Public Health & Nutrition Volunteer in Vanuatu

It was a fulfilling experiences to help such beautiful people that are facing very serious but preventable health issues. The services, accommation etc. provided by IVI were far better than I could of ask for. The other volunteers were all wonderful, friendly people, with a shared desire to give their time to help others and work as a team.’ The biggest highlight for me was the connections and time spent with Fijian people in the village. The people were without reason so genuinely friendly and beautiful even though by ‘our standards’ they have little in terms of everyday living. It was a real privilege to stay in the remote villages and see how the people live, eat there food most of which was grown in the village and stay in there homes. Health checks was also a great experience and I really enjoyed the face to face time with the villages gathering information on the lifestyle and health. It was an extremely rewarding feeling at the end of the day after doing health checks, especially when we would find people with dangerous reading and send them away to hospital as simply as presences there may have saved that persons life. I really did love every minute of the trip to be honest. Jules our program manager was amazing I feel she was perfect for the role as she really knew how to keep things in order, get things done and had confidence to deal with serious and confronting situations in terms of some of the medical emergency BSL and BP reading that we got. The food was great as we got to have lots of traditional Fijian food which was just what I wanted. Accommodation was better than I would have asked for even when we stayed in the village homes on the floor this was exactly the experienced I wanted. It is hard to think of any improvements as any inconveniences on the trip were more to do with the economic status of the country and availability of the everyday resources rather than anything IVI could have done better. Sometimes it was hard to get sufficient food I needed for the day but this is because I am vegetarian and in the remote places there was not always many options. Thanks heaps, Ben ?

Visiting pele island and interacting with the community there. Seeing the local champions be so interested in nutrition and want to learn how to help their community. Experiencing the culture of vanuatu, even island time and understanding their circumstances and culture more the provide better advice e.g. using their healthy plate model Lynne and Marysan were amazing, super welcoming and friendly and willing to help with anything and everything. Carrun was great in making sure we were comfortable and open to all suggestions. She knew when to give space and when to step in and make sure we were safe. They all were super loving and we couldn’t have done it without any of them. The accommodation had a very good breeze but a bit difficult with the amount of power points, could suggest to bring a power board but definitely a good place for volunteers to stay at. The manager was super clean and always making sure to keep everything neat. The food provided was slightly repetitive over time and would have loved to taste more local traditional food. The traditional dishes provided were amazing but only few were provided. Thank you so much and kind regards, Emmy