Mission Log

A couple from Busselton WA have generously donated a sailing catamaran to PYM. The process of changing ownership to PYM is currently being processed by the Register of Ships in Canberra. ‘Inflight’ is 12.6 Metre (42 foot) long and 6.2 Metres (21 foot) wide, and she is cutter rigged (ie has two foresails). She has proved herself to be a strong seaworthy vessel. She is having modifications reversed so that she will again have 3 double berths, and the saloon settee will be modified as well to provide another double berth. She has a very functional galley (kitchen). Her heads (on board toilets) have been reduced from two to one already to allow the return of the third berth.

She left Busselton at the end of July and has hopped from port to port from there to Geraldton by mid August. In the southern part of WA at this time of the year there are lots of cold fronts. The weather is cold with very strong winds and rain with a day or two, sometimes three days of fine weather in between.  The boat very nearly came to grief in Fremantle when she was left unattended at anchor for a couple of hours. She dragged her anchor and had a brush with a huge concrete block close to the harbour wall before being rescued by Volunteer Sea Rescue staff. Fortunately, the damage sustained was superficial.

She is currently in Geraldton where some necessary repairs are being carried out with the boat out of the water. Shortly she will continue her voyage to the Torres Straits where she will be involved in PYM’s health work, and Torres Straits mission support.

It is with regret that we have to confirm that the application for Lorian to be brought to Australia for assessment, and treatment if she was found to be suitable for the keyhole surgery thought possible, was rejected by Australian Immigration. This is disappointing but it does not mean that Lorian will be left and forgotten. A special stroller has been purchased for her. This, along with clothing modified to make it easy to dress her, and items to assist with her sanitation requirements have been provided. These will be delivered to her parents shortly. While her condition will not improve and her life is not expected to be long, her quality of life should improve. With the provisions made she will be able to be more involved with her family and community. At last report from Vanuatu we were informed that Amfrey and Lorian have returned to their home village at Vureas Bay on Vanua Lava.

On Thursday, May 15 ‘Windango’ with two crew departed the Port of Bundaberg bound for Vanuatu. The weather was very mild with winds of less than 10 knots most of the time. They motored some of the time, or drifted to conserve fuel, while becalmed. It was not comfortable either with crossed seas causing the boat to roll a lot of the time. The third day out the wind was kind and they made good progress under sails alone.  Unforetunately equipment failure brought the trip to a halt. First of all there were problems with getting emails to work through the HF radio. Then the crew discovered the sat phone wasn’t connecting to the service. The main GPS failed, then the nut holding the propeller shaft onto the engine coupling came undone. This can only be fixed with the boat out of the water. Temporary repairs were made and they kept sailing for Vanuatu. Then it was discovered that one of the bilge pumps had also failed. With so many things not right and still three quarters of the distance to Vanuatu ahead of them, the decision to return to Australia was made. After turning around the wind was coming from the direction they were heading, so it was a case of motoring home. With wind and current against them much of the time, it was slow going. Six days after leaving Bundaberg they were back. Customs staff made them feel better when they told them that several
other boats had also returned because of the slow conditions. The trip highlighted once again the inherent inadequacies of Windango: her limited ability to push against wind and current when motoring; her steering being too heavy for the autohelm in certain conditions, and her size. James has decided it is time to replace her with a more suitable vessel. This brings this year’s efforts to a halt for the time being.

Many of you will remember the story of Frenda, the lady with a tumour in her mouth who underwent surgery here in Australia in 2007.

James and Nick discovered she was in hospital for an unrelated condition while on their trip in Luganville. They visited her there. She was attended by her mother and sister at the time of their visit. She is one very happy lady. The surgery, as you may remember from reports at the time, was very extensive involving her jaw, nose and eye socket. It has been very successful with no evidence of the tumour returning. Her scars are very hard to detect and they report she is in good health. She sends her greetings and thanks all who had a part in her care. Her mother and sister also send their greetings and heartfelt thanks.

Nick and James spent two weeks in Vanuatu from March 3 to 16. They had meetings with both government and church leaders during that time. Included were meetings with Dr Tim Vocor, the Acting Director General of Health, staff of both Vila Central Hospital, staff of Northern District Hospital in Luganville, the Acting District Health Manager of TORBA, the Secretary of TORBA Province, and Pr John Lehman, the Director of the SDA Mission in Vila. The updates to the Memorandum of Understanding for 2009 were presented and documents signed by all parties involved. At that stage it had been planned that two vessels would be operating in Vanuatu this year. Windango would be working for the full season and a second vessel through June and July only. The two weeks went smoothly. PYM’s work is well known now. At each meeting the two representatives were received warmly by all officials, and few explanations were required as to why they were there, and the business concerning this year’s activities was processed easily.

A lot of time was spent working on arrangements for Lorian to come to Australia for treatment. Lorian and her Dad, Amfrey were at Northern District Hospital waiting for approval to be gained. Unfortunately much of the paperwork required by Australian Immigration had not been processed. Nick and James found the lady handling her case in the Australia High Commission in Vila to be very helpful. With her assistance and the support of Dr Wari, the Director of Medical Services at NDH, most of the forms required were completed in the two weeks. With those done it was hoped that Lorian would soon be able to come to Australia. While there is an Australian High Commission in Vila, all Medical Visa Applications are processed through Fiji. This complicates matters as the people making the decisions are remote from the area a patient is from, and have little understanding of the difficulties in obtaining much of the data required on the forms.

It is with great sadness that we report this news. Late in the afternoon of December 15, 2008 Carmela (PYM’s Prayer Partner Coordinator) died instantly in an horrific accident. Her car was hit head on by a semitrailer near Ban Ban Springs, Queensland. Carmela was a foundation member of PYM, and with her husband owned the yacht Windango that has been involved with PYM’s work for a number of years. She was an Enrolled Nurse and often assisted at clinics. She is remembered by all her knew her as a very special lady; a gracious, caring person. On Windango she was a wonderful hostess. She is greatly missed.

1599 Medical Patients

892 Dental Patients
346 Extractions
222 Other Treatments

907 Immunizations

Health Education:
558 Dental Health
1534 General Health

440 Malaria Nets Distributed

14 Antenatal Patients

36 Packages of Clinic Supplies Delivered

1577 Blood Pressure Assessments

Drumbeat had two additional crewmembers join her for the trip home which was relatively uneventful, taking 114 hours to sail the 1125 miles. She sailed over 4,200 nautical miles from Mackay to Mackay.
Another Angel departed Luganville a few days after Drumbeat and also had a safe trip back to Brisbane.

Drumbeat stayed in Santo for the time between tours and there were some changes in crew-members. The only expat  visitor for this tour was Ione, a nurse from Sydney, who flew into Sola.
This was probably the best team for the season, having all the bases covered yet still being fairly compact. Some of the Nivan staff stayed ashore each night so accommodation was easy. Dr Mark who lives on Gaua Island was able to carry out some surgery and use his portable ultrasound. Ione was great with the women’s issues and education.
Another Angel delivered 50 cartons of school books and supplies from Sola to Robin school on Loh Island.

Captain Brian on Another Angel reported on 27/08/08, ‘The Pacific Yacht Ministries work on Santo West coast concluded today with the safe return of all staff aboard SV Drumbeat and SV Another Angel. It was a very harmonious team with a very, very busy schedule. Including the days of travel, the team was away for 11 days. To return to Luganville the yachts traveled 17 hours nonstop in very average conditions.’

Immunizations 329

Malaria Nets Distributed 175

Dental Patients 589

Dental Extractions 116

Dental Preventative Treatments 67

Blood Pressure Assessments 592

Nursing Treatments 274

Health Education Attendees 558

Patients with Ear, Nose, Throat Problems 1013

Pharmacy Prescriptions Dispensed 104

As well two 2 HF radios were installed and one solar electrical system repaired at clinics. A Vanuatu technician who travelled on one of the yachts did this work. You would have to agree that they certainly had a very busy 11 days.