Arrival in the Solomon Islands

We arrived in Honiara, Solomon Islands on Friday, June 1 at 2:00 p.m.  After a long flight it was nice to be welcomed by a group of people standing on the roof of the airport.

A local band played.

Elder and Sister Mitchell and the missionaries were there.

Honiara is very tropical, green and hot and it's not very big--maybe about 60,000. There is one main road through town. The road is always packed with traffic, even though it doesn't look like it from this picture.

The first three nights we stayed at a hotel in town, then moved in with the missionary couple, Elder and Sister Ken Mitchell. They have a combination home/mission office/chapel. There are 7 elders serving in the area. There are three branches of the church in Honiara and one on the Island of Malaita which is a 3-4 hour boat ride from here. Elder and Sister Mitchell are having a great time serving and "mothering" the young missionaries. It's fun to be with them. Elder Mitchell was called to be the district president. Are we the only ones that can see what's wrong with this picture? (Hint: look at the name of the church on the plaque)

The city of Honiara is on a bay called Iron Bottom Sound. Some major World War II battles took place here and they call it Iron Bottom Sound because of the many ships that were sunk in the battles. The ships are still at the bottom of the ocean.

The goal for the Solomon Islands is to immunize 65,170 children against measles. Since there are over 900 islands, this is a bit of a challenge for them, but they are very organized and capable. The Church (and us) are concentrating our social mobilization efforts in the capital city of Honiara, the province of Guatalcanal and the island of Malaita because that's where we have members. Even though we arrived in the Solomon Islands after the campaign had begun, we were still able to help out by donating 30 megaphones, 470 batteries, volunteer help and use of the measles jingle on national radio. The leaders in the Ministry of Health were all very appreciative.

Donation of megaphones to the Pikinini Clinic

 Batteries for the megaphones donated to the Guatalcanal Province.


Measles jingle for radio and TV


Candy for the little pikininis (that's pigeon for children) who get their shots.



Ouch!

The measles vaccine must be kept cold at all times. In order to deliver

vaccine to the remote villages it must be kept in a cold box powered by canisters of fuel. 15 teams of people will go around the island of Guadalcanal on boats to areas where there are no roads.