Saturday, July 11, 2009

Pohnpei July 2009


In the beginning of July we had the opportunity to go with Canvasback to the island of Pohnpei. We were a part of a group of 32 people which included a group of youth working on a building project and doing some teen outreach, a dental team, & a medical group (an opthalmology team + me). This was my first visit to the island, while for Scott, he had been once prior 6 years ago. It is a beautiful island - here is a picture from our room overlooking a small inlet:


We arrived after ~ 5 hour trip from Guam, and quickly got to work. I was working in the government hospital screening patients for an upcoming urology visit. Scott worked at the dental clinic but spent most of his time in outlying sites in more remote sites on the island -

they worked out of mobile units set up in schools - he worked with some of the local dental nurses and assistants and together, they saw over 200 patients....







This is the team from one of the days (Scott standing to his right is one of the local dentists from the PI, to his right is one of the assistants and to her right is Lisa, one of the assistants who came with Canvasback).
the children were adorable!
(but unfortunately had some very sad teeth!) here is some local public health
campaign to educate people about dental health


The other half of our group not stuck in the hospital, were out at the building site - this is their project: a building by the church that had become grown-over ruins, they cleaned up and began its process back into becoming a useful building:
the youth were also busy in the evening, holding a teen outreach series called Jesus Loves Zories (aka flip-flops), basically discussing God's unconditional acceptance and love... it was cool to see them up front sharing (and they did a good job!)

The hospital gave us a wonderful reception on Friday
This is Jamie and Jacque Spence, the co-founders of Canvasback
Erika and Amy with Marmars...
The dental department took the dental team on a little adventure Friday afternoon to a nearby islandChurch on Sabbath
The shoe pile in front of church
Children's story
After church, we piled into a comical collection of vehicles and headed out around the island (one problem, no roof on these trucks, on the way back these guys looked like wet rats under a torrential down pour)

We finally arrived at Nan Madol which are these ancient ruins that formed an intricate network of small islands and waterways. Note the size of the stone walls!


(and although the stones look steady, beware....a certain someone fell and sprained her ankle here )

On Sunday a group of us went diving with the one and only dive outfit on Pohnpei.






The group departed from Pohnpei one day before us, so we got to relax and take in the beauty for a few more hours Friday afternoon and Sabbath morning...
This is the view of our hotel from the other side of the bay
Wow, and Pohnpei has a "Best Buy" and a "Wallmart"


This little truck belongs to the SDA school and we got to borrow it our last day - the siren doesn't work... bummer!Down the street from the SDA church is the Kapingamarangi village. This village is know for their fishing and wood carvings.


We brought home this turtle - the man in the picture is his carver
And this dolphin - and again, that man carved it!
Ahhh, heading back to Guam - it will be nice to sleep in our own bed again!





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