Work, work, work!!

 My beloved Mum has advised me that I should start sharing some professional stories on this blog, of some of the work experience I am gathering whilst I’m here in Tuvalu, in case any potential future employers might be reading it!! I think the chances are thin but as I almost always like to heed my wonderful, loving mother’s advice I would like to share with my interested readers some of the work I’ve been doing over the last couple of months.  I will intersperse this work related information with nice photos that might not be relevant but will be pretty!

As most of you know upon arriving in Tuvalu I was tasked with writing a multi-million dollar project proposal which was submitted to AusAID.  The project will last 4 years and consists of a variety of activities and works costing $7.3 MILLION!!! The focus of the project is what is termed WASH – Water, Sanitation and Hygiene – and therefore there are numerous initiatives within the proposal.  These include improved water catchment infrastructure, compost toilets on outer islands that suffered especially badly during the drought, and a substantial portion of the bid will be to transform the borrow pits (which have featured on this blog previously) into large communal water storage facilities with community-use areas incorporated such as sports courts or areas for traditional community events, such as fatele – the traditional feast/dances! We were supposed to hear whether the bid has been successful by now but they have had so many projects to review we won’t now hear until December so please everyone keep everything crossed for a successful response!

 

These are water tanks that AusAID previously distributed to the outer islands, in this case at the school on Vaitupu - you will all note the different labelling, when AusAID went through some re-branding... 

Since then I have been working on a number of smaller tasks the first of which was a Gap Analysis and Needs Assessment of the member organisations that make up TANGO (Tuvalu Association of Non-Governmental Organisations – who I work for!)  This has involved contacting and meeting with as many member organisations as possible and interviewing them about the services that TANGO currently provides and what their future needs are and how TANGO can serve them better!  Although this might sound pretty straight forward there have been challenges – the first of which was a lack of a contact list of members… a problem that is still not entirely resolved! Aside from that there have been some other fundamental hurdles; for a long time organisations in Tuvalu have been used to responding to funding streams as they become available rather than proactively assessing need and seeking funding, and therefore they are not well practiced in outlining their future requirements when asked! This has led to further work with a number of organisations including the Tuvalu National Council of Women (TNCW).  The TNCW has been trying to write a Strategic Plan for more than a year with limited success, I am now in the process of assisting them with this and developing an Action Plan to accompany this document. 

Some of the activities that the local women are involved in include making local handicrafts, like this gorgeous mat that Sandra was given before she left us last week :(

 

 

 

The communication issues that are experienced across Tuvalu – due to inconsistent shipping schedules, unreliable internet, lack of mobile phone coverage, and a postal service which is reliant on the shipping schedule – are all barriers for NGO development and project delivery, especially on the outer islands.  This is something else I have been getting involved with by liaising with international partners to develop a Terms of Reference to increase the Communication resources at TANGO to work as best as possible around these difficulties.  As a result of the new-age methods of communication being ‘tricksy,’ the best form of communication in Tuvalu is the radio!

Last week I was invited to consult on Island Profiles that have been formulated by the Government Department of Rural Development.  This was an opportunity for me to get my number/data geek on!!! And it was awesome! These documents are the result of 18 months of work in partnership with the UN.  They carried out a very thorough survey of households across all the islands of Tuvalu and asked questions covering a wide range of issues from enrolment of children in pre-school to the level of water storage individual households have!  The point of these 80 page documents is to inform the local government branches (Kaupule – Town Council, delivery body; and Falekaupule – island chiefs and elders, decision-making body) on each island, and assist them in strategic planning and prioritising areas for actions into the future… And yes I’m a giant nerd for getting excited about it but I truly believe knowledge is power and baseline data like this is crucial in order to both measure improvements and successes, but also to assist in showing the areas where quick wins can be made and where longer-term planning is required.

 

Just a pretty picture on Nukufetau (one of the outer islands) - so its kind of relevant ;) !

 

I’ve also begun discussions with my supervisor about Institutional Resilience and as she referred to her job as her “retirement work,” the sustainability of the work of TANGO needs to be ensured, protected and able to progress! I will be presenting a report to the Executive Committee in the mid-end of November with my suggestions for best routes forward.

I hope that you are all satisfied that I’m not just on holiday out here in Pacific paradise, I’ve got work to do too ;)!!!

Ironic Independence Day and Camp Coconut!

The start of October saw more Public Holidays – two this time! Tuvalu was celebrating the 34^th anniversary of independence from Britain! And what better way to do that than with marching, standing to attention, and parading…in the rain!!! It felt like just about the most British thing they could have done, and a spectacularly ironic way to celebrate their independence!!

 

 

Sadly it did rain a lot!! Much harder than I’ve seen it since I got here!

Whilst school students, scouts, sailors and police on parade were all standing to attention! It was tragic to be honest and the fact that none of them ran screaming from the runway was massively impressive!  They were freezing and soaked through to the skin by the time they eventually took cover. 

All the marching and the majority of the celebrations were scheduled on the Saturday of the very long weekend, so we made sure we were up and about at the central Vaiaku maneape before 8am so that we didn’t miss a minute of it!

The next day two boat loads of us and our masses of gear headed across the lagoon for a 2 night camping adventure at the highly prestigious Camp Coconut! Camp Coconut, as it is called by those of us that are fortunate to have stayed there, is a small clearing just off the beach on the uninhabited island of Tepuka, just on the other side of the lagoon from Funafuti. 

 

We took everything we would need with us, traditional mats, mosquito nets (which I was exceptionally grateful for and if I could have used one all day as well as at night I might have not come back quite so nibbled!), eskies with beers and water, sausages (sort of), beans and of course our trusty peanut butter and bread, and fruit!

 

Day one on Tepuka was more eventful than expected. Andy and Dan decided to go spear fishing just after lunch to try and catch us some fish for dinner and Sandra went with them to snorkel.  They took the boat and went to an area in the lagoon where they’d been lucky previously.  Kate and I and the kids remained at base camp, swimming, reading and then building the fire!  When the others returned they had some tales to tell!!!  It seems that their successful spear fishing meant that they attracted some unwanted attention from sharks!  Dan was charged at by a 2m+ grey shark (rubbish name but that’s what we think it was from his description) that got about 2metres away from him and then changed its mind and swerved away!!!  Andy after shooting a large grouper-looking fish, which he proceeded to hold out of the water above his head (an image I wish I’d got a photo of), wasn’t enough to deter the shark that bit his flipper/fin as he was scrambling to get back into the boat – quicker than he ever has before!! Considering their close encounters they returned fairly calm about the whole thing! Tough boys!!

Alls well that ends well and thanks to their ‘bravery’ we had fish for dinner!!

That night we had an expertly built fire and watched the most beautiful full moon rise…

 

Followed by the most amazing sunset…

 

Later we also saw some strange lingering shooting stars, very graciously giving us time to turn around and still see it!  One also had an odd green hue that we think might have been some space junk re-entering!

Great day!!!!

The next morning Kate and I swam around the island, and although not a particularly big distance (took about 45 minutes) the changing currents and inconvenient waves made it a little tricky! But it was amazing to do it and see all the different underwater environments, reefs and rocks and white sand flats and lots of fish but no sharks, thankfully!

Doing something so strenuous early in the day meant I felt totally ok about doing exceptionally little for the rest of the day.  Read my book under a palm tree, had a little nap, took some photos, splashed around in the sea! It was one of the most relaxing days I’ve had since I got to Tuvalu. As evening began to draw in, Kate and I made another fire – which the boys were very complimentary of!!

 

We’d thought the first night had been a good moon but the second nights’ was even better!! I’ve never seen the moon come out of the sea that way – and it was enormous! I took almost 100 pictures of it although none of them really do it justice but this one came out pretty good...

 

The next day accidently started with story time – I was being a little anti-social, sitting in the shade on my Breakfast Cracker bucket, reading my kindle when Rex and Maggie (aged 4 and 2 for those of you that don’t know them!) thought that I was reading a story worth sharing and wanted me to read it to them! Sadly I’m currently reading A Short History of Nearly Everything – which is thoroughly interesting for me, but probably not so for them! So I improvised and they were very happy with my magic tree story!  Towards the end of my fairly average story Andy joined the fun, which meant that I could pass the story-telling baton to him! And we all got to learn a little something about rocks in a fun way!! I didn’t know that Geography teachers were such show-offs ;)

The day went similar as the others at Camp Coconut – reading, snorkelling, swimming, lazing! Started to pack the camp up and got ready for our return to the hubbub of Funafuti in the afternoon, and we all were pretty sad to be leaving our island paradise that we’d had all to ourselves all weekend! It’s a mere 45 boat ride but it might as well have been a world away, it had magic rejuvenating powers on me!

Farewell Camp Coconut…until next time!!