Dianne Hambrook (past volunteer) – Desktop Publisher and Graphic Design Adviser, Port Vila in Vanuatu
“The human condition is the human condition, wherever you are. The circumstances and environment may be very different, but people here are like people anywhere, getting on with their lives the best way they can. Although I was sent to impart skills, I’m the one who is learning.”
Donate to VSA
It costs money to send volunteers overseas and every dollar you donate to VSA goes towards programmes that really do work.
Donate now!
Dianne began her assignment in March 2010. Before she left New Zealand she and her husband Keith ran their own design company in Takapuna, Auckland. Keith has an assignment working part-time as an Art Adviser at the men’s low-risk prison in Port Vila.
What Dianne is doing in Vanuatu
Dianne is working at the Wan Smolbag theatre company, which uses performance to educate NiVanuatu on issues such as sexual health, nutrition and the environment. She is working in the publications department, helping to produce comic books, DVD and CD covers, posters and leaflets. One of her jobs is to train a NiVanuatu ‘counterpart’ to take over her position when she leaves.
Making a positive impact
The resources Dianne and her colleagues in the Publications Department produce are distributed throughout Vanuatu. She feels they really support the work of Wan Smolbag's theatre groups and workshop facilitators. These groups then have the job to inform NiVanuatu on a wide range of issues from disaster management and environmental programmes, to gender violence and the prevention of STIs.
Dianne’s highlights so far
"Wan Smolbag Theatre stages a major play once a year. My work includes the design of the programme, posters, advertising material and signage that support this production. In a place where everyone functions in island time, meeting the deadline was the single most stressful experience of my entire career! Although it doesn't sound like much of an achievement, the fact that we had programmes printed in time for the first performance is something I still marvel at.
"But the most amazing part of the whole event happened a couple of days after the show closed. A procession of actors walked into the Publications Department carrying a huge bouquet of gorgeous tropical flowers and gave me the most wonderful thank-you speech for the work I had done. I felt quite teary. It was a real standout moment for me."
What Vanuatu has taught Dianne
“Never leave home without an umbrella.”
“You really can, as another VSA volunteer has already noted, OD on avocado.”
“Patience – a lesson learned from a combination of ‘island time’, snail-slow broadband and the Port Vila bus system.”
Stories
A favourite Wan Smolbag photo
Published on 28th August 2010
From my collection of favourite Wan Smolbag photos... Read More
Photo shoot at Wan Smolbag
Published on 7th October 2010
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. Read More
Mr Keith's Arts Team
Published on 5th March 2011
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. Read More
Mr Keith's art team strikes again
Published on 20th March 2011
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. Read More
Wan Smolbag making Wan Bigfala difference
Published on 20th May 2011
Zero Balans, Wan Smolbag Theatre's latest play, has received rave reviews and every performance so far has sold out. Read More
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS