18/08/2026
A holiday with a purpose 🇻🇺
We’ve just returned from two weeks helping out at Medical Santo in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.
Our team of 12 helped wherever we could. Some worked in the medical centre as nurses and OTs, caring for people with illnesses and terrible wounds we would rarely see in Australia.
One story that stayed with me was of a woman with a large tumour and open wound on her head. The smell had become so overwhelming that she had become incredibly isolated. Medical Santo was somewhere she could come and be cared for each week with dignity.
One of our jobs was installing a ventilation fan in the procedure room to help remove the smell from badly infected wounds.
The next day Rory and I were digging a trench outside when suddenly the most horrendous smell appeared. I genuinely thought we’d hit a sewer. 😂
Nope. The fan was doing exactly what it was meant to do.
It sounds like such a small thing, but it made me realise how much difference something as ordinary as a fan, a working tap or a sink can make in a third world country.
Rory and I spent most of the trip helping with maintenance and plumbing. We installed sinks, fixed taps, cut tiles, dug trenches and put a gate into a fence. I even dusted off some very rusty welding skills. 😂
The wider team built an extension, moved water tanks, fixed toilets, replaced flyscreens, installed benches and knocked over so many jobs on Allen’s seemingly endless list.
It was also pretty special doing this with Rory on his first mission trip, and it took me right back to my first trip to the Solomon Islands in 1998.
Now we’re home and I’m back to pressing flowers and creating meaningful artwork from wedding and memorial flowers.
But I’ve come home with a much greater appreciation for the things we barely think twice about here in Australia.
Clean, hot water.
Working plumbing.
Healthcare when something goes wrong.
So many ordinary things are actually enormous blessings. ❤️
