Mission Log

Following is a preliminary report of the work accomplished by team members traveling on the two yachts to six islands of the Banks group during September:

Immunizations 433

Dental Patients 121

Dental Extractions 177

Dental Preventative Treatments 15

Blood Pressure Assessments 623

Nursing Treatments 274

Health Education Attendees 861

Health Literature distributed 270 pieces

Delivery of Dispensary supplies 20 cartons

Because of the shipping difficulties to the outer islands, supplies for Health Centres, Dispensaries and Aid Posts are often delayed many weeks. When PYM boats are travelling to an area they regularly these supplies. Both central store staff and health staff are grateful for this service that the yachts provide.

Arap Secondary School, the government boarding school at Sola had to be closed in September. The boarding students have had to go back to their villages because there is no food and no fuel in Sola - the Provincial Capital of Banks and Torres. The people are hoping a copra boat will bring some soon. This situation occurs from time to time. There are no regular passenger or shipping services to the outer islands. Copra ships visit occasionally to collect copra and, when they come, they bring the supplies. If copra prices are low the demand drops, and the ships may not visit for months at a time. Transport is difficult, inconsistent, and very expensive.

On Monday, Sept 15 Annette a nurse from flew into Gaua from Norfolk Island. She especially wanted to go to Sola, the Provincial Capital of TORBA Province on the island of Vanua Lava. And for good reason as there is Norfolk Island and family history there. The pioneer Anglican Bishop Patterson was from Norfolk. He started a mission in the 1860’s to the north of Sola at Patterson Bay. Also Edwin Nobbs, her great great uncle was there. He was killed by the natives of the area. Others from Norfolk helped build a church there. Now Annette’s name can be added to that prestigious list.

“Thank you to all who helped to send things over in the container. The people in the needy and remote villages want to thank you especially for the Bibles and the clothes.” This thank you is endorsed by PYM management.

The container was shipped in July. It was well stocked and included PYM equipment, linen, walking aids for physiotherapy/rehabilitation use, bibles, books and some clothing. The books were packed in poly-bags for ease of distribution to school and church libraries (the church is the hub of village life). All this material was donated. It was then sorted, packed, and loaded by volunteers. Now the container is in place at Luganville as a secure storage facility for PYM equipment. PYM has appreciated the generosity of the two succeeding Mission Director’s of the North Vanuatu SDA Mission. They have allowed PYM to share their small, private, storage room under the house in Luganville. Thank you gentlemen for this support.

Captain Brian from Drumbeat writes:

We have done a couple of awesome PYM tours. One was 10 days on the west coast of Santo which was certainly a different experience. There are no real anchorages on that coast, so Another Angel and Drumbeat were the first sailing boats to go to most of the places in living memory. We had reasonable weather, and managed to escape most of the swells some of the time. The beach landings were the fun bit though….we tipped the dinghy over once, and got wet plenty of times!! The people were really excited for us to visit though, and grateful for the medical assistance. The villages are pretty much traditional there, with little western influence as the trading boats seldom visit. The chiefs still call the villagers together with the conch shell horn. School was cancelled whenever we showed up, as the kids simply ran out when they saw the boats coming. We had 9 Ni-Vanuatu health workers on board the 2 boats, and no expats, so our Bislama speaking improved considerably. Linda also got some tips on cooking island style from the ladies. Most days we were ‘treated’ to traditional meals in the village….scary bit is that I was starting to enjoy it near the end….

We left a couple of weeks ago for the PYM tour of the Banks Islands in the north of Vanuatu, stopping at Mere Lava, Merig, Gaua, Vanua lava, Mota Lava and Mota. We had 3 Ni-vanuatu staff, and a few expats on board the boats, so it wasn’t so crowded this time. The Banks Islands are quite remote. Some places are seldom visited, but the anchorages are mostly quite good. We had good sailing in between the islands, and a great 105 Nm trip back to Santo from Mota.

Last year Greg, a volunteer cameraman shot footage of PYM’s operations in TORBA Province of Vanuatu. He has since produced an excellent promotional DVD. Harold, a PYM member is now busy producing copies for distribution. Marcus, son of PYM’s Medical Officer, has designed a very attractive brochure to support the DVD. The PYM Board is very grateful for the support these men have given in producing these materials.

For materials to promote PYM where you, please contact PYM through the website contacts link.

Drumbeat and Another Angel are the two yachts in PYM’s service for the 2008 season.

Another Angel provided assistance to the Vanuatu SDA Mission during July in the Shepherd and Maskelyne groups of islands.

Now she has been joined by Drumbeat. Together they are providing Vanuatu government health staff with transport and support from August through October. Some expatriate volunteers will be involved also.

Since PYM’s inception one of its aims has been to support SDA Missions. Just as island government health staff have problems being able to travel to all islands within their jurisdiction, so it is with mission office staff members. Following discussions with Vanuatu SDA Mission staff earlier this year, the PYM Board has set plans in motion to support the Mission in a more direct way by providing yacht transport. To do this PYM will now have two project arms: “PYM Health” and “PYM Mission”. For PYM to satisfy government requirements of aid organisations not to use health and aid work as fronts for evangelism, both branches will be operated as separate entities.

Another Angel’s owners were bashed and robbed just a couple of days before they had planned to depart from Fiji for Vanuatu to take up station with PYM for the 2008 season. While they were hurt, their injuries have healed quickly. As one of the robbers had previously been convicted and jailed for murder, we are thankful that God protected them from something worse. They were delayed in Fiji for about 3 weeks and made some loyal friends.

It doesn’t look any different, but it is. Mission Log stories have been moved from the old website pacificyachtministries.com.au to pym.org.au and the link on the PYM Home Page has been updated. Now we are working again to keep you up to date with what is happening.