Welcome Home

The flight home from the Solomon Islands was a killer.  We flew from Honiara to Brisbane and Sydney, Australia, to Los Angeles and then to SLC.  At each stop we had to collect all our baggage and then re-check in and go through security.  Not fun!  We enjoyed our assignment in the Solomon Islands, but were very happy to be back in the United States.  It looks like we were missed.

Ready Assessment

This morning six Church volunteers went out into the neighborhoods of Honiara to take a survey of children vaccinated in the measles campaign.  They looked sharp!  Check out those vests!

We're so proud of them.  They will be going out all week.

No laws here against riding in the back of a truck.

The national minister of health stopped by for an update.



Winding up the Campaign

The measles campaign is in the final wrapping up stages here in the Honiara area.  The megaphones we donated were a big hit.  The Ministry of Health wants five more and we agreed to get them ready to go out to the Western Province.  We will also supply volunteers for the rapid assessment next week.

Our friend Jay at the KKmart store really likes us.  We keep going back to buy more megaphones.  He sold us a total of 35 megaphones and a gazillion batteries.    

 

The training of our church volunteers took place at the Honiara chapel on Saturday.

They're all trained and ready to go!

War Relics of Guatalcanal

Red Beach on Guadalcanal

On August 7, 1942, the United States Marines arrived at Red Beach

The remains of wrecked planes

The planes here were found in the surrounding area and dragged here for display.  It's amazing how much is left after so many years.  We saw an ad in one of the hotel windows asking people to return any human remains found in the area to the Japanese government.  We were told that occasionally a farmer digging in his garden will uncover bones there.

A memorial to the Solomon scouts in Honiara





Sights of Honiara

The Solomon Islands are a protectorate of the British Empire.  The people here love the queen and last week they celebrated her birthday in the national soccer stadium.  There were a lot of distinguished guests in attendance.  The governor general gave a grand speech.

 Several groups marched in review.

The governor general inspected everyone while they stood at attention in the hot sun.

The police band played and had some really cool moves.   We cheered and whistled but everyone else just clapped their hands and laughed. 

This is the City Market where we buy fresh vegetables. There isn't much variety, not like what we would get at home. The woman in the picture is looking at bottles of coconut oil, produced here on the island. They have sweet potatoes, huge cucumbers, pineapple, watermelon, onions, itty bitty green peppers and green stuff (we don't know what it is).

Beautiful fat fresh fish

These are little piles of peanuts for sale

This is not an exotic bug.  It's one of the very beautiful flowers that  grow here.

The United States War Memorial is on a hill high above the city.  This is Elder and Sister Mitchell, the couple we are staying with.

We met Sir Thomas Chan, the owner of the Hotel Honiara and spent about an hour chatting with him.  Yes, he is a real knight.  We saw the picture of him with the Queen.  She had a sword on his shoulder.

 

The whole city of Honiara is preparing for the upcoming Pacific Arts Festival in July.  This is the entrance (under construction) to the grounds where the festival will be held.  It's really a big deal here.  The whole town is getting spruced up for all the visitors who will be coming in.  Workers are everywhere--laying sidewalks, painting, pruning and cleaning up.  It really looks good.

The Church in Honiara

There are three branches of the Church in Honiara, 1 district, 5 full-time missionaries and one missionary couple. They are part of the Papua New Guinnea Mission, but will be shifted over to the new Vanuatu Mission on July 1. 

 

 The White River branch rents a couple of rooms in this school.   The neighborhood dogs always hang around and bark and whine and try to get in to the meetings.  You have to open the door a crack, slip in and then shut it quick.  We thought it was hilarious.

  Relief Society--1 president, 2 members

Honiara Branch Primary

We love these people.  The woman on the right was baptized yesterday.  The man by Lynn was just called to be Elders Quorum President.

Primary in the Honiara Branch

Baptismal font

We went to this couple's wedding last Saturday.  They have a "traditional" marriage, and now they are making it official.  It was a lovely ceremony performed by the branch president. 

 

Trip to Malaita

   

On Tuesday, June 12 we took 2 cases of megaphones and boarded a boat headed for the island of Malaita. It was supposed to be a four-hour trip, but actually took 6 hours because the boat broke down half-way out in the ocean. We saw some gorgeous sights along the way and we were grateful for a calm sea.

The Barefood Captain

Leaving Honiara, we watched boats unloading bags of coconuts at the harbor. 

Looking back at Honiara from Iron Bottom Sound. Wonder what it looks like down there with all the sunken ships. On the left is the airfield and bloody ridge where famous land battles were fought during the war.

 

On the other side of the bay is Tulagi, our first stop. It took us about an hour to get there. The scenery was unbelievable.

This is what we saw as we approached the harbor of Tulagi. Can you imagine what it must be like to live here? Little barefoot boys came running down the road to meet the boat.

Tulagi used to be the capital of the Solomon Islands until the Japanese invaded. Then everybody fled. This is the harbor where we made a short stop before continuing on our journey.

   

Next, we headed up a wide river through the island. We were only gone a short time when the engine stopped and the captain told us something was wrong with the boat and we could expect help in about an hour. We waited. It was hot. We were happy we brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our bag. They sure tasted good. This guy took a little nap while we waited. 

In about an hour a repair boat arrived, fixed us up and we were on our way again.

Next stop: a small village to let off a couple of passengers. The boat pulled right up on the beach and the people used the ladder to get off. The people from the village were waiting and the children were playing and swimming in the clear water. We really wanted to jump in, too. It looked so refreshing.

Finally after a 6-hour boat trip (that should have been 4), we arrived in Auki on the island of Malaita. We were met at the dock by some medical workers who had been notified that we were coming with megaphones.

We had arranged to rent a truck and drive to the village of Faubu ourselves.  However, the man who rents the truck told us he would rather drive us because the fan belt was weak and the tires were not reliable.  It was an extra charge to have him drive, but we were glad to let him do it after he explained the condition of the truck.  This is Nathan, a local church leader, James the driver and Peter Ramu, a counselor in the district presidency who went with us.

The Kilu'ufi Hospital is on the outskirts of Auki.  We stopped here to meet the Administrator and formally donate the 5 megaphones they picked up at the dock.

 We fueled up at the local gas station.  Two liters of gas poured through a funnel.  Total cost:  $27.   And we thought gas was expensive at home.

The road to Faubu

Fuabu is about 29 kilometers from Auki on a pretty bad road.  We were glad we had a driver who could fix the truck if we broke down, but we didn't.  The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. 

People really do live out here in the jungle--including these two little "jay-birds."  It was really hot, and we don't blame them for running around naked.

A little over an hour later we arrived at the clinic in Faubu.  This last year the clinic was remodeled as a humanitarian project by the Church.  The administrator there is Father Michael, an Anglican minister/medical nurse.

Unloading megaphones in Faubu

Father Michael really liked the megaphones we gave him.  We heard later that they were very useful to the teams that went out into the villages.

There's a small branch of the church in Fuabu, about 35 members and 50-60 people attend the meetings.  They meet in a bush chapel, which is very near the clinic.  Some time ago someone burned it down, but the missionaries were able to build it back in 3 days.

This is where the full-time missionaries live.  Today they transferred both of the missionaries to Papua New Guinnea and they left on the same boat we came over on.  We don't know when they will get new ones.

We were glad to have a nice air-conditioned hotel to stay in back in Auki.  Ahhhhh.

The next day we returned to Honiara.