Solomon Islands is a sovereign nation in Oceania, comprised of nearly 1000 islands and is believed to have been inhabited by Melanesians for thousands of years. It is a Commonwealth country, yet perhaps best known to Americans as the site of an infamous battle from World War II—the Battle of Guadalcanal, the first major offensive launched by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan. The capital city of Honiara is on the island of Guadalcanal.
What brought me to the Solomon Islands, though, was not to reminisce on devastating circumstances of the past, but to try to change devastating circumstances that still plague the Solomon Islands today. As of 2011, the World Bank ranked the Solomon Islands as a lower-middle income country (having a gross national income [GNI] per capita of $1,006 to $3,975), rendering it the equivalent of some more infamously poor countries like Lao, Guatemala, and Sudan.
Ever heard of PT-109? Yes, that green tree-filled island behind the man in the make-shift sailboat is the infamous island where the President JFK and his surviving crew escaped to after their torpedo boat sank in WWII. As Wikipedia says, "Kennedy's actions to save his surviving crew after the sinking of the PT-109 made him a war hero, which proved helpful in his political career." We passed this island on our way to deliver a water tank and supplies to Jack Harbour Primary School.
PT-109 island in front of Kolombangara island. The volcano in the center of Kolombangara looks like a woman lying down.
On 9 October 2011, I flew with Solomon Airlines from Brisbane, Australia to Honiara, Solomon Islands with the intentions of connecting to a small flight from Honiara to the island of Ghizo. Unfortunately, the connecting flight left 2 hours early, as is common in informal South Pacific islander countries, and I was forced to stay the night in the capital city of Honiara. Though it was a bit unsettling at first to realize I was all alone in a foreign country for my first time, I was able to get in contact with my team leader and Solomon Airlines covered my overnight stay and meals. My unexpected stay in Honiara turned out to be quite enjoyable, as I visited the American WWII Memorial, toured the capital city, watched the quarterfinal matches of the Rugby World Cup, and learned a lot about the region from locals and tourists alike. By 9am the next morning, I was on my flight to Gizo on the island of Ghizo with team leader Rotarian Trevor Taylor there to greet me at the airport.
Honiara is a major port city for the country.
Here I am decked out in my official RAWCS gear in front of the American WWII memorial.
This is me with my friendly tourguide, Kelly, with Honiara behind us.
At one of the hotels where I watched the Rugby World Cup, local student dancers performed for us in traditional Solomon Island attire.
Arriving at Ghizo airport... not too shabby! From the airport, Trevor and I then took a boat to the main island of Ghizo.
The Solomon Airlines main office in Gizo.
After lunch and a quick tour of the town of Gizo, I was off with Trevor already beginning work on the RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) Solomon Islands Project 2011-2012, happy that not too much time would be wasted despite my unfortunate delay in Honiara.
View from my room out to the city center
Gizo markets! Lots of tropical fruit, my favorite.
Fresh local fish for dinner.
Gizo's petrol station
Out to deliver my first water tank to Varasi... and yes, that's a storm rolling in...
The boat ride home was a bit cold and wet!
The project’s budget of AUD$62,500.00 was acquired from donations from various Rotary clubs, Rotary District 9600, and through a Global Grant from The Rotary Foundation. Trevor and his team of Rotarians and Rotary affiliates (like me!) had organized two trips to the region with multiple goals—delivering and installing water tanks, solar panels, and other educational materials such as posters, worksheets, two laptop computers, one TV, one DVD player, and one printer each to five different primary schools across 4 different islands in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. While the electricity and technology supplied was designated for educational use, it was also intended to be used for future fundraisers for the schools, making this a capacity-building project that keeps on giving long after Rotarians leave the villages. As already done with solar panels installed by Rotarians on the nearby island of Babanga, the solar panels could be used to charge villagers a small fee to recharge their mobile phones and with the TV and DVD player, the schools could hold movie nights with the proceeds going toward upkeep of the school and this equipment. Also, an innumerable amount of books were delivered to supplement, or start, their school libraries. This project addressed the two Rotary Areas of Focus of “Safe Water Saves Lives” and “Basic Education and Literacy.”
Due to conflicts with courses for my Master of International Public Health program at the University of Queensland, I was in the Solomon Islands for one week before the entire team arrived for their two-week stay. I served the role of an assistant to the team leader with the preparations and logistics. That first afternoon, and the four days following, Trevor and I delivered one 1000 gallon water tank, the timber required for its stand, and whatever other books and supplies we could fit into the locally-hired, narrow motorboat (approximately 1.5 meter by 5 meter) to each of the 5 schools. Please note that although the four islands involved are all neighbors in the same corner of the Solomon Islands and perhaps do not look so far apart on a map, each boat trip to each remote village took one to three hours each way. Seeing as mobile communication is extremely limited or nonexistent across these expansive islands, all plans for the project with the community members had to be organized in person. I attended all of these preparatory meetings with the headmasters and teachers of each of the schools, as well as many discussions with the men involved in each village.
Due to conflicts with courses for my Master of International Public Health program at the University of Queensland, I was in the Solomon Islands for one week before the entire team arrived for their two-week stay. I served the role of an assistant to the team leader with the preparations and logistics. That first afternoon, and the four days following, Trevor and I delivered one 1000 gallon water tank, the timber required for its stand, and whatever other books and supplies we could fit into the locally-hired, narrow motorboat (approximately 1.5 meter by 5 meter) to each of the 5 schools. Please note that although the four islands involved are all neighbors in the same corner of the Solomon Islands and perhaps do not look so far apart on a map, each boat trip to each remote village took one to three hours each way. Seeing as mobile communication is extremely limited or nonexistent across these expansive islands, all plans for the project with the community members had to be organized in person. I attended all of these preparatory meetings with the headmasters and teachers of each of the schools, as well as many discussions with the men involved in each village.
There was no other way to communicate or travel around the islands, except hours by boat!!
The photos above are actually of the smallest water tank... Trevor and I were a bit worried the boat would tip over and the water tanks would sink, but we were lucky to have rather calm seas everyday. Below is the size of most of the water tanks we transported on these boats.
Getting the water tank and supplies to each village in the narrow boat was always a challenge, and then getting it out and up many of the steep paths to the village was a work out! However, nearly every village anticipated our arrival and greeted us from the shoreline and helped us carry in the supplies!
Here is Trevor with some of the locals (and the almighty Headmaster Louisa!) planning out how our second water tank would connect to the first water tank. In the background are some outhouse-style toilets... Varasi was the best-equipped school and village of the entire trip!
Going over logistics at Jack Harbour Primary School. The cutest, most curious little kids were always right there by our side!
Headmaster Louisa has Varasi Primary School very well organized.
Pit toilets at Jack Harbour. While it is an ingenious use of old tires, the fact they are not covered is really problematic for the spread of pathogens
Several of the children at Jack Harbour greeted us with beautiful leis.
The kids at Jack Harbour Primary School looooved taking as many photos as possible!
It was in these meetings that I was able to see firsthand the importance of building rapport and trust with locals, especially how to strike a compromise to fulfill both what the locals want and need with what is feasible on Rotary’s end. Also, I learned how a project leader must be encouraging yet firm about the fact that the local community members must work alongside us and establish a sense of ownership to ensure the project’s sustainability and gain reciprocal trust. With Trevor having worked in the region for nearly eight years now, I think I truly learned leadership skills from the very best. Another part of my role was general monitoring and evaluation of many of the past projects completed by various Australian Rotary clubs, including past teams also led by Trevor Taylor. We visited a well-equipped and meticulously organized health clinic on Simbo Island and one in Ngari on Ghizo Island, as well as checked up on previously installed water tanks, guttering, and any other needs of the 5 villages. I also ran errands with Trevor—everything from buying pipe fittings and timber, to organizing the hundreds of boxes of supplies in swelteringly hot metal storage containers—so that when the nine team members arrived the day I left, everything would be ready for installation. Through completing these surprisingly challenging errands, I learned the value of flexibility, ingenuity and perseverance while working in a low-resource country.
This is the Simbo health clinic that Rotary helped fund and build several years ago under a team organized by Trevor. Wow!
Ngari health clinic, funded by Rotary District 9600 (my host Rotary district in Brisbane)
While in Gizo, Trevor, fellow team member Tim Richards, and I got to attend the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Gizo. Here I am with the club president giving him my sponsor club's banner!
I also attempted to contribute to this project before I arrived in this beautiful, tropical country. In August, I held a book drive at the University of Queensland’s School of Population Health campus, where I acquired over 400 children’s books to be donated to the children of these five Solomon Island primary schools. I am very appreciative of every single UQ faculty member and student who contributed to this project—their amazing support and turnout was more than I had ever anticipated! The books endured quite a journey: I carried each and every book home in my backpack and in grocery bags on foot and by public bus daily over the course of two weeks, then they were sent by two freight ships to Noro and then to Gizo, stored in boxes in storage containers for a few more weeks, and finally delivered to the schools box by box via motorboat. My greatest personal fulfillment came after visiting each of the schools when I saw firsthand just how very needed the books were. For example, Varasi and Maravari schools each had a large, beautiful room designated as a library with rows and rows of handmade bookshelves, yet hardly a single book to fill them. Knowing those barren shelves would soon be filled really warmed my heart and made all of the planning, fundraising, advertising, and book collecting over the past several months in Brisbane beyond worthwhile.
Not a single book on these shelves when I arrived, but they were filled by the time the team returned home!
This is the beautiful library at Ngari Primary School, where various Rotary clubs and other teams under Trevor had been working for several years. The cumulative power and lasting impact of Rotary was so evident.
Living for a week to work alongside the Solomon Islanders and to work in their villages was a very eye-opening experience for a girl who had never stayed in a developing country other than as a privileged tourist. Against the backdrop of a true paradise, trash littered the streets and water sources of many towns. Orange-red betel nut juice (a nut many Pacific Islanders chew and become addicted to, which causes many oral hygiene problems and fatal oral cancers) splattered the streets looking like blood, and unfortunately damaged the bright, genuine smiles of all too many of the local adults that helped us with our project. Throughout the capital city of Honiara, Australian RAMSI police officers could be spotted patrolling many streets. Some locals in Honiara explained to me that the RAMSIs were stationed in the Solomon Islands with the intention of maintaining peace after violent ethnic conflicts in 2001 broke out between the locals of Guadalcanal and immigrants from the nearby island of Malaita.
The picturesque side of the Solomon Islands:
(This is the true "loo with a view" at Simbo Island... Rotary built a health clinic and helped put in a water and sanitation system a few years ago there. We went to do some follow up with the Simbo Island health clinic and I was blown away by such an amazing view!)
Babanga Island
Some of the not as picturesque:
This is the old Maravari schoolhouse that was destroyed by the 2007 earthquake, although it's never been taken down and poses safety hazards to the children. In the foreground are left over poles from the disaster relief tents brought in my UNICEF right after the earthquake--the tents were used as a temporary classroom until the 2-story new schoolhouse was built.
Many villages were still struggling to rehabilitate after a deadly earthquake and tsunami ravaged some of the Solomon Islands in 2007. For example, on Simbo Island there was a very selfless and passionate teacher, Leah, who has dedicated her life to the school and the students, despite the fact she was still homeless and living under one of the school buildings. While holding my hand, she succinctly described how she fled to the hills with the school children once she saw the ocean abnormally receding after the earthquake, knowing she had failed in convincing every last person to part with their homes and their belongings. She later returned to find that six locals had died and that all structures of the village were floating further and further out to sea. Though the school and many houses in her village were rebuilt in a timely manner, she was somehow overlooked and her family’s home still had not been rebuilt over four years later. Despite how much progress is being made through the hard work of locals and the dedication of many organizations like Rotary to the region, much work still needs to be done and followed through to the end.
The structure on the right is the school house Leah lives under. You could see her hammock, her husband's hammock, their make-shift kitchen and their laundry hanging on the line.
The post-earthquake schoolhouse above where Leah was residing
Specifically to our project, one main disappointment was that Maravari Primary School was not able to garner enough support from villagers to have the guttering and water tank stand prepared as required by the time the team arrived. This school and its surrounding village had already been warned several times for its lack of support and mutual help toward continuous Rotary projects. Even before the team’s arrival when Trevor and I were there for planning logistics and delivering supplies, Trevor noticed that timber Rotary had previously donated for the school, along with guttering and other supplies, had apparently gone missing. Also, a water tank donated years prior had never been installed and was just gathering mud and bacteria despite the urgent need for a greater local supply of potable water. Brand new porcelain toilets and sinks that had been installed in the new post-earthquake schoolhouse by other disaster relief organizations had never been fitted with metal faucets or flushing handles, so they were going completely unused for years. Because of such unfinished business, our RAWCS team was not able to accomplish as much as it had intended to at Maravari, and the village may have lost its privilege of being a recipient of future Rotary projects as well. The ironic part to this unfortunate outcome was that on the day I visited Maravari, a local man was wearing a shirt that said “Greater Commitment, Greater Results.” The true impact of Rotary International is contingent upon the commitment and teamwork of the local recipient communities.
A beautiful loo, yet without any metal fixtures it wasn't of much value
"Greater Commitment, Greater Results"
My Rotary expenses from this trip total to AUD$1925.49 (see below for details), though what I come away with from the project is priceless. Along with the skills and memories already described, I saw electricity going into some communities that had never before had access to this luxury that we take for granted. I also saw the delivery of a fresh water system in communities that never before had adequate access to this most critical, basic need for life—such as at Jack Harbour Primary School, where the local community members previously had to paddle one hour upstream to get fresh water, and paddle whatever they could carry back for at least another hour. I saw the power and voice of women break through in an otherwise male-oriented society, such as in the headmaster of Varasi Primary School, Louisa. I witnessed how without the foresight and demands of the local women to supplement the brawn and labor of the men, few projects would be completed for the children. I laughed, talked, sang, held hands with, and hugged tightly some of the most joyful and energetic women and children throughout these villages, which has reinvigorated my aspirations for a lifelong career dedicated to improving the health and living conditions of marginalized peoples throughout the world. I savored some of the most juicy and delicious pineapple of my life, and felt the satisfaction of a day’s hard work under the intensity of the sun at merely 8 degrees south of the equator. I am still so thankful and appreciative of the hospitality of every village we visited, just as they were so thankful and appreciative of the supplies we brought to their schools. I am so, so grateful to have had this opportunity to practice Rotary’s motto of “Service above self,” despite my qualms and the stress of finishing a master’s degree at the same time. It was sincerely a dream come true to participate in a project that improved the educational opportunities and living conditions of 7,500 people across 9 Solomon Island villages with one of the most effective service organizations in the world.
Budget
All of the great lessons, memories and skills I have acquired from this trip are forever inextricably linked to sentiments of utmost gratitude and appreciation for the donations from both my sponsor and host Rotary clubs. Without their sponsorship, this trip would not have been possible on a student budget. Thank you so much for the opportunity to truly implement into the “real world” many of the lessons I was learning inside the classroom.
Donations to my trip:
Donations | |
Visalia Sunset Rotary Club (My sponsor club) | USD$1,000 |
Pine Rivers Daybreak Rotary Club (My host club) | AUD$1,000 |
Total: | Approx. AUD$2,000 |
Itemized personal budget:
Expenditures | |
Flights | AUD$1,279.00 |
Harbour Group overseas health insurance | AUD$40.00 |
RAWCS shirt and badge | AUD$52.00 |
Train to/from Brisbane airport | AUD$30.00 |
Transport within the Solomon Islands | AUD$26.00 |
Food in Gizo | AUD$277.00 |
Accommodations in Gizo | AUD$231.00 |
Total: | AUD$1,935.00 |
**Please note: the remaining AUD$65.00 will be donated back to RAWCS for the team’s second trip, scheduled for March 2012. I am regretful that I will already be back in the U.S. and seeking a job, and therefore will not be able to participate on the second trip. Best of luck to the March 2012 team for a safe and successful trip.
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