Disaster Preparedness Day

We attended a Disaster Preparedness Day on Saturday at which different organizations provided information and hands-on demonstrations on a variety of topics.  This was particularly timely as Cyclone Pam went through many of the Pacific Islands and caused damage and loss of life. Vanuatu was hit very bad.  

These are solar panels people can use to heat water.  We are looking at solar panels for the Church's emergency container to recharge cell phones and other batteries.

This little house with the metal roof and eavestroughing is an example of how the people are urged to capture the plentiful rainfall and have it flow into a big tank that they can use for drinking water. 20 - 30% of the Islanders don't have a catchment tank and have to rely on their friends and neighbours for fresh water.

We met Dr. Pinano (in the red shirt) who has a family practice in Majuro and is also President of the Red Cross. They were collecting donations for victims of Cyclone Pam.

This is one of the other agencies involved in disaster management. They were providing information for children.

Above is a group of students who attended the demonstrations.  It is important for the young people to understand the important of disaster preparedness.

On the right is the Red Cross Program Director with one of the volunteers helping during the day.

A Day in the Life...

This is how you buy fresh fish in the store. They come in all colours and sizes.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are not as plentiful and are costly.

The local people use machetes for lots of purposes, almost like our kitchen cleavers.  These are short and have maybe a 2' blade but you can get them much longer.

Elder Crooks and I like wading in the tidal pools to look for shells and interesting things.  The water is as warm as a bathtub. This particular area is right at the end of the airport runway.  The planes were going over about 10' above our heads.

The Crooks' family queen.  You know what I mean!!!!!!

For you Uncle Don, does it bring back memories?  The Islands have lots of trucks circa WW2.  This one is now used to haul scaffolding and building supplies.

Ajeltake Branch

 Snap shots of our primary class and young single adults in our branch.  Picture is facing the lagoon.

Here is the Primary during singing time.

For the Grandkids and Nelson

This turtle shell was hanging on the wall in our apartment when we moved in.  Papa Tom put a ruler on the floor so you can see how big it is.  Can you see how shiny the shell is?  The shell has things like scales around the edges.

You can see how bight shell is compared to Nana's hand.  Nana and Papa have snorkelled beside turtles bigger than this in Hawaii.  The turtles just thought we were a different kind of fish!

Here is the underside of the shell, can you see the turtle backbone?  You can also see Papa Tom's missionary shoes he wears.  Because of all the wet weather the missionaries can wear Crocs.

Ok, Nelson and Jackson this one is for you. This is a picture of a petrified gecko that was caught in our office door jam many, many months ago.  We call him Stretch and he has become a mission legend in our office.  All the missionaries have to come to see Stretch.  It is amazing that the janitors haven't cleaned it. As he has become part of the local folklore, we can't even scrape him off.

Ajeltake Branch

Outside the Ajeltake Branch where we attend church.  Rhonda has been called as the Gospel Doctrine teacher as well as the Primary Chorister and Temple Prep teacher.  Tom is now the Branch Financial Clerk.

Aren't these pretty shrubs in front of our chapel.  The chapel and all the rooms are open to the sea breezes.  The chapel looks to the sea side at the front and to the lagoon side at the back. The next picture below shows the sea view from the front of the chapel. It would take you two minutes to walk from ocean to lagoon!

Here is the Ajeltake Primary. Rhonda helps teach the children songs each week.

Our trip to Enecko Island

On Saturday, we had the opportunity to visit Eneko Island, which is about a 45 minute boat ride from Majuro Island.  The Gardners, one of the missionary couples going home in the next two weeks, wanted to share their most favourite place with us and the Mikkelsons,  a couple visiting from Calgary, whose son just finished serving his mission here, went with us.

Rhonda followed this young around watching him cut down pandaras, a huge fruit that looks like an overgrown pineapple, with a machete.

 Here is the fruit that he was cutting down. Apparently it tastes like sugar cane.

We walked across the island on this path, from the lagoon to the ocean side.

 A group of tourists were being entertained by the locals.  They provided a meal and sang some songs to them.