ve been here for about five months now and last week, for the first time, I finally met one of my bosses... but he didn’t have time to introduce me to the chiefs. Not surprisingly then, my work here has been slow to take off.

I had also planned to get to know some young people in the village. Kids seemed to be suffering the most from sickness in the village and they stood to gain the most from the conservation area and so, aside from wanting to make some friends, I thought it was important for me to meet the young people here.

But there is just nowhere for young people to hang out in Kia – no sports ground, no shops, no town-centre area. There’s not even a high school so most kids leave town when they finish primary school; if they finish primary school. In fact, the primary school only has enough rooms for half the classes to work at a time so the young kids go in the morning and the big kids in the afternoon.

Hanging with Cliff and Manus, two of the first youngsters I met in Kia.

Needless to say, it’s not easy for us young people here in the Solomon Islands. It’s not all bad though. There’s a youth conference going down next week and I’m going to go and give a bit of a speech. I’m not entirely sure what a youth conference involves but I’ll keep you posted on how it goes so stand by.

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Helping out

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:40:03 +1200

So how on Earth did I end up out here? I had to ask myself this when I rocked up to Kia, a small village with no roads, no running water supply and no electricity. I also asked myself where the toilets were, that was until I realised that those small sheds over the water weren’t for storing fishing gear.

I came here with the hope of helping out at a local marine conservation area near Kia village where I’ve been living for the past five months. Conservation seems like an odd thing to be worried about when people don’t even have a decent water supply, but here it’s more essential than you might think. The people here rely mostly on fish and turtles for their protein and their income, and these animals, turtles especially, are disappearing pretty fast. Without some sort of conservation, there won’t be much left when young people our age are having kids of their own.

Turtle shells on the rocks at Kia

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I’m not only doing conservation work though. The villages here also have some apparent problems with water pollution so I’m helping to organise some rubbish disposal and to build better toilets so that people, particularly kids, stop getting sick from the polluted water.

Not a great playground but I've seen kids having less fun in theme parks.

It sounds rather simple but as I hope to explain later, nothing is that easy here.

Find out more about Project Friendship

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Volunteering in the Solomon Islands

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:34:32 +1200

Hey! My name’s Tom, I come from the small town of Alexandra in the hills of Central Otago, and in February this year I flew out of Auckland Airport bound for the Solomon Islands.

This is me looking over Honiara from the Allied Forces war memorial.

In every sense I was heading a long way from home. Not only a day-long journey from Auckland to Brisbane to Honiara (the Solomons’ capital), but also from a familiar culture to a very different one; from dry, dusty hills to hot, steamy, tropical islands.

Over the next few months I’ll be blogging on this page, keeping you up to date with some of the things I’ve been doing, the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met. Thanks for your support of VSA’s Project Friendship and I hope you enjoy my blog.

It's still not too late to give your support to VSA's Project Friendship. Register your school or youth group to take part in Project Friendship now.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Football in the rain

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:25:28 +1200

Kia ora, I’m Mattie and I’m volunteering at Northern Care Youth Centre (NCYC) in Luganville, Vanuatu. The centre is a place where youth who don’t go to school anymore or don’t have jobs can come and learn skills, make friends and use the clinic which is attached to the centre. We have heaps of clubs running at NCYC such as music, computer, crafts and hip-hop. I work with the Youth Centre Coordinator, Charlie, and together we make sure the clubs run smoothly and arrange different activities and workshops each month.

One of the most recent events that we organised was a football tournament. Unfortunately in Vanuatu weather can be very unpredictable and rain can strike without warning at any time.The rain can get heavy really fast too, and people here normally choose to wait it out rather than get wet, choosing to stop under store fronts or trees until it has stopped.

So not surprisingly, mid morning, just into our second game of the tournament the first drops of rain came down, and soon after it was pouring. We all huddled under the stage in the middle of the park for shelter and I waited for the football team to all start running in and the referee to call an end to a failed tournament. But the teams kept playing. A few people slipped a bit and small lakes emerged on the grass but they all kept playing.

Charlie and I seeking shelter on the stage and trying to decide whether or not to cancel the tournament.

I guess that’s the great thing about sport. It doesn’t matter whether you are drenched in the rain on a Vanuatu football field or trying to stop your teeth from chattering on a mid-winter New Zealand netball court, your primary focus is the game and you will think about getting dry and warm later. The football tournament kept going and eventually in the early afternoon the rain stopped, leaving us just enough time to finish the tournament and hand out prizes, before pouring down again as we all left to go home.

Teams continued to play in the pouring rain.

Needless to say, with events like this happening every month, I love volunteering at NCYC. It is so great that young people in New Zealand are buying friendship bracelets and supporting the work (and the football tournaments!) at NCYC too.

It's still not too late to give your support to VSA's Project Friendship. Register your school or youth group to take part in Project Friendship now.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

New VSA Council announced

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:49:50 +1200

The new VSA Council has been announced following the election held during September.

The new VSA Council members are: Professor Tony Binns, Don Higgins, Susan Hinkley, Shona Jennings, Dr Simon Mark, Evan Mayson, Farib Sos and Sandy Stephens.

We received 14 nominations for the eight positions on the Council.

The new Council will begin its three-year term after the Annual General Meeting being held in Wellington on 6 November.

Many thanks to the outgoing Council members – your contribution over the last three years is much appreciated.

VSA's Vietnam programme comes to an end

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:18:18 +1200

VSA has now ended its programme in Vietnam. VSA’s last volunteer in Vietnam, Anne de Bres, finished a short-term assignment as a nurse educator in the neo-natal department of Binh Dinh Province Hospital at the end of June. She was one of about 60 VSA volunteers who worked in Binh Dinh province since VSA set up its programme there in 1992.

VSA chief executive officer Debbie Snelson says it is fitting that VSA’s final assignment in Vietnam was health related, as health was a major focus of the programme over the last 19 years.

The first group of volunteers to go on assignment in Binh Dinh province included a primary health care specialist and a maintenance adviser who helped get essential equipment at the Province Hospital functioning again. Since then volunteers have included medical laboratory technologists, physiotherapists, midwives, and nurses. In recent years, they have focused on training and mentoring local staff, rather than filling in-line positions.

“We’re proud to have been able to support our partners, the Binh Dinh Department of Health and the Binh Dinh Red Cross, to improve health services in the province,” Ms Snelson says.

Anne de Bres working at Binh Dinh Province Hospital

New Zealand has a long association with Binh Dinh province, which is one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, several New Zealand medical teams were based there, and the New Zealand government funded a new children’s ward at the Province Hospital.

When former VSA director Chris Hawley went to Binh Dinh in 1990 to investigate the possibility of setting up a programme there, he found the local people had not forgotten the New Zealanders who helped them during the war.

“Even after so many years, they still had a lot of respect for New Zealand and for New Zealanders,” he recalls. “They remembered that the New Zealand staff had been prepared to treat everyone, regardless of which side they were on.”

As well as focusing on health, VSA volunteers in Binh Dinh carried out assignments in rural development, fisheries and education. They were supported by a team of dedicated local interpreters, including Phuoc Nguyen who joined the VSA interpreting team in January 1996. He went on to become an indispensible part of VSA’s programme in Binh Dinh, becoming the programme administrator in November 2002, then taking on the job of field officer in January 2006.

Phuoc Nguyen at the VSA offices in Wellington last year.

“The page isn’t big enough to wax lyrical about Phuoc,” says Dee Cresswell who worked with Phuoc when she was the VSA Field Representative based in the provincial capital Qui Nhon. “He is consistent, he is calm and unruffled, and he is extremely patient.”

Ms Snelson agrees: “Nothing is too much for Phuoc. It’s been an honour to work with him; he is very committed to the development of his country, and he built a real engagement with the volunteers.”

Sustainable fishing in Qui Nhon.

Cooking banana blossom, peel and stem

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:13:58 +1200

While on assignment as a Food and Nutrition Adviser with SIDO (Small Industries Development Organisation) I was invited by fellow VSA volunteer Mike Allard to train some of the trainers at his partner organisation, Global Service Corps (GSC), also based in Arusha.

We arranged a three day course to undertake food processing training and to demonstrate how to cook banana blossom, peel and stem. These are currently either fed to animals or simply thrown away. Bananas are a staple here in Tanzania and the use of blossom, peel and stem of banana can add significantly to the variety of foods currently consumed. It is readily available in practically everyone's back yard.

Having been born in Sri Lanka, they are familiar food for me. They’re used throughout Asia and in Sri Lanka and banana blossoms in particular are a common cooking ingredient.

I wanted to show that although this raw food source currently is fed to animals or dumped as waste on a daily basis, it could be used as a source of sustenance for communities here.

We harvested raw materials from banana trees in the back yard
of the GSC office where the training was carried out.

These were banana blossom, banana stem, green banana peel and
a banana bunch to get the flesh.

Then we prepared and cooked each material. Once these materials were cut, the most important thing was to immediately add them to salt water.

Banana blossom

It was nice to see great team work preparing and cooking banana blossom.
We removed the outer petals and used only the inner part for cooking.

We cooked the onion and crushed garlic. Then we added the cut peel squeezing out the salt water and added spices of our choice, eg pilau masala, curry powder.

We cooked until the peel was tender. Next we added diced tomato and continued to simmer. Some milk (optional) can make it real nice.

Banana peel

Green peel of the banana is also prepared in the same way as
the blossom.

Banana stem

So is it really possible to eat the stem? Yes, the innermost part
of the tender section of the stem.

The leaf sheathes were carefully removed to get to the central pith. After removing one leaf sheath at a time we finally got the pith which was first sliced and then diced into small cubes. Outer leaf sheathes can still be fed to animals but the central pith can be cooked into a delicious vegetable.

Finally, the taste test

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Kokopo’s first netball gala

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:09:30 +1200

What happens when you mix a Kiwi, an Aussie, a tropical island and a distinct lack of netball? Kokopo’s first Netball Gala and mini-tournament that’s what.

Grass courts at the local high school

It’s all started when two homesick volunteers, the local PE teachers and women’s groups started asking the same question ‘Where is Netball in East New Britain? While Port Moresby has a well-established competitive league, secondary schools in ENB were struggling to keep it in the curriculum despite interest from both students and women in the wider community.

While New Zealand and Australia may be sworn enemies on the netball court, distance and desperation led Elizabeth Brennen (AVI Volunteer) and Alice Keeling (VSA Volunteer) to approach the local girls secondary school (Our lady of the Sacred Heart or OLSH) to see if there was some way to get involved in a school competition.

After a series of discussions and meetings with interested schools, and young business women it was quickly decided that something had to be done, especially in the lead up to the 2012 PNG games which are to be held outside of Port Moresby for the first time in Kokopo. It was decided to hold a few coaching clinics to gauge interest and skill level. Interest was high and we had about 20 players turn up to each clinic along with just as many spectators and passersby.

Elizabeth Brennan umpiring a gala game

As the date for the tournament approached, schools were slowing down for end of the year exams but a week out we had eight teams confirmed. We had to shift the start time to the morning to ensure we had enough time to fit in all the games .

The day itself came together smoothly and uncannily on time! We roped in another Kiwi, the then VSA Country Programme Manager Camille Kirtlan and another Aussie Shana Read to help out with umpiring. The provincial sports representative provided actual netballs (we’d been practising with volleyballs or soccer balls as nowhere in East New Britain stocks netballs). The participating teams chose their team colour and made their own bibs and OLSH secondary school sports teacher Mr Baining organised (and re-organised) the draw as the number of teams arriving grew well beyond our expectations.

The girls in action

Playing right next to the Kokopo’s main throughfare, and opposite the largest supermarket in town meant we had captive and curious audience also. The school’s two grass courts had been marked out especially with black oil and quickly splashes of red, white, yellow and green t-shirts covered the courts and gathered under the shades of the mango trees. The sound of women shouting and whistles blowing meant you could have been at any weekend competition in New Zealand, Australia or Port Moresby.

After close to four hours of competition, the points were tallied up and the winner (the team that scored the most points over the day) announced. Kokopo Secondary School students, teachers and friends took out the top spot and took home a small prize.

Myself and Mr Bianing checking the final scores

The gala was a huge success and everyone was asking when the next would be held and there was talk of a regular weekly competition. Team captains swapped mobile numbers and arranged social games.

As a woman, as a volunteer, as a Kiwi, and a netball player the highlight of the coaching sessions and gala for me was to see the smiles on the girls faces, hear the confidence grow in their calls and watch the swarm of colour descend on the courts – bring on 2012 and the PNG games!

Although neither of us volunteers will still be in East New Britain in 2012, over the past few months we have witnessed and enjoyed the enthusiasm of local groups of women, young and old enjoying a game that crosses all sorts of social, cultural differences and barriers – it even made life long friends out of two sworn netball enemies.

When in Choiseul...bake bread!

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:15:26 +1200

During my time in Choiseul I was fortunate enough to sample Malcolm’s famous bread. Malcolm is a VSA Legal Adviser working for the Choiseul Provincial Government and he is famous in Taro and among Ministry and VSA staff members for his bread. For quite some time now, I have been fascinated by the method used to make this delicious bread.

Luckily for me, Malcolm not only taught me how to make this good stuff, but he even let me document the process for this blog. So, if you’re currently bread-less and confined to only a gas cooker, learn from the Master on how you can curb those sandwich cravings.

Ingredients:

* Flour

* Salt

* Water

* Yeast

* Oil

You will need:

* Large bowl

* Sieve

* Spoon

* Tea towel

* Small metal bowl or other heat proof vessel

* Small metal stand (something to rest your baking vessel on)

* Large pot with lid (must be large enough to contain baking vessel and small wire rack)

* Stove top (can be camping stove, gas or conventional oven)

Step 1

Put three sieves worth of flour into large bowl. Be careful to sieve out the weevils!

Step 2

Warm up a small amount of water (pictured).

Step 3

Add about a half teaspoonful of salt and a tablespoon of yeast.

Step 4

Mix it all up.

Step 5

Add some of your warm water.

Step 6

Mix it up with your hands to make a dough (pictured). If it’s too dry then add a little bit more water. Knead until dough feels silky.

Step 7

Put dough in large bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave for 20 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.

Step 8

Once dough has doubled in size, do a second round of kneading.

Step 9

Pour a little oil into the small bowl/other baking vessel and spread it around to cover sides.

Step 10

Set up equipment: place large pot on element with wire rack/stand inside. Set small bowl/other baking vessel on top of the wire rack/stand.

Step 11

Place dough inside small bowl/other baking vessel (pictured).

Step 12

Cover large pot with tea towel and let the dough rise again until it sits just above the rim of the bowl (recommend checking frequently, but should take another 15-20 minutes).

Step 13

Once dough has risen to just above the rim of the bowl, place the lid on the pot. You are now ready to bake! Turn the stove up to the ‘exact’ temperature and bake bread for about 20 minutes.

Note: exact temperature may vary. This is an art and a science

Step 14

Once your bread has achieved the desired colour, turn heat off and leave the bowl to cool before popping the bread out and...

ta daaaaaa........

Serving Suggestion

Solomon Islands manufactured curry flavoured “Taiyo” tuna as an open sandwich – delicious!

A huge thank you goes to Malcolm for sharing his bread, recipe and technique with me, as well as for letting me include pictures. Good ol’ Kiwi ingenuity lives on!

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Star-spotting in Bougainville

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:47:48 +1200

VSA’s Bougainville volunteers and staff had a chance to tour the set and meet some of the cast and crew of Mister Pip on a recent visit to the village of Pidia, where the film is currently being shot.

The group of Arawa-based volunteers, along with Bougainville country programme manager Murray Benbow, travelled to Pidia in the motorised banana boats that will be donated to the village once filming is finished.

The boats were part of a “village deal” Murray helped broker with the villagers last year. His work was important in making sure that filming of Mister Pip – based on the novel by Lloyd Jones and starring British actor Hugh Laurie – took place in Bougainville rather than Solomon Islands,

While they were in Pidia the VSA group saw the church, school room and school master’s house that had been specially built for the film, and watched a beach scene featuring local children being filmed. They also spotted Hugh Laurie and musician Tim Finn, who is composing the music for the film.

The VSA group visiting the set of Mister Pip

Murray says the filming has created a sense of excitement and anticipation in Bougainville.

“I have heard several times people saying that this will show what people really experienced during the conflict,” he says.

The filming, which is scheduled to finish in early July, has provided some unexpected opportunities for VSA volunteers and their partners – including appearing as extras in a scene showing white expats escaping the conflict in Bougainville. Volunteer Virginia Pycroft has also helped with the production’s finances, while Lindsay Riddick, husband of volunteer Nora Riddick, spent several days working as Hugh Laurie’s “stand-in” before filming began. Rosie Hall, wife of volunteer Dave Hall, has been providing administrative support to the film crew.

Rosie is also busy cataloguing the 500 books which arrived in the container used to transport the film equipment to Bougainville. Rosie is helping set up a library to cater for the wide range of age groups at a local primary school.

“Friends and service groups in New Zealand very generously donated about 500 books for the library, but the cost of postage was a big hurdle in getting them to Bougainville,” she says. “We are really grateful that the film crew were able to bring the books with their equipment.”

Arawa school children examine their new books.

She has already taken some of the books to the school, much to the delight of both pupils and staff.

“They’re thrilled with their developing library.”

VSA's March appeal

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:44:09 +1200

Thanks for generously supporting our March appeal: Rebuilding communities in the Pacific. The appeal raised $11,198.60 with the highest donation of $1,200 coming from a Christchurch couple who told us to "keep up the good work".

Our March appeal focussed on VSA's work rebuilding communities coping with the aftermath of natural disasters and civil conflict. It highlighted the work of Wendy Roger (pictured below), who was on assignment at the Arawa Women's Training Centre in Bougainville. Wendy is one of the many volunteers who has worked in Bougainville since VSA set up its programme in 1998.

$2,000 fundraising target for volunteers

Watch out for a VSA volunteer quiz, movie night, auction or sponsored walk in your area now that volunteers will be fundraising on behalf of VSA. Our new policy encourages volunteers to fundraise $2,000 to help support VSA assignments. Already our first group of newly-selected volunteers are out in the community fundraising before they set off on assignment. Local VSA branches have welcomed the policy saying it will be a good opportunity for them to get involved with volunteers before they depart.

VSA supporters get behind change

The work we do at VSA is all about change. Our June edition of Vista looks at how VSA volunteers are helping rural Ni-Vanuatu develop small, sustainable tourism ventures to supplement their subsistence lifestyles. The appeal has already raised $1,160. Read the Vista article

If you'd like to help our volunteers work alongside communities striving for change, donate to VSA.

Camille Kirtlan, Timor-Leste and Polynesia Programme Officer

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:19:17 +1200

Camille Kirtlan has recently started working in our Wellington office as a Programme Officer supporting volunteers in Timor-Leste and Polynesia. Camille has a long history with VSA. She spent four years in South Africa as a volunteer; she then became VSA’s South Africa in-country programme officer, and has just finished two years as Country Programme Manager in Papua New Guinea. She returned to Wellington in May.

Camille presenting new rugby uniforms to the Bulls rugby team in East New Britain. The rugby strip was given to the team by the North Otago Rugby Union. The Union was made aware of the Bulls' need for new uniforms by former VSA volunteer Bill Kingan.

Why did you make the switch from VSA volunteer to staff member?

The learnings and experiences I received from being a volunteer in South Africa gave me both an insight to development and a lasting connection to Africa. When the opportunity to apply for the In-country Programme Officer’s post in South Africa came up I applied and as is often said …the rest is history

What do you see as the main role of a country programme manager?

I think the main role is relationship building. Relationships with volunteers, partner organisations and the rest of the community (business, governmental agencies and NGOs) that VSA is part of in-country are key to VSA being respected and successful.

What was the favourite part of your job in PNG?

The wide variety of people through all the relationships I established that I met, listened to and got to know was the part of the job I liked and got the most job satisfaction from.

What do you think is the key to VSA’s success?

Respectful relationships based on the general humility most Kiwis have toward others.

What makes a great volunteer?

Having an open mind, being non judgmental, having a sense of humour and an ability to listen, watch and learn that there’s always more than one way of doing things and it’s usually going to be in quite a different timeframe than you’d expect.

How are you finding being back in Wellington?

Apart from being a bit cold when others think it’s warm I am really enjoying being back in Wellington and reconnecting with family and friends.

If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

A warm place preferably on a direct flight route. I am quite over transit lounges and security scanners.

June's returned volunteers

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:44:09 +1200

Volunteers returning from assignment between April and June 2011

John Herd and Alison Moore – Vanuatu

John and Alison definitely fitted well into Vanuatu life, being on VSA assignment for a combined total of nine years. John first volunteered for a record breaking four-and-a-half years. Then Alison's unassigned activities (consolidating resource publications at Wan Smolbag Theatre) morphed into a two-year Graphic Design assignment in 2006, followed by more of the same post assignment, supporting her replacements.

John’s last assignment was as Network and Systems Administrator with Wan Smolbag. He helped set up an integrated network of 35 computers, connecting the main offices, the nearby nutrition/sports centre and the Luganville office 200km away on a different island. Having the network now means everyone can share documents and send emails using a secure system.

John also tutored students in the computer lab using 3D modelling/animation programs such as Google Sketchup and Moviestorm. As John says: “There are obviously disadvantages to being in a developing country, but when you’re using the same software as everyone else you can tell just as good a story and animate as well as anyone in America or anywhere else. You can create something that can be seen all over the world.” Some of his students, such as Francis, have gone on to bigger and better things. Francis was first given work with the film crew on Smolbag’s soap opera, Love Patrol, and has now been taken on as a trainee cameraman.

After so long away from New Zealand, John and Alison are enjoying meeting up with old friends and taking their time adjusting to their new life. They are now living back in Nelson.

Nicky Brown – Cambodia

Nicky’s role as Shelter Services Management Adviser with the Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children's Rights (CCPCR) included everything from office administration to teaching English, computer training and even self-defence lessons.

Typically there would be around 20 girls staying at the shelter, brought in by the police or social welfare organisations. The girls were often victims of trafficking or domestic violence. Social workers at the centre helped with the often slow and difficult process of preparing them to rejoin the community.

As well as helping the Centre raise funds to continue its work, Nicky helped the girls with important life skills, such as meal planning and vocational skills of sewing and computer training. Many of the girls managed to rejoin the community following assistance at the centre getting work as hairdressers and seamstresses, while others went on to get married and have families.

Back in New Zealand, Nicky is reunited with her husband in Ashburton and now has a job as a Youth Health Centre Coordinator.

Douglas Hancock – Tanzania

Douglas worked as a Legal and Rights Adviser with HIV/AIDs charity Mildmay International. His role was all about building an understanding of human rights among staff which often took him to remote villages and communities. There he would talk and work with both those whose human rights were being compromised and those in a position to make a difference.

As Douglas comments, "I came from a human rights policy and legal background in Wellington but my VSA assignment involved being in an environment where people's rights were less understood and protected. On the upside, it was also possible to make a positive difference and build awareness quickly with interested people."

Douglas recalls going to a village with Mildmay colleagues after hearing reports of a young girl who was HIV positive being mistreated by her family. "I was expecting to be met by a tyrannical grandmother," says Douglas "but of course what I found were parents' graves by the family house and a grandmother, effectively the only remaining caregiver, desperately trying to look after the child." “It made me reflect on the place of ideals in an environment of deprivation."

Douglas says that he and his colleague at Mildmay talked to village leaders about possible solutions which resulted in a real plan to get the granddaughter back to school and other villagers volunteering to foster her while the family got back on their feet. "The solution," says Douglas "was ultimately made by the villagers with our help and the girl's situation drastically improved. It was one of the most satisfying pieces of work I have ever been involved with."

Douglas is now back in Wellington working in his previous role in the Human Rights team at the Ministry of Justice.

Francoise Lafferty-Hancock – Tanzania

Francoise, like husband Douglas (see above), also volunteered with Mildmay International but as a Business Support Adviser. Francoise along with counterpart Oswald Tesha helped villagers make the most out of the various food production and income-generation initiatives set up by Mildmay.

One such initiative involved providing food security projects to people living with HIV/AIDS in villages in the Kilimanjaro region. These projects were driven by the locals and supported by Mildmay Tanzania. They included poultry, goat and pig farming projects as well as a bakery project. The purpose of the projects was to provide people living with HIV with a sustainable source of food and potential income generation in the future.

When the animals bred, the people involved in the project would pass the first and third born animals on to another person who was also living with HIV. Francoise and Oswadl's visits involved checking up on the projects to find out if there were any problems or if any further training was required. "Much of our work was actually about helping people with basic animal husbandry," says Francoise. "Oswald also being a pig farmer in his spare time, was a real asset to this work and his experiences really helped people in the villages improve their practices."

While Oswald was the animal husbandry expert, Francoise used her project management skills to ensure records were kept of the visits, action plans were developed and agreed to on the spot and people were put in charge to deal with issues within timeframes.

On returning to the office Oswald and Francoise worked together on the trip report which was well received by management. "The work we did and the way we reported on it can be used again in the many field visits our organisation does," comments Francoise.

Francoise is now back in Wellington and currently working as an Advisor in the public sector.

Jane Rutledge – South Africa

VSA’s support of partner organisation CIVICUS’ goal to build civil society globally was strengthened with Jane’s assignment as Marketing Adviser. Jane’s role, based in Johannesburg, was to coach and mentor her CIVICUS counterpart so she could then manage all membership communications once Jane left.

As well as mentoring staff, Jane undertook research on human rights and civil society as well as convening global meetings around the world. Jane particularly enjoyed working on an African NGO response to the Haiti crisis which she did in partnership with Nelson Mandela’s wife, Graça Machel. This has resulted in significant funding raised to build a hospital or school in a rural community in Haiti.

Jane’s overwhelming thoughts about her time on assignment was one that provided the most amazing learning experience working as she did in such a high profile NGO alongside such an amazing calibre of people. Jane is now back in New Zealand, based in Auckland ready to complete her Masters.

Mike Allard – Tanzania

Mike worked as an HIV/AIDS Programme Adviser with Global Service Corps.

Marianne Shumacher – Cambodia

Marianne Schumacher worked as a Strategic Management Adviser at the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation.

Peter Gibbons – Cambodia

Peter Gibbons worked as an Education Adviser (Planning) at the Takeo Provincial Office of Education, Youth and Sport.

Bill Shields – Cambodia

Bill worked as a Management Adviser at Svay Rieng University.

Doug Tennant – Solomon Islands

Doug Tennent worked as a Legal Adviser at Western Provincial Government.

Elspeth Kendall-Carpenter – Zambia

Elspeth worked on a short-term assignment as a Palliative Care Facilitator at Choma District HIV and AIDS Taskforce.

Charles Coombe – Zambia

Charles worked as an Irrigation Quality Controller at International Development Enterprises.

We’ll update future issue of Talk Talk with news on our other returned volunteers as they settle in to life wherever they are.

Check out our current volunteer vacancies

Support our work

Therapy for life

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:42:00 +1200

Auckland-based Victoria Degerman has spent the past 21 months living in Bougainville and working as a School Counsellor on VSA assignment at Hutjena Secondary School. With just a few months of her assignment remaining, she reflects back on her achievements and life on this lush and generous island.

Listening to peoples’ stories and helping in ways that can have a lasting positive effect on their wellbeing is more a privilege than work. That’s kind of how I see my work as a School Counsellor here in Bougainville as my time is drawing to a close. Over the past months at Hutjena Secondary School, the mixed boarding school where I work, I’ve met with around 150 students. Many more pop into the office for non-counselling chats and to ask for help with a range of other issues.

The school has approximately 800 students and as schools go here in Bougainville, it is probably one of the better resourced with a total of 25 teachers (as well as four teaching vacancies) and a beautiful coconut-fringed school ground.

Students at Hutjena Secondary School

I’ve probably met between 5-10 children (boys and girls) each week in my art-adorned office in temperatures often pushing a stifling 35 ºC. Some children come and see me just once while others are regulars. Problems are often universal ones – study-related, romantic and difficult relationships with distant families. And while I’ve rarely met up with a student who has issues directly related to the Bougainville crisis, family violence, alcohol abuse and abandonment can often be traced to this gruesome period in Bougainville’s history.

Sharing skills

Apart from seeing children and staff (in PNG, school counselling is also available to staff), I’ve been working closely with my two enthusiastic counterparts, Andrew Panikun and Julie Koloua. Every week we’ve been working together in training sessions to help build counselling skills within the school. They are doing a great job and I know that much of the success of this assignment is down to their individual dedication. This year we have also managed to reduce their teaching load so they can focus more on counselling. If this stays the same I feel positive that they will be able to carry the Hutjena school counselling work forward.

Victoria's colleagues, Julie Koloua and Andrew Panikun

Even more great news is that the Bougainville Education Board has recently committed to employing a full-time counsellor at every high school in Bougainville by 2012. It will be great to follow the progress of this initiative.

Not just a day job

To me, the Bougainville experience has been so much more than just my ‘day job’. I’m sure anyone who has worked in Bougainville will agree that after-work activities are just as fulfilling as those on assignment.

I’ve been fortunate, for example, to coach a triathlon team; a group of three boys who previously had no experience of the sport: Allan Takera (17), Gabriel Marimes (20) and Mitchel Kouro (19). In 2010 we travelled to Port Moresby to a triathlon event where the boys were three of only a handful of local participants competing. Most competitors were very experienced, well-resourced ex-pats. But, with a bike that I borrowed the day before and a couple of month's training behind them the boys gave it 100 per cent. The whole experience, including being interviewed for PNG TV, only fuelled their enthusiasm for the sport. With another VSA volunteer offering to continue their training, I’m hopeful they will carry on.

The tiathlon boys after the competition

Lately I’ve also started up a Zumba group with the school girls and female teachers on Saturday mornings. The group is large and the laughter loud. I’ve also spent many weekends in villages, giving talks on requested topics to women with my entertaining Tok Pisin, Pidgin. This has been a lot of fun and very rewarding.

Saturday morning Zumba

Getting out and about, sharing stories, tears and laughter, skills and knowledge, is what it has all been about for me on VSA assignment. I’ve loved my time as a school counsellor and if I had to pick one particular thing I’m most proud of, I’d have to say it’s been to get among the community, to build genuine friendships with people and dedicate myself fully to the students and the school. All this has given me a sense of being a valuable part of the community and helped to make my assignment successful.

Interested in volunteering? Check out our current vacancies.

When the world calls

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:41:12 +1200

When the World Calls is a meticulously researched, comprehensive and very readable history of the Peace Corps from its inception under John F Kennedy through to the early days of the Obama presidency.

By Stanley Meisler

Published by Beacon Press, 2011

Stanley Meisler is ideally placed to write such a history. A former foreign and diplomatic correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and one-time deputy director of evaluation and research for the Peace Corps, he knows the politics of the organisation and of Washington. And the politics of the two have always been intertwined.

The Peace Corps was founded in 1961; its founding director, Sargent Shriver, was President Kennedy’s brother-in-law. Later Presidents varied in their opinions of the organisation. Johnson tolerated it, Nixon loathed it for allowing its volunteers to openly protest the Vietnam War, Reagan was wooed by its director, Carter divided it and Obama’s choice of director was controversial.

The Peace Corps has had 18 directors over its 50-year life, each of them a Presidential appointment. It is an agency of government, and although it was conceived as being independent of both US foreign policy and other government aid agencies, it has undoubtedly been used by various administrations to advance US interests in the countries it works in. Meisler is candid about this, while clearly admiring of directors who fought to keep the organisation as free of interference as possible.

But this is more than just an insightful look at the politics of the organisation. It also features the stories of some of the 200,000 returned and current volunteers. Given the speed with which the organisation grew – from zero to 15,000 volunteers in five years – there were always going to be assignments with questionable benefits. And given the number of volunteers, most of whom were young and with little experience of life outside the United States, there were going to be a number of highly visible failures. But after reading the book I felt that, in the main, these were people who were committed both to the ideals of the Peace Corps and to the communities in which they lived and worked, and they did what they could to make a difference.

If I have one criticism about this book it is the mawkish tone Meisler takes in the chapter devoted to whether or not the Peace Corps ultimately does any good. His usual fluency eludes him here and I wonder if this is because he has not been a volunteer himself. But this is a small quibble about an otherwise fascinating book. The history of the Peace Corps offers some object lessons for anyone working in development or involved in running a development agency.

* Reviewed by Don Higgins, VSA Council President

An award-winning passion for the food of Lao PDR

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:51:41 +1200

Former VSA volunteer Dorothy Culloty’s passion for the food of Lao PDR has been recognised at the prestigious Gourmand World Food Cookbook Awards.

By Dorothy Culloty

Published by Galangal Press, 2010

Her cookbook, Food from Northern Laos: The Boat Landing Cookbook, was judged runner up, best Asian cookbook in the 2010 awards, announced in Paris in March this year.

Dorothy spent three and a half years on assignment for VSA as an adviser with the Rural Research and Development Training Centre in Vientiane in Lao PDR, finishing in February 2008. She was accompanied by her husband Kees Springers, a photographer, who took the photographs for the book.

Dorothy was one of 32 volunteers who went on assignment to Lao PDR between 1988 and 2010. VSA suspended its programme there late last year as part of our move to focus our work in the wider Pacific area. The last VSA volunteer to work in Lao PDR, Ken McIntyre, returned in December after two years teaching English to government officials and mentoring English teachers at the Lao PDR Institute of Foreign Affairs. He has recently started a new assignment in Timor-Leste.

Dorothy, who now lives in Thailand, has been passionate about the food of Lao PDR for many years. Before her VSA assignment she produced nine postcards of Lao PDR recipes, as well as a Lao PDR and English guide to the vegetables of Lao.

She describes the food of Lao PDR as the ultimate in “slow food”.

“In Laos, the local fresh markets and forest provide an abundance of local produce, harvested or gathered the same day. ‘Slow food’ is what Lao food is all about – it’s food that is locally and sustainably produced, and always fresh.”

The recipes in the book are based on those made at the Boat Landing Guest House and Restaurant, an eco-lodge in Luang Namtha, a province in the north-west of the country. They feature ingredients such as chilli wood and snake gourd, as well as more traditional Asian ingredients such as lemongrass, fish sauce and fresh coriander.

Steamed green beans with roasted garlic, ginger or sesame seeds

Ingredients

250 g green beans, topped and tailed (or substitute asparagus)
12 cloves garlic, roasted and peeled. (Cook the entire head before peeling the required cloves)
1 piece ginger, thumb-size, roasted and peeled (if not using sesame seeds)
2–3 T sesame seeds (if not using ginger)
2–3 T light soy sauce
1 t salt
2 t fish sauce

The changing face of volunteering

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:39:00 +1200

Volunteering for development has undergone many changes over the last 50 years. Adele Broadbent looks at the latest challenges facing organisations like VSA.

Volunteer teacher Richard Mackay with a pupil from the
recorder club he set up at the Government Secondary
School in Serian, Sarawak. The photo was use to
advertise VSA's 1967 school leavers programme.

VSA’s first volunteers Ivan and Molly Short were big news when they arrived in Thailand in July 1963.

The couple disembarked from an Air Force Hercules in Bangkok to be met by the New Zealand Ambassador, military personnel and Thai officials – and “lots of flashbulbs”. Articles about them appeared in several Bangkok newspapers, as well as in New Zealand.

During the 20 months the Shorts were in Thailand they were minor celebrities. So were thousands of volunteers from other Western countries who, inspired by the idealism of the 1960s, headed off to work in what was then known as the “Third World”.

VSA's first volunteer Ivan Short on assignment in Thailand in 1963.

As American Bill Moyers, who helped found the Peace Corps in the United States, observed in a recent magazine interview: “To volunteer for the Peace Corps in the early 1960s was to be Don Quixote and Galahad cast in one volunteer. It was romantic. It was that we were celebrities. The Peace Corps was the newest celebrity in the New Frontier.”

Almost half a century and more than 3,500 VSA volunteers later, the celebrity status is gone, and the idealism has been tempered by the recognition that achieving real change can be a long, slow and sometimes difficult process.

The nature of volunteering has changed too. In the early days, VSA volunteers taught in classrooms or filled hands-on roles in agriculture. They were often untrained young graduates or, in the case of the school leavers programme which ran from 1965 to 1975, inexperienced 17 and 18-year-olds. Today’s VSA volunteers are experienced professionals who work alongside their communities. Instead of teaching children in a classroom, for example, they mentor or provide in-service training to other teachers or principals.

These changes in volunteering partly reflect changes in global attitudes towards aid. In the last half-century, theories about what will work to create long-lasting development in the world’s poorer nations have changed with the political fashion of each era. Originally it was about modernising developing nations, just as the West had done. Then it was about getting rid of state control and privatising state assets.

More recently, with the signing of the Paris Declaration in 2005, “ownership” has become one of the five pillars of good development. Developing countries are now encouraged to lead their own development strategies and run their own development programmes in partnership with donor countries.

Many would argue that along the way the big donors – mainly the governments of OECD countries – have carefully placed their money, and controlled how it has been spent, according to geographical alliances and historical ties.

Now, with worldwide recession, concerns about climate change, and a swing to more conservative political polices, aid and development programmes face uncertainty. At times of financial stress governments become less altruistic, and more pragmatic about where they spend their money. In this environment, volunteering for development faces interesting challenges as it continues to evolve in the context of the ever-changing needs of the billion-dollar aid and development sector.

This evolution can be seen in recent changes at VSA, which announced earlier this year that it is expanding its short-term volunteering programme to meet the changing needs of its partner organisations and provide more skilled New Zealanders with the opportunity to volunteer.

Many similar agencies around the world are doing the same. A recent report on international volunteering by Cliff Allum, the chief executive officer of British volunteering organisation Skillshare International, identifies short-term volunteering as one of the major changes in volunteering in the last decade.

His report, New Developments in Programme Models, suggests that this interest in short-term placements has come partly from the growing relationship between volunteering agencies and the corporate sector.

VSA’s Australian counterpart, AVI, has been one of the pioneers in developing these new relationships. In the last few years, it has re-evaluated its partnerships, and used its skills in recruiting and briefing for cross-cultural professional contact to open up new partnerships and opportunities.

This has resulted, for example, in a partnership with the ANZ bank to provide volunteering opportunities to ANZ staff throughout Asia and the Pacific. Among the projects being piloted as part of this new partnership is one in which ANZ staff in Papua New Guinea work as volunteers with the national university to help improve student administration processes.

VSA, too, has started exploring partnership opportunities with a wide range of private sector and government organisations. This may eventually see VSA acting as a “broker” for organisations keen to develop short-term volunteering opportunities for their staff.

Cliff Allum’s report identifies other significant changes in volunteering. These include the development of ‘south to south’ volunteering, in which volunteers in developing countries come from other developing countries. This has happened in his own organisation which has, for example, recruited Nigerian doctors to work in Mozambique. He says south to south volunteering has developed partly in response to the realisation that volunteers from developing countries often have experiences that make them more effective than their counterparts from developed countries.

Online or virtual volunteering is another growing area in the sector, as is “voluntourism”, the growing volunteering tourism industry which encourages those with disposable income to pay to spend their holidays volunteering in parts of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.

The popularity of voluntourism reflects the continuing appetite for volunteering. But according to VSA’s chief executive officer Debbie Snelson, it can make it difficult for the public to understand what volunteers working in development actually do, and where they fit.

These changes have been watched with interest by the International Forum on Development Service (known as FORUM), the leading network of international volunteer organisations. Snelson has chaired FORUM for the last two years. She says it has been an excellent mechanism for members to share ideas about different ways of involving volunteers in development programmes, and getting a wider range of people volunteering by building relationships with sectors not traditionally seen as development players.

“NGOs in our area are aware that eradicating poverty requires systematic change not just in skills but sustainable financial resources, policy changes at government level, and ongoing research. So for the volunteers’ work to lead to sustainable change, organisations like VSA need to be working alongside governments, private enterprise, and communities.”

Volunteer Margarette Cantwell working with preschool coordinators
from the Vanuatu Eli Jaelhud Asosiesen (VEJA). Margarette's
assignment finished last year.

However, like most in the sector Snelson sees long-term volunteering as the most effective model; she says it will continue to remain at the core of VSA’s work. This stand is backed by recent research looking at the effectiveness of long-term (a year or more) volunteering for development carried out at Murdoch University in Perth. It concluded that long-term volunteering fills a niche not covered by large donors and projects.

Peter Devereux, a lecturer in sustainable development at Murdoch University, interviewed international volunteers and other stakeholders in 80 countries, looking at long-term volunteering and its characteristics, contributions and recognition. He found that effective, long-term international volunteering for development builds connections that bigger programmes cannot.

“International volunteers highlight the importance of local accountability, respect for local values and knowledge, the appropriate pace and character of interventions, and the need to remain engaged despite difficult conditions – all fundamentals of capacity development.”

This article first appeared in May 2011 issue of VSA's magazine Vista.

June's new volunteers heading out on assignment

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:38:49 +1200

Featuring our new volunteers from this month.

ASIA

Cambodia

JOCK STRUTHERS is currently concluding a three month assignment with VSA as an Organisational Strategy Adviser with the Cambodian Center for the Protection of the Children's Rights (CCPCR) in Phnom Penh. Jock will be heading back to his Blenheim home following his three month assignment at the end of June.

Timor-Leste

Wanganui-based KEN MCINTYRE was barely back from a VSA assignment in the Lao PDR when he successfully applied for a new two year assignment, this time with the Dili Institute of Technology based in Timor-Leste. Ken will be an English Language Adviser, assisting the teachers at the institute to develop good quality, vocationally-specific resources for students.

MELANESIA

Papua New Guinea

Wellingtonian MICHAEL STEWART was previously teaching at South Wellington Intermediate School before taking up a three year assignment as a Teacher Trainer at Vunapope International Primary School in Kokopo, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Michael is assisting teachers in developing their physical education and IT teaching programmes. He is setting up a reading recovery system for students who need extra help with their English skills. Local teachers have been very welcoming and receptive to new ideas and are keen to apply new skills in their teaching practice.

New Plymouth resident, PETER BLINKHORNE, has recently started his VSA assignment as a Financial and Operational Management Adviser with partner organisation, Mahonia Na Dari in Kimbe, West New Britain in Papua New Guinea. Peter is no stranger to VSA, having previously volunteered in both Tanzania and the Solomon Islands.

Solomon Islands

Auckland-based BRYCE MCGOWAN has now headed out on VSA assignment as a Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Adviser with World Vision in the Solomon Islands. Bryce will be based in the capital, Honiara, for two years.

Two and a bit weeks into his assignment Bryce is loving life in the Solomon Islands. He has recently investigated sea water quality near the town of Lata in Temotu province. While there, he was actually closer to Vanuatu than his new home in Solomons' capital, Honiara!

Returned VSA volunteer TONY MINETT is currently in the Solomon Islands on a short term assignment working as an Education Leadership Adviser at Makira Ulawa Provincial Government. Originally from Whangerei, Tony’s previous assignment was in Tokelau.

Masterton-based LAURIE WILLIAMS is currently on a two month, short-term assignment as an Education Leadership Adviser at Makira Ulawa Provincial Government. Laurie will then be taking up a two year assignment with King George VI High School, based in Honiara, as a Senior Adviser to the Principal.

Vanuatu

WAYNE MILLS has been accompanying his partner, Mereana Mills, during her VSA assignment. Now, Wayne has taken up a VSA assignment as Systems Strengthening Officer at the State Prosecutions Department based in Port Vila.

POLYNESIA AND MICRONESIA

Kiribati

VALERIE and BIRNIE DUTHIE have swapped Wellington life to take up a two year assignment as English as a Second Language Teachers with the Marine Training Centre in the small republic of Kiribati.

Val and Birnie are currently waiting for their officer's uniforms as the Centre is organised like a ship complete with gangway and strict discipline. "It'll be interesting being part of ship culture, moored on an atoll at the equator", says Val.

Samoa

JACQUELINE FULLER has recently taken up a two year VSA assignment as a Business Adviser at Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) in Apia, Samoa.

"I am now two months into my assignment and enjoying every minute of it", says Jacqueline. "My colleagues are helpful and friendly and the pace of life is leisurely. The country celebrated Samoa Independence Day at the beginning of the month; it was a privilege to be part of that and to join my SBEC colleagues in the march-past."

Tokelau

Wellington-based KALISI VILIAMU-HOPE was teaching in Porirua before taking up her two year assignment with VSA as a Teacher Trainer/Mentor with the Tokelau Department of Education.

Kalisi's role is to support the staff at Matauala School, who have been awarded scholarships to study full time. She is impressed with their committment to their studies, particularly given the challenges they face to complete any study. The majority of information they need to complete assignments, for example, must be researched online. Navigating through the mass of information takes skill even for someone whose first language is English. But for those who speak English as a second language the task becomes huge.

Of her first few weeks Kalisi says, "Atoll Life requires a new way of looking at things for me. My western ideas about particpating in a community need tweaking! People here are very gracious and everyday I have been adjusting to life here - and the heat".

Can you feed yourself on $2.25 a day?

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:33:27 +1200

It's not too late to donate to VSA's Live Below the Line Campaign

Over 1.4 billion people in the world live a lifetime in poverty on just $2.25 a day. In the Pacific islands, where VSA volunteers work, around one in four households are living below their national poverty lines according to figures from Global Focus Aotearoa.

Support VSA's team who took the challenge

Our team took the challenge and survived the five days but it's not to late to show your support and donate to VSA.

Donate to VSA's Live Below the Line team

Where your money goes

VSA’s education work is helping people to lift themselves out of poverty. Our Kiwi volunteers work in preschools, schools, universities and vocational training centres in Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia and Timor-Leste. They share their teaching and business skills with our Pacific neighbours, mentoring local teachers and principals so that young people will have the best possible opportunities to work themselves out of poverty.

You can be assured that all the money you generously raise for VSA by taking part in the Live Below the Line Campaign will be put towards our education programmes in the wider Pacific.

Five reasons to support VSA’s Live Below the Line Challenge

June 2011 featured photo

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:13:26 +1200

On location, Port Vila, Vanuatu – by Alison Moore

Actor and part-time film crew member Danny Marcel draws the short straw during filming of Wan Smolbag’s soap opera Love Patrol protecting equipment in a seasonal downpour.

Check out our current volunteer vacancies

Support our work

Talking the talk

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 22:00:05 +1200

Former UniVol Alice Keeling, who spent 10 months last year working as a Special Needs Programme Assistant with Callan Services for Persons with Disabilities in Papua New Guinea, celebrates some of the new words she’s added to her vocabulary.

All volunteers would agree that living and working in a new country is a complex and multi-sensorial experience – the sights, smells and sounds are all new and different. My UniVol assignment at Callan Services for Persons with Disabilities involved living, working and sharing through many different modes of communication – tok pisin (pidgin English), English, tok ples (the local language) and sign language. Some of the phrases, symbols and signs I learned really stand out, and will always remind me of my time in PNG.

Alice Keeling (left) with colleagues at a teacher trainer's workshop.

Em oriat

All frustrations, delays, stuff ups (bagarups), changes to the plan were meet with a reassuring em oriat. We think New Zealand is laidback with its ‘she’ll be right’ attitude. Living and working in PNG has introduced me to the em oriat attitude. Literally ‘It’s alright’ or ‘It will be alright’ (present or future tense), this one little phrase captures many of my experiences working in PNG. Right from my first few clumsy weeks, jamming the photocopier (mi bagarapim fotocopier pinis) and forgetting the morning prayer (sori mi lus tingting!), my frustrations, embarrassments, and dilemmas were smoothed over with a soothing em oriat. And you know what? It was alright. How did they know? I certainly wasn’t sure on more than one occasion.

Em nau

My time in PNG was full of observations, ideas, revelations and inspiration … followed by utterances of em nau. It’s the phrase I remember learning in my first conversations with my colleague, a warm faced Tolai man for whom a smile or a laugh was never far away Translating as ‘That’s right’, ‘I agree’ or ‘exactly’ em nau reminds me of all the high points, the decision-making, the bright ideas and exciting discussions I had. It still gives me the same warm fuzzies of agreement and mutual understanding – especially when it meant I had made myself understood in tok pisin.

Pinis

Form your hand into the universal ‘thumbs up’ and then shake your thumb from side to side – this is the Melanesian sign for pinis or ‘finish’, (as in Pikinini go pinis – ‘the children have gone’). It was one of the first signs in Melanesian sign that I learnt, along with words like children, school, teacher, work, house, flower, garden, vegetable, and pig. My Melanesian sign language is still limited and punctured with natural signs or facial expressions, but it helped me learn tok pisin as I learned both the word and the sign simultaneously. What a great way to learn a new language: with accompanying visual cues!

Missis

In New Zealand Missis is a slightly derogatory term for your wife or girlfriend, which meant I couldn’t help being slightly offended the first few times I was referred to as missis – whether it was ‘morning missis’ by some cheeky teenager on the street, or ‘excuse me missis’. I came to understand that while it is partially a colonial remnant, it was also a mark of respect and politeness, especially if the person didn’t know me. I never quite got quite used to it, and I much prefer ‘aunty’ which was adopted more and more as I got to know people and their families.

Iau ro

Lastly, you can’t come to East New Britain without picking up the universal ‘see ya later’. Right up to my last day of work I still got giggles from my colleagues for shouting Iau ro m’catch (catch you later) as I left the office.

The UniVol programme is a collaboration between VSA and Otago University’s Geography Department and Victoria University’s Development Studies. UniVols spend 10 months on assignment with one of VSA’s partner organisations in the wider Pacific. Applications for the 2012 programme close on 30 June 2011.

This article first appeared in May 2011 issue of VSA's magazine Vista.

Food for thought

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:41:04 +1200

Tanzania-based volunteer Anne Perera wasn’t fazed when a power cut meant she couldn’t use her blender in a juice-processing demonstration she was running for a group of women in the kitchen of her Arusha home.

She just grabbed some cheese graters and showed the women, who belong to a community organisation called Zinduka, how to grate mangoes and pineapples and squeeze the pulp through a piece of muslin to create juice. Then she went ahead with the rest of her demonstration as planned, helping the women adjust the pH level of the juice to below 4.5, then bottle it and heat it in a water bath on her gas stove.

It’s the kind of can-do attitude that has seen Anne, who is on assignment as a food and nutrition adviser, running village-based classes on how to cook banana blossoms.

Bananas are a staple food in Tanzania, but Sri Lankan-born Anne was surprised to discover that Tanzanians do not eat the blossoms – the conical flowers that form at the end of every bunch of bananas. Instead, they feed them to their animals or throw them away.

In Sri Lanka, banana blossoms are a common cooking ingredient.

“They are a completely familiar food for me,” says Anne. “They’re used fresh throughout Asia, and you can buy them in cans at most Asian food stores.”

Picking banana blossom

When she saw the banana blossoms that grow abundantly throughout Tanzania, her immediate thought was that a useful source of sustenance was going to waste.

“Having been brought up in a developing country, I identify the needs in a slightly different way,” she says.

Anne’s banana blossom cooking demonstrations have been quite a hit. She even gave an impromptu demonstration at a training-for-trainers course on food processing she helped run in Arusha in January this year.

The course was attended by trainers from her partner organisation, the Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO). SIDO trains local would-be entrepreneurs to manage small food processing businesses. It has trainers based at 25 training and production centres throughout Tanzania. They help the entrepreneurs get to grips with modern food processing technology and comply with national hygiene and food standards.

Anne Perera (centre) demonstrates how to cook banana blossom.

The purpose of the course was to provide the SIDO trainers with information about different ways of processing food. Food processing is seen as central to improving Tanzania’s food supply – without it, huge quantities of food get wasted. It’s estimated that 70 per cent of Tanzania’s fruit harvest, half of the milk it produces and 40 percent of grain and fish is wasted because it cannot be processed and preserved for later use.

“My starting point is: let’s see if we can reduce that,” says Anne, a longtime food technologist and nutritionist.

Anne showed the SIDO trainers how to dry a wide range of fruits and vegetables using a wooden solar dryer designed by her husband Conrad, director of Auckland University’s food science programme (who was visiting from New Zealand), and made by a local builder. She also showed them how to preserve fruit such as pineapples and mangoes by boiling them in sugar syrup, then pouring them into hot sterilised jars.

And she introduced them to candied orange peel; she believes that candied peel made from Tanzanian oranges has the potential to become an export product.

In the meantime, she’s happy to share her knowledge about food processing with whoever wants it. Recently, for example, she worked with trainers at fellow VSA volunteer Mike Allard’s partner organisation, Global Service Corps, focusing on drying food as a way of preserving it.

“Everyone is so enthusiastic and keen to learn – it’s a humbling experience.”

This article first appeared in May 2011 issue of VSA's magazine Vista.

Jump-starting tourism in rural Vanuatu

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:32:46 +1200

Tourism is vital to Vanuatu’s growing economy. Ruth Nichol looks at the work VSA’s volunteers are doing to help rural Ni-Vanuatu develop small, sustainable tourism ventures to supplement their subsistence lifestyles.

The first meal the tourism students at Torgil Rural Training Centre in Vanuatu cooked at the centre’s new training restaurant was simple – corned beef hash, rice, pawpaw, cucumber and spring onion. But their local customers thoroughly enjoyed it.

“The students love to cook,” says VSA tourism and hospitality coordinator Linda Bennie, who helped set up the training restaurant earlier this year. “We run the restaurant every Thursday lunchtime. It’s really good experience for the students to learn how to cook a meal, how to set a table and serve food. What we do is very basic – things like learning how to serve from the left, and the importance of smiling.”

Linda, who works with 11 first-year and six second-year tourism students at the training centre on the island of Ambae, is on assignment with her husband Jim, who is working as a Tourism Business Adviser.

The couple, who previously ran a hospitality training school in Wellington, are among six VSA volunteers now working in the tourism sector in Vanuatu. Most of them are based on Vanuatu’s “outer islands” – the larger of the 80 or so islands that sit north of the country’s most densely populated island, Efate.

Tourism accounts for around 40 per cent of Vanuatu’s GDP, and has been a major factor in turning the country of 247,000 into a “Melanesian success story”. Last year, almost 100,000 tourists flew into Vanuatu – up from 58,000 in 2,000 – and another 140,000 arrived by cruise ship.

They are attracted by the beautiful scenery, the world-class snorkeling, the bush walks, the active volcanoes and – for the more macabre-minded – the former cannibal and World War Two plane-crash sites.

Until recently, most tourism ventures in Vanuatu were foreign-owned, but local operators are becoming increasingly common. Many Ni-Vanuatu now run tours and treks, and a growing number have built small bungalows or guest houses – local-style accommodation that ranges from very simple to relatively luxurious.

However, despite the huge increase in tourist numbers over the last decade, the vast majority of them only visit the capital, Port Vila, on the island of Efate, and the islands of Santo to the north and Tanna to the south.

“Tourism is a big priority for the Vanuatu government,” explains VSA’s Vanuatu Country Programme Manager Diane Thorne-George. “The aim is to try to create a more equal spread of tourism throughout the country – at the moment most tourists are only going to Vila.”

According to Peter Swain VSA’s Pacific Programme Manager, at present there are few opportunities for Ni-Vanuatu living in rural communities to make some cash to supplement their subsistence lifestyles.

“The work that VSA’s volunteers are doing is helping all Ni-Vanuatu get a bigger slice of the tourism pie, and to get cash flowing into remote communities. Like many Pacific nations, Vanuatu faces rural depopulation and urban overcrowding as people leave their villages and go to town. The jobs created by small, local tourism ventures help to reverse that trend. Responsible, sustainable tourism has a good future in Vanuatu, and VSA volunteers are laying the foundations.”

The challenges the volunteers face vary according to where are based. So few tourists visit Ambae, for example, that Linda and Jim Bennie didn’t actually see one until four months after they arrived.

“There are lots of guest houses on Ambae, but unfortunately no guests,” says Linda ruefully.

But the lack of tourists hasn’t stopped the couple from getting on with their assignments. Last year, Linda successfully found short work-experience placements for all her first-year students at resorts on Santo – a four-hour boat ride away. One has now been taken on as a trainee chef at Village de Santo, and the resort owner is so impressed with the training at the centre she has promised to employ another student.

Meanwhile, Jim has developed a new tourism curriculum that will be used at all of Vanuatu’s 28 rural training centres. He is now turning his attention to the tricky question of how to get more tourists to visit Ambae.

Linda is confident that tourist numbers will eventually rise – and that the visitors who make the journey won’t be disappointed.

“Even though it can be difficult to get to Ambae, once you do it’s really fantastic.”

It’s a similar story on the island of Emae, just north of Efate, where VSA’s Vila-based tourism business adviser Mereana Mills has helped run tourism training programmes since she arrived in Vanuatu late last year. Despite being close to Port Vila, and having attractions such as Cook Reef – “it’s like a sandy beach in the middle of the sea” – few tourists visit Emae.

Mereana says part of her role is to help local tourism operators keep their expectations realistic. On the one hand, they need to provide the kinds of services international tourists expect – a flush toilet (or a good-quality long-drop), clean sheets, a shower, and an evening meal. On the other, simply providing those services is no guarantee that tourists will want to use them.

“There’s been this mentality that, if you build a bungalow, tourists will come, but that doesn’t always happen,” she says. “It’s a case of trying to manage expectations while lifting the game in terms of the quality of the services that currently exist.”

She believes the domestic tourism market is just as important as international tourism when it comes to generating income for rural communities.

“One of the opportunities on Emae, for example, is local people going there for a particular reason – staff from the local cellphone company, or from government departments; expatriates exploring island life. As part of our training we point out that they are tourists too, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be able to get the same level of service as international tourists. It’s also a safe way for local operators to practice their training for when they do have international guests”

Appearing on a popular television show is one way of boosting your profile with international tourists. That’s been the case for the island of Malekula which featured in a 2009 episode of Intrepid Journeys starring Dancing With The Stars judge Brendan Cole.

“Malekula has also featured quite prominently in Lonely Planet,” says VSA’s Howard Iseli, who has been working as a Tourism Business Adviser on the island since September last year. “It means there’s some awareness of it as a destination – as far as we can tell we get six or seven tourists here a day. We’re also lucky to have daily flights from Vila.”

However, tourists find it difficult to get the information they need to book accommodation and activities on Malekula, such as the three-day Man Bush Trek that featured on Intrepid Journeys. Even calling a tourism operator direct can be hard, because of the island’s very basic telecommunications infrastructure.

Local guide Paul Ravun with Howard Iseli (front right), his
wife Jacqui and an italian tourist on the Man Bush Trek.

Howard is now involved in a project to set up a call centre in the tourism office in the town of Lakatoro to coordinate bookings.

“For the first six months we’ll be in test mode. It will basically be me and Edna, the local tourism officer, on a phone and a laptop with internet access. We will have a dedicated website, and tourists will be able to email their interest and we will take their calls and bookings. Then we’ll train a Ni-Vanuatu to run the call centre, which will be owned and overseen by the local tourism association, and self-funded through commission fees.”

Howard feels positive about the future of tourism in Malekula.

“I think the time is now right for Malekula to take the next step. We have the unique tribal cultures of the Big Nambas and Small Nambas, and a nucleus of products now reaching an acceptable standard.”

Things are even further ahead on the island of Santo, which is Vanuatu’s second biggest tourist destination. That means that Santo-based VSA volunteer Karen Henry is in the relatively luxurious position of working with local tourism operators to develop and market products to an existing customer base.

Karen Henry outside a typical Vanuatu bunaglow.

“Things are going reasonably well in Santo because we have established networks coming from New Caledonia and Europe, as well as lots of Australians and New Zealanders. But we certainly need a lot more tourists to make a difference to the rural tourism operators.”

Since she arrived last May Karen has helped local business owners create brochures and fliers to display at the local tourist information office and distribute to visiting cruise ships. More recently she has been helping to promote a new two-day trek due to open in June. She is also helping organise the inaugural Big Bay Cultural Festival, a one-day celebration of local culture being held at Big Bay on 17 July.

“It’s about offering a soft adventure experience to tourists who want to get off their comfortable beach chair and explore the outdoors, and experience the local culture.”

Karen has recently started working on a new programme to provide tourism training to bungalow and guest house owners on Santo and the nearby island of Malo. She will support the participants as they work through their training modules.

“It’s a bit like business mentoring,” she says. “It gives them a chance to think about the future of their business. We will also be looking at things such as what is going on in the tourism industry, where tourists come from and how they get there, and what their expectations are in terms of service.”

Like Howard, she feels positive about the future of tourism in Vanuatu.

“Sometimes small local tourism operators feel they can’t compete with the big expat companies,” she says. “But they can – they can easily create what tourists want using local material and local products.”

This article first appeared in May 2011 issue of VSA's magazine Vista.

Best-dressed

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:47:09 +1200

Members of the Bulls rugby team in East New Britain are playing in North Otago uniforms this season, thanks to returned volunteer Bill Kingan and the North Otago Rugby Union.

Bill coached the Bulls while he was on assignment as a Farm Business Adviser at the PNG University of Natural Resources (formerly Vudal University). He was impressed by the team’s enthusiasm and commitment, but he was less impressed by their uniforms – a borrowed set from another club. “They were really faded and worn,” says Bill.

When Bill returned to Oamaru in October last year he approached North Otago Rugby Union chief executive Colin Jackson to see if they had any spare rugby jerseys. As it turned out, they had a complete set of North Otago representative uniforms available, including jerseys, socks and shorts.

The smart new red and yellow uniforms – along with some training manuals and DVDs – were officially handed over to the team at a ceremony at the university in March.

“However they play this season, it will make them feel good,” says Bill.

VSA joins Facebook

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:14:15 +1200

VSA now has a Facebook page.

The new page, which was launched on Monday 20 June, will post information about VSA’s latest volunteer vacancies, news and events.

VSA Communications Coordinator Lesley Smeardon says the page will also provide an online forum for VSA supporters.

“It’s a chance for people from around the world to join the VSA community and get in touch with others who share their interests.”

You can visit VSA’s Facebook page by going to www.facebook.com/vsa

Facebook members can get regular VSA updates posted to their walls and make comments on the VSA page by going to the page and pressing “Like”.

VSA has also started posting volunteer vacancies on Twitter. To get regular Twitter updates, sign up to follow @VSAvolunteer

Volunteer fundraising

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:51:24 +1200

It costs money to send volunteers overseas, so we ask all volunteers to raise at least $2,000 for VSA before beginning their assignments. Fundraising is not compulsory, but it is strongly encouraged. Every dollar raised is used to keep our programmes in action and support future volunteers.

Rise to the challenge

As a VSA volunteer, you’ll be sharing your skills and knowledge with people in communities already striving for change and a better future. We know how significant your impact is going to be as you share those skills and connect locally with people. And we want to continue to send as many volunteers as we can. But we need your help to do that.

We currently need to raise almost $700,000 of independent funding every year in order to keep sending the number of volunteers we do. That is why we are asking you, our volunteers, to raise a small percentage of that figure for VSA, to ensure the great work you are going to do can be added to by other volunteers, long after you have completed your assignment.

VSA's fundraising pack

VSA has put together a fundraising pack to help volunteers raise the funds before heading out on their assignments which can be downloaded here.

Fundraising pack PDF|3.19MB

In the news: March 2011

Tue, 31 May 2011 13:39:27 +1200

A look at VSA stories that made it into the New Zealand media between October 2010 - March 2011.

Dianne Hambrook tells the Sunday Star Times about her life as a VSA volunteer based Port Vila in Vanuatu. Download PDF (1 page | 402 KB)

Carolyn Mark, VSA’s Volunteer Recruitment Manager, talks with the Dominion Post about her wardrobe. Download PDF (1 page | 402KB)

Former broadcaster John Gordon tells NZPA reporter Matthew Backhouse about his assignment as a communications adviser with Cambodian organisation Farmer Livelihood Development. Download PDF (1 page | 494KB)

Tanzania-based Kusal Perera tells the New Zealand Herald about what he values about being a VSA volunteer.

Read about primary school teacher Vanessa Te Huia's experiences as a VSA volunteer in Tokelau in Education Aotearoa.

Returning volunteer Anne des Bres talks to Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand about her work in Vietnam as a Nurse Trainer Download PDF (1 page | 1.34MB)

John Collie tells the Sunday Star Times about his life as a VSA volunteer based in Tanzania. Download PDF (1 page | 319KB)

Returned volunteer Bill Kingan helps outfit a rugby team in Kokopo, Papua New Guinea, in North Otago unforms

VSA couple Dave and Rosie Hall help provide much-needed equipment for the radiology department at Kimbe Hospital in Papua New Guinea.

Recently returned UniVol Sophie McCashin takes up a new job with the Palmerston North Community Services Council.

Friday Afternoons at Wan Smolbag

Sat, 28 May 2011 15:10:12 +1200

Fridays at Wan Smolbag are, in essence, like Fridays anywhere that I've worked. Although the environment and the details are different - unique to this time and place - it's 5pm, the weekend is upon us and everyone is ready to party.

Edgen Norman, my counterpart and resource officer in the Publications Department, is crossing things off his weekly to-do list, celebrating the fact that he has achieved so much. I have to confess to some unease on my part about introducing this Western workflow management system to a place where pre-planning is a foreign concept and people live in the moment.

Rik Hinton and members of the Youth Centre are heading off to Mele Beach Bar for their regular Friday night fire twirling gig. It's become a favourite thing-to-do for niVanuatu and expats alike. A wonderful way to wind up the week, watching the sun set behind Hideaway Island, waiting for it to get dark enough to light the fire poi.

Meanwhile people are already arriving at the theatre for the 7pm performance of Zero Balans. Tickets sell fast and for some it's their second or third attempt to see the play. There's a feeling of anticipation and expectancy as though something magical is about to begin.

I love Friday afternoons at Wan Smolbag.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Making Pacific connections

Mon, 23 May 2011 10:57:23 +1200

Staff from one of VSA’s partner organisations in the Solomon Islands feel more connected with their Pacific neighbours after attending a four-day forestry conference in Auckland at the beginning of May.

From left to right: Pendrin Napthalae, Ferguson Vaghi, Vaeno Vigulu and Figert Roger.

“I learned that we are black, we are white, but when we come together we are one family. I previously thought we were isolated, but now I see us as Pacific,” says one of the men, Pendrin Napthalae.

Mr Napthalae is head of forestry operations at Kolombangara Forest Products Ltd (KFPL), a sustainable forestry plantation company on Kolombangara Island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. He attended the conference, Pacific Forestry: Growing a Forestry Future, with colleagues Figert Roger and Vaeno Vigulu, along with Ferguson Vaghi who works with the Kolombangara Island Biodiversity Conservation Association (KIBCA).

VSA volunteer Celia Burton, who is on assignment as a training adviser at KFPL, along with Australian volunteer Andrew Cox, who is based at KIBCA, helped with the logistics of getting the men to the conference.

While they were in Auckland they presented a paper about their experiences at KFPL and the community involvement/conservation model promoted by their organisations.

“Community involvement has been very important to the success of both conservation and forestry on the island,” explains Mr Vaghi. “Our two organisations support each other. We see it as necessary for the long term sustainability of the island to have a common understanding and link with each other.”

The men say they appreciated the opportunity the conference gave them to learn about different ideas and forestry practices. Mr Roger says he was particularly interested to learn about carbon credits.

“It has opened my eye to some possibilities we can explore.”

They were also pleased to be able to pass on some of their own knowledge – for example, the way they use manual labour rather than chemicals to keep vegetation down, in order to protect the waterways that people rely upon on the island.

“It has been interesting to learn at this conference that we share common understandings and problems with other forest-based communities around the Pacific,” says Mr Vaghi. “We have generally poured out the truth about our problems, and we have learnt that people are sympathetic.”

Wan Smolbag making Wan Bigfala difference

Fri, 20 May 2011 22:25:13 +1200

Zero Balans, Wan Smolbag Theatre's latest play, has received rave reviews and every performance so far has sold out.

Here, as they used to say in the Australian TV variety show "Rove", is THE PLUG. Zero Balans, Wan Smolbag Theatre's latest play, has received rave reviews and every performance so far has sold out.

It's my job as Graphic Design Advisor at WSB to design the printed collateral to support the play: the posters, programs, invitations and signage. We decided not to put an advert in the Vanuatu Daily Post because the cost was prohibitive, and fortunately we didn't. After the first public performance a wonderful write up illustrated with a full colour photo of the poster appeared on the front page of the newspaper. We couldn't have bought advertising that good.

The play truly lives up to the hype. It's constantly astonishes me (along with other expats and volunteers in Port Vila) that theatrical work this powerful and professional is being produced here in Vanuatu. It's entertaining and energetic with a strong underlying message about political corruption and the implications of the selling of local land to foreign investors for development. Particularly timely given that there is a general election next year, and as Michael Taurakoto, WSB's CEO says in his introduction in the program, it's the vote of the people that puts politicians in power.

Have a look at the Zero Balans facebook group ( http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_199528580088710 ) It's become a fascinating forum where niVanuatu discuss their views on the current political situation.

It's my job as Graphic Design Advisor at Wan Smolbag (WSB) to design the printed collateral to support the play: the posters, programmes, invitations and signage. We decided not to put an advert in the Vanuatu Daily Post because the cost was prohibitive, and fortunately we didn't. After the first public performance a wonderful write up illustrated with a full colour photo of the poster appeared on the front page of the newspaper. We couldn't have bought advertising that good.

The play truly lives up to the hype. It constantly astonishes me (along with other expats and volunteers in Port Vila) that theatrical work this powerful and professional is being produced here in Vanuatu. It's entertaining and energetic with a strong underlying message about political corruption and the implications of selling local land to foreign investors for development. It's particularly timely given that there is a general election next year, and as Michael Taurakoto, WSB's CEO says in his introduction in the programme, it's the vote of the people that puts politicians in power.

Have a look at the Zero Balans facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_199528580088710

It's become a fascinating forum where niVanuatu discuss their views on the current political situation.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

New volunteering opportunities for young New Zealanders

Wed, 11 May 2011 09:56:04 +1200

Young New Zealanders will have the opportunity to volunteer in Nepal and Uganda through VSA’s partnership with Restless Development.

VSA recruits young people aged 18 to 28 to work as volunteers with Restless Development, a youth-led development agency in which young people work together to create positive change in the world’s poorest communities.

Restless Development’s approach involves empowering young people to take up leadership roles so they have the confidence and skills to shape the development of their own lives, and those of their families and communities.

For the past three years Restless Development volunteers recruited by VSA have been based in Zambia. However, that is now changing, with New Zealand volunteers being given the choice of spending either five months in Nepal or seven months in Uganda.

Volunteers going to Nepal will leave later this year, and those going to Uganda will leave in January 2012.

VSA Chief Executive Officer Debbie Snelson finalised the details of the new arrangement at a meeting with Restless Development Chief Executive Eric Levine in Wellington in May (pictured).

Ms Snelson has welcomed the change, saying that Restless Development’s programmes in Nepal and Uganda are a good fit with the way VSA works.

“The programmes in both those countries involve working in teams, with international, national and local volunteers working together. This is a great opportunity for VSA to provide volunteering opportunities in countries where we do not run programmes of our own.”

Participants in the Restless Development programme need to fundraise $10,500 towards the cost of their assignments. In return Restless Development pays their airfares, accommodation costs, a living stipend and insurances.

Find out more about the Restless Development programme

Just a game of cricket

Mon, 09 May 2011 12:05:28 +1200

My photo entry shows Raymond having happily played a cut shot to gully (the muddy area under the orange tree) and Noa with a great sprint from the non-strikers end, whilst Clarence (sitting), Robert, and Mude wait at the stumps for the younger fielders to return the ball (a young pomello fruit) on Easter Tuesday.

It was thought to be the first game of cricket to be played in the area. It started with carving of bats and wickets, and we went through more than 20 balls (any small fruit we could find) so I’ll try to buy a real ball next time I’m in Kokopo. It was my substitute for not being able to see the Cricket World Cup.

Cricket, ultimate frisbee, and one other sport (I’m thinking netball) will be the three sports played at the annual Sampun Primary School – Sports Day this year, so that will involve some coaching and refereeing, but the kids are such natural sportsmen/women and so enthusiastic it doesn’t take much to get them started.

The management plans are progressing well. We have decided to divide the task so we do a specific ‘Sulei Wildlife Area - Management Plan’ and then a more broad ‘Toimtop Resource Management Plan’. Tuomas, the student from Finland who did his thesis on the ‘Politics of Logging in East New Britain’ (2008) and lived in Toimtop is returning in May to live for a year as part of his PhD. As the only other white person in the village this may take some of the often unnecessary attention away from me.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Food processing in Tanzania

Mon, 09 May 2011 10:10:39 +1200

I started my VSA assignment as Dairy Products Adviser at Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO) in August 2010. However, soon I realised that dairy was just a minor product in the range of foods that I was advising on. My assignment title has now changed to Food and Nutrition Adviser.

In January my partner organisation, Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO) organised a training of trainers (ToT) five day course on food processing run by myself and my husband, Professor Conrad Perera, who came to visit me. We are both New Zealand-based food technologists and Fellows of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science & Technology (NZIFST).

The TOT course was all about sharing our skills to assist food processing trainers in Tanzania. We had a great five days looking at a range of food processing techniques, including the solar drying of many different products, both savory and sweet.

Picture taken with the Guest of Honour, SIDO Board Chairman, Mr Japhet
Mlagala at the official opening of the Training. (I am second from right in the front row.)

Here is a snapshot of our course in pictures.

The solar dryer

Conrad designed a solar dryer as a sketch drawn on paper,
which was later transformed into a prototype by a skilled
local carpenter.

Solar drying of green beans

Green beans were trimmed, washed and cut into uniform
pieces, then blanched in boiling water containing sodium
bicarbonate.

The blanched cooled and drained green beans were spread
evenly on a tray of the solar dryer and dried for 2-3 days.

Solar drying of carrots

Carrots were washed, peeled, diced and blanched in boiling water, then cooled and dried.

Solar drying of onions

Onions were peeled, washed, core removed and cut uniformly to ensure even drying.

Other products that were dried using the solar dryer

We tried many products on the solar dryer including: green
peas, candied ginger, candied pineapple, candied mango
and candied peel.

Solar drying of green peas.

Candied pineapple

Candied peel tossed in sugar crystals

Sun-dried tomatoes

Our final product range

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

It’s off to Choiseul I go!

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:26:58 +1200

The Ministry’s Permanent Secretary decided I needed to take a break from the Induction Training to work on some land negotiations (more on this later). What can I tell you about Choiseul? I managed to scrape together some information from Malcolm and Scott, both VSA volunteers situated in Choiseul Province. (Malcolm English is Legal Adviser to Choiseul Provincial Government and Scott Butcher is Natural Resources Management Adviser to Lauru Land Conference of Tribal Community and the Choiseul Provincial Government.)

Choiseul Province is named for its main island, Choiseul Island, which was given its name by a French explorer. However, within the Province itself, it is known as Lauru. Choiseul Province is patrilineal, meaning that land is passed down through the males however in Choiseul, land will be passed on to the daughter if there are no sons.

Taro’s ‘High Street An arguably apt phrase; coined by Malcolm. One shop is even open on Saturdays!

I would be spending all of my six days on Taro Island, which is the Provincial Capital of Choiseul. Taro Island is perhaps the smallest island in Choiseul Province. It is situated very close (about 300-400 metres) to another small island called Sipuzae. Before WWII, the whole island of Taro used to be a coconut plantation. Apparently there is quite a lot of history between Taro Island and New Zealand due to the War and work of missionaries. Taro Island is quite small − about one kilometre in length. It's considered to be so small that it’s run out of room for development, and this is the reason for the land negotiations.

The Provincial Government is moving the Provincial Capital to the main island, Choiseul Bay Island, and is nearing the end of a 20 year process to purchase land from the land owners. I was asked to attend the negotiations on behalf of the Ministry and where I would have the opportunity to work with Malcolm who was representing the Provincial Government. It was very exciting for me as I always relish the chance to work on things that get the adrenalin going and it’s a bonus to work with such a great team player as Malcolm. Sadly, the negotiations weren’t to be just yet. Despite our efforts, we couldn’t get the land owners’ lawyer to come to, or engage with, the negotiations.

Never fear though, my trip to Choiseul was not a loss as on the Saturday, Malcolm and I went on a wee boat tour around the area. As we got in the boat, Malcolm boldly announced that he was interested to see crocodiles. He had done this ‘tiki tour’ a few times before and had never had the (mis)fortune to see a crocodile.

Renée going on a ‘tiki-tour’

Malcolm going on a ‘tiki tour’

Our drivers, Hudson and Lokuru promptly took us up the Sui River, which carried multiple points of significance for us: (1) it is a great place to find crocs; (2) it features a waterfall; and (3) it is the natural border of the land area that the Provincial Government is trying to purchase for Choiseul’s new provincial capital.

Our tour guides: Lokuru (top) and Hudson (bottom)

By the above three criteria, the trip was a resounding success. On our way up the river, we saw two small crocodiles submerged in water, which made it difficult to distinguish the crocs from the logs. In between croc-sightings the crew, with Malcolm’s able assistance, pointed out the different sites where people had been ‘taken’ before.

The waterfall was quite beautiful and Hudson told me that this is where they used to come to bathe in the days before they had water. I couldn’t imagine doing this myself because by the time I got back to my village I’d be covered from head to toe in mud and sweat. Personally, I think I’d rather save the energy and stay dirty and stinky until the rain came!

The waterfall

After the waterfall, the crew took us back down river towards the beach where it would be easier for us to walk ashore and follow the old logging company road up to the proposed township area. Along the way, we saw our third and biggest crocodile. We were informed it was a female and according to Hudson she was just small time. I can’t say that Malcolm and I were convinced by this. She must have been around 2-3 metres! My nerves were not settled at all having just recently read Bill Bryson’s Down Under where he explains “that an outboard motor engine sounds to a crocodile very like the territorial growl of another crocodile”, which is the reason why crocodiles often go for small boats!

Although the negotiations had fallen through, my trip to Choiseul was a great experience. Nothing cleans out the the cobwebs like a visit to a beautiful waterfall and the sight of a large crocodile.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Timor-Leste volunteers raise money for Christchurch earthquake

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:58:53 +1200

A Kiwi-themed fundraising event organised by VSA volunteers in Timor-Leste on 9 April raised $3,055 for the Christchurch earthquake appeal.

The money they raised included a US$1,000 (NZ$1,256) donation from the Dili Institute of Technology, which is one of VSA’s partner organisations in Timor-Leste.

VSA’s Asia programme manager Mui Ngah Lee describes the Institute’s donation as a “signal recognition of the value they place on their relationship with New Zealand through VSA”.

According to VSA volunteers Tanya Wilkinson and Lisa Vitasovich who helped organise the Kiwi Night at the Caz Bar, the idea behind it was not just to raise money for the earthquake victims, but to acknowledge what had happened and show solidarity between Timor-Leste and New Zealand.

About 200 people attended the event, which featured a wide range of Kiwi and Timor-themed performances. VSA volunteer Tony McGurk took to the stage in a multi-national group that included an Irish fiddler and a Timorese singer, as did the local ex-pat choir. Other performances included a haka by a member of the New Zealand Police stationed in Dili, and a traditional dance performed by a group of local dancers.

One of the performances at the fundraiser

VSA volunteer Bruce Burnett, who is from Christchurch, dressed the venue with the help of a group of Timorese friends, who also provided the sound system and lights.

Bruce Burnett with friends setting up the venue

Tanya and Lisa say they were delighted with how successful the evening was and how many people came – particularly as Dili had been flooded in a rainstorm just a few hours previously.

“We were still brushing water out of the venue as the first people started arriving.”

New VSA branch in Bay of Plenty

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:44:28 +1200

A group of enthusiastic returned volunteers are the brains behind VSA’s newest branch in the Bay of Plenty.

The VSA Council approved the formation of the new branch at its March meeting, taking the number of VSA branches to nine. Within days the newly formed branch had run its first event – a stand at the Tauranga Multicultural Festival held on March 19.

According to the branch chair, Barbara Rowe, the stand was a great success. “We had a lot of interest,” she says. “We gave away all our balloons and we went through a lot of VSA booklets.”

Barbaba, who volunteered twice with VSA in the 1960s and 70s, helped set up the branch after she ran into recently returned volunteer Kim Cleland in Tauranga last year. They quickly gathered up other returned volunteers, and before long had enough potential members to form a branch.

She says the new branch has three aims – to promote VSA, to support local volunteers in the field, and to provide support to returned volunteers.

So far this year two Bay of Plenty volunteers have set off on assignment, one to the Solomon Islands and the other to Bougainville.

Barbaba, a retired teacher, has very happy memories of the years she spent as a VSA volunteer in Fiji and Vanuatu.

“I hope that the people from VSA continue to be as crazy and full of fun as they were then,” she says.

Clarence's calendar

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:36:02 +1200

One of the boys from my village (Toimtop) where I live and work, drew a calendar for me for 2011. His name is Clarence Vomne and he is 11. Here are his great pictures.

Central Province: a little bit of info

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:43:50 +1200

The day after returning from RenBel, the rest of the induction training team and I traded in our wee pencil plane for the trusty 360 Discovery and headed towards Central Province – the second Province on our list to receive the induction training.

360 Discovery: the flashest permanent vessel in all of Solomon Islands (by a lonooooong way)

I am not a woman of the sea, but the trip to Central Province was not bad at all; despite being unnerved with the coffin lying in the middle of the cabin (but I guess this is the reality of living in an archipelago). My MPGIS friends knew I was anxious to not ‘feed the fishes’, and they took fantastic care of me. This involved finding me a nice, dry, shady seat on the top deck.

My mates: Connie, ‘Ago’ James, Karamui & Aggie (front to back)

Tulagi, the Provincial Capital of Central Province is a bit of a working port town and I must admit that upon first glance, I did not think it was the prettiest sight.

My first impression of Tulaghi from aboard the 360 Discovery

Central Province does however have a lot of history. Tulaghi is the “colonial capital of Solomon Islands”. There is a dirt road going right around Tulaghi Island, which we managed to navigate in about 20 minutes in the Provincial Government truck. At one point, the road goes through this great big gap in a hill. I was told that some prisoners dug this out and a little bridge was laid over the top so that people could easily pass both through and over the hill. As the story goes...apparently the British Resident Commissioner’s wife fell from the bridge and was miraculously caught by one of the prisoners, of who was working below. I was happy (at least I think I was) to learn that the prisoner was then set free as a reward for his heroic deed.

A Japanese bomb shelter from WWII

It was also occupied by the Japanese during WWII so the Americans bombed the **** out of it so I guess I’m not surprised that the capital was moved to Honiara after the War.

Sunset from the pier of Vanita Guest Lodge, Tulaghi

However, at sunset all of my first impressions were forgotten. This was without a doubt, the best sunset I have ever seen in Solomon Islands.

Sources: Wikipedia, Visit Solomons

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

My experiences in a small village in PNG

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:24:59 +1300

I'm in Toimtop Village, PNG . Everyone has been very welcoming, making sure I'm well fed and don't work too hard but at the same time teaching me skills that most of the two year olds know. It’s surprising how something new, different, and unsettling becomes normal and mundane if you give it enough time.

Toimtop Village

As I come to the end of my acclimatisation period I realise living here seems more 'natural' than Queenstown (despite Queenstown’s plentiful resource of pubs). New Zealand's distant relations from about 75 million years ago like the kauri, kereru, tuatara and moa (cassowary) make it strangely familiar.

Family

The concepts of ancestry and family (extended) are very important here. Out of respect, there are a number of people (such as in-laws) who can't be referred to by name. It creates some long and complicated explanations. An elderly man referred to his wife as his grandson's (by name) grandmother.

As most families have between 5-8 children it was amusing that the women expressed deep sympathy when I explained that I only had one sibling (I'm very grateful for what I have).

Weather

Toimtop Village sits at the end of a broad headland extending into the Solomon Sea. From this elevated viewing platform, the weather is a spectacle in itself. During hot clear days, humidity builds over the forest so that the last of the day's sunlight displays massive cumulous clouds pushing kilometres into the sky.

Thunder rumbles on all sides of the village as the air is drawn in from the sea and the clouds flicker with lightening, until the insects come indoors, the leaves rustle, and a few drops start to rattle the iron roofs. That's normally my signal to get the buckets outside, or to stand under the open spout to have the closest thing I can get to a shower.

Achievements and work

There is a strong division of labour between men and women. The women work long hours and carry heavy loads (tending the gardens and cooking), while the men do shorter periods of intense, physically demanding work (cutting trees and building houses and fences). All look after the children, chew buai (betel nut), and value the concept of 'malolo' (rest).

The men seem to have what I call a 'substitution regime' when it comes to work. A few men work, while the others sit, relax, and watch, knowing they could be called anytime to substitute, assist, or just comment. That old saying has come to mind quite a few times: "I love hard work, I could sit and watch it all day". It's a great system for quality control.

Since I’ve been here I've learnt to cut lawns with a bush knife and construct a garden with coconut trunk posts and 'living' joining posts. I'm currently the owner of two chickens, but seem to have made friends with many more.

I've also explained the concepts of internet banking and credit cards (most difficult) as well as mosquito repellent, covering wounds, that I've had screws and plates in my leg but have never played for the Warriors.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA

VSA volunteer extraordinaire

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:40:03 +1300

Many volunteers end up doing more than one assignment with VSA, but only a handful manage four of them.

Kevin Bird, who left New Zealand this week with his wife Colleen for a two-year assignment in Papua New Guinea, is now a member of that select group.

His assignment as a business management adviser based in East New Britain is his fourth with VSA – and the third the couple have set off on together.

Kevin was single when he left for his first VSA assignment as a farm adviser in Papua New Guinea in 1975. By the time he returned to New Zealand in 1978 he was married to Canadian-born Colleen, who had been working in PNG as a volunteer teacher with Canadian University Services Overseas. He was also the father of eight-week old twins.

Kevin and Colleen went on to have four more children, and for many years the demands of family life kept the couple busy. However, when their youngest child left school they decided it was time to volunteer again. In 2004 they returned to PNG where Kevin worked on assignment as a farm manager. That was followed by a third assignment at the Vatu Rural Training Centre in Solomon Islands.

Kevin sees his latest assignment, working with the Pomio Potongpaga Group, as a very “grassroots” one. “It’s basic principles – budgeting and planning.”

After so many assignments, he knows what to expect.

“For the first six months you just to take it easy and see what your partners are trying to achieve. You’ve got to be very careful that you don’t go in with preconceived ideas about what’s going to happen. I say to them ‘This is your country. I’m just a foreigner – you make the decisions.’”

Colleen, a keen gardener who loves the volunteer lifestyle as much as her husband, is looking forward to once again being able to grow fruits such as pawpaws, pineapples and bananas.

“Another thing I’m really looking forward to is learning more local crafts.”

VSA's Christmas Appeal

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:54:10 +1300

'Send a Kiwi this Christmas' our first appeal that gave supporters the opportunity to buy volunteer days for family and friends for Christmas was launched in November 2010.

Gifts were divided into volunteer days that would help communities with either education, health, sustainable business, agriculture, human rights or youth work.

Instead of a card, we sent plantable Kiwi decorations that could be hung on the Christmas tree and then planted to grow a crop of wild flowers.

We had a positive response to the appeal with 174 orders raising $10,800.68 or 600 volunteer days. We hope to build on this encouraging start and double the number of volunteer days in Christmas 2011. Appeal starts 1 November 2011.

Read about ways you can support our work now

Help rebuild Bougainville communities

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:26:50 +1300

A decade of civil war disrupted the lives of a generation of Bougainvilleans. You can help them rebuild their communities.

Confidence-building lies at the heart of a series of life-skills workshops organised by VSA volunteer Wendy Roger and her colleagues at the Arawa Women’s Training Centre in Bougainville. Local trainers pass on their skills in a wide range of areas, from traditional weaving to fabric painting, IT and baking.

For many participants, still scarred by the aftermath of a decade of conflict, even signing up to attend workshops takes a lot of courage. Now some are using their new skills to make products to sell at the Arawa market.

“I wanted people to understand that they have the ability to be trainers themselves that they too have skills to pass on.” Wendy Roger, VSA volunteer.

You can help - donate now

Famous in Honiara

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:32:49 +1300

So as it turns out, our Induction Training has been successful; well, in the opinion of the Central Province MPAs at least!

Attached is the media coverage we received from two local newspapers: Island Sun and Solomon Star.

In the Island Sun article it points out that this is the first time MPAs in Central Province have ever received induction training.

In the Solomon Star article, the Central Province Premier, Hon. Patteson Mae, commented how it was the first time he had ever seen a bound copy of the national constitution. The Honourable Premier now has a bound copy of his very own.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Rennell & Bellona: on-the-ground

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:19:40 +1300

My travelling companions for this trip were the members of the Induction Training Team: my Ministry and UNDP PGSP colleagues, the Ombudsman and a representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

George from MFA, Ombudsman, Karamui, Agnes, me, James, Connie & Fakri

As soon as we were all settled, the International Provincial Adviser took us on a tour of the challenges that RenBel faces. For example, the whole Province is powered by this 4KV generator (shown below), which has been broken for the last month.

The clinic relies on the generator to run the air conditioning unit in the pharmacy (pic below) where the drugs need to be kept below 25ºC. During the day, the temperature inside the pharmacy reaches about 40-45ºC. This pharmacy supplies drugs to the whole Province.

There is no money left in the Provincial Government budget to fix the generator.

RenBel Provincial Government Office

Enter stage left, Induction Training to help build the good governance mechanisms needed to provide quality services to the people of RenBel.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

It's on the next boat

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:16:32 +1300

American novelist James A Mitchener stood on Espiritu Santo while stationed there in World War II and looked out at Ambae – the most beautiful island in the world. He named it Bali Hai which became the focus of his book Tales of the South Pacific, and the location for the musical South Pacific.

In late 2009, nearly 70 years later, we arrived in Ambae – the most beautiful island in the world – to start our VSA assignments as Tourism Advisers. We work in Vanuatu’s Penama Province which consists of the islands of Ambae, Maewo, and Pentecost. Linda's assignment is to open a Hospitality and Tourism School at Torgil Rural Training Centre and I am a Tourism Adviser for Penama Province.

Settling in to life on Ambae

Our first few weeks were focused on getting to grips with our new environment. This included getting used to our native style open plan accommodation with the leaky roof and an open house for many other island inhabitants such as mice, spiders and even land crabs. And although we were warned in Wellington that we would have no internet, phone contact, TV, restaurants or bars and very little power, it took some time to adjust to such different living conditions.

Our house in Ambae.

Finally for us, living on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific has meant dipping heavily into our patience reserves. On arrival, we asked where our possessions were and were told “it's on the next boat”. How many times have we now heard that over the past 16 months as we wait for food and drink supplies?

Now we are well into our assignments we have learnt to live with the isolation and the lack of contact with the outside world in particular.

Jim takes a delivery of home made Kato early in the morning from Anis and Massem, children of the Principal of the Torgil Training Centre.

Working on Ambae

Of our assignments, Linda's work has been very successful from day one. When we landed at Longana Airport one of the first things we saw was a sign of welcome to Linda attached to a tree trunk: '”One big fala women we i come long NZ blong teachem Hospitality & Tourism “.

Students at the school normally study for one year and graduate with a Vanuatu National Training Centre Hospitality and Tourism Diploma. Arranging for the students to go on placements at resorts has been an issue since there are currently no tourist resorts on Ambae. Hopefully the course will stimulate graduate students to set up tourist facilities but until then, Linda has built up a rapport with resort operators on the neighbouring island of Santo. Because of this, she’s now been able to find placements for all first year students at her school.

Linda with her first year students at Torgil Training Centre. From L-R: , Belinda, Shena, Devonia, Linda, Makelia and Ethel.

Tourism on Ambae

There is a lack of tourist resorts in Ambae but currently there is also a lack of tourists. Latest 2009 figures from the Department of Tourism suggest that 97 per cents of all tourists to Vanuatu only visit Vila, Santo or Tanna. The other remaining 28 islands compete for the other three per cent.

We were on assignment for four months before we saw a 'white tourist' on Ambae. So my assignment as a Tourism Adviser has been a challenging one. The only tourists we see on Ambae and Maewo are ‘yachties’ and during April-June the world famous original bungee jump known as nanggol (land diving) on Pentecost brings in a few others.

Due to the lack of facilities and tourists, I spend a lot of my time involved with tourism awareness and run training on this for locals. I find that people are thirsty for knowledge and between 50 – 80 people normally attend each course. During one recent course in Asanvari in South Maewo the 'mamas' presented me with eight baskets and said the baskets may be empty but they are 'fulup' with the knowledge I gave them.

We feel very humble to have the opportunity to help the wonderful people of Penama province. It will be very hard to leave.

A positive future close to home

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:47:31 +1300

Like hundreds of current and former VSA volunteers, a little piece of Debbie Snelson’s heart belongs to Africa.

VSA’s Chief Executive Officer spent almost 20 years living and working in East Africa. She first went there as a young zoologist to study ways to stop baboons raiding the crops of subsistence farmers. She then went on to work with conservation and development organisations such as the African Wildlife Foundation and WWF.

“I loved the colour and the vibrancy there, and the people’s resilience,” she says of the many years she spent in Africa.

Debbie admits that her long association with Africa means she feels a personal sense of sadness about VSA’s recent decision to phase out the programmes in Africa and South East Asia in order to send more volunteers to the Pacific and Timor-Leste.

That feeling has been confirmed by the emails and letters of concern she’s received from returned volunteers who have worked in Africa and Asia following this month’s announcement.

“I’ve really appreciated hearing from them – it reflects the depth of the relationship and the links that people build; in the end, that’s what volunteering is all about.”

Ultimately, she says, the Council had to make some hard decisions about the future of VSA.

“We are a small organisation with limited resources and in order to guarantee our future we have to use them as best as we can. It’s about making sure VSA is here for another 50 years.”

Debbie says that focusing VSA’s work in the greater Pacific region makes sense.

“Obviously the community and heritage connections we have with the Pacific make it obvious that we should be working there. The decision also reflects the fact that in recent years more than half of our volunteers have gone to the Pacific.”

Besides, she’s not about to give up on Africa and Asia altogether. Even if VSA no longer runs programmes in either region, she hopes to find new ways of helping Kiwi volunteers to keep working in them.

In the meantime, she’s looking forward to the challenges of expanding VSA’s short-term volunteering programme throughout the Pacific. It’s hoped that providing more short-term assignments will increase the number of skilled New Zealanders who go on assignment each year by almost 30 per cent.

“It will open up so many opportunities for skilled New Zealanders who, for various reasons, can’t commit themselves to a two-year assignment. The appetite for volunteering has grown throughout the world, and we want to open up different possibilities for New Zealand volunteers, and for the partner organisations we work with.”

March’s new volunteers heading out on assignment

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:26:15 +1300

Featuring our new volunteers from this month.

ASIA

Timor-Leste

BILL HARDIE is originally from Christchurch but now heading off to Dili, Timor-Leste to work with partner organisation, Moris Rasik, as a Finance Team Mentor. Bill is accompanied by his wife Julie.

Auckland based TANYA WILKINSON is taking up a two year VSA assignment in Dili, Timor-Leste as a Marketing Adviser with partner organisation and local NGO, Hamahon Feto Timor (HAFOTI). The NGO is a consortium of 27 small rural women producer groups across seven districts that aims to help rural women generate income for their families.

Of her time so far, Tanya says: "Flying out of New Zealand on the day of the Christchurch earthquake added to the drama and emotion of leaving, but that seems a long time ago now. Since arriving in Dili three weeks ago I've been occupied with finding a house, taking Tetun lessons, getting used to driving a scooter in the traffic (and how to negotiate potholes), getting to know the friendly bunch of VSA volunteers, and the many other people living and working here, not to mention meeting the people in the organisation I will be working with. Looking forward to starting work next week."

AFRICA

Tanzania

OLIVIA OWEN is one of VSA’s 2011 UniVols. She is originally from Nelson but now heads to Arusha, Tanzania to work as a Basic Computer Teacher Trainer for Meru Primary School.

Olivia says: "So far Africa is amazing. Everyone is so friendly and keen to learn and the school is great. I am so excited about the rest of my time here".

PACIFIC

Bougainville

Wellingtonian JOSH BROOKS was previously working with Wellington City Council before taking up a two year VSA assignment in Buka, Bougainville. He will be working as a GIS/Survey Adviser with Autonomous Government of Bougainville's Division of Lands and Physical Planning.

VIRGINIA PYCROFT was working at an Seventh-day Adventist church in Auckland before leaving to take up a one year VSA assignment in Arawa, Bougainville. She will be working with partner, Arawa Urban Council as Finance & Administration Systems Adviser.

Of her time in Bougainville so far Virginia says: "My life is certainly different. It's much more laid back yet some basic living takes longer - like having to collect drinking water from the tank at the bottom of the house. Arawa certainly still bears the scars from the crisis in its buildings and in its people but there is a quiet optimism among some that makes working here worthwhile. I am privileged to be a part of moving forward.

"A big difference to my work in New Zealand is email. Email used to be an integral part of how I worked and communicated. Here there is no internet at work let alone email communications between organisations. In some ways it's quite nice not to be interrupted by emails. We have an active social life with other volunteers here and overall it's been a great start to the assignment."

Papua New Guinea

Originally from Nelson, JULIA O’CONNOR was working as a Disputes Tribunal Referee with the law courts before starting her two year assignment with VSA. She will now be working as a Legal Adviser with Live and Learn Environmental Education in Kimbe, West New Britain.

ANDRE HUGUET was a self-employed builder from Auckland before he took up assignment in Kimbe, West New Britain. Andre is now working as a Maintenance Adviser with partner organisation, Mahonia Na Dari.

Andre comments so far on settling in: "I am fortunate to be living in a very beautiful spot and have managed to meet some interesting folk up here. It is certainly a different mode of life up here, with the locals having a somewhat slower pace of life and a simillar work ethic.

"In the six weeks I have been here, I have already seen some improvement in the skills base, though I expect it will take some time to develop to a reasonably sustainable level. There is a severe lack of resources at hand to undertake the work, so I'm having to be resourceful with materials and tools.

"As there's little for people in the compound to do I have established a volleyball court from my own funds, which kicked off last night. It proved very popular, with many adults and children coming along to join in the fun. I also brought my guitar with me and, despite the fact that my musical abilities are almost non existent, there have been a few locals keen to pick it up and play it.

"I have also been keen to find a local to build me a traditional canoe so as I can head out and do a spot of fishing. This has proved rather difficult, with the art of canoe making seemingly having died out in the immediate area. Not wanting this to be a problem I have decided to build my own using western methods. I plan to purchase the materials myself and teach a couple of the boys how to construct one."

After many years working in HR development, teaching and training, Auckland-based VIVIENNE (VIV) MCGOWAN has taken up a two year assignment with VSA as a Tertiary Education Adviser with the Kokopo Business College.

The college is located in the beautiful island province of East New Britain, PNG. The staff at KBC have a great generosity of spirit and are eager to learn whatever they can from this white meri; a perfect environment to follow up the great work by two previous volunteers both of whom are still spoken of fondly by the staff at KBC.

MICHELLE HITCHCOCK is originally from Alexandra and has now started assignment with VSA’s UniVol programme. She is working as a Projects Officer with Kairak Vudal Resource and Training Centre (KVRTC) in Papua New Guinea.

Solomon Islands

Tauranga resident, SIMON JAMES has now headed out on VSA assignment as a Road Works Adviser with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development. He’ll be based in Honiara for two years.

TOM MURRAY is one of VSA’s 2011 UniVols. Originally from Alexandra, Tom has started assignment as Environmental Management Assistant with the Nature Conservancy in Kia, Isabel Province Solomon Islands.

LAURIE WILLIAMS i from Masterton, formerly a teacher, Principal and consultant in New Zealand, the Pacific and Middle East, is now on a two year VSA assignment in Gizo, Solomon Islands. He is working as a School Leader Mentor for the Western Provincial Education Department.

Vanuatu

Wellingtonian MATTIE GEARY NICHOL (pictured left) is one of VSA’s 2011 UniVols. She will be working as a Youth Worker for Wan Smol Bag Theatre in Vanuatu along with fellow UniVol and Wellington based student, ANNA RAVENDRAN.

Of her time so far Mattie says: "I'm really enjoying being at NCYC, Wan Smolbag's little sister up north. It's great working with a big team of youth, peer educators, nurses and tutors. I'm kept busy with people coming and going, school children pouring in to learn about body changes, mamas on woven mats crocheting and music blasting from the conference room where kids are spinning on their heads in hip-hop classes. Despite this, there is always time for a 'smol spel' several times during the day. I can see already that this is going to be a fun year".

Queenstown-based MANDY BROWN is one of VSA’s 2011UniVols. She will be working in Vanuatu for the Department of Tourism as a Tourism Business Trainer/ Adviser.

March's returned volunteers from Melanesia

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:06:47 +1300

Featuring our volunteers returning from Melanesia (Nov 2010 - March 2011)

Wendy Roger – Bougainville

Wendy’s highlight working with partner, The Arawa Women’s Training Centre (AWTC), was developing a huge array of training courses and meeting people from all over the world. AWTC was a successful guest house but also offered training and a conference space.

Wendy started off setting up hospitality and tourism courses and, following the success of these, created a whole raft of other courses and workshops focusing more on life skills to match the needs of the local community. The diverse and exhausting list included: traditional fan making, sewing, cooking and baking, fabric painting, book keeping, computing.

For Wendy it was great to see how the students on the course used their new skills. This included how women who attended the baking course subsequently set up stalls in the local market to sell their products and how cocoa growers and fishermen used the book keeping course to help them keep a better track of their finances.

Wendy is currently based in Wellington but keeping options open while she considers what and where to go next.

Jenny Wu – Bougainville

Jenny was based at Arawa High School, working as an In-service Teacher Trainer. She was pleased to have made lots of progress working on the English language curriculum and was able to produce a big pile of resources for teachers to take forward. Jenny also linked up with VSA volunteers in other schools to undertake in-service training for all secondary schools in Bougainville.

Jenny loved working with the students and said that those who make it to Grade 11 have “big smiles, straight backs and lots of ambition.”

After finishing her VSA assignment, Jenny has since returned to Bougainville to undertake her new role, independent of VSA, as Head of English at Arawa High School.

Gavin Reynolds – Bougainville

Both Gavin Reynolds and his partner Andrea Dekrout (see below) took up assignments with VSA in Bougainville. Gavin’s role was as a Science Teacher Trainer based at Hutjena School based in Buka.

A key success for Gavin was setting up in-service training for all secondary schools in Bougainville. This was the first time in-service teacher training had been offered since 1998 following the conflict in Bougainville which pretty much destroyed all basic infrastructure, health provision and education initiatives.

Gavin was able to link up with the other VSA volunteers working in the area to provide the training needed. Gavin provided science and general curriculum training while Victoria Degerman, also based at Hutjena School, provided counseling training, Randall Toonen, volunteering at Bishop Wade Secondary School, offered agricultural training and Jenny Wu from Arawa High School (see above) provided English training.

Around 30 teachers attended the two day training sessions offered at three centres: Arawa, Hutjena and Asitavi with great feedback. There is now funding from the Division of Education to continue the training sessions twice a year with a local teacher based at Hutjena School in charge of its coordination.

Andrea Dekrout – Bougainville

Andrea rates working with communities groups as the most enjoyable part of her assignment with the Autonomous Bougainville Government. Her role there was to advise on how to manage Bougainville’s natural environment for development, particularly in relation to land use, biodiversity and climate threats. As Andrea points out: “people in the local communities often had such great ideas but found it hard to articulate them well. They would have an idea of a conservation project but needed help to develop it or where to go to get the funding they needed.”

One example was at the Paru Paru community centre where Charles Mikua wanted to run environmental education classes for school leavers. He already had the beginnings of a programme but Andrea helped to focus those ideas, extend the classroom and provide teaching resources. Crucially, she was also able link him up with UNDP that is now providing in-kind support and AusAid that is enthusiastic about possible funding. The lessons were primarily focused on improving current farming systems and making them sustainable.

Andrea and her partner Gavin have now both landed their dream jobs and are going to work for the Cheetah Conservation of Botswana. They will be running the fieldstation in Ghanzi which is very remote, situated as it is in the middle of the Kalahari Desert.

Tony Bray – Papua New Guinea

One of the key things Tony was involved in during his time as Business College Adviser with Kokopo Business College (KBC) was the installation of fibre optic cables to connect all five college buildings. Tony managed to convince AusAid to fund all the fibre optic cabling rather than just the one to connect two buildings originally budgeted for. As Tony Said: “A representative from the Coffey Group in Australia said if Kokopo Business College could dig the trenches they would supply all the cabling to link up the whole school. I said they are outside digging now. Can’t you hear them?”

As well as working on the cabling Tony helped to create a database for the college while he was there. Once the admin staff understood what the database could do for them, such as cutting registration process time from three weeks to three days, they were really keen to use it. For Tony it was great to work with dedicated staff in a successful learning institution which seems to be going from strength to strength.

Tony has now returned to Foxton with no fixed future plans as yet.

Arnold Hawkins – Papua New Guinea

Former Kapiti Coast building inspector Arnold Hawkins has now completed three VSA assignments in Bhutan, Vanuatu and now PNG. His last assignment in PNG was as a Maintenance Adviser with the Arch Diocese of Rabaul (St Mary's Hospital). Arnold was very pleased to work with this well organised partner organisation as he helped the maintenance team upgrade the staff accommodation while mentoring his main counterpart Peter Dasdas to draw up plans and provide costing for contractors. In addition, Arnold was also involved in setting up a five year programme of ongoing maintenance for the hospital.

Arnold is pleased to be back in New Zealand and is now looking forward to a bit of rest and recreation although he hasn’t ruled out short-term assignments with VSA in the future.

Alice Keeling – Papua New Guinea

Much of VSA UniVol Alice Keeling’s assignment was focused on helping staff at her partner organisation, Callan Disability Services, with the administrative side of their work. This included developing in-service training, using PCs, creating programmes etc. But as Alice pointed out she felt it was more important for Callan staff to take the lead and be the face of the organisation: “They are the teachers with all the skills and not me. I was happy for them to tell me what they needed from me in order to help them do that work”.

One of the things Alice felt that she was able to help Callan with was to attract the support of local businesses, and a corporate fundraising dinner bought in some funding and helped raise awareness. In addition it helped her collegues feel a sense of pride and ownership about the work they do and the services they provide for persons with disabilities in East New Britain.

Since returning to New Zealand Alice moved to Christchurch to study at the New Zealand Graduate School of Education. Alice and her family were all fortunate to be unharmed in the earthquake and she is now back on teacher placement following the reopening of some schools.

Susan and Tony Hinkley – Papua New Guinea

“The work with Partner Organisation, the Nazareth Centre for Rehabilitation (NCR), was all about assisting women survivors of domestic violence get access to justice,” says Susan talking about her recent assignment as a Legal Adviser in Bougainville, PNG. Susan’s assignment was initially to train para-legals but she ended up also training police prosecutors and staff at the Public Solicitor’s Office on how to go into court and get protection orders for the women. Susan also helped NCR set up two new safe houses for women and children. Husband Tony, who accompanied Susan on assignment, contributed his labour in making the safe houses habitable.

Susan puts the success of the Nazareth Rehabilitation Centre in helping the women of Bougainville firmly down to Centre Director and good friend Sister Lorraine Garasu. “Without Sister Lorraine”, says Susan, “very little would be achieved – without her vision and energy the Access to Justice project would collapse.”

Towards the end of her assignment Susan was invited to spend two weeks with the Coalition for Change, a highly influential group of women academics and lawyers based in Port Moresby. This was a great opportunity to advise on the need to introduce specific domestic violence legislation in PNG.

Now back in their home town of Nelson, Susan and Tony are relaxing back into life in New Zealand, although they haven’t ruled out any future assignments with VSA.

Bruce Johnson – Papua New Guinea

Getting to work with Women and Youth in Agriculture was a real highlight for Horticulture Adviser Bruce Johnson during his assignment at the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). He found the women hugely professional, great to work with and possessing boundless amounts of infectious enthusiasm.

Bruce was introduced to the group through NARI scientist Kiteni Kurika and was able to advise them on setting up their Executive Board, on their future plans for floriculture and offered practical help running their flower show in July 2010. This was a solid success with all women making a small profit.

To help members understand the difference between growing flowers and commercial floriculture Bruce judged all floral arrangements using commercial standards. From this flower show the group now has a contract with one of the big hotels to supply flowers.

Having now returned to New Zealand, Bruce is back living in Whangarei with his wife and daughter.

Adele Cubitt – Solomon Islands

Adele says that it was the practical training she ran during her one year assignment with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that she enjoyed the most. As Legal Adviser, Adele ran an intensive training course on how to identify the relevant human rights and humanitarian law violations for the 'statement takers' whose role it was to take statements from the public to record an accurate account of what happened during the 1998-2003 Solomon Islands conflict.

As well as formal training, she also provided adhoc advice for the statement takers once they were in the field and taking statements. As she says: “I felt like I was contributing towards something.”

In addition, Adele provided legal advice and training to the Commissioners and staff of the Commission on the Commission's mandate and international human rights/humanitarian law. Adele also conducted research into the justice system and reviewed court cases related to the tensions to identify any issues or violations the Commission should be made aware of.

Adele in now consultating for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Canberra.

Emily Leslie – Vanuatu

Helping to run literacy classes for 30-40 students between 4-16 years was a large part of UniVol Emily’s role as Youth Advisor with Wan Smolbag Theatre. The classes provided basic learning needs for children unable to go to school due to affordability. “Fifty per cent of the Vanuatu population is actually under 20”, say Emily, “ so there just aren’t enough schools for everyone to attend”.

Emily loved helping to run the sports programme with a Wan Smolbag colleague, creating a budget and calendar of events to maximize the use of the all-weather turf – the only one in Vanuatu. She also helped run futsol (a five-aside soccer game) and volleyball tournaments in Port Vila which was great fun. Pariticpants had to register and attend an HIV workshop and in return got to play in the tournament and get a free lunch.

Now back in New Zealand Emily is studying in the Masters of Planning degree programme at the University of Otago. She is considering using aspects of her year in Vanuatu as a part of her thesis.

Stephanie O’Dea – Vanuatu

Fellow VSA UniVol Stephanie O’Dea loved her time working at Wan Smolbag’s sister organisation Northern Care Youth Centre. The centre offered information on reproductive health and Steph’s main role was teaching peer educators planning, reporting and evaluation skills so they could use planning tools and keep accurate financial records.

But as with many VSA assignments Steph did a whole lot more, and running a weekly employment workshop was something she got particular satisfaction from. As she explains, ““Everyone wants to go on to higher education or employment but they don’t think it’s a possibility until someone helps them to realise they can do it.”

Among the success stories from the workshop include Sylvie who was a peer educator and now works as a teller for National Bank, unemployed Barry who trained as an engineer and now works on a boat as an engineer, and Sheena the ‘star singer’ who is now a receptionist at Aqua Marine Dive Shop.”

Steph is now back in New Zealand working on her planning thesis at Otago University.

Michelle Main – Vanuatu

UniVol Michelle worked with her Wan Smolbag colleague Brian in the area of waste management, working with local primary school students. They organised field trips including visiting a turtle conservation island, and the Port Vila landfill site so children could see how much waste they were creating.

Michelle and Brian also ran waste management and climate change workshops for students using posters promoting the 4 Rs of Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle which Michelle says the students loved to chant during the workshops: “They looked so happy with themselves – so stoked they had remembered the four Rs.” As a result of the workshops some schools stopped the use of polystyrene containers for cooked lunches bought at school, instead encouraging reusable containers.

After returning to Auckland briefly, Michelle has now headed off to the UK on her OE and hopes to find work in the environmental field soon.

Don Miller and Helen Ainsworth – Vanuatu

Three times VSA volunteer, Don Miller, was pleased to be able to complete work that began in Vanuatu in 1995 using a particular non-invasive tropical grass and other native plants to help stop soil erosion. As an agricultural adviser with the Farm Support Association, he also helped to devise a modified cultivation system which could be combined with traditional techniques to help increase food production.

Don’s partner Helen who accompanied him on assignment also volunteered her time working with VSA partner organisation, Vanuatu Early Childhood Association, talking to communities about what they wanted for their children and writing standards following these discussions.

Don and Helen are now back living in Picton but keen to look at future short-term volunteering opportunities to promote sustainable agriculture and climate change adaptation in Vanuatu.

Arlene Fyfe – Vanuatu

Arlene was a Pre-School Coordinator (Urban Santo) with the Vanuatu Eli Jaelhud Asosiesen (VEJA). She finished her assignment in December 2010 and now has a job as an Early Intervention Teacher with CCS, at Royal Oak, Auckland, where she will also undertake postgraduate study.

We’ll update future issues of Talk Talk with news on our other returned volunteers as they settle in to life wherever they are.

March's returned volunteers from Polynesia

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:56:46 +1300

Featuring our volunteers returning from Polynesia (Nov 2010 - March 2011)

Ron Rowe – Samoa

“Brilliant”, is how Ron described his short-term assignment in Samoa, working as a Business Development Adviser with the Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) and Women in Business Development Inc. To be working with two already successful organisations was fantastic and Ron’s three month stint was well timed to help nudge the organisations past the comfort of the success plateau. Both had new boards and so governance and management workshops and strategic planning sessions paved the way for continued growth.

Even after years of working in business, Ron Rowe says the assignment opened his eyes to the reach of small business in both communities and families: “When business succeeds, everybody succeeds. The success benefits communities economically and socially.”

Ron may be interested in future short-term assignments with VSA but currently is keen to get back to Napier and get involved in some local projects.

Andrew Baker – Tokelau

Andrew Baker’s role with the Tokelau Department of Education was to provide plumbing training to Tokelauans. Andrew was able to provide training to a number of Tokelauans with one training course proving particularly successful as it was run in an incomplete flat. After just three hours of theory the rest of the week was spent completing the plumbing work on the flat. Students were able to practice their knowledge on a real home.

Andrew was also able to help out a local school that had a serious water shortage by installing Buteline piping which now supplies the 10 correctly plumbed-in toilets, sinks and showers, staffroom, workshop and school gardens.

Next steps for Andrew may be working for Habitat for Humanity either in Fiji or here in New Zealand.

Vanessa Te Huia – Tokelau

“When you know someone cares about you and sets boundaries and you get genuine praise, you can’t help but sit up straight,” comments Vanessa about the attitude of her school principal in Tokelau to the students of his school. Vanessa built up a very strong relationship with principal Livi Mativa during her time as a Primary Teacher Trainer at Tialeniu School and puts much of the school’s success down to his vision and commitment to the school community.

Vanessa felt privileged to work alongside Livi and helped him to implement his approach across the school. This approach included improving the school environment and school pride through updating buildings, clearing areas, planting trees and leading by example by giving back respect to all those in the school community. Livi also helped motivated young teacher aids become qualified teachers and upskilling was a key part of his overall vision for the school. Even something as simple as introducing an embroidered badge sewn on to their blazers, says Vanessa, helped turn around the kids’ attitudes, giving them back a sense of pride in their school.

Vanessa is currently living in Wellington, hoping to work in an area looking at policy with regard Pacific Island education in New Zealand.

We’ll update future issues of Talk Talk with news on our other returned volunteers as they settle in to life wherever they are.

Mr Keith's art team strikes again

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 16:40:02 +1300

Two days a week Keith runs an art programme at the women's prison in Port Vila. It's a small facility housing four to five detainees, situated - fortuitously for this project - next door to the Vanuatu Society for Disabled People.

The room where the disabled pikininis play is getting a makeover. These women are transforming a bleak, grey space with a brightly coloured mural of Noah's Ark. Using paint left over from Central Kindy* and some happy teamwork, they're creating a vibrant new environment for disadvantaged children - and enjoying every minute of it.

This is a situation where the doing is as important as the end result. For a couple of hours a day the women forget they are detainees and interpersonal conflicts are set aside. Even the guard joins in (she's the one standing on the chair) and they all take turns to hold baby Antonio.

For the Disabled Society the process is equally as positive. Their centre goes from being a forgotten, neglected place to a hub of activity, filled with chatter and colour.

And for "Mr Keith" it heralds the start of a symbiotic relationship that he hopes will continue long after he has gone.

*See my previous blog about the mens art team project.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA

March's returned volunteers from Africa

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:44:46 +1300

Featuring our volunteers returning from Africa (Nov 2010 - December 2010)

Sam McLachlan – South Africa

UniVol Sam’s role as a Youth Programmes Advisor with South African partner, Imvomvo Training and Management Services, was a dream assignment for him, combining his love of rugby and travel. His assignment focus was to coach rugby to children between the ages of 2-17 and he personally coached five school teams on a Tuesday and Thursday. The season ended with a tournament in Heritage week with U21 rugby (Sam played in the winning team), U15 rugby and netball teams all competing.

Now Sam is back at Otago University completing his Masters in development.

Nicholas Latty – Tanzania

UniVol Nicholas puts visiting the Ngorogoro Orphan Care Centre that he helped to set up as part of his assignment with Malezi AIDS Care Awareness Organisation as a real highlight for him. The centre runs entirely on contributions from parents, with women from the local community operating it. Originally just 30 children (who were orphans) came to the centre but this has now grown to over 100, including children of local families.

The idea for the centre came from Nicholas and other colleagues who saw the potential of the site – an abandoned, remote mission unused for 10 years. But as Nicholas is quick to emphasise: “I gave them the idea but after that everything came from the community and they totally did if for themselves which means it has a real chance of continuing. It’s a good example of people doing it for themselves which is quite unusual in Tanzania and it’s all the women running the show”.

Nicholas is considering carrying on with professional exams for law now he is back in New Zealand.

Tony Lambdon – South Africa

Tony worked with Imvomvo in South Africa as a Sport Development Adviser and while there helped train some local youths from the neighbouring townships in Triathlon skills. He began working with the athletes most days of the week from May 2010, usually before and after work and at weekends. In a few weeks of intensive swim training their times fell quite dramatically.

The athletes were fortunate to go to the South African championships which also doubled up as a qualifying event to select for world age group champions. Amazingly, a number of the guys Tony trained qualified, with three being eligible to represent South Africa at the Triathlon Championships in Hungary.

As Tony says: “The work that I've been doing here has been an amazing process of development. It’s a true 'Sport for Development' programme and its future lies in the hands of those who now have the skills to maintain it and see it grow”.

Additionally, Tony and the team started working in township schools, taking bikes out to them and teaching them to ride safely and also to swim. Tony says: “These youngsters will become the 'third generation' of athletes hopefully. However, if it just means that at the beach they are now safer, if one life is saved, the whole project has been worthwhile.”

Anna Reid – South Africa

UniVol Anna Reid worked with Restless Development and Dance for Life, a Dutch organisation using dance and drama to promote AIDs/HIV awareness in schools. Anna’s role was to coordinate the programmes in East London schools and worked with 15-19 year olds to develop their messages and performances about HIV/AIDs.

Anna felt there was still a long way to go to help change student mindsets about HIV and AIDs but the programme she was part of did give kids something to be excited about and got them involved in drama and dance.

Anna is now back in New Zealand, working for MFAT in as a Policy Officer for the Special Relations Unit with Tokelau and Niue.

We’ll update future issues of Talk Talk with news on our other returned volunteers as they settle in to life wherever they are.

March's returned volunteers from Asia

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:14:15 +1300

Featuring our volunteers returning from Asia (Nov 2010 - March 2011)

Tess Guiney – Cambodia

UniVol, Tess enjoyed creating teaching resources using ideas and games from New Zealand for the children at the Cambodian orphanage run by her partner organisation, the Rural Economic Development Association (REDA). She was surprised how even the older boys would engage in quite basic art activities such as using water-based dried paint and creating pictures. The novelty of having any art materials was something really appreciated and enjoyed.

Tess became really interested in the variations of conditions in orphanages and undertook a piece of research studying orphanages throughout Cambodia. She was able to present a report to REDA at the end of her assignment which was well received with many lessons to take forward and implement into their existing programme.

Tess is now back in NZ undertaking her Masters. Influenced by her time as a VSA UniVol, she has since changed the focus of her thesis to look at the impact of tourism on orphanages in Cambodia.

Sophie McCashin – Cambodia

UniVol Sophie’s work at the Cambodian Centre for the Protection of the Children's Rights (CCPCR) involved everything from setting up a development programme to teaching self defence, English and sewing classes to girls aged between 7 and 18 years. The Centre helps girls who have been the victim of domestic violence or trafficking integrate back into mainstream Cambodian life, offering them vocational skills or continuing education.

Sophie loved working with the girls and because of her own age, felt they were more receptive to her than if she had been older. “They were amazingly good girls”, says Sophie. “You would never know the struggles they had been through.”

To raise money for the centre, Sophie undertook a half marathon in Sien Reap and was able, with help from fellow VSA volunteer Nicky Brown, to take all the girls with her. This meant the girls finally got to visit the famous Angkor Wat and use a swimming pool for the first time, arranged with the local hotel. The rest of the money raised went into a medical fund to pay for immunisations and dental check ups for the girls.

Sophie is now back in New Zealand working for Palmerston North Community Services Council as Programme Leader.

Kenneth McIntyre –The Lao PDR

VSA's last Lao volunteer, Ken McIntyre, enjoyed meeting students who attended his English language course that he ran for partner organisaton, the Institute of Foreign Affairs. English is a common business language in the Lao PDR especially among ASEAN countries. Ken worked with students to help them develop their written and spoken English language skills including making presentations in English. Each course lasted for 20 weeks and students came from various Government departments and agencies, including the head of Wattay airport, the Department of Mines, Forestry, Irrigation, Foreign Affairs and the national Electricity Authority.

Ken has kept in touch with a few students after the course and has been pleased to see how they have used the skills he taught them to good effect. One student in particular works as a Secretary for the Director of Electricité du Lao and was able to provide a crucial role as translator between her boss and international contractors who were building a new dam on the Mekong.

Peter Todd – Vietnam

Getting to know and work with his Vietnamese colleagues was a real highlight to Peter’s two year assignment as a Marine Resource Management Adviser with the Binh Dinh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Peter spent most of his time working with community groups and the government on a ‘co-management’ fishing initiative to educate about sustainable fishing methods to prevent the over fishing of Vietnam’s waterways.

As well as undertaking over 50 presentations to community groups and schools about sustainable fishing methods, Peter also designed a questionnaire for the long term monitoring of community perceptions and behaviours regarding fishing delivered to people from 12 local communities with a total population of approximately 5,000.

Currently back home in Nelson he is exploring the possibility of returning to Vietnam on a short-term assignment with VSA to analyse the data collected from the community questionnaire.

We’ll update future issues of Talk Talk with news on our other returned volunteers as they settle in to life wherever they are.

New direction for VSA

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:59:55 +1300

VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) is expanding its programme in the Pacific and providing a greater range of volunteering options to New Zealanders keen to share their skills in developing countries.

VSA is establishing relationships with Samoa, Tonga and Kiribati (pictured)

VSA, New Zealand’s largest and most experienced international volunteer agency, is re-establishing relationships with Samoa, Tonga and Kiribati, taking the number of Pacific countries it works in to seven.

VSA is also increasing the number of short-term volunteering assignments available throughout the Pacific. This will make it possible for more skilled New Zealanders to work as volunteers.

Samoan bus

Traditionally, VSA assignments last for two years. Short-term assignments, on the other hand, can last for between two weeks and six months. VSA chief executive officer Debbie Snelson says by offering more short-term volunteering assignments VSA hopes to increase the number of volunteers who go on assignment each year by almost 30 percent.

“The core of our work will continue to be two-year assignments. But we also need to provide New Zealanders with more flexible volunteering opportunities, and meet the changing needs of our partner organisations.”

Ms Snelson says VSA’s new direction reflects the Government’s focus on sustainable economic development in the Pacific, and its desire to provide more New Zealanders with the opportunity to volunteer.

“As a New Zealand organisation we are uniquely placed to work in the Pacific. These countries are our neighbours. Focusing on just one region is an efficient use of our limited resources, and it allows us to build long-term relationships with the communities we work with.”

In order to introduce the changes VSA is reallocating its resources to focus on the Pacific, and phasing out its programmes in South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Vietnam and Cambodia. Current long-term volunteers in those countries will finish their assignments but at this stage no new two-year assignments will be developed.

However, Ms Snelson says there will be opportunities for New Zealand volunteers to work in Africa and Asia in the future as new partnerships and relationships are set up with other international NGOs and programmes.

VSA remains committed to working in Timor-Leste, and the number of volunteers there will increase.

Ms Snelson says VSA is also investigating ways it can work with the private sector and large public sector organisations to develop different types of volunteering opportunities.

“VSA is now almost 50 years old, and we have made many changes to the way we work since we first began in 1962. It’s about responding to a changing world. New Zealanders need more flexible volunteering options, and as an organisation we need to keep changing and diversifying.”

About VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad)

VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) is a home-grown Kiwi volunteering organisation and has placed more than 3,000 skilled New Zealanders on volunteer assignments overseas since 1962.

We are New Zealand’s largest and most experienced overseas volunteer-sending agency.
VSA is now recruiting for long-term and short-term volunteers to work in PNG (including Bougainville), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati and Timor-Leste.
All our assignments are locally identified, locally relevant, and locally delivered.
We are an independent charity and are non-governmental, non-religious and non-political.
Our volunteers have been in demand for almost 50 years, adding their skills and energy to help strengthen communities striving for change.
We recruit ordinary New Zealanders to achieve exceptional work with our partner organisations.

Rennell & Bellona: pre-arrival information

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:51:24 +1300

After all the confusion (see my previous post First week back), it turns out that Rennell & Bellona Province* was first off the block after all. Our Temotu plans had to be postponed due to Cyclone Yasi interfering with flights flying to the east of the country.

So, at 0630 I found myself bleary-eyed and sitting on the plane, ready to depart for the ‘poorest’ Province in Solomon Islands. Apart from its remoteness and its UNESCO World Heritage lake**, I didn’t know too much about this RenBel. Fortunately, my RenBel resident friend managed to give me a quick rundown on what to expect:

There is little in the way of food in RenBel due to the infertility of land. Rennell Island is the world’s largest uplifted coral atoll, and as a result, the land consists of mainly rock and sand. Only coconuts and a small amount of pawpaw, slippery cabbage, cucumber and potato are grown there. All other food is imported from Honiara.

The provincial capital, Tigoa, is set right in the middle of Rennell Island. It takes about two hours of walking through the bush to reach the nearest coast therefore fish is not a staple part of the diet.

There is no market place and only one or two shops, but there is literally nothing in them (zilch on the shelves!) because it’s been three months since the last ship paid a visit.

Tigoa – airstrip on the left, town on the right; surrounded by lots of bush and trees

As a result, my bag (OK, bags) were heavily laden with bottles of water, ‘Fantastic’ instant noodles in a cup, tins of fruit and dehydrated peas!

Another thing I found out about RenBel is that the people of RenBel are Polynesian descendants, rather than Melanesian. This means that people from RenBel have quite a distinct appearance in Solomon Islands, and their language and culture are often compared to Te Reo Maori and Maori culture.

Tigoa’s pharmacist

For example: The Hongi. I was once told a story of the first Premiers’ Conference at Lake Tegano. When the Premiers arrived, they were met at the airport by a ‘welcoming committee’ of attractive young women with the customary hongi. The Premier from Central Province was the first in line. When the lead girl stepped in to press her nose against his, the Premier (being unfamiliar with this arrangement) stuck his tongue out and licked her nose from tip to bridge!

Suffice to say, I was incredibly excited to be entering this part of Solomon Islands (for the chance to experience a different Solomon Islands, not for the nose licking!).

Notes:

* ’RenBel’ is a common way to refer to the Province of Rennell & Bellona. According to ‘Uncle Wiki’, in 1793, Bellona Island was named after a passing British ship and Rennell Island was named after Lord Rennell; President of the Royal Geographical Society in London.

** Lake Tegano on Rennell Island is the South Pacific’s largest inland lake.

Sources:

Rennell and Bellona Province

Lonely planet

Visit Solomons

Wikipedia

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect those of VSA

Mr Keith's Arts Team

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 22:22:36 +1300

These men are detainees in Port Vila's low risk prison and members of Mr Keith's Arts Team. None of them have any art training, nor - as far as I know - any particular interest in painting. Yet they created this sign on the wall of Port Vila Central School Kindergarden in just a couple of days. I'm astonished every time I see it.

On a whim Keith packed an old tracer projector as part of his tools of trade when we took up this assignment in Vanuatu. It was an obsolete piece of equipment in Auckland and he hadn't worked with it for years. Here he never stops using it. Together with paint donated by Rotary and some deft brushwork on the part of the Arts Team, he's managed to produce this fun, eye-catching, really professional-looking result.

Projects like this are highly visible and are seen as an important part of making things right with the community. The men enjoy it and it gives them a real sense of achievement. Which is just as well, because now schools all around Port Vila are lining up to have signs painted on their walls.

These men are detainees in Port Vila's low risk prison and members of "Mr Keith's" Arts Team. None of them have any art training, nor - as far as I know - any particular interest in painting. Yet they created this sign on the wall of Port Vila Central School Kindergarden in just a couple of days. I'm astonished every time I see it.

Projects like this are highly visible and seen as an important part of making things right with the community. The men enjoy it and it gives them a real sense of achievement. Which is just as well, because now schools all around Port Vila are lining up to have signs painted on their walls.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA

First week back

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:14:34 +1300

This week is my first week back at work for 2011 and so far so good. The big news is that the Permanent Secretary (equivalent of a CEO) passed away on Christmas Day. It was such a shock and has been a terrible loss for the Ministry as well as the Provincial Governments. Upon his passing my colleagues and I promised that we would do our best for the Ministry so that all of his hard work was not done in vain.

Secondly, the UNDP Provincial Government Strengthening Programme (PGSP) approved USD6,000 for me to undertake various aspects of my assignment. Now this is extremely exciting because in theory it means that I’ll be able to travel out to the Provinces to do a needs-assessment. Thank you UNDP!

My first day back in the office

Finally, I just found out that I’m going to be travelling to Rennell & Bellona at the beginning of next month. The way that I discovered this piece of news still has me chuckling because it’s not unusual to the way that many tasks have been assigned to me during my time here:

Colleague: Hey, have you received your ticket yet?

Me: What ticket?

Colleague: Your plane ticket. You know?...to RenBel*

Me: I’m going to RenBel?! When? Are you sure it’s me who’s going?

Colleague: Yes, to deliver Induction Training at the beginning of February. Yes, you’re going. Your ticket has already been paid for

Me: Oh!

So, I guess I’m going!**

The Induction Training that was referred to in the conversation is for the new Members of Provincial Assembly (MPAs) who were elected into Provincial Government in at the beginning of last December. The training is aimed at introducing the MPAs to their roles and responsibilities, as well as the legal and public accountability framework that they are required to work within.

Since finding out about the travel I’ve been frantically trying to develop my training materials. The biggest challenge of all – besides trying to make it interesting – is to make it suitable for a wide-ranging audience: from consecutively-serving MPAs to illiterate MPAs. I’m constantly amazed by how many things I take for granted; literate politicians being one of them.

*’RenBel’ is a common way to refer to the Province of Rennell & Bellona. It consists of two remote islands to the south of the main Solomon Islands archipelago

**It turns out that I’m not actually going to RenBel, but instead I’m going to Temotu! This is, again, not an unusual experience for me to have here

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA

Impressions and ambitions

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:31:19 +1300

Thomas Murray is on VSA's UniVol programme working as an Enviornmental Management Assistant at Arnavon Community Marine Conservation Area.

I got up early and, once the rain stopped and the thunder died away, I embarked on a mission up the river beside town to find the much-talked-about waterfall. At the bottom of the canyon I came to the village of the local customary land-holders. After paying a custom fee of SI$60 (about NZ$12), one of the local boys, Kaspa, led me off up the hill.

T’was a treacherous climb. The path wove between old fox-holes left from the Japanese in WWII and was dotted with the occasional snake. Once over the ridge we descended through dense, slippery rainforest into a limestone canyon and were greeted at the bottom by the thundering of a series of waterfalls. It was a pretty remarkable scene. The water tumbled in a series of drops, off a high mound and down into a deep canyon full of tree trunks, much like any tight river gorge on the NZ’s West Coast.

Kaspa and I climbed and swam up around the waterfalls and checked out the caves at the top, during which time I had a bit of a chance to yarn to him about his life and work. It was my first real encounter with the type of community-run tourism that I am to work with for the rest of the year. He said that he thought he was about 30 years old and he had just finished schooling and mechanical apprenticeship last year. While looking for work since November, he had spent his time looking after his parents, nephews and nieces, and taking tourists to the waterfall. It was his only source of income as his family couldn’t farm their land since it had been sprayed by the Allied Forces to remove the forest cover in WWII and for the most part, nothing but a tough, persistent grass had been able to grow there since. He hoped that his brother would come back from Brisbane when he finished his engineering degree so that he could help to support the family. This however, seemed unlikely as work for any local professional is hard to come by in the Solomons.

It seemed odd to me that work was so hard to come by, especially given that there was sufficient money floating about to entice swarms of Aussies working in the mining industry and dozens of Korean fishing boats into the country as well as extensive logging operations in the provinces. As it turns out though, those people are mostly working for foreign companies on contracts that aren’t particularly accessible to the locals. So for Kaspa, tourism is the only lifeline for himself and his family.

This reminded me of my upcoming work in Kia and gave me a fresh perspective on why this kind of work is so important. The people with whom I’m working aren’t looking for an extra dollar for some nice shoes or a new car, they’re happy to settle for rice. Kaspa was worried though (and I share his uncertainty), that the kind of economic growth that he could see in the Solomons wasn’t actually worthwhile for him and his people. What he hoped for was the chance for his people to make their own development so that they could begin to see some of the benefits of the developed world – they could go to a doctor when they were sick, his nephews and nieces could go to school, and his parents could have dignity in their old age without struggling to get by.

There are ways to pursue this kind of development which leaves local communities in a better position to cope with future challenges. Unfortunately though, it isn’t entirely within the power of the local people to achieve this kind of development. I believe that the work that I’m here to do can help this happen. While I couldn’t accept Kaspa’s invitation to stay and help him with his little tourism operation, I do think there’s hope for families like his, especially with VSA’s presence in his country. Hopefully the work that I will eventually do can provide some direction for tourism operators such as Kaspa. I guess time will tell.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA

March 2011 featured photo

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:30:10 +1300

Celebration time at Wawas village, PNG – by Antony Rewcastle

We picked out this great photo taken in the village of Wawas showing an initiation of young girls into the village. The photo was taken in January 2011 by VSA volunteer Antony Rewcastle who is working as an Eco-Forestry Adviser. Wawas is located approximately 2km west of Toimtop village where Antony is living and working.

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Jason Weise, Timor-Leste Field Officer

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:29:04 +1300

VSA’s Field Officer in Timor-Leste, Jason Weise, was on a 12 month volunteering assignment with the East Timor Development Agency in Timor-Leste when he saw the VSA post advertised. Originally from Brisbane, Jason has been volunteering and working in the development field for the past two years.

Jason provides field based support for the six VSA volunteers currently working in Timor-Leste.

Jason with colleagues from partner organisation HAFOTI in Timor-Leste

The favourite part of your job?

That would have to be the the joy partner organisations express when I get to tell them we have found a volunteer from New Zealand that wants to come and help them.

What is it that you think is the key to VSA’s success?

What sets VSA apart from others, is its strong direct relationships with partner organisations. It’s one thing just to place volunteers here and there. It’s quite another to desire and work at long-term meaningful relationships with partners that make a difference.

What do you think is the quality that makes a great volunteer?

Self-awareness. What makes a great volunteer is being aware of how your actions, speech and body language impact those you work with and being willing to adjust them for the context in which you find yourself. Adaptability is a close second to self-awareness though. Just to be willing to step outside what you feel is normal and do something a different way (even when you think you know a better way) is such an important quality.

If you could go anywhere in the world right now where would you go?

The Himalayas. I have always wanted to trek to Base Camp.

If you could volunteer anywhere where would you volunteer?

I guess I would have to say Nepal because of my desire to be around the Himalayas although my experience in Timor-Leste volunteering was fantastic.

Foreign Affairs Select Committee endorses VSA

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:47:54 +1300

The Foreign Affairs Select committee has endorsed VSA’s (Volunteer Service Abroad) “valuable” role in education, training and mentoring in the Pacific.

In a report, written over the last four years and released in December 2010, the committee says it, “would like to see [VSA] receive significantly more funding to expand its activities into supporting entrepreneurial activity in Pacific Countries”.

VSA’s CEO, Deborah Snelson says the comments by the committee show a strong and clear understanding of the importance of relationship building and mentoring at the grassroots in education, and its role in growing stronger and more economically viable communities.

“The committee has come up with some complex solutions to the complex problem of looking at economic sustainability as a holistic exercise,” she says. “VSA is looking at dynamic ways to increase volunteering options in the Pacific to allow more New Zealanders to contribute.”

The report recognises education costs hamper many in the Pacific Islands from accessing education and that it is inadequate, especially for women.

VSA has just completed two case studies into education in Tokelau and in the Solomon Islands which echo some of the sentiments of the select committee report. The case studies include recommendations about increasing VSA’s mentoring role for school leaders and overall governance issues.

VSA currently has around 70 New Zealand volunteers working in the Pacific, based in Papua New Guinea, the Autonomous region of Bougainville, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tokelau and Samoa.

Contact us for more information via our media room

Leaving the land of lotus eaters

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:46:30 +1300

After 22 years engagement with the Lao PDR, VSA is suspending the programme in the country as part of moves to concentrate its work more in our neighbouring Pacific. The last Kiwi volunteer to work in the Lao PDR, Ken McIntyre, has recently returned to New Zealand having completed two years teaching government officials and mentoring English teachers of the Lao PDR Institute of Foreign Affairs.

Twenty two years volunteering in the Lao PDR.

Top row: Bob Burgess conducting rural research; Sirsena Dahanayake; Natasha Lewis preparing plans for project proposal in Nabak Village. Bottom row: Craig Salmon conducting field work; Sari Lewis; Dorothy Culloty.

VSA began its relationship with the Lao PDR in the late 1980s sending mostly education specialists. In the mid 90s it became involved in a rural development project in one of the poorest districts of Vientiane Province, Phone Soung. Six volunteers were sent to work in healthcare, education and community development resulting in greater productivity, and community credit banks funding wells and other projects.

From 1999 another VSA volunteer Bob Burgess began work as a training coordinator with the international NGO that has had the longest relationship with the Lao PDR – the Quaker Services in Laos (QSL). He ended up staying six years and changing his role along the way. Another volunteer who extended his time there was Sirisena Dahanayake who stayed six years as an economic policy adviser attached to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He was the recipient of the ‘Cross of Labour’ awarded by the Minister as he neared the end of his assignment in 2008.

"I often think of my time in Lao, the places I went, the people I met and the friends I made. I feel privileged to have been able to experience the culture and the warmth and friendliness of the Lao people.I look upon the six years I spent there as the most enjoyable and worthwhile years of my life and because of this, part of me remains there. This must be so, as every time I have returned, why else would I get the feeling 'I'm home'."

-Bob Burgess, Training Coordinator, Lao PDR (1999-2005)

Others along the way include Natasha Lewis and Craig Salmon, both Environmental Management Advisers, Sari Lewis who worked as a Nurse Trainer after an earlier assignment in the Pacific, and Dorothy Culloty who worked as a management adviser with the Rural Research Development Training Centre. She and her partner Kees Sprengers extended their time to four years and are still working in the region.

VSA moves away from the Lao PDR at a time when economic reports show it is one of the top 10 countries to have progressed according to the Human Development Index (HDI). This was highlighted just last month (Nov, 2010) when the United Nations launched its Human Development Report showing the countries that have made the greatest progress in recent decades as measured by the HDI. The top 10 countries that improved their HDI, the most relative to their starting point, include well-known ‘growth miracles’ such as China, Indonesia and South Korea, but also the Lao PDR, Nepal and Tunisia, where progress in non-income dimensions has been marked. [1]

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at the launch: “The Human Development Reports have changed the way we see the world. We have learned that while economic growth is very important, what ultimately matters is using national income to give all people a chance at a longer, healthier and more productive life.”

[1] http://www.undplao.org/newsroom/global_HDR2010.php

Building Positive Futures in the Pacific October Appeal

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:12:45 +1300

This October, we tried something new by using the work featured in Vista magazine as the focus for our appeal. Many of our VSA volunteers are working with our neighbours in the Pacific to bring about positive change.

Volunteers such as:

Andrew Sorenson and Gwen and Bruce Levick (pictured), lighting the fire for school leaders in the Solomon Islands.

Barry Binding (pictured right in the photo) nailing the reconstruction process with Arawa Carpentry in Bougainville.

Bruce Johnson (pictured) supporting women of East New Britain to set up a local floriculture industry

Keith Hambrook creating, with Vanuatu’s Department of Corrections, opportunities for detainees to exhibit and sell their artwork.

Unfortunately we had a disappointing response from our appeal raising only $2,142 for VSA to support the 55 volunteers currently on assignment in the Pacific, and in doing so build partnerships with local communities. We need a lot more support. If everyone we had contacted had given the equivalent of one volunteer day ($18) we would easily have raised $45,000!

Please help by supporting our first Christmas Appeal and gift wrap a Kiwi this Christmas. In return we'll send you a plantable Kiwi Christmas decorate for your friend or family member.

Get in the spirit and send a Kiwi this Christmas

An accompanying partner on assignment

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 09:20:18 +1300

Katherine Weka accompanied her partner, Gareth Evans, to South Africa as he took up a VSA assignment as a GIS and Database Specialist. She talks about how she’s been spending her time.

What were you doing in NZ before leaving for South Africa?

I worked at Environment Bay of Plenty prior to leaving New Zealand in the IT department. We have our two children with us on assignment, Mara was five and Mikah four when we left NZ.

What was the biggest factor in your decision to be a VSA accompanying partner?

Gareth was born in South Africa and still has relatives there. I have long been keen to see where Gareth grew up, to see the wild animals and meet the people. We saw this VSA assignment as an opportunity to see the country, reconnect with family and meet the people in a way you could never do on holiday. While neither of us had really thought of development before, it seemed a great way to help people, by giving our time, energy and skill.

What have you been doing with your time?

Shortly after we arrived, we quickly made the acquaintance of another VSA volunteer, Shona and her family. Shona introduced me to her work colleagues at The Eastern Cape NGO Coalition (ECNGOC). And soon after, I started volunteering there regularly.

Mainly the work involved is based around small projects, such as equipment purchasing, web development, and photography. I have especially enjoyed assisting the coalition with pictures for their website and various publications, using my personal pleasure of photography.

Katherine (right) showing ECNGOC staff member, Pinkie, the website

I endeavor to apply the VSA ethos of skills transfer, and will soon be providing training on how to use the CMS (website content management system), enabling the Coalition to manage their own website.

How else are you filling your time?

With two young girls attending school, school sports, library visits, play dates, and after school activities, followed by homework, we fill our afternoons easily.

As formal schooling begins later than in NZ, I am helping Mikah with reading and basic mathematics. School fundraisers are another opportunity where I get involved, and I have been out to Mdantsane with another VSA volunteer, Alison Bowis, to read to the school kids she works with.

I have joined the East London Photographic Society where I can network with like-minded people who enjoy extending their camera skills. And I am also an active member of our local church congregation and meet a wide range of people in our bible work.

What has been your highlight so far?

The people. We have made good friends across a range of cultures and often get together for games evenings or braai (BBQ).

Three things living in South Africa has taught you

1 Awareness of how important and fragile the environment is. New Zealand is so much cleaner than South Africa, less polluted, but we need to remain vigilant and ensure we strive to keep it that way.

2 Not to compromise your own morals and standards of how you treat people, but also to try and understand the background to differences so you can appreciate why they exist, before you judge too harshly.

3 Constant awareness of your surroundings and those around you.

Interested in becoming a VSA volunteer?

Check out our recent vacancies

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To love, honour… and volunteer?

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:03:53 +1300

Douglas Hancock and Francoise Lafferty, took the ‘married and working together’ plunge when they became VSA volunteers working together in Tanzania. Douglas found a surprising number of positives to the arrangement…

My wife and I have lived and worked in Wellington in the public service for many years. However, during a trip to South Africa in 2008, we were struck deeply by the contrast between the beauty of Africa and the inequalities faced by a lot of its people. We were keen to return to the continent not just as tourists, but in a way so that we could give a little something back.

We noticed on VSA’s website that there were two interesting vacancies: a ‘Legal & Rights’ Adviser and a ‘Business Support Adviser’ for an HIV/AIDS NGO in Moshi, Tanzania.

We really liked VSA’s commitment to sustainable skills exchange, as opposed to dumping sums of cash in poor countries with little accountability. And as soon as I saw a picture on the internet of Moshi town with snow covered Mount Kilimanjaro in the background, I was determined to go.

Heading off

Some of our family and friends were a bit dubious as to why we would want to leave our comfortable lives in New Zealand to go to the great unknown of East Africa. However we did find people were pretty receptive and supportive once we explained VSA's philosophy and how we felt the time in a foreign country would enrich our lives. Plus it’s good to do these things before more responsibilities mean it is harder to take a year away from home.

After a whirlwind of medical examinations, house renting, arranging budgie care, and stuff storage we were soon exiting a plane at Kilimanjaro Airport on a balmy March night. Bats fluttered around us as Musa, our Field Officer, met us and whisked us off into a new adventure.

HIV/AIDS-related work

The work is challenging. My role is about bringing an understanding of human rights into the day to day business of our NGO, Mildmay International. By supporting the NGO to respond to rights-related issues, Mildmay can address the complexities that affect the quality of life of HIV/AIDS clients.

Children raising awareness of child-related HIV/AIDs issues through dance during World Aids Day on 1st December.

My wife is focussed on supporting income-generating activities for HIV/AIDS support groups as well as assisting with baseline surveys and evaluation. She is also working on developing project management training material for the office.

Douglas and Francoise’s partner organisation, Mildmay Tanzania, took part in the celebrations during World Aid Day on December 1st. Douglas is in front sporting a Movember moustache.

As well as working with our counterparts to build capacity in our key focus areas, Francoise and I are also responsive to the day to day needs of the office. There are many unplanned opportunities to share skills with others. It may be something as simple as tutoring someone in keyboard short cuts or as complex as drafting a child protection policy for the office.

Working well together?

Francoise and I are good at keeping each other posted on these opportunities to offer something constructive in the office. What we have been surprised to find out is that despite the odd ‘strong’ discussion we have worked well together. We have been able to share information on ‘what works’ as well as peer review for the various educational resources we are creating. We have been able to practise our Kiswahili with each other. (Francoise is better at picking up the language than I.)

As our work can sometimes involve working with extremely sick or poor people and children, it has been good to have the emotional support of a partner there.

Francoise after conducting training under an interesting sign.

Being a couple volunteering has been a positive, if novel, experience for our fellow workers and host community. Initially some of our fellow workers were a bit bemused, especially when my wife would go out into the field with them (many Tanzanian women avoid lines of work which involve field trips). In a culture where many women are working in domestic spheres, I am proud that Francoise has been able to be a model of a married woman who is also a professional worker. We both joke around with our co-workers a lot now; I think they are fond of mume na mke (husband and wife).

We have both enjoyed living as part of the community. We have enjoyed making friends with neighbours, local produce stall owners and the local children. After cycling home from work, Francoise and I jog together regularly as a way of unwinding but it is also good for getting to know the locals. We get lots of waves and greetings as we jog around. I love jogging here as there is always something to see: goats wandering, choirs rehearsing singing, armies of children to run with. I think a lot of the women love it too when my wife (as she usually does) is running way out in front!

Francoise and I are leaving here in four months. We still have a lot to do in that time. There will be a lot that we will miss about the place. The friendliness of the people. The sounds of birds and animals waking us up every morning. The chance to really interact with community life. But I think we will also be bringing values back to our home community of Petone. We will have a greater appreciation for simple things and meaningful interactions with people. I think we will have a lot more patience. And I think we will be a stronger couple for it.

Interested in becoming a VSA volunteer?

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December’s moving and shaking

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 14:20:50 +1300

Featuring our volunteers returning and leaving in December.

Volunteers returning from assignment during November and December

Anne de Bres – Vietnam

Anne likens her VSA assignment experience as a nurse trainer with the Binh Dinh Department as “a bit like having a baby. You can read all the books, but it’s not until you have the baby that you really know what it’s like”.

During her time at the hospital in Binh Dinh, Anne was able to support colleagues working in the noisy and often chaotic neonatal unit to shift their thinking about allowing family members to assist in the care and monitoring of babies. Previously, family members were not allowed near the unit, but a change of emphasis and focus on training resulted in families supporting nursing staff, with often a member of the family being present 24 hours a day.

Anne loves how now the nurses take great pride in their unit, the babies are less stressed, incubators are covered to keep out noise and bright lights and survival rates have improved. As Anne says: “The nurses now absolutely own the process because they see the value in the changes that have happened. And families now know how to handle and care for their premature babies”.

A month back in New Zealand and Anne is living in Palmerston North and taking it easy for a while, doing some examination supervision work at NCEA.

Paul Lewthwaite and Julie Watts – Papua New Guinea

Newly returned volunteers, Paul and Julie, didn’t hang around New Zealand for long. They have headed off to Vanuatu to work with Live and Learn (Paul’s partner organisation during his time on assignment in PNG) on a seven month contract focusing on environmental education. Supported by AusAid, Paul will be helping small enterprises work on tasks such as installing composting toilets.

During his time at Live and Learn in PNG, Paul and his colleagues were able to undertake a small programme in Minda community to install pit toilets, save water and set up an education programme. The programme supplied around 350 people in an isolated community with only boat access to town. In true VSA skill-sharing style, Paul trained ‘plumbers’ in the community to install the toilets and undertake ongoing maintenance.

Paul’s wife Julie kept busy with voluntary work for a sustainable logging company, ForCert, as well as teaching local women how to crochet and knit as a possible extra income to vegetable growing.

Bill and Shirley Kingan – Papua New Guinea

During his two year stint as Farm Business Adviser at PNG’s University of Natural Resources and Environment, Bill reckons he must have worked with pretty much all 50 employees on the university farm. His main role was to work with the farm manager and technical officers to help improve processes and increase efficiency but this often meant getting stuck in to jobs at hand. These included treating sick goats, introducing ducks as an alternative to chickens for villagers, planting crops, informally teaching English and even acting as temporary rugby union coach for a bunch of keen university students.

While there, Bill was able to save Lorna the goat from certain death by amputating her badly broken leg and dressing it with VSA’s very own medical kit. Thanks to him, Lorna was able to wean her two small kids. Sadly, the story doesn’t end well. She was stolen a few weeks’ later and never seen again.

Lorna having her first post-op inspection by Bill

Now back on their farm in Oamaru, Bill and Shirley are in no hurry to decide what they will do next. Bill may be interested in short term volunteering with VSA in the future.

Warren Nash – Solomon Islands

Landscaper and horticulturalist, Warren Nash, spent his assignment with partner organisation Solo Enviro Beautification, supporting and training colleagues who maintained the parks, gardens, roundabouts and medium strips in and around the capital Honiara.

One great project Warren managed to get off the ground was the production of good quality compost using waste from neighbouring industries. The compost was used in Solo’s nurseries as well as sold on to other parties, generating additional income for the organisation. Previously, dirt was dug out of the hillside to use in the nursery.

Local industries were more than keen to give their waste for free. Woodchips, sawdust from the local timber yard, free chicken manure, green cuttings from the council and waste from the local brewery were all thrown into the compost mix.

The project has been extremely successful, reducing the amount of rubbish dumped at Honiara’s main tip and that dumped at sea by the local brewery.

Currently Warren has several landscaping jobs lined up and is in the process of buying a house in Golden Bay.

Chris and Elaine Angove – Bougainville

Chris was working for a year with his partner organisation, Bougainville Earthworks Limited as a Management Adviser helping them review business processes and make changes as necessary. In that time he successfully worked with colleagues to enable them to change the business focus and obtain a contract to build a classroom block at Arawa High School and a large contract with Kitano Construction, the company tasked with rebuilding 15 bridges between Arawa and Buka.

Even though she wasn't a VSA volunteer, Chris' wife, Elaine, a Registered Nurse who accompanied him on assignment volunteered at the Arawa Health Centre in the Maternal and Child Health Clinic and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Of her and Chris's time there Elaine said: "Just being there, you don't feel like you are doing much but actually 'just being there' makes a difference."

Now back in New Zealand, Chris and Elaine aren't planning on heading out again with VSA at this time. They have moved into a new home in Napier and are looking forward to catching up with friends and family and slowly easing themselves back into their Kiwi life.

Kirsten Forsyth – Bougainville

The Division of Lands & Physical Planning where Kirsten worked as a Physical Planner had only nine staff so her assignment included many roles, such as preparing the Annual and Corporate Plans and reviewing many other plans and policy documents.

Just as she left Bougainville, the Government was finalising arrangements to have its own Planning Board to allow it to make decisions about land uses in Bougainville, rather than wait on Port Moresby staff.

Kirsten enjoyed accompanying the Division's Lands Officers on a series of land workshops throughout the region gathering ideas and views at village level about land usage, natural resources and villagers’ future use concerns. These workshops were very well attended with well over 200 villagers coming along to some. As Kirsten says: “In Bougainville, everyone owns land and so they all have strong feelings about how it is used, and who by.”

Now back in New Zealand, Kirsten is waiting to reclaim her own piece of Wellington land once tenants move out of her house. She will be working at the Ministry for the Environment for the next few months.

Tessa Guiney – Cambodia

Tessa was a UniVol who returned in September after working in Cambodia as a Childcare Worker with the Rural Economic Development Association (REDA).

Arnold Hawkins – Papua New Guinea

Arnold was a Maintenance Adviser with the Arch Diocese of Rabaul (St Mary's Hospital).

Tony Lambdon – South Africa

Tony worked with Imvomvo in South Africa as a Sport Development Adviser and came back to New Zealand in September following a one year assignment.

Sophie McCashin – Cambodia

Sophie worked with the Cambodian Centre for the Protection of the Children's Rights (CCPCR) as a Youth Development Programme Worker on VSA’s UniVol programme. She returns to New Zealand later this month.

See Sophie’s volunteer profile

Kenneth McIntyre – The Lao PDR

Ken spent two years with the Institute of Foreign Affairs as an English Language Teacher. Ken is our last volunteer to work in The Lao PDR.

Peter Todd – Vietnam

Peter worked as a Marine Resource Management Adviser with the Binh Dinh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on a two year assignment.

See Peter's volunteer profile

Tony Bray – Papua New Guinea

Tony spent two years on assignment as a Business College Adviser – IT with Kokopo Business College.

Alice Keeling – Papua New Guinea

Alice comes back later this month after spending 10 months as a Special Needs Programme Assistant with Callan Disability Services on VSA’s UniVol programme.
Read Alice's Project Friendship blog

Susan and Tony Hinkley – Papua New Guinea

Susan worked as a Legal Adviser with the Nazerath Rehabilitation Centre and was accompanied by husband Tony.

See Susan's volunteer profile

Jane Banfield and Doug Buchan – Bougainville

Jane was working as HR Systems Adviser with the Human Resource Development Divison and was accompanied by partner, Doug Buchan.

Ron Rowe – Samoa

Ron has just returned from a short-term assignment in Samoa, working as a Business Development Adviser with the Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC).

Andrew Baker – Tokelau

Andrew was working as a TVET Instructor with the Tokelau Department of Education.

Arlene Fyfe – Vanuatu

Arlene was a Pre School Coordinator (Urban Santo) with the Vanuatu Eli Jaelhud Asosiesen (VEJA).

Emily Leslie – Vanuatu

Emily was a Youth Advisor with Wan Smolbag Theatre on VSA's UniVol programme.

See Emily's article in December's enewsletter

Stephanie O’Dea– Vanuatu

Stephanie was a Youth Advisor with Wan Smolbag Theatre on VSA's UniVol programme.

See Stephanie's photo essay in December's enewsletter

Don Miller and Helen Ainsworth – Vanuatu

Don was working as Farm Support Association Assistant with the Farm Support Association. He was accompanied by partner, Helen Ainsworth

See Don’s volunteer profile

Michelle Main – Vanuatu

Michelle was a Youth Advisor with Wan Smolbag Theatre on VSA's UniVol programme.

See Michelle's article in December's enewsletter

Sam McLachlan – South Africa

Sam worked as a Youth Programmes Adviser (Rugby) with Imvomvo Training and Management Services on VSA's UniVol programme.

See Sam's Project Friendship blog

Anna Reid – South Africa

Anna worked as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer with Restless Development.

See Anna's volunteer profile

Nicholas Latty – Tanzania

Nicholas was Communication and Project Writing Adviser with Malezi AIDS Care Awareness Organisation.

See Nicholas' volunteer profile

Lindsay Roberts – Zambia

Lindsay worked as Maintenance Foreman with the Macha Mission Hospital.

We’ll update future issue of Talk Talk with news on our other returned volunteers as they settle in to life wherever they are.

New volunteers heading out on assignment

PACIFIC

Bougainville

GERARD BRUIJL was working as a Principal Business Advisor with BiZChange (NZ) Ltd in Nelson before taking up his assignment as a Small Business Development Adviser at the Division of Commerce.

Gerard is supporting the set up of a Business Advisory Service within the Division of Commerce.

Vanuatu

MEREANA MILLS has moved from her role as a Sustainability Coordinator with Genesis Energy in Auckland to Tourism Business Development Adviser (SHEFA) with the Department of Tourism.

Her main role will be to support the Department of Tourism in its promotion of regional tourism development and income generation opportunities for NiVanuatu in the tourism industry.

Mereana is accompanied by her partner Wayne Mills.

ASIA

Timor-Leste

LISA VITASOVICH was working as a self-employed accountant in Auckland before she decided to take up a VSA assignment as MYOB Trainer (Finance Systems) with the Dili Institute of Technology (DIT). Lisa’s main role will be supporting DIT in updating its existing financial systems.

ANDREW SMITH has swapped his role as Information Manager with the Kapiti Coast District Council to be a Database Development Trainer with BELUN in Timor-Leste. Andrew will be helping BELUN to improve its databases and help its IT staff be more effective in using such information systems as MySQL, Access, Excel and GIS. Andrew is accompanied by partner Alofa Smith.

Alofa has volunteered to assist the Dominican Nuns at their Orphanage at Bidau and will be helping the sisters get their Office systems in order, so they can comply with new grant reporting systems.

Interested in becoming a VSA volunteer?

Check out our recent vacancies

Support our work

December 2010 featured photo

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:37:37 +1300

Athletics carnival at Hutjena Secondary School in Bougainville − by Andrea Dekrout.

Jason Gimots looks on as Mitchel Kouro is raised aloft by Camilus Rimyo to celebrate his victory for Magalut (Flying Fish) House in the 1500 metre race.

It’s a scene from Bougainville’s Hutjena Secondary School interhouse athletics carnival where two VSA volunteers currently work. Gavin Reynolds, Andrea’s husband, is a Science Teacher/Teacher Trainer and Victoria Degerman is the School Counsellor.

Gavin and Victoria were heavily involved in helping to organise the events and coach the students for the athletics day. Gavin acted as official for the javelin and helped coach Magalut house students, such as Jason and Mitchel who are pictured.

Hutjena was so successful at this year’s interschool carnival with their athletes winning the top school prize, that next year they will be hosting the event.

Support our work

Introducing the life of a volunteer in Solomon Islands

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:48:49 +1300

I’ve been meaning to start this blog for some time now – well, four months actually, which is how long I’ve been in my assignment as Legal Adviser for the Ministry of Provincial Government & Institutional Strengthening. I feel like I’ve been in Honiara for at least a year, but I’m only just coming to terms with how my assignment fits in with the peace-building of this Pacific nation.

The Ministry provides support to the nine Provincial Governments to help them to deliver services to the population in their Provinces, which incidentally is where 85 per cent of Solomon Islanders live (the rest are in Honiara). Alongside this, another key task of the Ministry is to decentralise as many central functions as possible to these Provincial Governments. Now this is where I come in.

The blue and yellow building is the Anthony Saru Building where MPGIS is located.

There’s this idea that decentralisation can help to diffuse tension. From my understanding, decentralisation does this (albeit, to a certain extent) by empowering those at grassroots and helping to improve living standards. However, in order for this to actually happen, Provincial Governments in Solomon Islands need to be strengthened in a way that will enable them to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. Alongside UNDP’s Provincial Government Strengthening Programme (PGSP) and other VSA volunteers, I’m working to build the capacity of the Ministry and the Provincial Governments. It’s going to be a long and hard slog, but hopefully we can make progress.

Me & my colleague, Joane, waiting to go by boat to a village in east Buala for dinner during the Premiers' Conference

So that’s enough from me for now as I wanted this first blog entry to be more of an introduction to my assignment. I have often thought of blogs as terribly self-indulgent (which I may prove to be true as I continue to post entries on to this blog) but what I’m really hoping to do is take you on this adventure with me.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA

We stood up and carried on

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:04:03 +1300

“The fire is not dead. The organisation is rekindled”. These were the words of Helen Hakena when I talked to her this morning about the fire that destroyed what Helen describes as “only the building” of Leitana Nehan Women`s Development Agency (LNWDA) in Buka in the Autonomous region of Bougainville earlier this month (November 2010).

Helen is the executive director of LNWDA and a leading light in the campaign against violence towards women in Bougainville. She was speaking to me on the veranda of their new premises, only a few doors up the street from the pile of rubble that still marks the spot where the previous building stood.

Helen is talking about her passion for the work when she says “The fire never stopped. It only baptised us”.

The day after the fire, the people who were renting the building that LNWDA now occupy, moved out and said “Here. This is for you. We want to show our support for an organisation we respect so much. We really value your work.”

Telikom reconnected LNWDA the same day to the new premises; phone and internet up and running - only one machine though instead of the three previous.

LNDWA lost their photocopier, binding machine, two laptops and three desktops computers, four printers, all office furniture, filing cabinets, fax/message recorder, radio mixer, laminating machine and much more. Nothing was insured. It is virtually impossible to get insurance for Bougainville.

Leitana Nehan staff in front of the premises that was destroyed in the fire. Below, the charred remains of the LNWDA's offices following the November fire.

Saved: Genset out the back and Helen`s laptop(at home) and the backup external hard drive that Barbara takes home each evening – as advised to do by VSA volunteer Neil Brosnahan. This back-up has the financial records on it.

LNWDA has had support from all quarters, including former VSA volunteers and NZODA in Wellington. The Buka chemist donated a stand-alone fan, six chairs and some floor coverings. The local radio station donated a desk. Other people have come forward with more office furniture.

It is White Ribbon day this Thursday (25^th November) and a group of women from “up in the bush” have said they are bringing the local bamboo day to play for free. Buka Urban council is providing and erecting a stage for free. “People have been so impressed that we didn`t sit, or lie down and cry over the ashes, but stood up and carried on the next day,” says Helen. “We never stopped.” The whole board of directors met the day after the fire to take stock and make a plan to carry on.

White Ribbon day will have special meaning this year for LNWDA staff and everyone associated with the organisation. The floats will gather outside the new premises Thursday morning and will set off around town eventually stopping at the park opposite both the old and new LNDWA site.

Twenty male advocates will be commissioned on Thursday says Helen. These men have been selected by their communities from all over Bougainville to advocate for the end of violence towards women. “They are based in their communities, selected by their own people as men who are respected for their peaceful ways. They have attended gender and human rights workshops and are expected to actively promote violence free lifestyles in villages and families.” Helen explains after each awareness workshop, the men are required to report to LNWDA about the content of the awareness and how it was received by the men who attended. There is also an official form they must fill out.

LNWDA activities are strongly connected with the work that the Nazareth Centre is doing with women and children escaping abusive relationships.

The Pacific Island Quorum Secretariat has contacted Helen to say they are giving around NZ$14,000 to the rebuilding of LNWDA. They told Helen that this is not just about Bougainville, it`s about the Melanesia and Pacific regions and they want to show our solidarity and support.

Fire devastates leading Bougainville NGO Headquarters

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 13:36:10 +1300

Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) and former volunteers have offered to provide back-up files and other assistance to one of their partner organisations in Bougainville that lost almost everything in a devastating office fire earlier this month (November 2010).

Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency (LNWDA) staffs watched helplessly as their offices were consumed by fire on November 2^nd, erasing 20 years of work and records - and leaving the NGO without a home.

LNWDA offices were decimated by fire earlier in November

VSA’s in-country manager Murray Benbow says the fire was a real shock however, with no fire brigades in Bougainville; disastrous fires are part of life. He says VSA was in the throes of organising another assignment for a volunteer with the organisation but it may have to be put on hold until the agency gets back on its feet. VSA has copies of some files for the partner organisation in its Bougainville office.

New Zealand VSA volunteers have been working with Leitana Nehan Women’s Development for several years. The NGO was founded at the height of the 10-year Bougainville conflict to provide humanitarian aid to women and children who were victims of the conflict. LNWDA now provides a wide range of activities including counselling for victims of violence, health awareness workshops, and advocacy for women and children’s rights. As one of the largest and longest established NGOs in Bougainville, LNWDA provides capacity building support to other, newer, organisations and takes a leading role in networking and co-ordinating with others. There are 11 staff based in the Buka office and 36 volunteer counsellors spread throughout the 13 districts of Bougainville.

The head of the agency, Helen Hakena told Radio New Zealand International funding from AUSAID and the New Zealand Government’s International aid and development programme enabled LNWDA to be built and stocked with equipment and it will be very difficult to start again from scratch. “Particularly losing all the documents, all our annual reports, all our policies, all our audited reports, everything - it is gone. But what we are saying is that we are still strong, we have got our hands, our feet, we’ve got our hearts; we still are dedicated and committed to continuing the work that we have lost. Everything is not lost, we are thankful that we are all safe.”

Neil Brosnahan of Christchurch has been working with LNWDA for the last couple of years as a management adviser to strengthen the agency's ability to manage its programme and resources. During the same time, Lesley Young of Auckland has been on assignment with the organisation working on domestic violence response and training.

Neil says life is difficult for people in Bougainville who are still recovering from years of civil war – but it’s especially hard for those who are victims of violence. “LNWDA is one of the few organisations providing a vital service trying to reduce violence as well as meet the needs of victims. I’m concerned this fire will mean the organisation will struggle to provide services to those who most need them.”

Bougainville people have had to develop resilience through the civil war, however Neil says these events all have a personal and community cost. “Bougainville is trying to build itself up again, and LNWDA has an important part to play in this as a leading NGO that often gets asked to contribute to province wide activities such as building democracy.”

Neil and his wife Niki Hannan, who was also in Bougainville, are planning to buy a laptop and load it up with the latest accounting systems to help LNWDA get back on their feet. Lesley Young, who has also just returned from Bougainville, has set up a fund for LNWDA’s recovery through the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). It will accept donations on behalf of the Bougainville NGO. Please be sure to note the payment is for Bougainville. Cheques, made out to WILPF Auckland can be sent to 3A Highwic Ave, Epsom1051, Auckland - or payments can me made direct to the WILPF bank account: BNZ 02-0240-0156143-000

For more about the fire and firsthand comments read VSA’s in-country manager in Bougainville Murray Benbow’s account and interview with Helen Hakena.

Read Murray's account

Ten things we've learnt working in Vanuatu

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:40:07 +1300

Each year, VSA sends around 12 students studying development or geography at Otago and Victoria University on its UniVol programme. UniVols go on assignment for approximately 10 months and are paired with partner organisations who work with other young people. UniVols Emily Lesley and Michelle Main reflect on their time with Vanuatu NGO: Wan Smolbag.

Emily (left) with Mary Siro, a Peer Educator at Wan Smolbag (centre) and Michelle (far right)

1 Have patience... and lots of it

Things work differently in Vanuatu than in New Zealand. Take the concept of time for instance. We have learnt that 8 am doesn’t necessarily mean 8 am or even 9 am. Time has a very different priority in Vanuatu.

2 Be flexible but know that things always work out

Improvising and making do with what you have is part of the deal of living in Vanuatu. Improvising, for example, when the transport you had arranged for a field trip is late or doesn’t show up, or when you’ve turned up to take a workshop, and find yourself running all over town organising refreshments. It’s about being resourceful with what’s available to you at the time.

3 Work together

Wan Smolbag is an amazing organisation that completes a wide range of work both in Vanuatu and in the South Pacific, but this is only possible because of the many teams of people that work hard together. Wan Smolbag has a really supportive working environment, and our workmates have all encouraged us throughout the year.

4 There is always a way

Despite sometimes limited resources or budgets, there is always a way for outcomes to be met − whether it be conducting a workshop without pencils, teaching a literacy class with no class books, or setting up a hiphop performance without power!

5 Importance of friends and family connections

In Vanuatu, people come first. If NiVanautu people have friends or family in need, they will always be there to help each other. Some days it may feel like there is no one at work but there will be a reason for this and things always get completed in the end.

6 Take time to ‘storian’

To ‘storian’ in Vanuatu is to sit down and share your stories and adventures with others while listening to their tales. NiVanuatu people appreciate it when you take the time to sit down and ‘storian’ with them. It’s a great way of building up friendships and gaining insight into the culture, lives of your workmates or even the bus driver on the way to work.

7 Expect the unexpected

Expecting the unexpected is something we have learnt from all aspects of Vanuatu life. Expect the unexpected when you go to bed at night; no doubt there will be many creatures that decide to join you − spiders, cockroaches and millipedes to name just a few. Expect the unexpected when you hop on a bus to go to work in the morning. A 10 minute journey could take an hour as the bus drops people at their houses, along dirt roads, or across flooded roadsides. Expect the unexpected living along the ‘ring of fire’. Cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis have all been a part of this year.

Finally, expect to be amazed at the limitless capabilities of workmates, even if many haven’t been to school since they were 11 years old.

8 String bands and reggae

String bands and reggae dominate the Vanuatu music scene. So get used to listening to all songs dubbed to reggae beats... even Phil Collins doesn’t escape the reggae transformation. This also means being prepared to be the worst dancer at any festival or concert you go to and get ready to have NiVanuatu laugh even when you make your best attempts. We have learnt that white girls can’t dance, but we always had a fun time trying.

9 Island food – learn to love it!

Often aelan kakai (island food) is the only food on offer; so learning to tolerate it quickly is vital. It usually consists of starchy vegetables, such as taro, manioc and kumara and the national dish of lap lap which is a mix of taro, coconut milk and cabbage wrapped in banana leaves.

10 Smile

If you make eye contact walking down a main street of Port Vila with anyone, whether it be a mama, man or pikinini, you’re guaranteed a flashing smile. NiVanuatu smiles are infectious and guaranteed to make you smile back. It’s what we’ll miss most.

Michelle’s highlights

Cleaning up Port Vila

Michelle with some of the students who picked up rubbish around Port Vila

“ Wan Smolbag was on the organising committee for Clean Up the World Day in September. I couldn’t believe the number of people who came down for the day and volunteered their time to pick up rubbish. There were so many different communities, churches, schools, businesses and individuals who came together to make this event a success. Over 2,000 bags of rubbish were collected from the streets and harbour of Port Vila. It was such a positive transformation.”

Turtle hatchlings on Moso Island

Michelle travelling to Moso Island with some of the youth from Wan Smolbag

“With my Wan Smolbag counterpart, Brian, we organised a field trip for primary school students to visit a turtle nesting beach on Moso Island. To get to the island we took a small boat over from the mainland, then walked a hour in the bush and an hour along the beach to reach the turtles. The fascination and delight on the children’s faces at the sight of the hatchlings was a definite highlight for me this year.”

Interested in becoming a UniVol?

Find out more here

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Maximum exposure

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:39:21 +1300

UniVol Stephanie O’Dea takes a look back at her assignment with Wan Smolbag’s smaller sister organisation, Northern Care Youth Centre (NCYC) through photos.

The aerobics revolution

Joumana and I (right side of photo) with Anne-Marie, Eunice, Mara and Patrick (left side of photo)

I started an aerobics class which was more like a combination of dancing and boxing. If it wasn’t for the help of my talented friend Joumana (pictured), the choreography would have been a disaster.

As time went on our male participants grew in numbers which forced us to adapt our routine to a more masculine style with less hip swinging and more boxing. But the change proved popular to all.

It was great to see the youth exercising as it's generally not part of a daily or weekly routine. It was a real treat to learn the local music which eventually we integrated into the routine.

Being a ‘specialist generalist’

Because of NCYC’s size and the diversity of work, I learnt to be a ‘specialist generalist’. My work at NCYC has included being part of reproductive health programmes in schools and communities, being a computer teacher for staff and youth, arranging music events, environmental programmes, drugs awareness events, fundraising, and introducing systems for planning and reporting on reproductive health activities. I have enjoyed it all.

Helping Robsen and Nalo write CVs

Coming a close second to Lisa in the women's sack race during open week at NCYC

Diversity in the work place. A general helper for snorkelling (left), learning about puberty (top right) and running community workshops (bottom).

Most of my work was with six peer educators in the clinic. Watching them achieve something we had been learning and practising from scratch was awesome, whether it was writing a report, doing a talk, or running a workshop.

A wicked performance by the NCYC youth after so much practise

Malen, a young peer educator undertkaing his first school programme

Children's day

Interested in being a UniVol?

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A second short term assignment for VSA

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:36:28 +1300

VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) has launched its second short-term assignment in the Pacific in line with its philosophy of offering experienced volunteers for a limited time in specific cases, and giving people alternative options for how they want to engage in international development.

The latest to fit this criteria is engineer David Hall who is taking a three month break from his assignment in Bougainville to help out at Live and Learn, an non government organisation across the ocean in Kimbe, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

WEST NEW BRITAIN, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Last year Live and Learn established gravity-fed water supplies and safe sanitation systems for 14 communities providing 10,000 people with access to clean drinking water in West New Britain. It also trained 150 young people in the construction of rainwater harvesting tanks in the province. Working with them at that time was VSA volunteer and sanitation engineer Paul Lewthwaite.

David Hall’s assignment is as Water and Sanitation Project Adviser and will follow on from Paul - partnering the organisation as it heads into phase two of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (RWSSP) funded by the European Union in West New Britain.

VSA Project Friendship slogan winner named

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 11:26:26 +1300

Auckland secondary school student Rachael Olds is the lucky winner of the Ipod touch in the VSA Project Friendship slogan writing competition.

Rachaels’ winning entry, 'Band together, make a change' will be used to help promote next year’s VSA Project Friendship.

Her slogan was one of hundreds of entries in the competition to find an attention-grabbing slogan that captures the essence of VSA Project Friendship in six words or fewer.

VSA Project Friendship co-ordinator Elisha Connell says the judges chose Rachael’s slogan because it meets all those requirements.

“We really liked it because of the clever way it uses the word ‘band’ to mean both the friendship bracelets and the concept of working together, while incorporating one of VSA’s central messages, which is that we are an organisation working for change. And it manages to do all that in just five words.”

Rachael is at Epsom Girls Grammar, which was one of more than 100 schools that took part in VSA Project Friendship which ran from August 9–15.

Of her win and her slogan, Rachael said:

"Wow, I can't believe I won! My slogan means to me that even though as an individual you may not have much to give, 'banding together' with others gives you the power to make a greater change in the world."

Four runners up

The judges also chose four runners up in the competition, each of whom will receive a Whitcoulls $20 book voucher and a bar of Whittaker's chocolate.

Toni Cook, pictured left with her best friend Tyler, Upper Hutt College: 'Friends forever united together'

“What inspired my slogan was my best friend, always there for me, Friends forever standing by each others side no matter what.”

Sandra Douglas, Ashhurst: 'Show the colours of friendship'

"I have always loved the vibrant colours of these bracelets and felt that they represented the diversity of the people and cultures that VSA has been able to help.”

Lucy O’Brien-Spargo, Karori, Wellington: 'One bracelet, one world'

" I came up with my idea by thinking that there is only one world and by buying one bracelet you can help make the world a better place for anyone anywhere."

Ryan Hunt, pictured centre with his two friends, Island Bay Wellington: 'Be a friend, set the trend'

“My inspiration was that if one person started to make friends everyone else would follow and everyone would be friends with each other.”

Congratulations to Rachael and the runners up, and thanks to everyone who entered. You did a great job!

Talk Talk

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 17:11:03 +1300

Talk talk is VSA's bi-monthly enewsletter.
You can sign-up for it from anywhere on our website (click on the link at the top of any page).

Download current and previous issues in PDF format below:

December 2011 (PDF | 288 kb)

October 2011 (PDF | 286 kb)

August 2011 (PDF | 275 kb)

June 2011 (PDF | 200 kb)

March 2011 (PDF | 192 kb)

December 2010 (PDF | 181 kb)

October 2010 (PDF | 230 kb)

How your donations help us

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 13:53:25 +1300

Each year VSA runs two development appeals in March and October. The money raised from these appeals is used to help meet the in-country costs of our 100 volunteers who are in the field at any one time.

Your money has helped to support VSA volunteers, like Anne de Bres

VSA volunteer Anne de Bres has been on assignment in Vietnam with the Binh Dinh Department of Health as a Nurse Trainer. Anne has been working with nurses at the provincial hospital in Quy Nhon to increase their knowledge and skills in providing appropriate care to sick and premature infants.

Volunteer Anne with new baby, mother and grandmother

What are in-country costs and why are they important?

‘In-country costs’ is a term often talked about by VSA staff but what does it actually mean? We all think of the term ‘volunteer’ and think ‘free’ but of course that is not the case. For VSA volunteers like Anne to be able to continue their great work in-country, they must be properly supported in the field. And this means that VSA has to meet their basic living costs. For every VSA volunteer in the field, it costs VSA an average of $18 a day to meet their basic living costs depending on the country they are working in.

Judy Mikoz – Corporate Services Manager for VSA who looks after the financial health of the organisation explains “Volunteer in-country costs can be broken down into four main areas. Basic living expenses such as putting food on the table each day, having a roof over their head in a safe place, having power and some work-related travel."

How your donations are helping

Our March Cost of Living appeal raised $17,000 to help VSA support volunteers like Anne on assignment. The money covered the costs of three of our 100 VSA volunteers for one year.

Support our appeal to build positive futures in the Pacific

Our Building a Better Future in the Pacific October development appeal is now running. Donate today and get behind our volunteers in the Pacific as they work alongside communities for a positive change.

Donate now

Auckland fundraising movie night on 27 October

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 12:18:59 +1300

Films by Zia Mandviwalla, Steven Chow, Sally Tran, Sima Urale and Roseanne Liang drew a packed audience at VSA Auckland's fundraising movie night in October. Film goers were treated to some great film choices and were able to hear first hand what some of the filmakers had to say about their work.

Huge thanks to the Auckland branch for helping to raise vital money for VSA so that we can continue to send our volunteers to share their skills with communities in the Pacific, Asia and Africa.

October's moving and shaking

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:43:23 +1300

Volunteers returning from assignment during September and October

Ross and Ramona Headifen - Tanzania

Ross and Ramona spent two years working with ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) in Arusha, Tanzania, returning to NZ in August. They helped to bring water to an estimated 7,000 villagers in seven outlying villages of Gairo, digging 17 wells and training two people to repair and maintain the pumps,. They were also asked to assist with another ongoing water project in Babati and helped out with its progress before leaving. In between projects they also upgraded ADRA’s accounting software and financial systems.

Ross and Ramona are now on their way back to Melbourne to live, following a few months visiting relatives in USA.

Tom Broughton - Tanzania

Tom never really expected he’d become a VSA volunteer, despite growing up listening to his dad’s entertaining VSA Vanuatu volunteer stories from the 1970s in pidgin. Still, he chose a different continent, language and culture to go on assignment, working with farmers on a chicken vaccination programme with his partner organisation, Global Service Corps in Tanzania.

By the time he left in August, he reckons around 110,000 chickens had been vaccinated and many villagers trained to be ‘community chicken vaccinators’. Tom’s not hanging around in New Zealand for long though, as he’s returning to Africa to take up a Project Manager post in northern Kenya and Tanzania for a Canadian NGO.

Margarette Cantwell – Vanuatu

Margarette, like Tom, isn’t staying in New Zealand for long. She is heading back to Port Vila later this month for eight months to work as a Curriculum Technical Adviser at the Ministry of Education Curriculum Development Unit, funded by the NZAID Programme. Margarette will be working with Jenny James, National Curriculum Coordinator for Vanuatu.

Of her two years working with the Vanuatu Eli Jaelhud Asosiesen (VEJA), Margarette estimates she was able to train around 200 preschool coordinators or key teachers, mostly in and around Vila who were then able to train others. Her most satisfying achievement? “Probably, it would be seeing water tanks delivered and installed in preschools in Port Vila that didn’t have access to clean water.”

Margarette, along wth previous VSA volunteer Helen Ainsworth and head of VEJA, Sembu George applied for and received funding from the UN Womens’ Guild in Vienna to install around 15 water tanks in preschools in Vila.

Chris Angove – Bougainville

Chris and his partner, Elaine, came back in September following Chris one year assignment as Management Adviser with Bougainville Earthworks.

Anne de Bres – Vietnam

Anne returned to NZ in September after an extended two year assignment with the Binh Dinh Department of Health in Vietnam as a nurse trainer.

Tessa Guiney - Cambodia

Tessa was a UniVol who returned in September after working in Cambodia as a Childcare Worker with the Rural Economic Development Association (REDA).

Tony Lambdon – South Africa

Tony worked with Imvomvo in South Africa as a Sport Development Adviser and came back to New Zealand in September following a one year assignment.

We’ll give updates of what Chris, Anne, Tessa and Tony did on assignment and what they’re doing now in our next issue of Talk Talk.

New volunteers heading out on assignment

PACIFIC

Solomon Islands

RENEE YAP was working as a lawyer with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Wellington before taking up her assignment as Legal Adviser, Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening in the Solomon Islands.

Renee will be providing the Ministry and individual Provincial Governments with legal advice and support to help strengthen the Ministry's and the Provincial Governments' policies and procedures. She is based in Honiara.

GARY KING has moved from his chartered accountancy work in Napier to a role as Management Adviser with Arnavon Community Marine Conservation Area. Gary will be helping his partner organisation to meet their biodiversity goals and to help provide them with alternative sources of income.

SCOTT BUTCHER is taking up assignment with Lauru land Conference of Tribal Communities as a Project Management Trainer in the Solomon Islands. Scott will be supporting his partner organisation to successfully manage their natural resource projects

Originally from Christchurch, Scott was living in Sydney working as an Environment Officer for the local government authority in New South Wales prior to becoming a VSA volunteer.

CELIA BURTON has swapped her consultancy work in Wellington to become a Training Adviser, with Kolombangara Forest Products Limited (KFPL). She’ll be working with KFPL to assist them in increasing productivity and profitability.

Bougainville

NORAH RIDDICK was running her own physiotherapy business in Whakatane before taking up her VSA assignment as a Physio/OT Trainer with Callan Services in Bougainville. Her role? She’ll be working with staff to consolidate its training, and enhance the quality and effectiveness of the rehabilitative programmes they deliver to people with disabilities. Norah is accompanied by her husband Lindsay.

Norah says that so far: “the job has been an eye opener as far as the degree of need for rehabilitation here but the people I have seen have been highly motivated to improve their abilities. It will be a challenge for me to think outside the box and to apply my skills in a totally new setting.

“The staff I am working with are a very dedicated crew who have been most welcoming and I am really looking forward to developing training programmes with them and to hopefully make a difference here.”

Vanuatu

PEPE ROBERTSON was working as Pacific Liaison Officer for three schools in Porirua, Wellington before taking up assignment as a Preschool Teacher Trainer with Vanuatu Eli Jaelhud Asosiesen (VEJA) in Vanuatu. Pepe will be supporting teachers in the provision of quality early childhood education programmes. She joins fellow VSA volunteers Maryann Pratt and Arlene Fyfe who are also currently working with VEJA.

HOWARD ISELI has switched his role as business consultant in Pukekohe for one as Tourism Business Development with the National Department of Tourism in Vanuatu. He will be supporting the tourism office in promoting regional tourism development and increasing the participation and income generation opportunities of NiVanuatu in the tourism industry. Jacqui, Howard’s wife, is accompanying him in Vanuatu.

Howard joins fellow VSA volunteers Karen Henry and Jim Bennie who are working with the tourism department.

Papua New Guinea

ANTONY REWCASTLE'S assignment is as an Eco forestry Adviser with Toimtop Bio-cultural Conservation and Development group in Papua New Guinea. Antony hails from Hawkes Bay, but for the past eight years has been living in Queenstown where he worked as a landscape architect, primarily involved with landscape assessment reports of resource consent applications in the Queenstown lakes district.

His role in PNG will be to support his partner organisation in the small scale, long term sustainable development of their wildlife management area.

Antony says that, despite getting malaria, fellow volunteers and the friendly people of East New Britain have made for a wonderful experience and an enjoyable introduction to his first assignment.

AFRICA

Tanzania

DR ANNE PERERA is volunteering as a Food & Nutrition Consultant with Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO) in Tanzania. Her last job was as business development and compliance manager with a fresh fruit, vegetable and flower wholesaler in Auckland. Her volunteer role will be helping new entrepreneurs and small businesses with new ventures and to improve the selling quality of their food products made under the guidance of SIDO.

Anne has already established contact with the Tanzanian Food & Nutrition Centre (TFNC) to access their Food Composition Database to help provide nutrition information on labels of SIDO clients. Although she is based in Arusha her services have been offered to other regions of the country as well. Anne’s husband, Conrad Perera, a professor of Food Science at the University of Auckland will join her during his summer break and together they will conduct training at SIDO Head Quarters in Dar es Salaam.

Zambia

Auckland-based ELSPETH KENDALL-CARPENTER, following her first VSA assignment in Zambia as a Palliative Care Trainer, has recently returned to the country to continue facilitating palliative care with the Choma District AIDS Task Force, an umbrella

organisation co-ordinating 40 organisations working with HIV programmes.

Elspeth will be providing technical assistance and support for palliative care activities and interventions especially in the rural community.

ASIA

Cambodia

FLEUR D'SOUZA (pictured second left) has swapped her job with the Department of Labour in Wellington to become an Office Management Adviser with Cambodian Farmer Economic Development (CFED) in Cambodia. She’ll be providing office management training support so that CFED can efficiently carry out their work supporting vulnerable communities in rural Cambodia.

Swapping jandals for gumboots

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:12:38 +1300

Alison Turner returned to New Zealand in December 2009 following a successful two year assignment with a farmer training programme attached to Vudal University in PNG (now known as the University of Natural Resources and the Environment). She is now back living on the Chatham Islands working as a Biosecurity Officer finding ways of keeping unwanted pests off the islands. Ten months on, she still finds similarities between her two beloved Pacific islands.

Alison with colleague and friend, Sophie Talvat

It’s the same ocean. Out of my window today the south Pacific is wild and stormy with four metre swells under a cold lead grey sky. Further north it was often breathless and glassy and turquoise and as warm as a bath.

Overcast in the Chathams

Those breathless waters of Pomio

Coming back to the Chatham Islands after a two year assignment in Papua New Guinea meant swapping jandals for gumboots but hardly missing a step as I did so. “Have you been off the island Alison, I haven’t seen you round lately?” was one greeting that met me on my return. In no time I was catching up on the news that mattered here, and that did not often include PNG stories.

Returned volunteers know all about the ‘glaze effect’ where those at home are indifferent or deaf to your VSA experience. It’s easier in many ways just to listen and tune into the stories at home, quietly enjoying that I can hear it all in my language.

During my first assignment in Tanzania the main reason I needed to hear Kiswahili was so that I could do ‘porojo’ or gossip with the girls when I came home from work. In PNG the ‘tok baksait’ (behind your back talk) in our office was key to my understanding of all things!

It’s hardly surprising that in all three of these remote rural communities I’ve lived in we talk about the same stuff... school fees, boyfriends, weather, getting agricultural produce to market, babies, and who is sick or dying. Listening to the local stories is a great way of grounding myself wherever I am living and I enjoy that coming back to the Chathams I have only missed a small chapter in many of the ongoing stories here.

I was less sanguine about my reintroduction to city life and work. During a brief stopover in Christchurch on my way home from PNG I was invited to a job interview in some quite shiny corporate towers. I realised within about five minutes I was still too feral to be in this environment. Things such as shoes and a haircut and clothes without mango stains had not seemed important until then. Fortunately the job we discussed was to be based on the Chathams and I am not sure who was happier when I took my scruffy self out of that office.

Having been ‘returned’ now for 10 months or so, I often feel as though I have never been away. I have come home to Simon who, apart from short stints in both Tanzania and PNG, has stayed and farmed our land on the Chathams. He indulges me when I pine for faraway friends and places and experiences. I order Kilimanjaro and New Guinea brand coffee and like that I can do that, and the bookshelves are dotted with Africa and PNG books. Our house is full of colourful kangas and laplaps. I embrace internet networks that keep me in touch with those I have left.

But right now my place is here on this wild and windy island in the South Pacific and the gossip that matters here.

October's Talk back

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:03:52 +1300

Talk back is VSA’s regular tip sharing from our volunteers in the field.

Tips for departing volunteers

What to bring with you and what to expect in the first few weeks on assignment

Most importantly bring:

An open mind. There’ll be a whole lot of things that you should have brought with you and many you should
have left behind, but you’ll only know that in retrospect. It won’t really matter as long as you are flexible and
can adapt what you do have to fit your situation.
The right attitude. A VSA volunteer needs to have a good balance of ‘can-do’ and knowing when to walk away,
combined with a healthy dose of humour. Accept the things you can’t change, have the courage to change
the things you can and the wisdom to know the difference!

Other things you might want to bring:

A laptop for entertainment – movies and music
Your own pillows
Mini futon mattress topper – heaven to sleep on.
Bike for transport and exercise and for saving $
Bike-fixing stuff
A blender for great smoothies at breakfast
Squeegee floor mops
Seed for growing herbs
Lamps
At least one good pot and pan as most things here (Cambodia) are made from tin
If you think you might need it, bring it unless you have reliable information to the contrary. You can always
give it away or bring it home again.
Hard wearing clothing as you’ll be washing them more often, especially in the tropics.
Fabric shopping bags are really useful, not just for shopping but for carrying lunch, school and sports gear,
tools, or meals generously give to you when you are out walking!
Mirrors – hard to get hold of
Comfort things as treats for when things get a bit tough. I brought a selection of New Yorker magazines
that I haven’t read.
Bring toiletries if you want something other than generic brand shampoo and nice sheets and pillows – good
quality ones are hard to get and expensive at least in East New Britain.
For the girls – tampons although they’re sometimes available.

Expect:

To be utterly exhausted by packing up your old life in NZ and utterly enchanted by the new world into which
you are thrown.
To be overwhelmed and overloaded so try to find some quiet time. If you don’t already practice meditation,
consider doing a crash course.
The unexpected.

Know:

You’ll be fully supported by the VSA and fellow volunteers.
The great thing with VSA is they put you in contact with someone who has recently returned from the area you
are going to through their briefing program so you get time to sit down and have a really good chat with a
recently returned volunteer – you can ‘pick their brain’.
That even if you feel overwhelmed and lonely initially, it really doesn’t take long to make friends. Everyone
wants to get to know you and go out of their way to make you feel comfortable. It just takes a little time.

Many thanks to all our volunteers who contributed to this issue of Talk back: Dianne Hambrook, Jane Banfield, Bill Shields, Arnold Hawkins, Andrew Baker, David and Rosemary Hall, Renee Yap and Janna Candy.

Send your responses to Lesley Smeardon for the next issue's question:

How to deal with ‘island time’ and how important, in the grand scheme of things is it anyway?

Junior Ulu, Programme Manager Polynesia

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:52:53 +1300

New Zealand-born, Samoan-raised in Auckland, Junior Ulu, was VSA’s Pacific Programme Officer from 2003-2011 and is now the Programme Manager for Polynesia. Originally a secondary school history teacher, Junior has swapped his classroom for a life working in development with VSA volunteers.

Junior Ulu

Junior currently manages VSA's Polynesia Programme from Wellington, and coordinates the pre-departure briefing programme for outgoing volunteers.

How did you come to work for VSA?

After deciding on a career change I was working in the NZ High commission in Samoa when I saw the VSA position based in Wellington. I didn’t want to teach anymore and was interested in getting more involved in the development sector. The job seemed perfect for me.

The favourite part of your job?

That’s easy – it’s meeting people from all walks of life – finding out about their work, their families. When I managed the Vanuatu programme, I loved getting to know the people working in our partner organisations, invited to their homes and to share their life if only for a fraction of time.

What is it that you think is the key to VSA’s success?

What I really like about VSA is we completely do work in partnership with our in-country colleagues. And for our volunteers and staff alike, you learn as much from the experience as our partners do. Yes, people have skills when they come on assignment, but volunteers absolutely build on these during their time on assignment. And staff do too. I’ve learnt loads about other job areas such as those in the business sector just from talking to partners and volunteers about their needs and skills.

Your most memorable experience while working at VSA?

It pains me to recall this but it would have to be one particular three day boat trip to Tokelau from Samoa. The boat trip takes three days and I am absolutely not a sailor at the best of times. On this particular occasion, we took a charter boat instead of the normal boat where I was allocated a cabin. The journey was rough and put simply I spent most of that time throwing up.

Of course, after three days being very sick, I had just minutes to shower before I met with the taupulega (village council) to talk about the work with volunteers. I remember the volunteer who met me off the boat casually commenting how they’d never seen a green Samoan before.

Despite this, when you finally get there, the Tokelau atolls are just the most beautiful places – the people, the community feel and the reciprocity is amazing.

What do you think is the quality that makes a great volunteer?

You have to have a heart for people - to be able, and want, to connect with others. I think flexibility is crucial and realising your assignment description is just the beginning of where your work might take you.

If you could go anywhere in the world right now where would you go?

It would definitely be in Europe – somewhere I’ve never been. I’d love to experience quite a different culture – France maybe - and have a commercial holiday for a change. The thought of eating in a great restaurant is very appealing! Anywhere that has great food and good company is right up my alley.

If you could volunteer anywhere where would you volunteer?

Santo Island in Vanuatu. It’s not as developed as Port Vila and it has a really nice spirit about it. The people are great and the culture really interesting.

October 2010 featured photo

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:06:34 +1300

Road sealing, Santo Island, Vanuatu - by Karen Henry

We picked out this great photo sent in by volunteer Karen Henry, Tourism Business Development Adviser in Vanuatu, of the celebrations that followed the sealing of a road on Santo Island. The road sealing will help to provide the infrastructure to open up far more tourism opportunities for the communities on Santo.

On taking the photo Karen says she was pretty overwhelmed by the excitement of the occasion and to receive, first hand, from her companion acknowledgement of the impact the road was going to have on the communities.

Send your volunteer photos to Lesley Smeardon for possible inclusion in December’s Talk Talk

VSA 2010 Annual Congress, 5-7 November

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:48:20 +1300

This year our theme is Future Impact through real achievements. Our keynote speaker will be MFAT’s Deputy Secretary for Development, Amanda Ellis, who will be talking about promoting sustainable economic development.

We’re delighted that Dimity Fifer, CEO of Australian Volunteers International (AVI), will also be presenting. She will be talking about AVI's work, and sharing some of the innovative ways AVI have built up a wide engagement of private and public organisations to involve their staff in volunteering and people-to-people development.

Other presentations include a VSA update from CEO Debbie Snelson, and Will Watterson from Global Focus Aotearoa talking about how retunred volunteers can use stories to engage in discussions about volunteering and development.

There are still a few spaces available for Congress but you’ll need to be quick, If you want to come along, you need to register by 1 November.

Read the full Congress programme (PDF)
Register now to come to our Congress (PDF)

Go fish

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:07:15 +1300

A “fish on a fence” art project at Port Vila’s low-risk men’s prison has taken on a life of its own, with detainees at the prison now joining forces with a group from the local women’s prison to create work for an exhibition in November.

The project, initiated by VSA volunteer Keith Hambrook earlier this year, originally involved six detainees at the low-risk prison, which is one of three prisons in the Vanuatu capital.

“The idea behind the project was to teach basic design skills, paint mixing and brush control, and for the detainees to be involved something they could take pride in, while conveying a positive image of the correctional services to the wider community,” explains Keith, who is working as an art adviser with Vanuatu’s Department of Corrections.

The hand-painted wooden fish the detainees produced and attached to a fence at the prison were so eye-catching that Keith was asked to set up a similar programme creating fish to decorate the gate at the nearby women’s prison.

The male and female detainees then worked together on an art installation to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of Vanuatu’s independence on July 30. They created hand-painted wooden decorations incorporating the national motto, “Long God yumi stanap” (In God we stand), with the names of Vanuatu’s six provinces. The brightly coloured decorations have been attached to fences at all three prisons.

Visitors to the prison were so taken with the art installations that they started asking the detainees to make wooden decorations for them.

Now the detainees are busy creating a stock-pile of wooden fish to sell – the money they raise will help fund the project – and are also working towards an exhibition of their work to be held at the Alliance Francaise Art Gallery in Port Vila in November. The exhibition will include not just fish, but other hand-painted decorations.

Keith is delighted that the detainees have embraced the art project so enthusiastically, making it uniquely their own in the process.

“The original ‘fish on a fence’ idea is evolving into a form of decorative art that is being driven by the niVanuatu – including detainees, Correctional staff and community groups working at the prison – rather than by me or by any of the New Zealand advisers working at Vanuatu Correctional Services,” he says.

Pacific reflections

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:06:46 +1300

Peter Swain, VSA’s Pacific programme manager, had a dramatic start to his job just over 10 years ago.

I started work at VSA on 12 June 2000,” he recalls. “On 14 June we pulled all our volunteers out of the Solomon Islands as civil war had broken out. We sent them back again in March 2001.”

Peter has seen a lot of changes in the way that VSA works in the Pacific over the last decade. The number of volunteers working in the region has more than doubled, and the focus has moved away from Polynesia to Melanesia, where development needs are greatest.

“In June 2000 we had around 20 Pacific volunteers, 40 per cent in Polynesia, 60 per cent in Melanesia. Today we have around 50 volunteers, and 90 per cent are in Melanesia – Papua New Guinea, Bougainville, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.”

VSA has also tightened the focus of its work in the Pacific to concentrate on just a small number of provinces, and has started clustering assignments in similar sectors, or with linked partner organisations, so that the assignments build on each.

More recently, the nature of the assignments has changed too, with an increasing focus on economic development, and on developing sustainable communities, cultures and environments.

Peter says that one of the most exciting developments has been the increasing professionalism of programme staff, both in Wellington and in the partner countries.

“All of the programme staff have completed, or are actively involved in completing, relevant qualifications in development studies,” he says.

Now VSA is about to introduce another change to its Pacific programme, with planning well underway on developing assignments in the agricultural sector in Samoa.

“Our return to Polynesia is just another example of VSA being open to addressing emerging needs throughout the Pacific,” says Peter.

Lighting the fire

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:03:55 +1300

A new VSA case study looks at how three remarkable volunteers have helped “light a fire” for school leaders in the Solomon Islands. Adele Broadbent, a co-author of the study, reports.

Bruce and Gwen Levick had many “ah-ha” moments during their year-long VSA assignment as education advisers in the Solomon Islands, but one that stands out is the discussion they had with a school principal about a teacher who was absent without leave.

“The principal said ‘We can’t see how these people should be taken to task for what they have done’,” recalls Bruce. “He told us that it was not the Melanesian way. We then had to really try and understand what the Melanesian way is. They don’t take people to task … the authority of that person might be affected.”

The incident illustrates just how difficult it can be when you try to introduce a western model of education into a developing country. Add to that the problems created by isolation, and a lack of resources, training, infrastructure and policy, and you begin to get an idea of the complexities involved.

It’s not surprising, then, that while education is universally acknowledged as being one of the most important tools to help developing countries combat poverty, it is still far from clear how best to achieve access to quality education.

A new VSA case study provides some interesting insights into what works – and what doesn’t. The case study, called Lighting a Fire, looks at VSA’s contribution to in-service teacher training in the Solomon Islands, and the role that New Zealand volunteers have played in strengthening school leadership in Makira-Ulawa Province.

On the way it tells the story of a partnership between the Makira-Ulawa Provincial Educational Authority and VSA, and it highlights the work of three remarkable volunteers – Gwen and Bruce Levick, who spent a year in the province in 2009, and fellow educationalist Andrew Sorensen, who worked there as a VSA volunteer from 2002 to 2008.

Lighting a Fire also shows that a small number of volunteers can have a significant impact if their efforts are well focused.

According to Peter Swain, co-author of the case study and VSA’s Programme Manager for the Pacific, volunteers are often in a unique position to recognise and mobilise community strengths and assets.

“Volunteers, who have immersed themselves in a particular context, develop a deep understanding of development needs,” he says. “They build close professional relationships and trust with local people, and are in a position to facilitate good change.”

VSA has been providing New Zealand teachers to schools in the Solomon Islands for 45 years, a partnership that has seen 120 New Zealand teacher volunteers working in the Melanesian islands since 1965.

However, the fact that the volunteer teachers were still in demand after such a long time suggested that “development” was not taking place in the way that VSA had envisaged; for VSA, the sign of success is when volunteers are no longer needed.

Clearly, it was time to take another approach.

Andrew Sorensen arrived in Makira-Ulawa Province in 2002 to start an assignment as a secondary school teacher at Santa Ana Community High School. He quickly recognised the potential of the so-called “teachers in training” who make up more than half the teachers in the province’s remote, isolated and under-resourced schools.

Untrained and in most cases unpaid, the majority of “trainee” teachers are young people (aged 17 to 19) from the local community who have completed their schooling and have been co-opted by the village school principal to fill gaps and teach younger students.

It’s a situation that is replicated throughout the Solomon Islands. According to a recent New Zealand Aid Programme report, half the estimated 5,500 teachers in the Solomon Islands are not trained.

As far as Andrew was concerned, these young, untrained teachers were “the glue holding the damn system together”. He saw their energy – and he saw an opportunity.

In 2003 he put together a proposal for a new assignment and in May 2004 he was appointed Teacher Training Programme Manager, based in the provincial education office in Kirakira on Makira.

Andrew had seen that VSA’s old way of providing skills – by sending volunteers as classroom teachers – was treading water, and that the only way to make progress was to formalise an assignment that would provide training for local teachers.

VSA listened to the people on the ground, and to the Makira-Ulawa Education Authority, which could see the benefits in strengthening the provincial office.

Over the next four years, Andrew ran several training workshops in Kirakira. He also visited schools throughout the province to get a better idea of who was working in them, and what training they needed.

“I went to one school out in the bush from Kirakira. It’s four hours up the river, crossing it 12 times, and then it takes you an hour (well it took me three) to go up a track,” he says. “When I got there, they said you are the first senior officer to be here since 1996. This was 10 years later. So you praise them for keeping the school going … just one teacher and three untrained teachers were keeping that school going.”

“Volunteers, who have immersed themselves in a particular context, develop a deep understanding of development needs”

As he boated and tramped to the extremely isolated schools around Makira-Ulawa, Andrew identified a number of basic issues, mostly to do with poor school leadership.

In particular, he observed a lack of communication from head teachers to staff, and a general lack of record-keeping, student roll-taking, marking students’ work and recording the results. There were also major problems due to the lack of regular visits by school inspectors, and uncertainty about what standards to aim for, and what expectations would help a school progress and provide a good quality of education.

As a result of his experiences and research, and his discussions with school leaders in the schools around Makira-Ulawa and at the Authority, Andrew came up with an evolved assignment for those who were to follow. In February 2009 two highly experienced former principals and education policy advisers, Bruce and Gwen Levick, arrived to take up roles as School Project Development Officers for the Makira-Ulawa Education Authority.

The Levicks began their assignment by collating information about the exam results of more than 1000 students, to gain a statistical overview. The results, in graph form, formed the basis of discussion with school leaders at workshops about student achievements and how to improve the quality of teaching.

“We also established our credibility both with the staff and with the schools,” says Gwen. “They could see – ‘Ah, this is useful – they know what they are doing’.”

In tandem with Solomon Islands education officers, the Levicks travelled throughout the province, running an introductory programme for school leaders on their roles and responsibilities. They then designed a professional development programme for school leaders from early childhood to secondary level, and delivered it in a series of two-day workshops around the province.

““I’ve learnt more in the past two days than in the past 40 years,” said one principal after attending a workshop.”

Other achievements during the year included introducing a revised checklist for school inspections, and developing, piloting and subsequently introducing a new staff appraisal form. The couple also helped develop a school leaders’ handbook, using the workshops to test how relevant the topics were, and to get input from attendees and education officers.

They were careful to explain that the handbook was intended to supplement the mandatory requirements of the official Teaching Services Handbook and Financial Management Manual.

“It is not intended to be prescriptive but to enable school leaders to adapt its contents to suit the needs of their schools and communities,” they wrote.

Interest was so high that 20 principals picked up copies before they were due to be distributed at the beginning of the 2010 school year.

“Indeed it was a silent achievement!” said one school leader about the handbook. “The whole education community of the province must take ownership of the manual.”

The Levicks also continued a weekly radio programme, introduced by Andrew, which modelled a positive approach to addressing educational issues and was broadcast throughout the Solomon Islands.

In just one year, the Levicks achieved in the schools of Makira-Ulawa Province what VSA teachers based on their own in remote schools had felt too marginalised to attempt – to instil a thirst for teacher training, standards and monitoring.

Their success reaffirms that volunteers can have a significant impact if their efforts are well focused. They can also help inform high-level planning, which is what happened when Bruce and Gwen Levick presented their findings to an annual joint review of education officials in Honiara last year.

Nailing it

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:59:02 +1300

Arawa Carpentry has been integral to the reconstruction process in Bougainville – and it has become a development success story at the same time. Ruth Nichol looks at the vocational training school’s 11-year history.

When Pete Cresswell went back to Bougainville with VSA in 2008 he ran into many of the original trainees from Arawa Carpentry, the vocational training school he helped set up in 1999 when he was VSA’s first Bougainville programme coordinator.

Among them was Zaverinus, who when Pete first met him was a young ex-combatant who, like thousands of his contemporaries, had emerged from a decade of civil conflict with little education and few employment prospects.

Ten years later, Zaverinus’ life had changed completely – and he told Pete that Arawa Carpentry was one of the reasons why.

“When I ran into Zaverinus again he was working as the lead carpenter on a project building a double-storied classroom and offices for a primary school,” says Pete, who spent his second two years in Bougainville as VSA’s maintenance officer while his wife Dee worked as country programme manager.

“The whole project was being done by local builders, with no external assistance of any sort, and Zaverinus was responsible for holding it all together. He told me that he couldn’t have done it without Arawa Carpentry.”

Zaverinus’ story has been repeated many times over for the more than 200 trainees who have graduated from Arawa Carpentry since 1999. Most of them pack up their complimentary tool kits at the end of the year-long course and use them to work on building projects in their home villages throughout Bougainville.

But others have started working for themselves in and around Arawa, a town of about 4000 people on the southeast coast of Bougainville.

According to Kapiti Coast builder Barry Binding, who returned to New Zealand in May from a two-year VSA assignment at Arawa Carpentry, some graduates find work with builders in both Bougainville and nearby East New Britain.

“If anyone is looking for a carpenter they come to Arawa Carpentry to pluck one of our trainees,” he says. “One of our guys is now working on building the new market in Buka, and three carpenters who were with us last year went to work for a local builder, building a new guest house. Another guy set up a shop; doing the course definitely gives them the confidence to go out and do things.”

A few graduates get jobs making furniture such as beds, desks and tables in the school’s commercial workshop, which was established in 2004. The workshop employs 15 fulltime staff, including its first women, both of whom completed the training course last year.

During his assignment, Barry worked with staff at the workshop to help them improve the quality of the furniture they make, and become more market focused.

“One of the areas we worked on was forward planning. It’s important to have all the components for the furniture ready before they are needed, so that when you get an order you can fill it quickly.”

Their new-found skills were put to the test when the workshop received – and successfully filled – an order for PNK40,000 (NZ$21,466) worth of desks, beds and shelving units from a Japanese company building bridges on Bougainville.

It’s exactly the kind of success story VSA was hoping for when it helped set up Arawa Carpentry in 1999 as a way of getting ex-combatants involved in repairing the damage caused by 10 years of war. The goal of Arawa Carpentry (or the Arawa Carpentry and Social Development Association as it was then known) was to rehabilitate young men from the Arawa area back into normal society as good citizens capable of generating their own income.

Peter Swain, VSA’s Pacific Programme Manager, says that helping to set up the school was an unusual project for VSA.

“Project management is not part of our core business, but this project was undertaken because of the unique set of circumstances in Bougainville at the time, and the expressed need for a ‘peace dividend’.”

For that reason, VSA quickly handed over all the assets and funding to a local board of management, and the school began operating as an independent organisation in July 2001. But VSA has stayed closely involved with the school since then. So far six VSA volunteers have had assignments at Arawa Carpentry. Some, like Barry, have been builders who have worked with the trainees and workshop staff. Others have helped strengthen the school’s management practices.

Arawa Carpentry now provides basic carpentry training to about 25 trainees a year. Last year, the school had its first two women trainees; this year, it has six women trainees.

The trainees have worked on many construction projects in and around Arawa. Early on, they helped rebuild the Arawa wharf – a vital economic link for the island – and more recently they rebuilt Arawa’s FODE (Flexible Open Distance Education) school house. In 2004 the school successfully tendered for the job of building the Arawa Police Station; the trainees finished the job on time – and within budget – in early 2005.

The school is now lined up to build the new Bougainville Library, once a start date has been set. Barry hopes to return to Bougainville to manage the project.

In the meantime, though, VSA has no plans to send any more volunteers to Arawa Carpentry; after 11 years it has reached the point where it no longer needs them.

“Developing and sustaining a commercial enterprise in a developing country is tremendously challenging,” says Peter Swain. “At this stage, Arawa Carpentry has managed to do that, but we’ll stay in touch and see what happens in the future.”

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Where life truly is rich

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:04:37 +1300

VSA volunteer Bruce Johnston recalls a recent trip he made to the village of Toimtop in the Pomio area of Wide Bay on the south-western coast of East New Britain. Bruce is on assignment as a horticultural adviser at the National Agricultural Research Unit (NARI) in East New Britain.

We departed for Toimtop from the beach at Kokopo in a banana boat at 6.30 am. The sky was clear and the boat glided effortlessly through the calm and glassy sea into the sunrise. Our luggage and the provisions our host, William Vomne, was taking back to the village were stacked on a pallet in the middle of the boat, double-wrapped in tarpaulins to keep them dry on the trip.

Three or four containers of spare fuel for the outboard were stowed in the stern of the boat where the boat men sat smoking. When refueling the petrol fumes and the cigarette smoke mingled creating, for me anyway, an alarming smell and a sense of unease. The boatmen seemed blissfully unaware of any danger, having no doubt smoked while refueling many times before.

The banana boat on the beach at Kokopo

We made our way out of Kokopo and hugged the coast travelling south. Initially the view looking inland was of coconut palm-fringed beaches with glimpses of traditional villages through the trees. The coconuts palms extended back from the villages, obviously forming part of the cocoa plantations. Coconuts are usually grown in conjunction with cocoa because they provide the shade cocoa needs to thrive, which it certainly does in this climate – PNG produces some of the best quality cocoa in the world and much of it comes from East New Britain.

The ribbon of flat land along the coast rapidly gave way to the steep, rugged, jungle-covered mountains which seem to dominate the inland areas of the island. As we headed towards our final destination of Toimtop the narrow strips of flat land, and the human habitation it supports, became less frequent, with greater distances between the villages. The view changed to jungle-covered hills coming down to the foreshore and the land often ended in rugged cliffs.

It’s stunningly beautiful, but unfortunately not for long – Malaysian logging companies are moving in. They have contracts which allow logging (clear felling) of the land. The work has just started. They have obtained 45-year leases over the land and apparently plan to plant a 100,000ha area in oil palm once the jungle is removed. One of the scientists at NARI has been advising for another such development involving 120,000 ha of land, straddling East and West New Britain.

Toimtop, which is at the southern end of Wide Bay, has formed a conservation trust to protect its forests. They are lucky to have some well-educated people who have returned to the village to live. William Vomne has been one of the driving forces behind the formation of the trust. He’s an inspirational guy who recognises not only the need to protect the forest biodiversity but also the ways the local environment is closely linked with the culture, and the people. Using funds provided by Ausaid he's built a resource centre in the village, complete with its own solar power and a satellite disc to allow internet access and email. Having access to email is a huge step forward because there is no cell phone coverage

William on the banana boat

Apart from the resource centre Toimtop is very much a traditional village. It is probably little changed from colonial times when people were encouraged to leave their homes in the mountains and move to the coast. Living on the coast made it easier to communicate with the outside world and provided access to transportation which, as is the case now, is only possible by sea.

The village of Sampun is nestled between coconut and mango trees and straddles both banks of the Toim river. This is where the boat journey finished, about eight and a half hours after we left the beach at Kokopo. From Sampun, it’s a 45-minute trudge up a steep hill to Toimtop. The top opens out to a broad plateau where the village is situated, with clusters of family houses arranged in a circular fashion around what you could call a village green.

In the centre of this area is a church and the village’s only water tank. The houses are all built from bush materials – no nails or corrugated iron – with woven walls, thatched roof, and dirt floors. Each family cluster seems to have a cook house, a square or rectangular house for the women and children and a circular “boy house” with a conical roof, where the men sleep. When the boys reach puberty they go through an initiation ceremony which marks their progress into adulthood. They then sleep in the boy house with their other adult male relatives.

A villager outside a boyhaus

Life is very traditional – all the cooking is done by the women in either mumus or over open fires; the houses don’t have electricity or reticulated water, and the toilets are long drops, with woven walls. I never felt very comfortable in the long drop, with my pants around my ankles, squatting over a hole in the ground, listening to an eight inch long green lizard making rustling noises as it darted about the walls catching flies behind me.

It was fascinating walking around the village. All the trees planted around the houses seem to be fruit trees with lots of mangos, bananas, coconuts and orange trees, which provide both fruit and shade. Slash and burn agriculture is still practiced in PNG, but because of increasing population pressures the traditional 20-year cycle has reduced to about 10 years now and soil degradation is becoming a problem.

A typical cookhaus in Toimtop

All the gardens have sturdy fences around them to keep the wild pigs out. These are built from the trees that are cut down when the garden is made. Pigs are a real problem in the area and for a subsistence farmer it would be a catastrophe if their food crops were destroyed by the animals.

The crops I saw being grown in include taro, yams, and kaukau (kumara/sweet potato) and ibeeka – the leaves and young shoots taste a bit like spinach. I assume that pumpkin and pitpit – a type of wild sugar cane – are also grown. These vegetables are supplemented by pork and sea food. One of the men told me that they only need money to buy clothes and to pay school fees – everything else they need can be produced off the land.

As I walked around the forested areas and up the river with Francis, one of the locals, I realised not just how knowledgeable the people are about their environment, but how closely their culture is connected to it. Francis, although shy to begin with, was happy to show me all sorts of plants and tell me how they were used, once he realised that I was genuinely interested. He knew which plants were poisonous, which ones you could eat, which ones to use as medicines and how to use them. He showed me the plants that they made face paints from and explained about plants, such as lemongrass, which they grow to use in men's ceremonies. They use lemongrass to make the skirts they wear when they dance because it smells nice. The women do not use it, and it is not used in cooking. He also showed me a tree with a special fence around it; the tree is used in men’s ceremonies – the women are not allowed to touch it.

He explained about village life and the traditional values which it is based on – respect, co-operation, peace and sharing. Francis was a wonderful guy, completely happy with his unhurried and uncomplicated life and very appreciative of what he had.

It was a privilege to meet him and the other villagers, and it left me wondering what true wealth really is.

Taking the long road

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:36:46 +1300

New Zealander Janna Candy is currently on assignment in Papua New Guinea helping her partner organisation evaluate how effective its agricultural training has been for farmers. The work often takes her to rural communities to see first hand the improvements being made. A recent trip to remote Djaul Island off the coast of New Ireland, demonstrates how a little training can really go a long way.

Workmate Pearla and I on Djaul Island

In the distance a hazy shape of an island appears. It is our destination, an island called Djaul off the coast of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea’s New Guinea Island Region. This island is to be our home for the next two days as we carry out evaluations on how effective our agricultural extension training, run late in 2009, has been.

As we get closer I can see the rugged cliffs, the dense bush and the odd village scattered along the coast. Our boat driver acts as our guide as he diligently names each of the villages we pass and I nod meaningfully as if I’m locking each one of these away for later use, despite knowing in only a few seconds I will have forgotten.

Smooth seas are occasionally interrupted by waves which rock the boat and sometimes smack the boat down as if we were hitting sand not water. Three of us are sitting across a ‘palang’ which is a wooden plank running from either side of the boat acting as our seat. We hit an unusually large wave as we round a point and we suddenly find ourselves scrambling on the bottom of the boat laughing and making jokes trying to cover our embarrassment as we try and resume an upright position. We had somehow managed to snap the sturdy palang in half. I know even now, this is something that will be recounted again and again, accompanied by shrieks of laughter, when we return to the office.

The boat driver carefully manoeuvres us through a shallow reef up to a white sandy beach with relaxed looking shade trees growing on the sand and equally relaxed looking men sitting underneath – our welcoming party. As we shake hands and everyone hears the story about how we broke the palang because we ate too much tapoik and banana this morning, the mood is easy and relaxed.

We are ushered underneath a house into much needed shade to drink tea and chat. The biggest rooster I have ever seen comes to inspect us, paying particular attention to my bag as if the water and toilet paper tucked inside are tasty treats. We’re shown to our accommodation, a colourful and very well made permanent house, crafted from local timber and made by a local craftsman. Everyone is incredibly proud of his achievements as he never went to a technical college, he learnt on the job as an apprentice and is now in charge of all the important new buildings in the village including the new school buildings.

The village carpenter stands outside the first house he built.

We settle in and I’m a little surprised to hear we’ll be sleeping on woven coconut palm mats for the next two nights. I’m not looking forward to it but don’t want to make a fuss and have everyone think I’m a pampered white meri so I smile and keep my thoughts to myself as I dream of my innerspring mattress back home.

We wander down to the beach to sit with the villagers on woven mats, bamboo benches and a picnic table. The three of us who have come to do the evaluations – Ludy Tolman a Commerce Officer from the New Ireland Province’s Department of Primary Industry, Pearla Buak, my workmate from KVRTC and I steadily work our way through a stream of people we have requested to come and talk to us about the training that was run. Our goal is to find out what the people thought of the training, whether they’re implementing what was taught (and if they’re not, why not) and whether it’s having a real impact on their lives.

Lucy Tolman from the Department of Primary Industry who we worked with to do our evaluations.

At first I find people are very shy. I try to make jokes in Tok Pisin and tell them a bit about myself to break the ice. I tell them about New Zealand and how sometimes it gets so cold in the winter that ice falls from the sky. It’s something they find hard to imagine, especially as I’m not even sure anyone has a fridge so I don’t think they understand just how cold it can get. I’m not sure I can even remember now. The heat is so constant it seems as if it has been forever since I was in the cool dryness of New Zealand.

As I talk to different men, women, youth and lapun (older people) I get to hear about the impact of the training. I hear how people are keeping records of how much money they make and spend and how this has helped them to identify which is the most profitable of their small business activities. I hear how they have started to use family budgets and have now managed to save money for school fees and unexpected expenses. And I hear how they have started growing semi-commercial crops so they can sell the excess at the local market or in the major town – Kavieng. The youth have been particularly affected with a number of them starting up small businesses buying, drying and then selling copra (dried coconut). Others feel they now have a plan for the future.

Maruru Elias from Lapai village, pictured here with me, increased her production of peanuts to sell at the village market following our land use training. She said her yields had increased and the overall quality of production increased after implementing what she had learnt.

It’s really great to be a part of this. I love being able to come to these remote places, see and hear the impact our training is having on people’s lives, share in the lives of the community and see first hand the enthusiasm people have for education. I get to strategise with my workmates about how the training could be improved, what kind of training would work better in the future and identify barriers which people have faced in implementing the training that we could perhaps overcome.

It’s an exhausting and interesting few days, living in the village with all its joys and challenges. Such joys include fresh fish, easy and relaxed conversation, kids who are ready and waiting to be entertained and a coral reef with amazing tropical fish just off the beach. The challenges? They would include drop toilets, washing out of a bucket in the middle of the village, no cell phone reception and palm sleeping mats on wooden floors.

Pearla (pictured left) Lawson our boat driver and I try to find mobile coverage!

My workmates and I leave the village after two nights happy, a little tired and ready for our next destination down the rugged and remote west coast of New Ireland.

Read Janna’s volunteer profile

Teachers needed in Melanesia

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 11:42:05 +1300

VSA is looking for experienced secondary school teachers as part of a new push to fill volunteer assignments in schools in Melanesia.

In particular we are looking for maths and English teachers to work in secondary schools in the Solomon Islands, Bougainville and Papua New Guinea.

VSA’s volunteer recruitment manager Carolyn Mark says the assignments would involve classroom teaching as well as providing mentoring to colleagues.

“We want trained, experienced teachers who can work in the classroom but can also provide professional support to the other teachers and to the principal, to help raise the standards of teaching at the school,” she says. “It’s about modelling good teaching practices.”

Carolyn says the assignments are slightly different from VSA’s other education assignments, because they are classroom-based rather than being focused on teacher training. They have been developed in response to requests from partner organisations.

“There’s a real shortage of well-trained teachers in the Solomon Islands and Bougainville in particular, and also a real desire for education. Our recent focus has been on teacher training, but we have realised that classroom teaching is still a crucial area for development in both these countries. Putting good teachers into a school can really make a difference.”

Carolyn says the assignments would be ideal for experienced New Zealand secondary school teachers looking for a new challenge.

“You’d be working in a place where education is really valued, and the students are really keen to learn. It’s a great opportunity to use your skills to really make a difference.”

Find out more about these assignments

Flower power in Papua New Guinea

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:21:32 +1300

Women in East New Britain are one step closer to setting up a local floriculture industry following a successful flower show held in the Papua New Guinea province in July.

About 500 women from the Women and Youth in Agriculture organisation took part in the two-day show in Kokopo, displaying flowers in 35 different categories from traditional flower show blooms such as roses and marigolds, to more exotic varieties such as native orchids, frangipani and torch ginger.

Rather than using vases, the women put a Pacific spin on the show by arranging their flowers in lengths of bamboo.

VSA’s Bruce Johnson, who helped organise the show, says the women made between PNK50 and PNK200 each from selling flowers and plants, as well as things such as food and handicrafts. That compares with the local average wage of about PNK200 (NZ$107) a fortnight.

“They were all really pleased,” says Bruce. “They overwhelmingly wanted to have another show next year – they want it to be an annual event. One woman said that taking part in the show made her feel like someone important.”

Floriculture is becoming increasingly common as a way of reducing poverty in developing countries. However, it is still in its infancy in most parts of the Pacific. Fiji has a small domestic industry, selling flowers on the local market, but most other countries in the region are only just starting to investigate the economic potential of floriculture.

According to Bruce, who is a horticultural adviser at the National Agriculture Research Unit (NARI) in Kerevat, the flower show was a small first step towards setting up a floriculture industry in East New Britain.

“The show helped us all realise how big the knowledge gaps are. The women are really enthusiastic, but many of them don’t know the names of the flowers, they don’t know what they can do to grow better flowers, and they don’t know what makes a good commercial flower.”

He says the next step is to start filling those knowledge gaps, while exploring the possibility of developing a local market for fresh flowers. At present, most people in East New Britain use plastic flowers, rather than fresh ones, at events such as funerals and graduations.

“Even local offices and hotels use plastic flowers,” says Bruce. “Hopefully the women will be able to change that, and create a domestic market for freshly grown flowers. Once they’ve done that, they can start looking at the possibility of exporting flowers.”

However, he warns that commercial floriculture is dependent on having the right infrastructure in place, such as transport, cool storage, packaging facilities, good communication systems and adequate airline capacity.

“At the moment that infrastructure does not exist here.”

In the meantime, plans are already underway for next year’s flower show. The aim, says Bruce, is to make it bigger and better than the first one.

“The women are all really keen to make more money from the flower show. The more money they make, the more sustainable the show will be.”

Photo shoot at Wan Smolbag

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 23:17:56 +1300

I'm doing a shoot with two members of Smolbag's Yut Senta drama group, Annie and Karl. It's just them and me and my cheap digital camera. No entourage of make-up artists, stylists, professional photographers or high end equipment. Not even a common language to communicate my intentions. Yet I'm getting shots as good as any I've ever achieved in a long career of art directing photography.

This isn't the photo I used on the cover of the comic book. That was a funny, romantic picture, the perfect illustration for the story. This is a funny, hopeful picture, Annie and Karl's own idea and indicative (I believe) of how things will be in Vanuatu in the future.

I love Annie's strong, direct manner. She's holding out a condom to Karl who is protesting vehemently. Not because he doesn't want to use the condom but because he doesn't just want to have sex with Annie. He wants her to like him.

It's estimated in urban areas that nearly a third of niVanuatu under twenty five have STIs and girls as young as thirteen fall pregnant. Often they have to bring up their babies without a father. It's a man's world here. Bride price, although illegal, is still paid, and gender violence is one of the major issues against which Wan Smolbag campaigns.

For me this photo points to a paradigm shift. It shows an informed young woman who knows what she wants and an intelligent young man who respects rather than owns her.

I'm doing a shoot with two members of Smolbag's Yut Senta drama group, Annie and Karl. It's just them and me and my cheap digital camera.

No entourage of make-up artists, stylists, professional photographers or high end equipment. Not even a common language to communicate my intentions. Yet I'm getting shots as good as any I've ever achieved in a long career of art directing photography.

I love Annie's strong, direct manner. She's holding out a condom to Karl who is protesting vehemently. Not because his character doesn't want to use the condom but because he doesn't just want to have sex with Annie. He wants her to like him.

It's estimated in urban areas that nearly a third of sexually active NiVanuatu under 25 have STIs and girls as young as 13 fall pregnant. Often they have to bring up their babies without a father. It's a man's world here. Bride price, although illegal, is still paid, and gender violence is one of the major issues against which Wan Smolbag campaigns.

For me this photo points to a paradigm shift. It shows an informed young woman who knows what she wants and an intelligent young man who respects rather than owns her.

The views expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

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Salama

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:32:44 +1300

MIKE'S POST 8: Salama. Peace. Although this word is Arabic, it is often used in the coastal regions of Tanzania since Tanzania and especially the spice island of Zanzibar have a rich Arabic history. The word ‘peace’ is used by everyone from Jesus to Miss Universe. It is thrown liberally into the foundational documents of international organisations such as the United Nations, and in the innocent prayers of little children kneeling by their beds. But do we know what the word means, and do we have the guts to bring it about.

Were you to express peace on canvas, perhaps you would paint a grassy meadow by a still lake, or perhaps a sleeping child, safe from the world outside. The images are passive; they are of the end of struggle, a cessation of fighting. Perhaps this is what peace is, but I don’t believe this passivity should take pride of place in obtaining it. How do you bring peace to the mind of a mother who cannot feed her children? Do you tell her to give up fighting? Should she passively accept that not all of her children will make it through the dry season?

I think peace involves sacrifice, hard work, and an indignant anger at the way our world treats those who are poor. We will not find peace by sitting idle, or shutting our eyes to the suffering around us.

Will we sacrifice the lifestyle that we long for, to bring about peace to one person living in poverty? Will we fight for peace?

Read Mike's other posts

Post 1: Mambo

Post 2: Habari - what's the news

Post 3: Bomba

Post 4: Movie night

Post 5: Food for thought

Post 6: Sowing the seeds for change

Post 7: Elephant Encounter

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

VSA to start sending short-term volunteers

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 11:37:44 +1300

VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) is adding a new kind of assignment to its volunteering options – short-term volunteering.

VSA volunteer Ron Rowe, of Napier, leaves for Samoa next week (October 4) to start a three-month assignment as a business development adviser with two Samoan business organisations. They are Women in Business Development Inc (WIBDI), whose activities include supplying virgin coconut oil to The Body Shop, and Small Business Enterprise Centre Samoa (SBEC), which provides training and advice to small businesses. SBEC’s recent activities include working with farmer groups to revive taro exports to New Zealand, and supporting organic farmers to become more productive.

Traditionally VSA assignments last for two years. According to VSA’s Pacific programme manager Peter Swain, VSA’s experience over the last 50 years has shown that it takes time for volunteers to develop good relationships, get a good understanding of the context in which they are working, and work with partner organisations to develop something that is sustainable.

“We know that it takes time to build sustainable development.”

However, in some cases partner organisations do not need the support of a long-term volunteer, but rather short-term technical assistance. VSA’s move to include short-term assignments as one of its volunteering options recognises this fact.

“The people running the organisations that Ron Rowe will be working with in Samoa have said they need support to work out how to go to the next level,” he says. “They want to strengthen their management capacity, and rather than bringing in high-paid consultants to help them do this, we are sending a volunteer.”

He says the short-term assignment is part of a wider VSA strategy in Samoa intended to strengthen economic development in the agricultural sector.

“Samoa already has a good depth of skills, but there remain some gaps, and that is where VSA can help by providing support. Once the Samoans have developed those skills themselves, we will leave.”

Ron Rowe is a Napier-based management consultant and trainer who, with his wife Ngaire, recently returned to New Zealand from a two-year VSA assignment at Kokopo Business College in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. While there he helped staff at the college to run training workshops with local business owners, and also spent time working with middle and senior management at PNG Balsa, one of the world’s largest balsa wood companies.

Ron Rowe on assignment at Kokopo Business College, PNG

Mr Rowe says he is delighted to be the first volunteer selected to take part in the new initiative, and is looking forward to helping WIBDI and SBEC expand and improve the services they provide to new and existing small businesses in Samoa.

“Both organisations already have a really good track record, and they want to move up another notch. I believe that by working together for three months, we’ll be able to make a real difference.”

In the news: August/September 2010

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 11:13:42 +1300

Find out what the media is writing about VSA

We pay tribute to Sir Ron Trotter who died on 11 August. He was a highly valued and respected Life Member of VSA. Among his many achievements, Sir Ron worked with John Todd to set up the VSA Foundation to support the work of VSA, starting with his own financial contribution. Sir Ron is very much in our hearts and minds and we are carrying on his great work:

Read about volunteer Antony Rewcastle who recently left Queenstown to start an assignment as an eco-forestry adviser in Papua New Guinea.

Columnist Steve Braunias writes about VSA’s connection with the Bougainville Library project.

Camille Kirtlan, VSA’s PNG Country Programme Manager, tells the Sunday Star Times about her life in Kokopo, East New Britain. (pdf)

Former VSA UniVol volunteers Kathy Impey and Josie Orr talk to Just Focus about the advantages of volunteering.

VSA expands programme in Timor-Leste

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:27:52 +1200

VSA is expanding its programme in Timor-Leste, with two more volunteers scheduled to take up assignments in Dili in November, and a third due to leave New Zealand in late January.

They will join the two volunteers already based in Dili, taking the total number of volunteers in Timor-Leste to five – the largest number we have had in the country since we resumed our programme there after pulling out volunteers during the crisis of 2007.

According to VSA’s Asia programme manager Mui Ngah Lee, VSA is committed to supporting the development of South East Asia’s newest independent nation.

“Our programme in Timor-Leste, while still small, sees us developing quality assignments to support the efforts of civil society organisations to create positive change,” she says. “We are particularly committed to providing practical skills training to Timorese women and young people, so they have access to better employment and income opportunities. This in turn contributes to the long-term economic development of Timor-Leste.”

The two volunteers who leave for Timor-Leste in November are Lisa Vitasovich, an accountant who will work with staff at the Dili Institute of Technology as a MYOB trainer, and Andrew Smith, an information manager who will work as a database development coach with local NGO BELUN.

They will join Bruce Burnett, an auto-mechanic trainer at the Dili Institute of Technology, and Tony McGurk, a community advocacy trainer with the East Timor NGO Forum (FONGTIL).

Bruce Burnett with colleagues at the Dili Institute of Technology

VSA is currently advertising two more assignments in Timor-Leste, and is working with partner organisations to develop another three.

In other developments to VSA’s programme in Timor-Leste, Jason Weise has now started working as our Dili-based field officer. Jason took up his position in August, replacing Liz Hicks who spent almost two years in Timor-Leste as VSA’s development officer.

A weekend of celebrations

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:31:02 +1200

ALICE'S POST 8: Last weekend was an historic one for the Rabaul-Kokopo area of East New Britain. Not only was its PNG’s 35th anniversary of independence on Thursday 16 September, but Friday 17 September was the anniversary of the 1994 twin volcanic eruption which covered Rabaul in thick grey dust and resulted in the growth of Kokopo town as the new provincial capital.

The independence celebrations meant almost every car on the road was flying at least one red, black and gold flag. The foot traffic also was a sea of red, black and gold as many people enjoyed their day off work and school by donning their best and brightest PNG t-shirts or caps and heading to the nearest ‘singsing’ or traditional celebration.

The closest one to me, was held within Vunapope mission where I live and work, and was organised by the girls from the high school. They organised over 16 dance performances and a ‘quest’ that was like a beauty pageant showcasing all the traditional dress for about 10 different PNG provinces. All the money raised from the event was to go towards the school’s art programme.

Children join in the celebrations in Rabaul

For me it was a great chance to learn more about the different cultures and customs as well as enjoy all the music and singing… but the weekend of celebrations had just started. On Saturday, Rabaul town celebrated its 100^th birthday – with a long parade of floats from local businesses and organisations (yes VSA had a ‘float’ too!). Rabaul town – which hasn’t been the same since it was covered in volcanic ash in 1994 – ‘erupted’ (for want of a better word) in colour, music and dance as everyone came out to see what all the noise was about, in the normally sleepy town. I still think there might have been more people on the 50 + floats than spectators.

All in all the weekend highlighted to me the many layers of PNG history, from German rule before the First World War, to Japanese occupation during the Second World War and finally independence in 1975, not to mention more recent events such as the eruptions of 1994 that have all shaped how PNG is today and the incredible diversity in people, culture, language and ideas that I get to experience by being a volunteer here.

It’s a diversity of experience and opportunity that I believe you can only get by living and working in another country and for me I’m glad that country is PNG!

Read Alice's other posts

Post 1: Bona Keake from Kokopo, East New Britian, PNG!

Post 2: Bona Malana

Post 3: Time flies

Post 4: I saw over 50 dolphins..

Post 5: Thank you!

Post 6: Going bush

Post 7: Mango Season!

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Familiar faces

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:57:55 +1200

SAM'S POST 7: September has been a busy month for everyone at Winter Rose. One of the reasons for this has been the arrival of six Maori students and their film crew from New Zealand. The students are here for three weeks, creating a documentary that is part of a series which airs on Maori TV, in which young Maori students are placed in different parts of the world.

Currently the students are involved with us at Winter Rose, as they are staying with students from local Mdantsane schools. The students will get to experience all of the cultures in East London, something which I’m sure they will remember for a very long time.

The visiting students at Winter Rose

Those of us at Winter Rose are organising a rugby and netball tournament at which the visiting students will get to participate alongside their peers from the Winter Rose club. The cross-cultural interaction has been a fantastic thing to witness, and it has been beneficial for both sides. For example, the boys in the rugby team are tremendously excited to be taught the haka.

These interactions at a youth level are a fantastic way of providing a real understanding of one another, broadening knowledge and cultural awareness. Experiences like these are only available through such student exchanges. Hopefully for the local community events like these can continue, as it gives recognition to the great spirit in the community here, as well as highlighting the development issues that exist from a sociological point of view.

So good luck to the students, I hope they enjoy the rest of their time in East London.

Read Sam's other posts

Post 1: Molweni Bahlali, hello everyone, from Mdantsane

Post 2: So the Football World Cup has drawn to a close

Post 3: U15 rugby programme in full swing

Post 4: Catering to all ages

Post 5: Exploring the Eastern Cape

Post 6: Changes at Winter Rose

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Changes at Winter Rose

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:33:05 +1200

SAM'S POST 6: Since the beginning of September, Winter Rose sports club has started introducing some dramatic changes. Thanks largely to some substantial funding, the current grounds are being redeveloped, diversifying the club in numerous ways.

Tennis courts, netball courts, floodlights and field extensions are all beginning to take shape, allowing the Winter Rose Club to cater for and develop local community members in a variety of different sporting codes.

Work gets underway at Winter Rose

As well as this, the Makhaya Ntini Cricket Academy has also laid out plans to begin developing a state-of-the-art facility at the other end of the grounds. It will provide top-grade cricket development, as well as computer facilities and conference rooms.

This new infrastructure will be a tremendous boost to the whole Eastern Cape region, but especially the people of Mdantsane. It will provide them with some invaluable opportunities to participate in a number of sporting activities, become involved in educational programmes and become active throughout the community.

It will be great to come back in a few years and see all of this up and running – I’m looking forward to it! So congratulations to all involved, great work!

Read Sam's other posts

Post 1: Molweni Bahlali, hello everyone, from Mdantsane

Post 2: So the Football World Cup has drawn to a close

Post 3: U15 rugby programme in full swing

Post 4: Catering to all ages

Post 5: Exploring the Eastern Cape

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Former volunteer showcases the food of the Lao PDR

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:11:41 +1200

Former VSA volunteer Dorothy Culloty and her husband Kees Sprengers have produced a new cookbook profiling the little-known cuisine of the Lao PDR.

Food from Northern Laos: The Boat Landing Cookbook has recipes for 88 dishes featuring ingredients such as chilli wood and snake gourd, as well as more traditional Asian ingredients such as lemongrass, fish sauce and fresh coriander.

Dorothy spent three and a half years on assignment for VSA as an adviser with the Rural Research and Development Training Centre in Vientiane in the Lao PDR, finishing in February 2008. She was accompanied by Kees, a photographer, who has taken the photographs for the book.

Kees and Dorothy in a restaurant in Laos PDR

Dorothy, who now lives in Thailand, has had a passion for the food of Lao PDR for many years. Before her VSA assignment she produced nine postcards of Lao PDR recipes, as well as a Lao PDR and English guide to the vegetables of Lao. In 2002 she began documenting food preparation, ingredients and food anthropology in North Western Lao PDR, a task she continued while she was on assignment.

She describes the food of Lao PDR as the ultimate in “slow food”.

The recipes in the book are based on those made at the Boat Landing Guest House and Restaurant, an eco-lodge in Luang Namtha, a province in the north-west of the country.

To find out more or to order copies of the book, visit http://www.foodfromnorthernlaos.com/

$2,000 fundraising target for VSA volunteers

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:06:05 +1200

VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) is encouraging all its volunteers to fundraise at least $2,000 before they set off on their assignments.

Chief executive officer, Debbie Snelson, says the money that volunteers raise will help ensure that VSA’s programme continues at its current level.

“In order to maintain our current programme we need to find an extra $18 a day for every volunteer we have in the field. We have about 100 volunteers on assignment at any one time, which means we have to find an additional $657,000 a year.”

Ms Snelson says the VSA Council’s recent decision to encourage both short and long-term volunteers to raise money before they leave on assignment is in line with similar volunteer organisations overseas.

British organisation VSO (Volunteer Service Overseas), for example, encourages its volunteers to raise a minimum of £900 (NZ$1,900), while youth-led development agency Restless Development, which sends young New Zealanders on 10-month assignments to Zambia, requires its volunteers to raise at least NZ$10,500.

“Even though we do not pay our volunteers, we do pay their airfares, health insurance, accommodation, food and transport costs,” she says. “The funding we get through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is very generous, but it is not enough to cover all our volunteer expenses.”

The new policy will apply to all volunteers selected after 1 May, 2011. Ms Snelson says fundraising will not be compulsory, but she expects most volunteers will be happy to raise money for VSA.

“The more money we raise, the more volunteers we can send. Based on VSO’s experience in Britain, where many volunteers easily exceed the minimum fundraising target, I’m confident VSA volunteers will get into the spirit of the exercise.”

She says the money raised will not be used to fund individual assignments, but rather to help pay the costs of keeping all VSA volunteers on assignment.

The decision to encourage volunteers to fundraise follows VSA’s recent announcement that it will focus its work in the wider Pacific region, and phase out its programmes in Africa and South East Asia. VSA will also offer more short-term volunteering assignments throughout the Pacific, making it possible for more skilled New Zealanders to volunteer.

“We are a small organisation with limited resources, and we need to use those resources in the most efficient way we can.”

Elephant encounter

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:39:29 +1200

MIKE'S POST 7: Niaje? I don’t even know the translation for that one, however no one looks at me sideways when I use it, so I’m sure it’s not offensive.

Well how about a fun story today? You know one of the best things about doing an assignment with VSA is that you get placed in some of the most beautiful locations on earth. Where I am in Arusha is the perfect location for discovering some of the most amazing places in Africa.

The city is only an hour’s drive from Mt Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain and the largest freestanding mountain in the world while on the other side is Serengeti, arguably the world’s most famous National Park. Anyway, I’m getting distracted from my story.

Last weekend some mates and I took advantage of our proximity to so many parks and headed out to Tsavo East National Park in Kenya, once home to two of the world’s most famous lions, The Ghost and The Darkness.

The Park is also home to an elephant sanctuary where orphaned young elephants are looked after until they are ready to fend for themselves in the wild. Each elephant has its own ranger who watches over it as it grows and learns to be an elephant. We had the good fortune of visiting this sanctuary, which is not open to the general public, and had the opportunity to bottle-feed and photograph these miniature behemoths.

Young elephants in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya.

Now elephants have to learn how to use their trunks the way a young child needs to learn how to use its arms, and it seems the elephant I chose to photograph hadn’t mastered his trunk yet. When I crouched down to take a photo of young Taveta, a three year old, he reached out for my camera with his trunk, but his approach was about as delicate as could be expected from any three year old, and he managed to slap his trunk into my camera, which proceed to jolt into my eye at such a speed to cause my contact lens to pop out of my eye. Well, I suppose if he fails as an elephant he could always pursue a career in optometry.

Read Mike's other posts

Post 1: Mambo

Post 2: Habari - what's the news

Post 3: Bomba

Post 4: Movie night

Post 5: Food for thought

Post 6: Sowing the seeds for change

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Mango Season!

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:45:03 +1200

ALICE'S POST 7: It’s amazing what a bit of rain can do – in what feels like a matter of days the stalls at the market have multiplied – with dozens of Mamas selling giant mangoes that have just come into season and I’m told this is just the beginning.

This change in available produce seems to be the only real indication of the change of season and a personal marker for me – I’ve now been in PNG for six months. I have to write my report this week and I don’t know where to start so many things have happened in this time. Some projects and workshops have been and gone and others are only just starting.

The ‘Mercy Ship’ is in town this week – it is a team of American, Australian and PNG defense and naval personnel coming to give medical services. As you can imagine this has caused some excitement and has been a big organisational ordeal for the provincial health authorities and local hospitals. But they are here now, giving immunizations, issuing eye glasses and dealing with hundreds of patients a day!

Mercy ship, PNG.

Unfortunately many of our ear and eye clients will miss out on these services because of time limitations, but we are still planning visits from ear and eye specialists in the coming months. We’ve been working hard on our clinic days to assess and identify clients that need cataract surgery or could benefit from specially-made hearing aids.

On top of all that – this week we are conducting another teacher training workshop with first year trainee teachers at a private training institute about 30 minutes drive from Kokopo town. As you might have guessed, with so many projects on the go at once, time management and forward planning have been key skills that my colleagues and I have been working on.

At school in New Zealand we often get drilled in the skills of ‘time management’ and ‘efficient use of time’, but in PNG it’s different. It’s hard to explain, but I’ve heard people call it ‘PNG time’ and I guess it’s similar to what we joke about as ‘island time’ in New Zealand. ‘PNG time’ seems to have this magical quality to get things done even if you’d never believe it could happen.

People also call PNG ‘the land of the unexpected’ and it’s certainly that – and after last weekend’s earthquake in my home town, Christchurch, I reckon New Zealand’s not all that different!

Read Alice's other posts

Post 1: Bona Keake from Kokopo, East New Britian, PNG!

Post 2: Bona Malana

Post 3: Time flies

Post 4: I saw over 50 dolphins..

Post 5: Thank you!

Post 6: Going bush

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:35:25 +1200

Michael Edwards’ book charts the rise and impact of philanthrocapitalism, examines its positive and negative impacts, and critiques the divergence from philanthropy’s original meaning as “love of mankind”.

By Michael Edwards

Published by Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco 2010

Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Jeff Skoll, Nandan Nilekani, and Shi Zhengrong, founders or owners of Microsoft, Oracle, eBay, Infosys, and Suntech, are all famous for their technology companies and great wealth. They are also the pioneers of “philanthrocapitalism”, a movement whose “followers believe that business thinking and market methods will save the world”.

Edwards demonstrates that market methods do not address the causes of poverty, inequality, violence and discrimination. He also shows how business methods have compromised the work of some civil society organisations and argues “that continued separation – though working together in complementary ways – is a better way forward than blending together elements from these very different worlds.”

Edwards concludes that “No one will “save the world”, as there is no single approach or set of ideas or actors that has a monopoly on wisdom, authority or power. Only principled collective action, openness to learning and accountability, and a willingness to change ourselves where it matters can position societies to address their social problems.”

Small Change is an interesting read which affirms that voluntary action and giving are at the heart of transformative social change.

* Reviewed by Peter Swain, VSA International Programme Manager

Development as Freedom

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:15:27 +1200

Amartya Sen’s Development as Freedom has been around for a decade, but his message is still relevant today.

By Amartya Sen

Published by Oxford University Press, 1999

Sen has a five-fold definition of freedom as: political freedom and civil rights; economic freedom, including access to credit; access to social opportunities, health care, education and social services; transparency guarantees, or what can be expected from government and other agencies; and collective security, including welfare provision and emergency relief. Sen is clear that these ‘freedoms’ must be implemented together.

Sen refutes Lee Kuan Yew’s thesis that economic growth must be secured in a developing country before political and civil rights are granted. In his opinion, Singapore’s success is not the model to follow. Sen says it is not clear that authoritarian regimes produce greater economic growth. He argues that people’s welfare is better addressed through a more democratic system as it encourages people’s participation, and democratic accountability encourages leaders to deal with natural and man-made problems. Sen provides evidence to support this position by noting that there has never been a famine under a democratic regime.

Sen, an Indian who has taught at Oxford, Cambridge, the LSE and Harvard as well as Calcutta and Delhi, has a deep respect for the individual and the wisdom of local communities to do the right thing. He challenges the view that aid goes to passive recipients and that increasing wealth is the key to development. It is reassuring to know a Nobel Prize winning economist supports a comprehensive and nuanced approach to development that has freedom as its goal.

Development as Freedom is essential reading for those seeking to understand current development theory, policies and practice.

* Reviewed by Peter Swain, VSA International Programme Manager

Travels with Herodotus

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:12:33 +1200

Travels with Herodotus was Kapuściński’s final book. In it he distils the wisdom of a lifetime of travel and observation. Throughout, his companion was Herodotus the first person to set out to record the history of the world.

By Ryszard Kapuściński

Published by Penguin, New York 2007

How best to prepare volunteers for their assignments and travel overseas?

That question has exercised VSA staff for over 45 years. The current pre-departure briefing programme is a mix of lectures, discussions, experiential exercises and reading. “What should I read?” Departing volunteers ask for one book they should read that would prepare them for travel. I always recommend The Histories by Herodotus.

This is not an original idea. When a young Polish journalist was embarking on his first travel overseas his editor gave him a present. It was a thick book with a stiff cover of yellow cloth. On the front, stamped in gold letters, was Herodotus The Histories.

Ryszard Kapuściński set out to India in 1956 with Herodotus as his only guide. For half a century he chronicled the civil wars and the struggles of development in Asia, Africa and Latin America as a correspondent for PAP, the Polish news agency. His books include The Shadow of the Sun, The Emperor, Shah of Shahs, and Another Day of Life. In 1999 he was made ‘journalist of the century’ in Poland. Kapuściński died in 2007.

Travels with Herodotus (Penguin 2007) was Kapuściński’s final book. In it he distils the wisdom of a lifetime of travel and observation. Throughout, his companion was Herodotus the first person to set out to record the history of the world.

Kapuściński writes, “Herotodus learns about his worlds with the rapturous enthusiasm of a child. His most important discovery? That there are many worlds. And that each is different. Each is important. And that one must learn about them, because these other worlds, these other cultures, are mirrors in which we can see ourselves, thanks to which we understand ourselves better – for we cannot define our own identity until having confronted that of others, as comparison.”

Though separated by 25 centuries, Kapuściński and Herodotus had an intimate and compelling relationship. A pity they are not available to talk at the next VSA Briefing.

* Reviewed by Peter Swain, VSA International Programme Manager

Blood River - A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:01:43 +1200

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a little talked about place, yet it is an exceedingly vast country with a deeply troubled past. Against all warnings, Tim Butcher, foreign correspondent for England’s The Daily Telegraph, plans and executes a journey along the river that spans the breadth of the country.

By Tim Butcher

Published by Vintage, 2008

More than a travelogue, Butcher weaves in the fascinating yet grim history and current circumstances of the Congo, depicting a country on a downward spiraling trajectory.

As you would expect from a seasoned journalist, Butcher’s writing style is crisp, perceptive and forward flowing; yet he is not scared of sharing his vulnerabilities and fear (justifiably) for what may lie ahead on this often white-knuckled journey. Consequently, I warmed to him and his empathy for the ordinary Congolese people trapped in a land of political bankruptcy and violence.

Beyond being a compelling story and unlike other have-the-adventure- to-tell-the tale books, Blood River is highly relevant and poses thought-provoking questions that jar the conscience of those in the developed world who might prefer to look the other way. I highly recommended this book.

* Reveiwed by Elisha Connell, former VSA Fundraising Assistant

VSA Project Friendship slogans pouring in

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:03:19 +1200

Hundreds of entries for the Project Friendship slogan-writing competition have now arrived in our inbox – and there’s another month to go before the competition to win an iPod Touch closes.

The winning slogan will be used to help promote next year’s Project Friendship. It must capture the essence of VSA Project Friendship, be six words or fewer, and be attention grabbing and educational.

The slogan-writing competition is one of several activities associated with VSA Project Friendship. The main event was held during the week of August 9–15, during which more than 200 schools and Girl Guide units sold the colourful, hand-woven friendship bracelets.

But Project Friendship hasn’t finished yet. As well as the slogan-writing competition, which closes on October 1, Pippins and Brownies are taking part in VSA’s Friendship Photo Exchange. The exchange is part of the Hand of Friendship badge. It involves making a collage of photos illustrating the concept of friendship.

The collages will be sent to children at the Rift Valley Children’s Village in Tanzania. In exchange the Pippins and Brownies will get a collage of photos of children at the village (pictured). VSA volunteer Catherine Van Gessel is working as an athletic programme adviser at the Children’s Village.

Project Friendship coordinator Elisha Connell says it’s exciting seeing the collages arriving.

“There are some great photos – and the photos from Tanzania are really lovely too.”

A favourite Wan Smolbag photo

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:34:58 +1200

From my collection of favourite Wan Smolbag photos...

My assignment is at Wan Smolbag Theatre in Port Vila, Vanuatu. I'm a graphic design advisor in the Publications Department, just one small part of a large multi-faceted NGO. For example there's the clinic, KPH (Kam Pusum Hed), where people in the local community can come to be informed, tested and treated for STI's. It's a free service offering anonymity in a society where religion plays a huge role and sex education a virtually non-existant one.

I love this photo for so many reasons.

For it's friendly, brightly-coloured clinic wall painted by Wan Smolbag's Yut Senta art guy, Michael, who is responsible for most of the many murals that decorate the buildings.

I love the way we're only seeing the word Smolbag which is the common abbreviation for this legendary place. You can jump on a bus anywhere in Vila, say "Smolbag" and the driver knows exactly where to go.

And from a purely artistic point of view, I love how the three nurses become a part of the painting, almost perfectly positioned between the three people in profile on the right and the TV they are watching on the left.

But I particularly love the nurses. They were so delighted with their new uniforms. Yes, these are uniforms! Especially made for the mini open day held at Wan Smolbag on the 29th of July as part of Vanuatu's 30th Anniversary of Independence Celebrations. I love the Mother Hubbard styling and the island-take on clinical with the medicinal-green and white hibiscus floral pattern; the way one size fits all but each woman makes it uniquely her own.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

From my collection of favourite Wan Smolbag photos...

I love this photo for so many reasons.

For it's friendly, brightly-coloured clinic wall painted by Wan Smolbag's Yut Senta art guy, Michael, who is responsible for most of the many murals that decorate the buildings.

I love the way we're only seeing the word Smolbag which is the common abbreviation for this legendary place. You can jump into a bus anywhere in Vila, say "Smolbag" and the driver knows exactly where to go.

But I especially love the nurses. They were so delighted with their new uniforms. Yes, these are uniforms! Especially made for the mini open day held at Wan Smolbag on the 29th of July as part of Vanuatu's 30th Anniversary of Independence Celebrations. I love the Mother Hubbard styling and the island-take on clinical with the medicinal-green and white hibiscus floral pattern; the way one size fits all and each woman makes it uniquely her own.

Sowing the seeds for change

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:09:43 +1200

MIKE'S POST 6: Umelalaje? How did you sleep? I haven’t figured out how to respond ‘like a log’ yet, but I’m working on it.

Working in a developing country is a lot like making cheese; there is a lot of time (i.e. waiting) involved until you see the fruits of your labour. I had this bought home to me yesterday when I headed out into one of our most rural villages for a meeting of the village leadership.

The village was over two hours drive from our office down many dry and dusty roads. I had arrived over two hours ‘late’ (I don’t know if there is such a concept in Tanzania) but was still able to give the village chairman (guest of honour) a lift to the meeting.

I then proceeded to sit through a two-hour presentation of which I understood about 5 percent as it was all in Kiswahili, after which I gave my own five-minute presentation, ate lunch and then drove back to the office. So all in all I managed to get about five minutes of ‘work’ done.

So how is this all like cheese? Well when you make cheese the active part is very small, and you just have to let it do its work, it’s a process that you can’t rush. In development, sometimes you just have to seed an idea with a community and let it mature.

You have to wait and see whether your idea is acceptable to the community, and acknowledge that there is nothing you can do to speed up the process. So now I have to wait, and see whether people are interested in adopting our ideas… see whether that little five minute seed will catalyse the process of change.

A dry, dusty road, Tanzania.

Read Mike's other posts

Post 1: Mambo

Post 2: Habari - what's the news

Post 3: Bomba

Post 4: Movie night

Post 5: Food for thought

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Food for thought

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:29:02 +1200

MIKE'S POST 5: Mnaendelaje? How are you going? I’m great, thanks for asking.

Today I want to take a quick look at an issue that confronts me and probably most VSA volunteers everyday – poverty. The nature of taking on an assignment with VSA is that you are forced to face many issues that we are more or less able to ignore in New Zealand.

VSA sends volunteers to work among people in developing countries, some of whom really do live on less than $1 per day. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard the saying ‘give someone a fish, they eat for a day, teach someone to fish and they eat for a lifetime’, but does that mean that it is bad to give someone a proverbial fish?

VSA sends us to teach people to fish; to take people’s talents and resources and help them improve their lives through giving them new skills with which they can provide a livelihood for themselves. The results can be awesome, and many lives can be changed (including our own), but sometimes there is no more time to teach or the circumstances aren’t right.

Some people believe that you shouldn’t give money to beggars, but I think that everybody has to come to his or her own personal decision. For me, the more I walked past people in obvious need, the more I felt I lost some of my own humanness. I think we all have a desire within us to help those less fortunate than ourselves, and I think the outworking of this desire is one of the most beautiful things to be a part of.

Roadside scene, Tanzania.

Read Mike's other posts

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Exploring the Eastern Cape

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:50:40 +1200

SAM'S POST 5: Aside from work, the Eastern Cape here in South Africa offers a great variety of adventures to undertake over the long weekends. I have been lucky enough to have had a few opportunities to get away from East London and see the country side.

The vastness of South Africa is something that is truly breathtaking, incomparable to the landscape in New Zealand. You can travel for hours, driving through countless sprawling villages, getting the feeling that you truly are in a remote area. Horizons seem to stretch for miles when you are away from the coast as they cast beautiful sunsets and sunrises, giving you the true feeling of being in South Africa.

As well as seeing beautiful landforms throughout the Eastern Cape, I have also had the chance to see its inhabitants. Game Reserves like Mpongo and Addo provide a fantastic opportunity to see African wilderness. I seem to have either been a good luck charm myself or had been in good company whilst visiting these places, as we were able to see White Rhino, Elephant, Buffalo, Lion, Giraffe, Springbok, Warthog and Zebras!

Elephants in Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Seeing these fantastic animals’ only metres away from our vehicle was a truly magical experience, something that I will always cherish in my memories of being a volunteer for VSA. This feeling is something you can never experience outside of Africa, making it all the more attractive as a place to not just visit, but volunteer!

Read Sam's other posts

Post 1: Molweni Bahlali, hello everyone, from Mdantsane

Post 2: So the Football World Cup has drawn to a close

Post 3: U15 rugby programme in full swing

Post 4: Catering to all ages

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Going Bush

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:23:29 +1200

ALICE'S POST 6: I’ve never seen so much green! As we slowly climbed higher into Baining territory I was given two pieces of advice. The first being watch out for the cannibals (accompanied by a cheeky smile to see if they had scared me) and second being don’t forget to bring back some garden food!

This first bit of advice is based on the history of the people of this area (the Baining People) who back in the 19th century were known to cook unwelcome visitors and even missionaries in a mumu (similar to a hangi). The second became obvious to me as I saw all the green bundles of garden that surrounded the road and continued on into the bush.

The purpose of this trip was a one week outreach programme where 7 of my ‘wanwoks’ (colleagues) based themselves at a local primary school and went out to surrounding villages and schools to talk with students, teachers, parents and villagers about disability; to find and advise any people living with disabilities in these remote communities and even refer some clients back to Kokopo for eye surgery and other services.

Our hosts were friendly and generous and the week was busy and successful. Being based in the community meant we could reach more remote areas and talk to and work with more people who can’t usually access our services. But the week wasn’t all work of course. I learnt many new PNG household skills like how to scrap a coconut using a coconut stool, how to cook kaukau (Kumara) and wild taro on the fire.

Everybody laughed hysterically when I asked how to cook these things in an oven because I didn’t have a fire! They may think I’ve had a deprived childhood not growing up eating kaukau and banana off a fire – but I just feel so lucky to be able to share just a few days with these families and my colleagues, experiencing all these new ways of eating, living and even going to the toilet (imagine a small garden shed and a concrete pad with a hole in it) while doing important work that I’m passionate about.

People from home often ask me how I’m coping, is it hard? And sometimes it is, but not many people can say their first ‘real job’ after university involved living on a tropical island! By the end of the week our car was overloaded with baskets full of bananas, taro, kaukau and greens… let’s just say we all can’t wait to go back for more than one reason!

Read Alice's other posts

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Thank you!

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:05:48 +1200

ALICE'S POST 5: I’m guessing that if you’re logging onto this blog you or someone you know has bought a friendship bracelet recently. Just today the $3 you spent went towards helping me teach three ‘pikinini’ (kids) who haven’t been able to start school yet because of their disability – or for some other reason.

Junior has an intellectual disability and the biggest smile I’ve ever since, Dopsen has a physical disability and is a perfectionist, and Nason is blind and very quick to learn. For the first time I got to work through some Braille exercises with Nason who is still learning the Braille alphabet – I caught him out a few times today calling out the next letter in the alphabet before he’d even felt it – he thought that was hilarious!

Practicing the alphabet

This was all part of our weekly ‘Early Intervention’ program where we teach basic reading, writing and number skills to young children with disabilities who haven’t started school yet or who were unable to stay in school (often because they fell behind because of their disability).

You may think $3 isn’t very much but three New Zealand dollars is six Kina which is enough for a mother and her child to catch a bus to our school for two weeks, so every little bit helps. These children would probably be in school if they were in New Zealand and I strongly believe they can be in PNG too. It’s the extra bits of help they get from volunteers and donations like yours that can make these things happen.

Read Alice's other posts

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Movie night

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 10:06:45 +1200

MIKE'S POST 4: Mzuka. That one means ghost, but also hello… go figure.

Well I’m on cloud nine. Last night we piloted a brand new project and it was a great success. Since I’ve been here we’ve been struggling to find a way to engage the community on a large scale, and then two weeks ago a mate came with the answer in his suitcase. Cartoons!

When I have mates come to visit I like to put their skills to use. Although much of the attraction of visiting foreign countries lies in the holiday experience, I find that most people have a much better experience in Tanzania if they can help people somehow. So when I found out that my mate was coming I thought we could make use of his skills as an audiovisual technician.

Putting up the movie screen

Our church back in New Zealand had donated a full projector system complete with data projector, solar panels and a truck battery, and last night we headed out into the bush for a test run. The village was 25 km’s of dusty roads from the nearest tarmac, so our movie showing caused quite a stir.

We showed Madagascar (don’t tell Dream Works) to get people interested, and then afterwards we showed some HIV-related short films and ran discussion groups. We succeeded in getting over a hundred people together to talk about HIV and health related issues.

So I really learned this week that in development sometimes you have to think outside the box, or in this case inside the box office.

Read Mike's other posts

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Catering to all ages

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:22:03 +1200

SAM'S POST 4: One of the fantastic things about being involved in the Winter Rose Active Community Club is having the chance to work with a wide range of age groups. Even though my main assignment focuses on the development of children between the ages of 7 to 17, there is always the chance to become involved in sport development that caters for both the young and old.

Children at Winter Rose

The Winter Rose Pre-School has been an initiative set up over the past few years, giving the community a place where their young can come and receive strong educational foundations, preparing them for the next step to Junior Primaries. Judy Moore, a previous VSA volunteer, did a fantastic job in working alongside the community to help establish and build the pre-school from scratch, which can now boast qualified teaching staff and a high enrolment.

Currently, junior sport activities are run twice a week for the pre-school children, who are great fun to work with in developing basic hand eye co-ordination and promoting the enjoyment of physical activity. A wide range of activities such as obstacle courses, passing drills and balancing drills are used to stimulate their physical development. It’s always great fun to play catch and see the excitement on their faces, enjoying the opportunity to play with the older volunteers that operate the programmes.

Junior sport at Winter Rose

For me personally, the experience is more so as the children enjoy having the chance to interact with foreigners. The intrigue of meeting someone with hairy arms and legs is extremely funny, making my time at Winter Rose all the more enjoyable as development through sport is taking place throughout the ages.

Read Sam's other posts

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

I saw over 50 dolphins and a few dozen pilot whales today!

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:17:40 +1200

ALICE'S POST 4: I keep discovering volunteering isn’t just about working and serious topics like disability, health, education and ‘development.’ Today I got to go out boating around the Pigeon and Duke of York islands! Living and working in another country opens up so many exciting and adventurous opportunities (today being one of them) such as cultural festivals, traditional ceremonies, awesome snorkeling and diving and weird and wonderful foods! All these things have been unexpected extras to my time here in Kokopo.

The 16th national mask festival was definitely a highlight for me, a week-long festival showcasing Masks and ‘mask dancing’ from all around PNG, not to mention great souvenir-shopping with beautiful woven baskets in all shapes, sizes and colours! I got to see performances from the famous ‘Asaro Mudmen’ from mainland PNG (google them!) as well as the local Baining fire dancers who literally walk and dance on fire.

Baining fire dancers

It has been so interesting learning about the history and cultures of this region as well exploring the natural environment – including active volcanos, awesome coral reefs, dolphins even turtles. I’ve even enjoyed learning the physics behind scuba diving. It is all so different from New Zealand and totally unique, it makes you realize what tourists must feel when they come to New Zealand and see a kiwi or visit Rotorua.

All the wild and wonderful things I see and experience here in PNG also remind of all the treasures we have at home in New Zealand and just like through events like the Mask Festival we have to remember them, showcase and enjoy them!

Read Alice's other posts

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

U15 rugby programme in full swing

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:02:34 +1200

SAM'S POST 3: Hello again! Schools are now back in session, which means our programmes at the Winter Rose Active Community Club (ACC) are in full swing. The last two weeks have been dedicated to making sure that everything is in order to proceed with previously developed programmes, while also developing new programmes to incorporate a range of age groups within the ACC. Activity programmes for the upcoming weeks are now incorporating children as young as three and four years old from the Winter Rose Kindergarten, to the development of children involved in the Rugby U15 programme.

The U15 Programme has been running since May, something which I was involved in setting up with the other rugby co-ordinators. This programme has been a success story since its establishment. In the early beginning, eight schools were involved, mainly from the immediate vicinity of the Club. Now, as we begin to train and start the league again, 11 schools are fully committed to the programme. Schools from neighbouring villages, from the other ends of Mdantsane, and from other impoverished parts of the Amathole District are participating.

Rugby training at Winter Rose Community Activity Club

The U15 league, as part of the ACC ‘linking schools with clubs’ initiative, is the real deal in terms of sport for development. Children are not only taught the skills and techniques associated with rugby, but develop organisational skills, gain a sense of what it is like to be committed and devoted to a particular project or goal, and learn the values of friendship and trust.

Thanks to the programme and the commitment of volunteers, the change in many young individuals involved has been evident. Being a part of such a programme has been both fantastic and very rewarding. So let the good times continue, as we continue forward with the U15 rugby programme.

Read Sam's other blogs

Blog 1

Blog 2

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Bomba

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:48:05 +1200

MIKE'S POST 3: Bomba. Well the literal translation of that one means ‘pipe’ but it’s also a popular street greeting. I’ve been getting to know a bit of the slang used around here as I have spent the last two weeks hanging out with over 200 secondary school students during our annual HIV and life skills day camps.

During these camps students spend their time learning about sexual health, HIV, and nutrition, as well as life skills such as goal setting and decision-making. It was amazing to see how young people around the world face similar issues, but at the same time have to face them in such different circumstances.

Mike and graduates from the day camp

Let me explain: Nearly all young people around the world face peer pressure to engage in sexual relationships at an early age. However, for Tanzanian students the risks are often much greater. HIV is rampant over here, and over 60% of new infections each year occur in youth aged 15 to 24. Also, if a teenage girl gets pregnant, she will be expelled from school and will probably never go back.

Unfortunately many young people do not have the life skills needed to make healthy life choices, so part of our programme involves helping them set goals for their lives and then talking about the different things that can either help or hinder them from reaching those goals.

What I learned is that all young people face similar challenges and all young people can benefit from the same life skills, despite differences in circumstances. The great thing is, since we have so much in common we can all use our experiences in life to teach and help each other… and that’s what volunteering is about.

Read Mike's other posts

Blog 1

Blog 2

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Time flies

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:49:47 +1200

ALICE'S POST 3: It’s August already but you wouldn’t know it here in Kokopo… the sun just keeps shining and the temperature keeps rising (although we finally got some long-awaited rain this week).

You’d think I’d get used to the heat but my work colleagues still laugh at me when I turn up at the centre at 8am and am already sweating from the 10 minute walk from my house. Every morning I walk under the frangipani trees to a chorus of ‘Moning tru’ (Good Morning) from the little kids who walk in the opposite direction to the elementary school in their bright yellow and green shirts.

This week was a busy week for us at the centre as it was our first full week of activities since the July holidays and we are planning lots of exciting trips, workshops and activities and that’s just this term! A highlight of this week for me was being able to go to the presentation of five wheelchairs and other ‘assistive devices’ (such as crutches and walking canes) at a rural Health Centre. With the help of Callan Services (my work) and another NGO ‘The Leprosy Mission International’ the community surrounding this health centre (who were actually relocated here just a few years ago after the volcanic eruption that made their homes uninhabitable) have set up a disability self-care group or ‘disability association’ for people with disabilities and their families to get together to share experiences and discuss their needs.

Wheelchair presentation ceremony.

After a very official ceremony with all the important local government and health officials, I found the comments of one woman who was receiving a new wheelchair the most memorable and moving. As she choked back tears, she thanked everybody for their help and reminded us that we don’t know what tomorrow will bring so we must remember to care for EVERYBODY in our communities and work together as tomorrow it could be you that is needing help and assistance – no matter where you live.

‘Yumi wok wantaim’ (We must work together) as part of a group, whether it be a disability self-care group in rural PNG, a girl-guide group in New Zealand, a tennis club, a school, a government or the ‘international community.’

I guess that’s part of what volunteering is for me – working together with people in my ‘adopted’ community to improve the lives of people especially those with disabilities or the disadvantaged. Funnily enough ‘Yumi wok wantaim’ is the motto of Callan Services!

Read Alice's other posts

Post 1

Post 2

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Looking back

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:40:58 +1200

Joanne Lentfer recently returned to Wellington from a three-year assignment as a management adviser at the Bethany Children’s Home in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, in South Africa. Mthatha was formerly the capital of the Transkei homeland. She looks back on her time there.

Joanne Lentfer and a colleague at the Bethany Children's home.

What I will remember:

The bright colours and wonderful traditional dress – such a contrast to the black suits on Lambton Quay.

The women who carry long, fat bundles of roughly hewn branches (for firewood) on their heads and walk great distances over rough ground back to their villages to provide for their families.

The children who play for hours with just an old tyre, a stick, a few cans and maybe a ball.

The many creative and elegant ways local women wore plastic supermarket shopping bags as rain hats while I struggled with an umbrella during a downpour.

Patiently changing down to my lowest gear while I waited and waited and waited – at hospitals, clinics, government offices, one-way bridges, traffic jams and roadworks.

That the majority of people living in the wider Mthatha area have no water, no electricity and no sanitation.

The women I have worked with – so uninhibited and so strong.

That the staff at Bethany Children’s Home live on less than $NZ15 a day, and most are the only source of income for four to five other family members.

The anguish and panic I felt at the thought that I might have to eat intestine at the feast.

The services of the local doctor that go beyond treatment for the usual ailments. He can bring back lost lovers, find stolen cows and help you win the lotto.

This handsome, beautiful race of people.

The grim statistics – 36 people die on the roads, 60 are murdered and four children go missing every day; 5.27 million are living with HIV/AIDS (and many more are untested); 79% of schools have no library; less than 50% of Mthatha’s sewerage reaches the treatment ponds – and so it goes on.

The local cemetery, where graves are dug a dozen at a time every week.

Crashing thunderstorms.

The red, red sun and the magnificent vistas.

A garden that grows before my eyes

The white fluffy slippers of the Mayor’s PA.

Was it worth it?

Oh yes, a thousand times over. For every snippet of information or knowledge I passed on, every system I put in place, every training session I ran, every person I helped, guided or supported, I received back so much more, learnt so much and gained immeasurably.

Habari - what's the news

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:24:08 +1200

MIKE'S POST 2: Habari = what’s the news?

Someone asked me recently “what are you doing here?” It’s a great question and one I occasionally ask myself when the power has been out for the third day in a row and there are ants nesting in the kitchen. For me, it has been a long journey, one for which I cannot identify a starting point, only many different factors which somehow conspired in getting me here. My faith as a Christian was certainly a major component in my decision to come here.

There were also thoughts of career development, as I have chosen international development work as a career path to pursue, and this is a great way of getting experience in the industry.

Mixed in with these things was the Kiwi sense of adventure. There is something so exciting in heading off to a new country with a different culture and an unknown language. For me it was impossible to listen to stories about people having adventures in Africa without getting itchy feet.

Lastly, it was about people. When I saw ads on television featuring people in developing countries, I came to realise how hard it was for them to escape the reality of their poverty – and I realised that by working alongside them I had the power to do something about it. And guess what – you do too.

Read Mike's other post

Blog 1

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

VSA and South African High Commission celebrate Mandela Day

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:55:36 +1200

VSA helped the South African High Commission celebrate Mandela Day with students at South Wellington Intermediate School this week.

Staff from VSA and the High Commission joined All White James Bannatyne – who recently returned from the World Cup in South Africa – for a friendly game of football and an art activity with students at the school on Tuesday July 20.

All White goalie, James Bannatyne, lends a hand along with South Wellington Intermediate School students to celebrate Mandela Day.

Before the game, the High Commissioner Anthony Mongalo talked to the students about the ties that exist between South Africa and New Zealand, and the work that VSA does in South Africa.

“VSA is an organisation that needs as much support as possible because of the work it does sending volunteers to assist poor people all over the world,” he told them. “I trust you will take the message of International Mandela Day and support the call for volunteers to make better lives for people all around the world.”

Former VSA volunteer Judy Moore talked to the students about her assignment setting up a preschool and helping to run an afterschool activity programme in the South African township of Mdantsane.

James Bannatyne got the biggest cheer of the day by encouraging the students to remember how they felt when Winston Reid scored a goal in the 93^rd minute of the All White’s first game in the World Cup, evening the score against Slovakia.

The first Mandela Day was held in July last year, and it was endorsed by the United Nations in November 2009. Participants spend 67 minutes doing volunteer work in their local community to mark the 67 years Nelson Mandela dedicated to the struggle for humanity.

The official date for Mandela Day is July 18 – Nelson Mandela’s birthday – but the South Africa High Commission in Wellington celebrated the day a little late to fit in with the start of the new school term.

South Wellington Intermediate School was chosen for the event because it is one of more than 200 schools and Girl Guide units taking part in VSA Project Friendship, being held from August 9 to 15. During the week, students will sell $3 colourful, handwoven friendship bracelets to help support the work that VSA volunteers do overseas.

This year Project Friendship is focusing on youth. Money from each sale will support VSA volunteers who are working with young people on issues such as children’s rights, HIV/AIDS and the environment.

VSA currently has 12 volunteers working in South Africa, most of them based in the Eastern Cape, the birthplace of Nelson Mandela.

Mambo

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:14:21 +1200

MIKE'S POST 1: Mambo. The first time I heard that I thought someone was warning me about a snake. However, I now know it as the most common street greeting here in Arusha, Tanzania. And although I’ve seen a few snakes, I’ve yet to be bitten by one.

My name is Mike, and I have been volunteering in Tanzania for over a year. VSA sent me here with the aim of helping a NGO (non-governmental organisation) called Global Service Corps with their work educating community groups and high-school students in HIV/AIDS, sex education, nutrition, life skills, and bio-intensive agriculture.

So far this has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. The work is hugely rewarding as I am working with people in genuine need and I get to make a difference in their lives. Through the work of the organisation, many people are learning for the first time that they don’t need to live in fear of HIV but can take simple precautions to protect themselves.

The added bonus of course is that I get to live in one of the most interesting regions in the world – East Africa. Just down the road from me is Africa’s highest mountain – Kilimanjaro, and some of the world’s most famous National Parks are only a few hours drive away. Who said volunteering didn’t pay?

Over the next few months I’ll be sharing about what it is like to be a volunteer in East Africa. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have. For now – Kwaheri.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Volunteer profiles

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:43:59 +1200

Read our individual volunteer profiles and find out how individual assignments are going. Our volunteers talk about the things they've learnt and what they see are their successes so far on assignment and provide personal insight into their highlights so far.

Read volunteer profiles

Former volunteer becomes inaugural VSAfuture member

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:59:14 +1200

Former VSA volunteer Merrill Holdsworth has become the first member of our new regular giving programme, VSAfuture. Merrill, who lives in Wellington, taught at a girls’ secondary school in Fiji for two years in the 1960s, and she has continued to support VSA since then.

“I like the fact that VSA works at a grassroots level with local partners – it provides great value for money.”

Merrill has decided to donate her monthly national superannuation payments to VSA.

“My husband had already set a precedent by giving his national superannuation to a charity, so I decided I’d like to give mine to VSA.”

VSAfuture is just one of several new fundraising initiatives at VSA. We are also one of six NGOs who have signed up as 'lead charities' with the Payroll Giving Foundation. The Foundation has been set up by Auckland businessman David Living to help make workplace giving as easy as possible.

Workplace giving was introduced in January this year. It allows employees to donate money to approved charities directly from their pay, and receive a 33.3 per cent tax credit.

The Payroll Giving Foundation will visit workplaces to pitch the concept of workplace giving, and to promote VSA and the other lead charities as potential recipients.

VSA’s fundraising coordinator Karla Paotonu says she is very excited about the possibilities offered by both VSAfuture and workplace giving.

“The best way of supporting VSA is through regular automatic payments. This reduces administration costs, and means more of each donation goes where it is needed. VSAfuture and workplace giving are two new ways that our supporters can become part of VSA’s future."

VSA’s Bougainville partners attend workshop on women and land

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:45:08 +1200

Representatives from two of VSA’s partner organisations in Bougainville were among the 11 delegates who attended a two-day workshop in Wellington at the end of June to discuss the issue of women and land in Bougainville.

They were Helen Hakena and Barbara Tanne, of the Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency, and Sister Loraine Garasu, who runs the Nazareth Rehabilitation Centre. Both organisations are based in Buka.

Traditionally a lot of the land in Bougainville has been held matrilineally, but that has been challenged by colonisation and the effects of 10 years of civil conflict.

Sister Loraine told the workshop that during the conflict many people lost a lot of property which changed attitudes to land, with individuals seeking cash at the expense of the rest of the clan.

“So now, when they distribute land or when land is distributed it is always like someone in the family or clan does it as an individual so that they can get cash to, you know, sustain their livelihood. Whereas in the past it was always the clan doing it so that it was the members of the clan or the members of the families within the clan could sustain their livelihoods.”

Mrs Hakena said that men often ignore the matrilineal tradition, and sell land without the approval or backing of the women in the clan.

“Our husbands or our chiefs, our male members are signing agreements with the companies and they are getting all the money, whereas they should be consulting women, because women are the resource owners.”

The workshop, called Bougainville and New Zealand: Women and Land, was organised by the Pacific Cooperation Foundation and the Council for Security Cooperation in Asia Pacific, and co-sponsored by Victoria University. The purpose was to identify the key challenges facing women in Bougainville in relation to access to land, as well as to develop relationships between organisations with a common interest in the issue.

VSA’s Pacific Programme Manager Peter Swain talked to the workshop about the work VSA does in Bougainville, which focuses on capacity-building, rather than sending money. Maori Land Court deputy chief judge Caren Fox also gave a talk about customary land and legal issues in New Zealand.

So the Football World Cup has now drawn to a close

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:45:52 +1200

SAM'S POST 2: So the Football World Cup has now drawn to a close, with Spain ending triumphant. South Africa has been buzzing for the last month, with football pandemonium spreading throughout the rainbow nation.

I guess I have been extremely lucky in getting the added bonus of enjoying the World Cup while on assignment, something which has made the experience all the more enjoyable! It has been great to see the nation unite around sport, inviting the world to come and enjoy South Africa.

I have had the chance to watch three matches, two in Port Elizabeth and the other at Soccer City, Johannesburg. Soccer City was absolutely incredible, an experience that I will never forget. Walking into a stadium with 84,000 other people to watch Africa’s last hope, Ghana, managing to qualify – albeit losing to Germany – was fantastic. Seeing a continent unite together in support of one African nation has showed the significance of the world cup to Africa, something which has made the experience of living in Africa all the more humbling.

Football ‘fevah’ has also been evident back in Mdantsane, as children throughout the township are playing with their friends. School holidays were extended during the World Cup, but we are now starting our rugby programmes – hopefully all the children involved are still interested in playing rugby and not football!

It’s been great to be a Kiwi over the past month, as our boys did so well! Successes like these make you appreciate being a New Zealander all the more so, especially when you’re away from home for an extended period of time. Thanks to the All Blacks' recent performance against the Sprinkboks I have not stopped wearing New Zealand gear since June! So well done South Africa for a fine display, and well done New Zealand!

Read Sam's other blog

Blog 1

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Molweni Bahlali, hello everyone, from Mdantsane

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:42:57 +1200

SAM'S POST 1: Hello from Mdantsane, the second biggest township in South Africa located just outside of East London in the Eastern Cape.

My name is Sam and I have been placed on assignment in the Eastern Cape, working with Imvomvo Training and Management Services and Winter Rose Active Community Club as a Youth Programmes Advisor for Rugby. I have been on assignment for almost six months now, working in Mdantsane with a number of dedicated local volunteers as we organise and run sports practices and tournaments, at the same time promoting lifeskills and HIV awareness to hundreds of children.

We work through local high schools and primary schools, giving children the opportunity to participate in organised sport, something which both keeps them off of the streets and provides a chance that many schools in the area cannot offer due to lack of funding and inadequate infrastructure.

So far it’s been an amazing experience, as I have made some great friends and have been involved in sporting programmes that have produced truly positive results. It’s always a great feeling to turn up to schools for coaching sessions, seeing the kids waiting at the gate in anticipation of playing.

The Eastern Cape, home to the local Xhosa people, is the poorest region in South Africa yet so vibrant and positive. Learning the language, isiXhosa, is challenging as clicking is very tough, but at the same time very rewarding as it incorporates you furthermore into the local communities. The cultural experience, being warmly welcomed into a community like this is something no one could ever experience as a tourist.

Volunteering here continues to be such a rewarding experience, as I continue to learn along the way, enjoying everything South Africa has to offer. Stay tuned to hear more about my adventures, and feel free to comment.

Sala Kakuhle!

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

In the news: July 2010

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:23:23 +1200

Volunteer John Herd writes about making movies in Vanuatu for the Telegraph newspaper in Britain.

Tanzania-based volunteer Ross Headifen writes about how being a volunteer can give you a different perspective on the world. Click here to read more

Read about a VSA project building “toilets with a difference” in Papua New Guinea in the latest issue of NZAid’s Currents magazine (page 27)

VSA volunteers in the Solomon Islands and Cambodia talk about their experiences of teaching overseas in the latest issue of Education Review (pages 22 and 42)

Wellington author Lloyd Jones tells The Listener about his project working with VSA volunteers to set up a library – or storihaus - in Bougainville. Click here to read more.

Volunteer Nicky Brown talks about her experiences working at a shelter for girls who have been rescued from people trafficking schemes in Latitude magazine.(pdf)

Bona Malana

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:25:31 +1200

ALICE'S POST 2: Bona Malana - that's good morning in Kuauna – one of PNG’s 800 native languages!

I’ve learnt so much since I left Christchurch in March (including how to crack open a coconut like a pro!) but one of the coolest things has been learning Melanesian sign language! It’s similar to Australian sign language but it is more related to the national language in PNG, Tok Pidgin or Pigeon English. Some people say Tok Pidgin sounds just like funny English (with my favourite words being pukpuk for crocodile and bagarap for broken) but it’s totally different when spoken fluently.

I’ve had one person in particular who’s really helped me settle in and learn two new languages (pidgin and sign language), who I’d like to introduce, her name is Veronika Tinge (or Vero for short) - there we are below. Vero is the Assistant Teacher for our deaf unit class. She is 19 years old and profoundly deaf (which means she cannot even hear loud noises like clapping or people yelling). She communicates with her friends and family and students though Melanesian sign language, she is also quite good at lip reading. She assists in the classroom teaching basic reading, writing, counting and of course, she signs to young children with hearing problems (either they are profoundly deaf like Vero or can hear some sounds only).

In my first few days at work Vero was extremely friendly to me and so I quickly picked up some basic signs so we could talk about our families and friends. Vero was especially curious about New Zealand – what was it like? What do we grow in our gardens? Flowers or vegetables? She ever wanted to know what Kiwi boys are like!

I’m quickly running out of stories to tell her about New Zealand – so I was thinking if you’ve got any weird and wonderfully kiwi facts please share them with me so I can share them with Vero (this will really test my sign language skills!).

Read Alice's other post

Post 1

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Bona Keake from Kokopo, East New Britian, PNG!

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:19:14 +1200

ALICE'S POST 1: It’s a mouthful but I promise if you copy and paste it into Google maps – you’ll find it does actually exist and it’s where I’ve been living for the past four months.

My name is Alice and I’m a VSA UniVol (university graduate volunteer) living and working in PNG. With the help of your donations from buying Project Friendship bracelets I’ve been able to come here and meet some pretty awesome people and do some exciting and inspiring work. Of course constant sunshine and a tropical island setting is just a bonus!

I’m here volunteering for an organisation called ‘Callan Services for Disabled Persons’ who work with children and young people with disabilities to make sure they can go to school and get the rehabilitation and support they need to live a normal life. This means we do lots of work with teachers and parents but we also run a day school for children with hearing impairment and weekly rehabilitation classes for kids with physical disabilities. Just like in New Zealand, there are children and adults with disabilities but unfortunately because medical care is not so easily accessed by families (many still live in remote villages – hours from the closest hospital) some children become unnecessarily disabled through untreated ear infections or diseases such as Malaria. Our job at Callan is to try and reach these children and make sure they can go to school and lead normal lives.

Let me know if you have any questions about Papua New Guinea, how you can help, what it means to volunteer or the work I do, just post your comments and I’ll try my best to answer them.

Yauro Macatch (catch you later)

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSA.

Infected in Africa

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:00:08 +1200

Shona Jennings, Advocacy and Learning, South Africa. Volunteeringcomes with side effects, writes VSA volunteer, Shona Jennings, from South Africa.

I want to catch a rat. On camera. I cautiously kick a clump of grass under which a big grey one is sheltering, trying to chase it out of hiding. The scene reflects back to me in my viewfinder. In the foreground, my boot-clad foot thrashing at unkempt grass. Behind, a garbage-rimmed block of concrete-block toilets in a squatter settlement in South Africa's Eastern Cape. To the right of the image, I notice a woman doing her washing in a concrete tub attached to the building. She nervously backs into the shadows when she suspects I'm photographing her. Across the road, an old man and two women - one with her face smeared in ochre-coloured mud - peer at us from their shack made from flattened paint tins and scavenged iron.

The rat I'm chasing symbolizes the vileness of the surroundings. I imagine the rat's photo on the front page of the local newspaper - a substitute for what I am really here to take photos of: the dilapidated, clogged insides of the toilet block, which I know no editor would ever contemplate publishing. "Residents run gauntlet of rats to use the loo," is the headline I envisage. But no amount of kicking succeeds in evicting my quarry.

My work colleague, Buhle Makabane, calls me off the hunt to come and talk to the woman with the mud on her face. She is capturing a conversation between the two of them on video, adding to our mounting evidence about the inadequate facilities provided to the people in this particular settlement. We are here on behalf our organization, the Eastern Cape NGO Coalition (ECNGOC), at the request of a group of motivated locals and non-governmental representatives who are trying to improve conditions in this community. For the past six months we've been tracking the state of the toilets. Today, we're visiting seven council-run facilities to compare them to conditions here a few months ago. Three of the blocks we know intimately - a team of us recently scrubbed them, floors, bowls ‘n all, to draw attention to the community's plight. The Municipality says it recently spent money on their upgrade. The only change we notice is a lick of paint over unprimed walls that ends abruptly as one enters each block. The people accompanying Buhle and I act as Municipal watch-dogs and the evidence we are gathering on camera will give them something to show when they knock on the Municipal Manager's door to say, "Ooi, this isn't good enough!"

Eighteen months ago I came to South Africa as a volunteer with Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) to assist the ECNGOC with its advocacy work. And until then, how people in squatter settlements deal with their daily ablutions was neversomething I'd givenmuch thought to. How women keep safe going to the toilet at night. How people retain their dignity when there are no doors. How children avoid their sores from getting infected. How people who can't afford toilet paper improvise with whatever they can (unfortunately, contributing to the systems constantly blocking). Well, why would anyone want to think about it? But recently these issues are in my thoughts a lot. And I have learned that, unsettling though they are, these thoughts are the gifts one is awarded as a VSA volunteer. Gifts from people like the lady Buhle is talking to who, while speaking so heatedly in isiXhosa about germs is, herself, transmitting a few germs of ideas and understandings to me. Having already been infected, I know that once those germs take hold it is impossible to ever look at the world the same way again.

The volunteer experience is often viewed as one of ‘giving', and volunteers are the ones who receive the pat-on-the-back for contributing their time, knowledge and skills to make a difference in someone's life. On International Volunteer Day, it is good to remember and celebrate what volunteers gain personally in return. It is also important to remember what these individuals bring back to New Zealand as a result of their experience. Former VSA volunteers are - or have been - heading the likes of NZAID, Oxfam, the Council for International Development, the Development Resource Centre, and Te Papa. They are people who have come into close contact with society's poor and destitute, and who have been infected and affected by their stories and reality. Side effects include an increased sense of citizenry, social justice and philanthropy, and their symptoms impact on communities, nations and -in the case of the examples above - whole regions or, indeed, the world!

I consider this as I scrub my hands and disinfect my shoes, back at the ECNGOC office. Nothing can save volunteers from those germs that infiltrate the soul.

A right to walk tall

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:52:20 +1200

Mary Morwood, Physiotherapist, South Africa. Nothing much fazes Dunedin Physiotherapist, Mary Morwood after volunteering to work with torture victims in Sri Lanka. However her latest assignment with Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) in South Africa tested this veteran traveller and health worker.

36-year-oldTembeka obviously adores Mary Morwood. But the admiration is mutual as the pair coerces others at the Ikwezi Lokusa Rehabilitation and Development Society in Mthatha on the Eastern Cape of South Africa to do their best in the gym. Tembeka is in a wheelchair like many of the 70 clients who are lucky enough to be given two years in this training institute run by a Mission.

Mthatha is 99.53% black being a large city in the former Transkei ... a homeland under the apartheid regime. The feeder area for the rehabilitation centre is predominantly rural and extremely poor with wind-blown plains yielding little for the small tin and mud one room building settlements that dot the landscape. It's a tough area but the people are also resilient.

Tembeka is an embodiment of that resilience having to be carried from her village as there are no roads when the rains come and little transport at other times. She didn't realise she was different for years but says now she wants to have a husband, a house, children and a car. Her gym mate 30-year-old Buyelwa echoes the sentiment... "I'm hoping and dreaming I can do things for myself and not be dependent on my parents. I am allowed to dream, aren't I?" She lost the use of her legs in bus accident. Young Vuyolwethu is more reticent. Spina bifida meant she never got to school, and sores from lack of treatment meant her legs had to be amputated. However she responds to the laughter of Mary and her co-worker Kora.

When Mary isn't working with clients at Ikwezi Lokusa, she is travelling out to villages to assess the disabled who may need further treatment or can potentially join the next intake."I've got a very good social worker who finds me children off the highways and byways." She only gets the one visit but she writes descriptions of exercises with photos and has sent thousands of letters to the hospitals pushing for treatment.

The case that shook her to her core was when neighbours got in touch about a young woman suffering with cerebral palsy who was being left out of the back of the shack with the sheep and chickens. "It made my heart break. The grandmother had died and the mother had a mental illness. The aunt was working. The young woman had her period so she was lying in muck and blood. When I got her aunt and her here to the centre and showed how this young woman could sit up and even grasp things ... the aunt was amazed. These are not bad people ... just people under huge stress.

Ikwezi Lokusa is in beautiful grounds with towering gums and tidy gardens. It has smart, clean and well equipped facilities forteaching sewing, arts and crafts, leatherwork and shoe repair and pottery. However as is the case in the entire republic, it lacks the trained staff to run such places. It is just 14 years since the elections brought democracy to South Africa. Training institutes are everywhere and there is an eagerness to move forward. It is just taking time and in the meantime, there is a lack of qualified professionals to work in places such as this.

Mary Morwood has shared her skills with the staff of Ikwezi Lokusa and is delighted to be passing on some of the care plans for the clients to a young, enthusiastic trainee, Kora. But more than that is the satisfaction of watching the confidence of the people grow and the dreams with them. Like Andele who wants to be a radio DJ and judging by his gift of the gab, it's a distinct possibility. He had never stood upright until Mary came up with calipers and a punishing physiotherapy schedule. Andele sees life from a different perspective now.

'We enter into a covenant that we shall build a society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world'

Nelson Mandela
(from his inauguration address, The Star, 11 May 1994)

Bethany - A place of safety

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:46:58 +1200

Joanne Lentfer, Management Adviser, South Africa. One in five people in southern Africa is estimated to be infected with HIV but for orphaned children depending on stressed and stretched welfare system, the situation is worse. They are caught on the change of the tide in the ‘new' South Africa.

Bethany is an orphanage in the former Transkei Bantustan (black African homeland) capital, Mthatha, north of East London on the Eastern Cape of South Africa and it is here where Wellingtonian, Joanne Lentfer is working as a management adviser.

Like everywhere in the republic since 1994 brought an end to apartheid, the social safety-net organisations are trying to move into the 21st century where, in the developed world, institutions like these are almost nonexistent or seen as out-of-date. However finding family homes and monitoring the placements of these little ones is problematic in this mostly rural and extremely poor region. Mthatha was once known as an affluent black area until the change of government when, ironically, businesses packed up, leaving the place close to financial collapse.

But Lentfer says while funding isn't too difficult for the young ones who capture a part of people's hearts and pump up the government subsidy, the orphanage for older children aged six to 16 is under greater stress. "It receives the same subsidy and little more, but these are growing children and large teenagers - it's not enough." says Lentfer. She divides her time between the two homes helping with the books and financial arrangements and training the staff in personal budgeting.

Lentfer is the third VSA volunteer on assignment at Bethany. She follows a nutritionist and pediatric nurse.

Replenishing fisheries

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:31:22 +1200

Peter Todd, Marine Conservation Adviser, Vietnam. Conservation can sometimes be seen as a luxury by developing countries facing huge demands on their resources. However, in the province of Binh Dinh in Viet Nam, the need for sustainable development is being translated into a fisheries management programme which could be a saviour for the industry and the environment. Marine Resource Management Adviser Peter Todd reports on one measure that is being taken to enhance the fisheries.

Tra O Lagoon is located in the PhuMy District, Binh Dinh Province, in central Viet Nam. The lake area is about 1200-1600 hectares but varies in size depending on the seasons. It supports four fishing communities.

Many commune members derive their livelihood by practicing a variety of traditional fishing methods such as lift nets and fish traps. However, there has been a significant decline in the fisheries over the last 30 years and a consequent drop in income for the communities. This is partly due to the impact of a diversion dam built in the late 70s which has affected movement of the fish.

Tra O is also recognised as being an important wetland in Viet Nam. The lake is partly freshwater and partly brackish and contains a variety of fish, crabs, shrimps and shellfish. These provide a valuable resource for the local fishing communities.

To prevent further decline, and to rebuild the fisheries, management action was required. Over the last couple of years, the Binh Dinh Sub-Department of Fisheries Resource Protection (SAREP) has been working with the communities to introduce a comanagement system to enhance the fisheries. This is where the fish release programme comes in. Twice a year the local fishing communities around the lake team up with SAREP for the release of 25,000 juvenile fish. As a VSA volunteer, I have been working with SAREP to assist in the fisheries management work plan.

The fish release programme only includes fish reared in nearby fish ponds, mostly carps of various species, but unfortunately valuable eels can't be reared in this way.

The days are big events. The first in February this year, under clear skies, started with a formal gathering in the grounds of a local administration building compound. Local school children, immaculately turned out, lined up as an honour guard for the visiting officials and provided a small band with drums. This was the formal part of the day when community leaders and members gathered to give speeches.

Following the formal celebrations, everyone took off to the lakeshore a short distance away to help and watch the fish release. Again the school children were involved, lined up along the banks holding Vietnamese flags as the bags of fish were carried out to canoes. It was then a short paddle out into open water to release the fish.

The second fish release day was on National Fish Day, April 1, which is celebrated throughout Viet Nam to recognise fisheries workers and their communities, and their value to the country. Despite the rain, local schoolchildren were still there in force. This release took place in a more isolated part of the lake and the formal part of the event was conducted on the lake edge. Even when the rain got too much and the formal events were curtailed, the fish release went ahead.

The co-management between SAREP and the fishing communities of Tra O is a good lesson in empowerment through ownership. The communities manage their own fisheries and each has a core group made up of local fishers who undertake education and enforcement in their particular areas. They work positively together to stop overfishing and use of illegal methods such as electric fishing, while working towards the future of sustainable fishing.

A good life gets better

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:24:04 +1200

Paul Lewthwaite, Water Sanitation Adviser & Tansy Bliss, Eco-tourism Adviser, Papua New Guinea. A water and sanitation programme in a remote village in Papua New Guinea took organisation and hard work from the villagers and a combination of skills and know-how from a team of people including VSA volunteer and sanitation engineer, Paul Lewthwaite.

Minda Village in Talasea District, West New Britain Province in Papua New Guinea, is an example of a proud and close-knit community. On the surface it is the ‘good' life with plenty of seafood, fruit, land for gardens and forest to gather wood and material for houses. However, beneath the surface, the lack of fresh water and toileting facilities meant people were getting sick and dying unnecessarily.

In September this year Minda water supply and sanitation project was opened after months of hard work from everyone, right down to the children lugging cement and equipment from the beach and helping with the building. There are now 27 fly-proof pit toilets with ventilation pipes, one per household of 10 to 15 people. There are also 17 shower and tap stands in the village, spring intake and sediment tank structures, 18,000 litres of water reservoir capacity and three kilometres of high-density polyethylene pipeline. All the tap stands have large drains and stones and coral built up around the wash area to avoid water pooling and creating health problems with pigs and mosquitoes.

Paul says there can be up to a 50% improvement in health if there is handwashing before food preparation and the next most important factor is providing toilets to stop the open defecation.

"We have high hopes for sustainability with the village water and sanitation committee working well at present," says Paul. He believes the villagers are well trained at making repairs and maintaining the water supply system. "There is no reason why it will not be working for 20 years and beyond."

Fellow VSA volunteer Tansy Bliss travelled to Minda before the sanitation work began and glimpsed life from a woman's perspective.

Smoke from cooking fires hangs low in the early morning stillness, softening the bamboo and sago thatch dwellings that make up Minda village. Thin dogs squabble and yelp while grunting pigs roam, stopping only to rub against the wooden pillars holding houses out of the hard-packed earth.

It is 6am and in the darkness women light small cooking fires in metal containers. A large kettle of water boils in the dim glow of a poorly powered torch while peeled cassava in coconut milk simmers slowly on the fire.

Maria sweeps her hard, packed-mud, compound with a handleless grass broom, bending gracefully at the waist and resting her free hand in the small of her back. As the first strands of light penetrate the clearing, silent shadows drift out from the surrounding bush, materialising into men and women coming back from their pek pek (toilet). No-one is carrying a machete or a spade and there is no obvious handwashing. For VSA's Live and Learn Water and Sanitation Engineer Paul Lewthwaite this is ‘open defecation' in its most basic form. For the villagers it is just part of their daily routine. With no latrines of any form in the village, most inhabitants wander into areas of thick vegetation close to their dwelling and defecate on the ground. Pigs, dogs, flies and bacteria dispose of their waste.

A pair of hornbills flaps noisily across the clearing, eclectus parrots screech as they leave their roosts and school girls, dressed in impossibly white shirts and maroon skirts, lift the lids of cooking pans searching for breakfast. They have to walk two hours to the nearest school and will not return until close to dusk.

Maria sits on her small raised veranda preparing leftover rice, coconut milk and tinned fish parcels which, once wrapped in palm leaves, are baked over the fire. Her husband, Elios, sits nearby on an old plastic chair and rolls an incredibly slim cigarette and tucks it behind his ear.

A young mother with her small child in her arms descends from a veranda down rickety wooden steps. They have been sleeping on a thin palm leaf mat in a small room with no windows and now she deftly undoes the cloth night nappy, squats a short distance from the dwelling and shakes the baby's poo into the dirt. The soiled cloths are put to one side for washing later.

Women with empty water containers and basins of dirty dishes and clothes on their heads go off to the was was area, situated on the shoreline at the bottom of a steep cliff. Down among the ragged coral rocks, slippery from sea spray and spring water dripping over the cliff, the women removed the basins from their heads and the washing begins. First though, some slip, fully clothed, into the sea and hang motionless for a while before returning to the shore. This is the alternative toilet and the sea does its cleansing job very effectively.

Once the dishes have been scrapped and rinsed, the water containers, mainly recycled drink bottles and screw top containers are filled from a thick stream of water plunging down from a recycled plastic pipe set into the rock some 50m above. Now the women can wash themselves and this is often done semi-clothed, with a slab of soap applied with equal vigour to their clothes, hair and bodies. Once finished, a towel becomes a well fitting sarong. Clothes are removed, wrung out and placed on top of the basin. Up to 20 kilograms of weight is lifted directly up onto their heads.

Back at the village, clothes dry on lines or draped over the thatch roofs. Naked young children play on raised verandas, while a toddler squats in the dirt, leaving a small deposit before wandering off and squatting again, this time by a lean-to shelter serving as a cook house. Sometime later, the mother goes around with a spade and covers these and three more deposits with loose earth, tapping each one down with her foot.

A slight hush descends over the compound.
The men and the Live and Learn engineers have gone to look at the water project.

Growing friendship

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:11:59 +1200

Frances Forsey, Social Worker, South Africa. When Social Worker Frances Forsey first read her assignment objectives she never thought that the focus of her time on the Eastern Cape of South Africa would be developing food gardens with blind people, but then she hadn't met Bongani Nanto.

Bongani and I share a passion for Gardening. When I arrived at Grahamstown Area Distress and Relief Association (GADRA), Bongani had already begun to clear an rea of land between the buildings and the boundary fence. In my first few months when I was lonely, grappling with the culture and wondering how on earth I was going to make this assignment work, I often drifted to pick up a spade to work alongside Bongani. At least here we could ‘see' some results for our efforts.

Bongani became blind after drinking raw alcohol with some mates at his matric graduation party. He has a wife and stepson now and recently a new baby arrived. Their house is in one of the most windswept and desolate areas of the township. The soil is sandy clay with no discernable humus. Despite this, Bongani has a fenced vegetable garden behind the house. This was the only area that had been made secure from goats and cattle, but he had a vision of developing his whole section: fruit trees, shade trees, flowers and vegetable seedlings to sell.

We often went ‘window shopping' together at the local nursery. I would read the labels out loud while Bongani felt the trees and shrubs and we discussed what might be suitable for this dream garden.

Slowly our GADRA garden grew. We watered, composted, mulched and collected manure. Friends were made along the way as interest in what we were doing grew. People dropped in to offer advice, seeds and tools and the garden became a focal point in the promotion of activities offered at GADRA. We began to sell surplus produce to the nurses at the local clinic and set up a simple system of recording expenditure on the computer which Bongani can manage using the JAWS software or blind people.

When the GADRA manager wanted to reward Bongani financially for his efforts, we convinced her that the first payments should be in blocks, cement and sand. The supplies stayed in Bongani's kitchen for nearly six months until his brother arrived and built a stunning wall - it was worth waiting for. Suddenly the dream garden could be realised.

The next step was for Bongani to start training other blind people to ‘see' the rewards of developing food gardens. We plotted and schemed about how to get others interested. We announced that those who become part of the Gardening Project could take home vegetables from the garden. Three tentative trainees have developed into a very keen gardening team.

Our aim was to transfer the skills learnt to gardening at home. To do this, fencing was a priority. Pauline (GADRA's manager) applied or some funding for our project. When we got it we started to learn a new skill: fencing. Louis was unemployed and had occasionally been dropping in to help us build compost bins and solve other technical problems. He taught us how to build fences. We started with Zweli's. That day half the community was in front of the house watching a group of blind people dig post holes, mix cement and string wire and netting. Zweli patiently wired up the fence by feel. Everyone was high on a sense of achievement at the end of the day. When we had first visited the household, Zweli's Mama had given up gardening because of the devastation caused by marauding cattle. Two months later, she and Zweli have turned half their section into a thriving garden.

Other fences have followed. We now have to grow more seedlings, collect more manure and make more compost to keep five new gardens flourishing. Importantly, we are demonstrating that the garden is a great place to hang out: where you work hard together, have fun and take food home to your families every day.

The Gardening Project has significantly changed people's lives. Bongani, in particular, has learnt project management skills and transferred these to his home DIY projects. He has transformed his simple unfenced house to something that I tease him will be on the cover of "South African House and Garden" magazine one day.

Progress after conflict

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:47:30 +1200

Mark Wolfsbauer, Policy & Planning Adviser, Bougainville. How do you judge how far a community has progressed with rebuilding after conflict shreds the fabric of life? That's the challenge that the Autonomous Bougainville Government faces. Going directly to the people has uncovered some powerful views as VSA volunteer Policy and Planning Adviser Mark Wolfsbauer found.

Until recently, when entering Bougainville through Buka airport you would be greeted by a sign proudly welcoming you. However, the sign was impaled on its own crossbar and buckled under its own weight. The macabre presentation addeda twist to the slogan at its base: "Let's give our tourists a memorable experience."

The sign probably mirrors the long road to rebuilding after the Bougainville crisis which lasted nearly a decade and ended in 1998 with 10,000 losing their lives. It is a road of twists and turns.

The Autonomous Bougainville Government was established in 2005. Expectations are high. The Government's success or failure in the years leading up to the proposed 2015 referendum on independence will no doubt shape domestic and international opinion on whether or not Bougainville is ready to take the next step.

With elections next year, the Government is in a position of reflection as officials prepare advice on Bougainville's development priorities for 2011-2015. It is important to get a sense of what the public feels about progress to date and what the challenges are for the next few years. To that and we held three public forums in each region and one on an outlying atoll, asking for opinions on peace and security, economic development, education and health.  

The centre of both government and commercial activity, the Northern region is by far the most settled. Conversely, the Central Region, site of the conflict and Panguna mine, still contains a no-go zone, a semi-armed roadblock and the headquarters of a rival political government. Southern Bougainville remains insecure and, arguably, has yet to experience peace: armed raskols aligned to political factions continue to threaten locals and police struggle to enforce law and order. The outlying atolls also face their fair share of problems: the people on the atolls are slowly losing their tropical paradise to erosion and fear resettlement on an unsettled mainland.

Surprisingly, despite the evident disparities in development by region, public opinion across all the regions was essentially the same: Bougainville has made progress, but that progress has been slow. The debate within the forums was passionate and the issues identified are significant. Guns are still present amongst the population; not enough children are attending school; health services continue to grapple with shortages in medical supplies and staff. Economic development also has a long way to go: most of Bougainville lacks access to electricity, the only banks and postal services are located in Buka, and the Southern region remains isolated due to roadblocks on the Panguna side and landslides on the coast road.   

People believe peace and security requires targeting the underlying causes of crime and insecurity. Measures suggested at the forums include improving the performance of the police, gun registration and monitoring of possession, providing work for the unemployed, addressing substance abuse, and providing counselling services for those suffering from post-conflict trauma.

There are ideas brought forward for improving education including looking at teacher performance, recruiting more teachers, subsidising the costs of education, and providing more resources to schools. Opportunities for students to further their education are also needed and members of the public have requested the construction of nursing colleges, teachers colleges, technical schools and universities.   The challenges to health are also significant: the public called for better access to services and suggestions include more health patrols and more doctors in the regions, more investment in health infrastructure, and more staff recruitment to replace an ageing workforce.

There are suggestions around the rehabilitation of dormant plantations and the development of the cocoa and copra industries. Some went so far as to suggest that cocoa and copra should be the shortterm focus for economic development, with longer-term investments focusing on oil palm and mining.   

The forums also stressed the progress made. Members of the public highlighted the reconciliation ceremonies conducted across Bougainville and the women pointed out that it is now safer to walk alone. There are more aid posts open than during the crisis and most of the schools are up and running. It is a long road to rebuilding - a road full of twists and turns.

Just another day...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:43:13 +1200

Gwen Levick, School Project Development Officer, Solomon Islands. For school project development officers Bruce and Gwen Levick, ‘out of the office' takes on a whole new meaning when they go 30 kilometres offshore from the island of Makira to run a workshop for principals at a school on Ugi in the Solomon Islands. Gwen is our guide...

By the time the workshop materials, life jackets, satellite phone and locator beacon were included, we were already over-laden. Working on Solomon Islands' time, a couple of hours passed. We watched the calm sea turn from ripples to small waves that broke in frothy white frills across the water. The sky grew
dark, big drops began to fall and Ugi became a vague form on the distant horizon.

There are two routes to Ugi - the good weather route and the bad weather route. Today the choice was clear. Knowing that the only safety features on board (apart from what was in our luggage) were two wooden oars, I tentatively asked our colleague how the boatmen find Ugi when they can't see it. I was not at all reassured when he confidently replied that they judged by the time and the orientation to Makira, which by now was barely visible. He then asked Bruce what time we had left. As Bruce was unaware of his delegated navigational responsibility, he was by no means sure. I put my trust in the skipper and enjoyed the bracing ride, surfing the waves with the amazingly warm water splashing all over us.

Our landing site was idyllic with the deep blue water of the ocean turning to brilliant turquoise over white sand near the shore. Our welcoming party set off on the hour-long walk to the school where we were to stay. The first part of the journey through the coconut plantations was a breeze ... then we reached the swamp. The path suddenly became a creek filled with sharp coral and mud that sucked our feet deeper as you struggled to lift them. The islanders fared better with no footwear at all, but this was not an option for our city-soft feet because of the coral.

We reached the school in the late afternoon with the rain still pouring down. We were delighted to be accommodated in the home of one of the young teachers who had a spare bedroom. Sarah's hospitality was both heart-warming and humbling. She immediately produced a bag of clothes pegs for us to hang up our wet clothes under the wide eaves. After changing, we all sat down to a delicious mug of ‘milk tea', a warm sweet drink made from powdered milk in this remote and isolated part of the world. As a teacher of business studies at the community high school, Sarah said how difficult it was to explain many of the concepts in a community where cheques don't exist (don't even think of ATMs) and money is hardly used. The villagers are self-sufficient in food, and commerce as we practise it barely exists.

The workshop helping with leadership skills was as rewarding as ever. School leaders and principals come from surrounding schools and are eager to improve their management and administrative skills. Interactive workshops are a rarity for them and, once the ice has been broken, the participants enter into the spirit of the occasion and enjoy the activities.

How did we get back? By crossing the swamp on the recommended coral base in the middle of the submerged track and on a ‘friendly sea' via the good weather route directly to Kirakira. Timing? Half as long as it took us to get there - we think!

You can be a part of the change.
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Strategic Intent 2011-2015

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:08:45 +1200

Find out about VSA's strategic direction for 2011 -2015. This two page document looks ahead and articulates how we want to shape and move VSA over the next four years.

Download Pdf (2 pages | 444KB)

Impact of VSA's work: case studies

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:07:25 +1200

Our case studies give a greater insight into the impact of VSA’s long-term development work.

VSA’s latest two case studies into education in both the Solomon Islands and Tokelau have meant some hard conversations have had to be had, as part of the research, about the past successes and future roles of VSA in the sector in these two Pacific countries.

The results are displayed here for you in downloadable form. In the Solomon Islands the study reveals a new path of school leader mentoring inspired by the work of three outstanding New Zealand volunteers. In Tokelau the study calls for better alignment of the volunteer programme with national plans and donor contributions.

“There is no doubt that past volunteer teachers and teacher trainers have made a huge impact on individual students and colleagues but to progress development, VSA must evolve as the economies of these islands evolve. The case studies point us in the direction of improved engagement in education in the Pacific,” says Peter Swain, co author of the studies and manager of the Pacific programme.

Lighting a fire

VSA's role in promoting education leadership in the Solomon Islands

Authors: Peter Swain and Adele Broadbent

This case study, based on VSA’s recent experience in the Solomon Islands, discusses a new
approach to strengthening school leadership in the many remote, isolated and underresourced
schools of the Solomon Islands.

Download PDF (38 pages | 4.2MB)

Rethinking Tokelau education

Tokelau and the role of VSA volunteers

Authors: Peter Swain and Avataeao Junior Ulu

This study charts the history of VSA’s decade long engagement with the Government of Tokelau; identifies the contribution of New Zealand volunteers to the development of education in Tokelau; outlines the findings of a recent study; identifies lessons learnt, and looks to the future.
Download PDF (54 pages | 4.9MB)

Rebuilding Bougainville

Rebuilding Bougainville and the role of New Zealand VSA Volunteers

Author: Dr Peter Swain

The case study investigates the first seven years of VSA's engagement in post-conflict Bougainville. Local Partner Organisations, stakeholders and returning volunteers participated in this qualitative research project. The report reviews VSA's work in post-conflict Bougainville, identifies lessons learned and provides direction for future work.

Download PDF (68 pages | 3.4mb)

Janis Blong Toktok

Pri-Skul Asosiesen Blong Vanuatu and the role of New Zealand Volunteers

Authors: Dr Peter Swain, Jennifer James & John Schischka
Janis Blong Toktok, a "chance to talk", is a qualitative analysis of the contribution of VSA volunteers to the development of early childhood education through partnership with the Pri-Skul Asosiesen Blong Vanuatu (PSABV). This case study gives voice to the aspiration of Ni-Vanuatu for quality education, and identifies a recent shift towards an indigenous approach to education in Vanuatu.
Download PDF (68 pages | 630kb)

VSA Annual Report 2009-2010

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:04:42 +1200

Get a snapshot of VSA's operation over the past financial year.

The VSA Annual Report 2009-10 includes an overview of the year, financial summary, and VSA's overseas volunteers and partner organisations.

Download (PDF | 4 pages, 4mb)

Volunteering overseas

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:03:33 +1200

Volunteering overseas
Get some questions answered. Our Volunteering overseas is for young people in Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s a guide to volunteering in developing countries, and is aimed at helping you work through some of the decisions you'll need to make when thinking about volunteering overseas.

Download Pdf (2.7mb)

Countdown to VSA Project Friendship 2010 begins

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:37:01 +1200

Almost 37,000 hand-woven friendship bracelets have now been packed and posted to schools, Girl Guide units and Four Square stores throughout New Zealand in the countdown to VSA Project Friendship 2010.

Project Friendship runs from August 9–15. During the week more than 200 schools and Girl Guide units will be selling $3, colourful, hand-woven friendship bracelets. The bracelets will also be available at 99 Four Square stores in the lower North Island.

This year Project Friendship is focusing on youth. Money from each sale will support VSA volunteers who are working with young people on issues such as children’s rights, HIV and AIDS, and the environment.

A team of four students helped Project Friendship coordinator Elisha Connell pack the bracelets and all the accompanying material after the bracelets arrived at VSA’s Wellington office on July 5. They were posted to participating schools, guide units and Four Square stores on July 19.

The bracelets are made under fair trade conditions at the Nguyen Nga Centre in Vietnam, an organisation which provides training for people with disabilities. The centre supports around 100 students providing training in a range of handcrafts and supporting some to attend high school or university.

Elisha designs and chooses the colours for the bracelets, which are made by hand and take about 50 minutes to complete. This year’s bracelets include a new heart design.

“It’s always exciting when the bracelets arrive, to see what the new designs look like. We’re really pleased with the heart bracelets – and they fit in really well with the theme of Project Friendship.”

Sowing the seeds for change in rural Cambodia

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:20:52 +1200

David Pearson, Small Business Development Adviser, Our partner organisations and local communities lie at the heart of what we do.

VSA latest donor campaign highlights these words by featuring the inspiring work of a Cambodian NGO. VSA's five-year relationship with Farmer Livelihood Development (FLD) illustrates the aims of deepening relationships and strengthening partnerships.

Hard-hitting statistics bring into sharp relief the need for organisations like FLD. Around 68%* of the Cambodian population live below the poverty line of less than US$2 per day. A large proportionof thosepeople live in rural areas where most are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. Working at the grassroots level, FLD is striving to turn these statistics around by improving the lives of the rural poor.

For those living in rural areas, it is a reality that there are times of the year when food is very scarce, particularly during the rice growing season when the next crop is not yet ready to harvest. During hardtimes villagers borrow money and rice, creating an ongoing cycle of subsistence.

FLD’s key objective is to bring these people beyond subsistence to sustainability, but director Sok Somith says this is no easy task. “Farmer and rural business entrepreneurs are vulnerable to speculative markets. Their costs of production are too high and market transactions for their products are too inefficient,” he says. To overcome the challenges FLD is encouraging the formation of small producer groups and strengthening those that already exist.

David Pearson, a Small Business Development Adviser, is the latest VSA volunteer to work with FLD. His skills fit FLD’s need for technical assistance. He has been working alongside FLD staff to build business infrastructure in order to sustain small producer groups.

In terms of challenges, David shares Sok Somith’s sentiments. “Business conditions we take for granted in New Zealand just don’t exist in Cambodia.” Despite the challenges, David is determined that villagers get a fair price for their products at market as he can see the real benefits this offers. “Giving rural poor people the opportunity to sell their products at fair prices to customers on a sustainable basis dramatically improves their incomes and living conditions,” he says.

The positive changes FLD is working on can be measured by small successes. “Little by little they can escape abject poverty,” says David. Ol Sophan, a small business owner working with FLD, is one example. “My income has increased since last year. I have just been able to buy a motorbike so I can now deliver my products to market.” In this way FLD is making a very tangible contribution to the individuals and communities most in need in rural Cambodia.

You can be a part of the change.

Please support VSA by making a donation.

Vista

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:14:37 +1200

Vista is VSA's flagship magazine, giving you a look into the lives of our volunteers and the people they work with. It also incorporates development issues and background to VSA's work overseas. Vista is published twice a year.

VSA Vista 2 2011

(PDF | 16 Pages | 2.7mb)

VSA Vista 1 2011

(PDF | 16 Pages | 4.6mb)

Volunteer stories

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:12:50 +1200

Hear first hand about the life of a VSA volunteer overseas. Volunteers share their challenges and successes on assignment and insights gained from the people and communities they work with.

Read volunteer stories

Cambodian classrooms get a makeover for International Volunteer Day

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:24:07 +1200

In one of the largest schools in Tram Kak district, Takeo province a New Zealand VSA volunteer and his colleagues used International Volunteers Day (Dec 5th 2009) as an opportunity to get the community on board with improving the school environment.

Michael Sheppard is a Primary Education Adviser for the Takeo Provincial Office of Education, Youth and Sport focussing on the Child Friendly Schools programme. He explains that Hun Sen Angtasom Primary School has some building challenges which affect the children's learning. "The school was built in the early 1960's, bombed by the Americans in the early ‘70's, temporarily repaired by the community in the early ‘90's and has been patched up ever since. Only two rooms in this building have been painted since then, and that was when I was here a decade ago."

At 7am volunteers from the school's parent committee, the school principal and staff, and students from the two rooms plus Michael began work to repaint two classrooms. By late afternoon all the walls were finished and, with some filling of holes in the concrete floor - the two classrooms were finished.

"The students, teachers, principal and parent committee have asked me to pass on their thanks to VSA Wellington for making funding available and choosing Hun Sen Angtasom Primary School as the venue for International Volunteers' Day 2009," says Michael.

Volunteer awarded MNZM

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:23:50 +1200

VSA volunteer John Bowis, who is in a mentoring position with the Eastern Cape NGO Coalition in South Africa, was mentioned in this year's New Year Honours list.

John was awarded the MNZM (Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit) for services to Save the Children New Zealand. He was the executive director of Save the Children for 21 years providing professional management and leadership which saw the organisation grow in strength and recognition.

"It is a great honour to be recognised by fellow New Zealanders for one's contribution, especially when it is for humanitarian work like making a difference for disadvantaged children. I am pleased that I can continue working in the development field and share my experience with local NGOs through VSA in East London, South Africa," says John.

VSA reaffirms its commitment to working with Timor-Leste

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:15:47 +1200

VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) has reaffirmed its commitment to working in partnership with Timor-Leste by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Government of Timor-Leste in Wellington today

VSA chief executive officer Deborah Snelson says the MOU, which she signed during Timor-Leste Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa's visit to New Zealand, will make it easier for VSA to send skilled volunteers to support the development of South East Asia's newest nation.

"The MOU is significant as it signals that VSA has a long-term commitment to working in partnership with the Government of Timor-Leste. On a more practical level, the MOU will also make it easier for VSA volunteers and staff to the get the visas they need to work in Timor-Leste."

She told Mr da Costa that while VSA's programme in Timor-Leste is small, the quality of the work VSA does can still contribute to positive change.

Mr da Costa also welcomed the MOU, saying that non-government organisations such as VSA have an important role in deepening the bonds of friendship between countries.

"We value your intention and desire to work with us. If we can facilitate and increase the number of VSA volunteers working in Timor-Leste we are happy to do that. And of course, as a new nation we need to learn from your skilful people. With your knowledge and experience our country will be better off in the future."

VSA first started sending volunteers to Timor-Leste in 2002. Volunteers have worked with government and community-based partner organisations in the agriculture, health and education sectors.

At present, VSA has two volunteers based in Dili. One is working with auto-mechanic trainees at the Dili Institute of Technology to strengthen their employment opportunities in the automotive sector; the other is supporting the East Timor NGO Forum (FONGTIL) to increase community engagement with the Government.

VSA also has a Development Officer based in Dili. Part of her job is to recommend ways in which VSA can more effectively contribute towards Timor-Leste's development. VSA is currently developing a number of new assignments in the country, including assignments in vocational training, tourism and hospitality, and small business development.

The MOU is the second to be signed between a New Zealand organisation and the Government of Timor-Leste. The other is with the New Zealand Customs Service.

"These two MOUs provide evidence of New Zealand's support for the development of South East Asia's newest nation at a practical, grassroots level," says Ms Snelson.

Sporting chances

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:28:03 +1200

Tony Lambdon, Sports Development Adviser with Imvomvo, South Africa. Six months in to his assignment, Sports Development Adviser, Tony Lambdon, offers a unique and personal reflection on the positive benefits of sports to young lives....

I came to Imvomvo (a training NGO that specialises in the development of physical activity and sport in communities and schools) with the usual pre-conceptions of what to expect from life in South Africa and it was initially a huge challenge to come to terms with day to day living here. On the surface everything looks and functions in the same way as a First World country, however it soon became apparent that the country faces enormous challenges to maintain its infrastructure and service delivery capabilities.

On my first day at work I unlocked the padlock on the very high gate at the entrance to where I'm staying to find a homeless guy sorting through my rubbish. This is apparently quite normal and is referred to as ‘informal recycling'. Although security is a huge issue I have never felt threatened or in any danger whatsoever.

In the township of Mdantsane, where some estimates suggest up to a million people live, Winter Rose ACC provides a range of sports activities, coaching and leagues for children of all ages. In thisenvironmentsport, as a tool for community development, is being used to help provide a positive alternative to anti-social behaviour such as theft, vandalism, rape, drug-taking, burglary. It provides a constructive outlet, and also an increased sense of community under difficult circumstances. Additionally, the team framework is used as leverage to provide an educational platformto increase HIV/Aids awareness.

I've seen firsthand the pride these young people clearly feel at being part of a team and the enthusiasm they bring to training. It came as something of a shock to learn that some of these people may arrive on Monday not having eaten since they left after Friday's training. Yet they still turn up full of energy and enthusiasm, clearly delighted to be part of a team.

My role as Sports Development Adviser involves working to build capacity with coaches and the coaching coordinators. During a recent junior sport conference with participants from Swaziland, Botswana and South Africa I made a comparison of sport in the community being like planting a seed - as a plant grows, more seeds fall and this process repeats itself gradually over time. In the same way, each of these coaches can help a young person to develop through sport and over time have a positive impact on the lives of many young people.

It is true that historical political affiliations continue to have a huge bearing on the way the country functions and malfunctions, how it is both managed and mismanaged. But as a non-political body, Imvomvo has the potential to reach much further into the community than any political party. Sport as a tool for community development is being used to help the very poorest people in the communities of Mdantsane. I am convinced that sport can play a powerful role in improving communities.

You can be a part of the change.
Please support VSA by making a donation.

Many levels of learning - women's football development in Vanuatu

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:10:52 +1200

Sarah Flavall, Women's Football Development Adviser, Vanuatu.

Sarah Flavall has spent the last couple of years as a Women's Football Development Adviser in northern Vanuatu and has seen first-hand the benefits of sport in a developing nation

The dust rises as 14 girls pit their skills and agility on a dry football field in Ambrym, dominated by the ever-present ashes blong volcano. The girls, ranging in age from 13 to 35, have congregated in the community of Lolibulo to participate in the first ever women's three-day football tournament, part of a grassroots programme I developed with my counterpart Elsie Titus for the Vanuatu Football Federation. Competition, laughter, friendships: the dynamics of team sport come together through months of preparation even before the referee's whistle blows to begin the first game.

This is just one aspect of a programme which has included coaching and refereeing courses. At the heart of it is the objective to provide increased opportunities for young women in a country where the status of women is low. Experiences outside the home can be few and far between for women in Vanuatu, with many either having never attended school or leaving school around year 6. Responsibilities in homes and gardens result in limited encounters beyond the village, whereas brothers travel for school, work, sport and cultural opportunities.

Through the women's football development programme, women have the chance to expand their horizons: travelling to other islands, meeting other women and enhancing their experiences, whether it be through the national championships in the capital, Port Vila, or competition and training workshops on neighbouring islands. These experiences will stay with the women for their lifetime.

Sport and education

Working with established youth organisations, particularly with Wan Smolbag's Northern Youth Centre, the women's football development programme has incorporated peer education activities for rural football events. This has given women the chance to learn about health issues including family planning, STIs - HIV and AIDS, and the effects of drugs and alcohol. For many this was the first time they had access to basic information from how babies are conceived and develop, through to the short- and long-term effects of alcohol and drugs. Because the youth centres are based in urban areas, rural communities don't get regular access to peer educators, so including this as part of rural training has been a huge bonus for participants. Being able to talk about issues in a more relaxed environment was particularly good for girls.

Instilling skills through sport

Leadership, team work and time management are all skills that grow and develop through team sport. A week-long tournament becomes the fruit of months of preparation, and the result, in places like Ambrym, is a major highlight in the year's calendar for the whole community.

In the urban areas of Luganville and Port Vila, the holding of championships, and the organisation of leagues, referees, and teams, is rewarded by increasing numbers of girls participating and a rise in the standard of play. The Fresh Cargo Challenge Shield was developed for representative teams from two urban areas to go head-to-head in a home-and-away format competition. The Port Vila selection travelled to Luganville for a week of matches, with more than 1000 spectators paying 100VT (NZ$1.50) to enjoy the finals match. The success of such a major tournament showed it was possible to arrange quality women's football on a small budget and in partnership with local business houses. It also confirmed people are interested in women's soccer.

I believe, and have seen proof, that female participation in sports, particularly in coaching and refereeing, helps break down barriers between the genders in a non-confrontational way, contributing to learning and understanding for men and women. In particular, women working as referees in urban areas have had a huge impact on the dynamics of the interactions between men and women in football and also pave the way for positive working relationships, support and cooperation.

While the benefits such as increased health and fitness are great for local women, unlocking opportunities through sport is an aspect of sport as a development mode with huge potentially positive impacts for rural and urban communities. With well-run programmes focusing on the needs of women in the communities, sports such as football can be used as a wider development tool to enhance women's lives and experiences on a day-to-day basis.

Be a part of the change

Support VSA by making a donation.

This article is featured in the May 2010 issue of VISTA - VSA's window on the world of development. Download VISTA here (PDF).