VSA blog posts

Opening the Market Place Project

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 13:08:31 +1200

On Thursday 13th June, I attended the handing over ceremony of the Luganville Market Pavement Project.

The New Zealand High Commissioner, HE Bill Dobbie, was opening the Market Place Project. He gave funds late last year to reconcrete and beautify the area around the Market House itself.

The Market House is the building used for weekly markets, with stalls run by local women who grow the produce themselves, providing key income for the women of Santo.

The Market House Committee was my initiative, started in April 2012, to give the women of Santo a voice in the running of their market. The committee is made up of about 15 representatives from the various regions of Santo. We meet monthly to discuss operational, marketing and project initiatives.

Special guests seated for the ceremony.

Luganville's Town Clerk Peter Sakita with the Deputy Mayor Elizabeth Tasso Sihos and NZHC Bill Dobbie.

Gloria (left) of the Department of Womens Affairs with Catherine, the Market House Manager, prepare for the event.

Market House Committee Chairlady Marie Savan (centre) with Committee members Anna and Catherine, holding gift baskets of locally-grown fruit and vegetables.

Committee members present gift baskets to the New Zealand High Commission staff. (Photo by Mary O'Reilly)

And to the High Commissioner. (Photo by Mary O'Reilly)

The High Commissioner and Deputy Mayor perform the offical opening and cutting of the ribbon. (Photo by Mary O'Reilly)

Market House Committee members with the Deputy Mayor, Womens Affairs representative, NZHC and me (second row, right).

A little dancing on the new concrete.

A four-week whirlwind

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:40:56 +1200

It has been a four-week whirlwind since we arrived in Samoa.

We were met at the airport by lovely welcoming staff and taken to our new house. It is a great wee place – simple and good – which backs onto a fast flowing river. This is an endless source of interest as we sit on our back deck and watch the local kids skid across the road (which has been blocked off due to problems with the river) and bounce down the waterfall into the water.

Jo with a wallful of reminders of home.

Life in Samoa so far has been lots of exciting and fun events punctuated by endless heat and sweat, and by copious downfalls of rain. (We heard this is the ‘dry’ season – so what is the ‘wet’ season like??).

Our first day began with an early morning pick-up from our boss who took us for breakfast and then on to our first event: a Child Protection Workshop sleepover weekend for our facility, Loto Taumafai Society for People with Disabilities. It was a wonderful way to meet our new colleagues and get to know the way things work here in Samoa.

We have learned heaps about life here. Firstly there was a week long Orientation with the Aussie Volunteers (AVIDs) which ended with a wonderful umu preparation at a village, and a stay in fales at Lolomanu Beach with swimming and eating into the night. We arrived at a great time, just as the Independence Day Parade was held, and we were able to enjoy all the pomp and splendour of the Flag Raising Ceremony and 21 gun salute and parade. We were dressed in our traditional puletasi (for Jo) and ‘ie faitoga (for Warwick).

The Special Olympics Ball was another colourful and fun event with dancing and socialising well into the night.

A few days later the US Combined Forces from the US Navy ship Pearl Harbour visited Loto Taumafai with their amazing brass band and were treated to singing dancing and feasting all day by the staff and children.

Warwick at his desk in the office.

And guess what, we have also been working! Jo has attended a three-day Legislative Lobbying Workshop – a wonderful experience to hear all the bright legal minds here debating hot issues. Warwick has attended a three-day Pacific Forum on Community Based Rehabilitation, which updated him on the issues around CBR Development in Samoa. Each week we attend Sign Language training and have fun with the staff (there are many deaf students and staff here at Loto Taumafai). This is a great way to learn new skills while getting to know everyone.

We have had many planning meetings and get togethers as we look at the way forward and the best way to support the staff and strengthen their programmes for the students with disabilities. Last week was a great one for us with a visit from Junior Ulu (Programme Manager Polynesia), Mike Lee (Programme Officer Polynesia) and Karla Paotonu (Fundraising Manager) from the VSA Wellington office. There were lots of opportunities to talk about our programme and life here – many thanks to them.

A baking revelation

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:53:35 +1200

In this blog, I thought that I would tell you about a humbling experience that I had during a recent Sistas Savve cooking lesson.

All of the women who were participating in the training were enthusiastically gathered in the kitchen ready to learn how to bake coconut muffins. I was called into the kitchen to help lend a hand with the session. As the trainer was showing the women how to bake the muffins, it became clear that this was the first time that most of the women had baked before. They loved it! They were very careful to make sure that they were following the instructions.

Women from Ngalitatae community during the cooking lesson.

While the muffins were baking in the oven, we were sitting around chatting and one of the women asked me if it was possible to bake the muffins on an open fire. Until that moment, I had mistakenly assumed that everyone used an oven at home. In actual fact, all of the women use open fires in their homes to cook. We discussed different recipes and I told the women that I would pass on to them my auntie’s world famous hangi steamed pudding recipe, which they could cook in their motu.

Although this moment might appear insignificant to some of you, I will remember it for a long time. It was another reminder for me of some of the privileges that I have had growing up in New Zealand.

If anyone has any good “oven free” baking recipe to share, leave it in the comments box below and I'll pass them on!

Happy baking,

Kylie.

On location with Aljazeera in Dili

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:02:54 +1200

It was lights, camera, action at work recently, when Aljazeera 101 East foreign correspondent Drew Ambrose from Kuala Lumpar and his crew dropped in to our office.

The Aljazeera team were in Timor-Leste to film a documentary on business development, with a focus on the opportunities and frustrations faced by those working to stimulate the local primary produce sector.

Filipe Alfaiate, co-founder and director of Empreza Di’ak, my VSA partner organisation, is passionate about community micro-business, so we were delighted that he was chosen to be interviewed. I pulled together some background information and snappy key messages for Filipe and the film crew, and we all got stuck in to tidying up our premises ready for filming!

Left to right: Mark on camera for Aljazeera, Filipe Alfaiate of Empreza Di'ak and Drew Ambrose, the International Correspondent Aljazeera 101 East.

Filipe was interviewed at length about our Ikan Di’ak project (meaning “dried fish” in the local Tetun language). My colleagues work with participating fishing communities, coaching them to build a simple solar tent to salt and dry their catch. Empreza Di’ak purchases the dried fish, then takes care of packaging, marketing and sale to supermarkets and other outlets in Dili. The fishing communities enjoy a guaranteed buyer for the dried fish they produce, and a higher price per kilogram than from selling the fish fresh.

“It was hot work being interviewed in a solar tent, but even hotter trying to sum up the work we are doing to fight poverty in short sound bites,” said Filipe after two hours in front of the camera.

He did a great job, though we’ve yet to see how many seconds’ air time we’ll get from two hours’ filming. Probably not a lot! The documentary will be streamed online in late June 2013, and I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime take a peek at Empreza Di’ak’s people and the work they are doing “helping to fight poverty, one micro-business at a time” on www.facebook.com/empreza.diak or empreza-diak.com.

On the beach: Mark on camera for Aljazeera; Ariana Simoes de Almeida, Empreza Di'ak; Filipe Alfaiate, Empreza Di'ak; Drew Ambrose, Aljazeera International Correspondent; myself, VSA marketing and communications, Empreza Di'ak.

A Sunday in Samoa

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 11:03:53 +1200

Last Sunday morning at around 7.30am we were driving to a little supermarket that bakes the best bread in Samoa, but only on a Sunday. You have to be an early bird to get some. They close at 9am for Sunday church and reopen at lunch time again, but by then the bread is usually sold out. Usually we don’t go out so early on a Sunday morning, but I had a taste of this bread before and was very keen to buy some.

During the drive I realised we should the drive more often, not just because of the bread. The Sunday morning atmosphere was so special, so different from the ordinary workday morning. I had no idea, had been completely oblivious.

While driving slowly we observed the comings and goings of the morning. Everything looked so sleepy but wide awake at the same time. We passed little children, hair still standing up in all directions from last night’s sleep, walking at the hand of their dad who just bought the last ingredients for the most special lunch of the week: Sunday lunch. I could see on those sleepy faces the joy of walking with their dad and the expectations of the yummy lunch that lay ahead of them.

We saw some fat little pigs crossing the road, happy and relieved that they survived another Sunday lunch. Further down the road we saw chickens running across the road, being chased by some dogs just for fun.

Then came the first Church-goers all dressed up in glorious white clothes on their way to early mass. The women showing off their big white hats matching their white outfits. They wear the hats with so much pride you can’t help but admire them. (No way could I pull off a hat like that.) All the women walked together, talking in an intimate way and looking rather pleased with themselves. Somehow the Samoan women manage to look even more beautiful on a Sunday. I watched all this softened by the morning sun which makes the day so much more inviting — you can’t help but be happy to be part of that kind of morning.

We managed to buy our bread and on our way home I was still filled with awe by the lovely little scenes I had watched. I felt I was allowed a little sneak preview in these people's early morning lives because every face I looked at had a special glow on it and an expression of knowing it would be a special day.

It’s still the little things that move me the most here in Samoa. I just have to see them and find the magic in them.

Auckland librarian to lend a hand at Bougainville Library

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:30:53 +1200

Auckland librarian Philippa Robinson leaves for Bougainville on Monday to spend a year as a VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) volunteer, helping to catalogue and shelve more than 5000 books at the Bougainville Library in Arawa.

Philippa Robinson, looking forward to heading out on assignment.

The library – or haus stori – is the inspiration of Wellington writer Lloyd Jones, whose acclaimed 2006 novel Mister Pip is set in Bougainville. A movie version of the book starring Hugh Laurie will be released in September.

Philippa, a librarian at Bell Gully lawyers in Auckland, will arrive in Arawa in time for the library’s official opening on June 21. Lloyd Jones is attending the opening, as well as the building’s designer, Wellington architect Paul Kerr-Hislop, and Pete Carter from the Bougainville Library Trust which raised the funds for the building.

“It will be great to be there for the opening – it’s a great opportunity to meet all the local people who have been involved in the library,” she says.

A container of more than 5000 books for the library arrived in Bougainville in April. Philippa will work with

local staff to catalogue them and get them onto the shelves. The plan is to develop an online catalogue, as well as a traditional card catalogue to provide a back-up for Bougainville’s often unreliable internet services.

“It’s important to be able to keep using the library even if there are problems with the internet, or with the power supply.”

Philippa is looking forward to starting work on the project.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for me, as a librarian,” she says. “It will be a huge change, moving from a corporate to a community library, but I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”

The Bougainville Library.

Interior, before the delivery of the books.

Intrepid jam making, Vanuatu style

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:04:20 +1200

We have had much fun by the fire, watching over the cooking pots….

Two projects are underway in South Santo, Vanuatu, using everyday fruit and vegetable products. The creation of these jam and preserve businesses brings back an age-old art along with the use of seasonal products to create needed income and food security.

Both Linda Bennie (a fellow VSA volunteer) and I have taken on the challenge of developing this initiative. Linda has spent her life in the hospitality business and as a marketer I felt there was a gap in the market for home made products. World Vision has a five year economic development project based in South Santo (funded through the New Zealand Aid Programme) which allows this activity to take place.

The first business group of women live in a community called Mavunlef, about half an hour drive from Luganville township. Linda has found that groups of about five people work best and the group is now practicing making papaya jam, pickled ginger and papaya and tomato chutney. The beauty of this is that all the fruit and vegetables are grown by the women in their own market gardens.

The first batch of Papaya Jam made by Mava Products, Mavunlef.

The coconut meat is scratched out from the coconut.

They are working hard to get the recipe right for their own product. Linda and I have been taste testing some good and not so good jam and chutney. We think they have now got the papaya jam in good shape, ready for market. Mava Products will be on sale by late July in our Market House.

The bush kitchen is quite acceptable for production purposes. Linda has found the biggest hurdle is ensuring the jars are sealed properly. Jars are heated in water over the fire. We often have discussions about ”getting all the bubbles out!” In this tropical climate it is even more crucial.

Extracting coconut milk is a labour-intensive process.

Jam making is great social time for the women on Araki.

The largest cost component is the jars and lids, which at 100 vatu each ($1.50 New Zealand) makes half the production cost. What is worse, they are actually not even available for purchase in Santo. Chris Smart, another VSA volunteer who is providing business development support to Ni-Vanuatu businesses, has done some basic bookkeeping training for them. We got the support of the local supermarket to begin recycling jars and the local expat women have been bringing jars back for us. This is a good temporary solution, although varying jar sizes make pricing and production cost management difficult.

Chris Smart preparing the Mavunlef business group to record their sales.

Linda (left) and Jane on a visit to Araki Island.

The second group, known as JVL Products, is based on Araki Island, a short 30 minute boat trip off the coast. Job Lele is fostering a group of local women into the jam business. They are experts at making coconut jam – this is like eating caramelised condensed milk, so delicious. Perfect for bread or as a dessert with bananas. Ask any local about this jam and their reaction will tell the story, hence its name: Coconut Gold. Small things can turn into something big.

The kind donation by Rotary Penrose, Auckland, of 1,000 jars is enormous – two small businesses are now underway. The jars arrived by ship in March and the 1,000 jars will be quickly used to make local product for market. We thank you for assisting our local community development.

The new jars kindly donated to the project by Rotary Penrose, Auckland.

Coconut jam on bread.

The fire is on full to cook up some coconut jam.

Coconut Gold — the recipe is a secret.

Job Lele Araki, founder of JVL Products and the famous Coconut Gold.

Keeping it small in Bougainville

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:06:22 +1200

The three-day trek to Lake Billy Mitchell is one of several small-scale eco-tourism experiences that are helping to improve the lives of people in Bougainville.

Trampers make their way through dense bush to Lake Billy Mitchell.

The last 30 minutes of the climb to Lake Billy Mitchell, a spectacular crater lake on a dormant volcano north of Arawa, was the hardest part of the three-day trek.

Some of Nicola Fowlie’s party ended up crawling through the bush on their hands and knees, while local guides cleared the path in front of them using machetes.

“It’s definitely tough in bits, but it’s doable,” says Nicola, who did the trek through dense, bird-filled jungle with a group of fellow VSA volunteers and visiting tourists last July.

The trip to Lake Billy Mitchell was one of several small-scale tourism projects Nicola checked out – and in several cases wrote about in the local paper – during her 10-month assignment as a hospitality and tourism assistant with the Central Bougainville Tourism Association.

Nicola Fowlie (right) checks out the fish at idyllic Manee Resource.

Another highlight was the day she spent a day at Manee Resource, an idyllic oasis in the Kongara mountains that has been developed by the Orinu family. It features a traditional fishpond (tavinara), well-developed gardens and a traditional house (saksak haus) where guests can sit and enjoy a picnic.

Manee Resource,“Manee Resource is an Eden-like oasis in a fantastic location,” says Nicola. “It feels secluded and lets you completely forget about the outside world.”

The Central Bougainville Tourism Association is a small organisation based in Arawa. It was set up several years ago, but when Nicola arrived it had largely fallen into abeyance. She worked with a small group of colleagues to re-establish the association and to provide information and advice to local people about how tourism works and what it can do for communities.

When it comes to tourism, Bougainville has a lot to

offer. As well as gorgeous scenery filled with amazing birds – including the rare moustached kingfisher – it also offers opportunities for trekking, diving and, for those with an interest in military history, visits to old World War Two sites.

“Some places in Bougainville really are the stuff that travel brochures are made of,” says Nicola.

However, getting there is expensive and time-consuming, and at present Bougainville’s infrastructure is too basic to provide the services most tourists expect. For that reason, Nicola and her colleagues focused on the possibilities of small-scale ecotourism projects aimed at adventure travellers keen to have an off-the-beaten-track experience.

“People were really keen to learn about tourism and we had lots of people coming to our meetings. But it’s important not to give them unrealistic expectations about what you can do with tourism. We talked about the benefits of tourism, but also about the risks.”

They also stressed the importance of developing Bougainville’s internal tourism market, rather than trying to attract international tourists.

“Local people travel within Bougainville for work, and some people travel there from other parts of PNG such as Port Moresby and Kokopo for business, or on NGO work. Small-scale tourism projects can provide them with the chance to have a great experience while helping to make a real difference to the lives of local people.”

UniVol Tim Brosnan has taken over Nicola Fowlie’s work with the Central Bougainville Tourism Association. He is helping the association develop a plan for tourism in central Bougainville, and is working with staff to develop a database to record tourism opportunities and activities in the area.

Making a difference with tourism

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:45:10 +1200

Development specialist Regina Scheyvens says tourism has a lot to offer developing countries, but as she tells Ruth Nichol, it’s important to focus on a range of tourism activities and to have realistic expectations about what is possible.

Tourism can play an important role in alleviating poverty in the Pacific, according to Regina Scheyvens, Professor of Development Studies at Massey University.

However, she warns that it is important to have realistic expectations about what can be achieved – and she says that some Pacific countries are better placed to develop their tourism sector than others.

“A lot of governments, both in the Pacific and in other parts of the developing world, make exaggerated claims about what they think tourism can do,” she says. “But it’s not a panacea – it’s not the answer to every tropical island’s economic problems.”

A cruise ship glides past beautiful Champgane Beach in Vanuatu.

A Ni-Vanuatu businessman advertises his local tours on the beach.

Professor Scheyvens specialises in tourism and poverty alleviation. She has written two books about the subject, most recently Tourism and Poverty published in 2010, as well as many academic articles.

She says that over the last 20 years the value of the tourism sector in the Pacific has risen, while the income generated from export commodities such as copra has fallen in real terms.

“The tourism sector is definitely growing, even following the global financial crisis. In some Pacific island countries tourism is already making a major contribution to the economy, and it could do that in other countries as well.”

According to Professor Schyevens, countries such as Vanuatu, Samoa, the Cook Islands and Fiji are in a good position to further develop their tourism industries, largely because they are relatively cheap and easy to get to, and because they have the infrastructure needed to support a growing tourism industry.

“Vanuatu, for example, has a long history of involvement with tourism partly due to the French influence; a lot of tourists go there from New Caledonia. And of course Vanuatu hasn’t faced any significant political conflict. International tourists are very fickle and if there is political conflict, or a natural disaster like a cyclone, they will cancel their bookings and go somewhere else.”

However, she says even countries such as Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, which are more difficult to get to, and have experienced recent civil unrest, are well placed to establish niche tourism markets. These include providing experiences for backpackers and adventure tourists.

“The importance of backpackers’ spending cannot be measured simply by the total amount they spend: rather it is magnified due to the fact that much of the money they spend stays within communities,” says Professor Scheyvens.

She says it’s also important for Pacific countries to develop their domestic tourism markets.

“Domestic tourism can often be a more reliable source of income. Domestic tourists include local people, as well as vacationing expats. They could be a group of staff from a government department who go on a retreat to some beach bungalows to discuss their mission statement.”

Perhaps more controversially, Professor Scheyvens believes the private sector has an important role to play in helping developing countries use tourism as a way of alleviating poverty.

She believes the secret to success lies in a combination of small, locally owned tourism ventures and those run by large private companies that are genuinely committed to working in partnership with local communities.

“I really like the beach fale model in Samoa, where small-scale ventures are run by local families,” she says. “I used to think that was the way all good tourism should be structured. But the fact is that most tourists want a conventional experience they can book through a travel agent, with a higher level of comfort than a beach fale, and a choice of activities and food available onsite. And that kind of experience can really only be offered by the larger-scale ventures.”

According to Professor Scheyvens, responsibly run, foreign-owned tourism companies can contribute to economic growth in the Pacific in several ways. The first is by providing jobs – and fair wages and conditions – to local staff. The second is by providing training and mentoring to local people so they gain the skills they need to set up their own tourism ventures.

“A number of Pacific Islanders who now own their own tourism businesses were initiated into international tourism through working in a foreign-owned resort or hotel.”

The third way is by buying as many locally produced goods and services as possible. Examples include using local tour operators and local taxi services, selling local crafts to tourists and, wherever possible, buying locally grown food. By doing these three things, large private sector companies can make a real difference to the lives of local people.

“It’s not a case of concentrating of just one kind of tourism, rather than another,” says Professor Scheyvens. “It’s important to diversify the tourism market as much as possible.”

First VSA/GHD volunteer goes on assignment

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 11:30:10 +1200

The first VSA/GHD volunteer has left to go on a six-month assignment to help improve waste management in Luganville, the main town on the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu.

Sean Toland (in red) with his fellow volunteers (left-right) Robert Wait, Katy Buess and Tyler Rosolowski at their briefing in Wellington in March.

Sean Toland will carry out geotechnical site investigations into the suitability of a new landfill site to replace Luganville’s existing dump, which dates from World War Two and still has the remains of World War Two machinery in it.

He will also advise the Luganville Municipal Council and Sanma Provincial Council on how to close, cap and remediate the town’s current dump once a new site is established.

An estimated 7500 tonnes of waste is taken to the Luganville dump each year, but there are no measures in place to make sure it is disposed of properly. Organic waste is left to decompose, and solid wastes such as

car bodies, metal, glass and plastic are left unattended.

The dump’s location near the town’s airport also means that bird strike is becoming an increasing problem.

VSA CEO Gill Greer visited the Luganville dump in April this year.

Sean, who works for GHD as a senior geo-environmental scientist, joins fellow VSA volunteer and waste management specialist Mary O’Reilly, who has helped the two councils develop a new waste management plan for Luganville. At present the town has only one rubbish truck to service a population of about 12,000, and few recycling facilities.

One of the first measures being introduced to help reduce waste in the region is a new composting scheme starting at the Luganville market this month.

VSA has now signed partnership agreements with 13 New Zealand businesses and organisation. Sean Toland is one of several VSA partnership volunteers currently on – or about to go on – assignment in the wider Pacific. Read more about the partnerships development programme.