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Group: Administrators
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From PO Jess Bell in Port Vila:
Sorry we cannot make the Awards Dinner. It would be so lovely to come!
Our main business is supporting large yachts. As cruisers ourselves, we have always enjoyed the interaction with small yachts as well. When the cyclone hit, we became a bit of a gathering point for yachties wanting to help. There were a few of us; John Ivey and John Robinson of Sea Mercy, Anne and Eric Simmons from Tourism Vanuatu and Yacht Reflections and Dave and Lynn Colbert from Butterfly Trust and yacht Rireana.
We all quickly realised that lack of information and logistics were the two largest challenges we could help with. We worked together to form a network to share information and deliver goods and services to the hard to reach islands.
Sea Mercy focussed on Medical Assistance. We focussed on water. Butterfly Trust did a bit of everything. Each yacht that came focused on what their expertise was and all the yachts helped with the sharing of information and delivering of life saving and life helping items.
It was quite remarkable to see how the yachts could help. There were many large aid organizations here but they were really struggling to get accurate information and delivery of items was very expensive. The yachts were valuable because the same set of eyes were looking at different places so assessments of which areas were in the most desperate state could be submitted. We could then suggest to other yachts where to visit and what could be taken that would be of most use.
The other value of yachts is that the help continued over months. When a disaster hits, the recovery period is very long. Even now, one year post Pam, many villages still are without roofs, gutters, and crops.
We hope many more yachts will come this year, to both cruise our beautiful country but also to give a hand where needed.
Wita Aid came out of our desire to share information and provide fresh water. As we cruised the country just after the cyclone we realised there were very real water needs. We reported this information back to the WASH cluster which was the Water and Sanitation/ Hygiene Group. We quickly realised they were not going to be able to help with the immediate water needs. We made a proposal for a shallow draft, sturdy boat with some desalination units on-board. Our proposal as accepted by one of the large yachts that had visited and by July we were out delivering water. It was very much needed. We are still delivering water now, one year after the cyclone because of the very serious drought we have experienced. We have now delivered 2 million litres of fresh water.
It’s been a long and bumpy road but one that is very meaningful and rewarding. We have met so many lovely people in the process and seen so many beautiful parts of the country we didn’t know existed.
Hopefully that all makes sense. I’m happy to expand on anything if needed.
Kind regards,
Jess
Vice Commodore, OCC
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