Trip to help village hit by typhoid

Press, 21 April 1984, Page 5

Trip to help village hit by typhoid

Working as a rural water supplies technician in the Solomon Islands has fulfilled the expectations of hard work and adventure for Matthew Brosnahan, of Rosewill, near Timaru, when he took up a two-year assignment with Volunteer Service Abroad.

His background, including wide practical skills gained on his parents’ South Canterbury farm, equipped him well. He graduated from Lincoln College with a bachelor of agricultural science degree which included soil and water engineering and rural development with a special emphasis on work in developing countries. Before that he worked as a jackaroo on an outback Queensland station where he installed a 9km water pipeline. Mr Brosnahan is based in Gizo, capital of the western province of the Solomons, which involves him travelling by powered, fibreglass canoe to the islands of the region to survey and install water supply systems. Here he describes one such canoe journey. It is unfortunate that I cannot really express what it is like to do a good canoe tour. Other than being there you would need to film it with an underwater video or from a helicopter. My last big canoe trip was to Choiseul Island, about 112 km away. In fine weather this trip takes four to five hours. It took us eight hours, six of which

consisted of being continuously drenched as the 23ft fibreglass canoe nosedived into oncoming waves. The canoe was awash and its five occupants forever wet and freezing (yes, freezing at Bdeg. south of the Equator). The canoes are luckily self-bailing but this only works when the boat it moving forward. Where you can get into trouble, as we did, is when the waves start breaking into the canoe. The canoe becomes swamped and too heavy to move fast enough to self-draim. At least they are buoyant enough so that they cannot sink — so I have been told. Eventually we got to Wagina on the southern end

of Choiseul Island. Russell, the driver, even had time on the way to catch fish for tea. There had been a recent outbreak of typhoid in this village, one man dying from the disease. I was part of a medical team sent there to see what could be done for the village, my role being to assess the water supply. The village’s present water supply was from wells. These on appearance, and proven by laboratory, tests later, were polluted. I spent two days trying to find an alternative source. The villagers and I in the end decided on a small spring Ikm from the village. A rough estimate of the materials needed, then it

was back to Gizo by canoe. Again an eight-hour trip, this time because of mechanical failure. Other than that the trip was uneventful. However, we ran out of petrol 200 yards off the Gizo wharf — what you would call cutting it fine on fuel. Ten days later we were back there with the necessary equipment and materials. It took seven days to build the I.2km water supply, the villagers doing most of the work with myself and my two men giving technical assistance where necessary. This kept us fairly busy as there would be up to 100 men working each day on the project. These would be split into various groups — some digging trenches, others joining pipe, while others worked on the spring-box or taps in the village. We finished just before the ship arrived; the next one would be a good three weeks away. It was a nice feeling having finished the job and to be heading back to my base in Gizo, looking forward to a few home comforts, not to mention a cold beer. We use canoes a lot in our work, especially in surveying projects. At present we have only one to cover the New Georgia group. The Choiseul and Shortland Islands are covered by ship. As we have up to three teams working in the field at one time there is considerable demand for another canoe. At present I am interested in a canoe of another type. I am having built a traditional sailing canoe with outrigger — ideal for going out to the islands off Gizo after work or at the week-end.