This is a short documentary showing a project that we recently completed in a very remote community in Big Bay Bush, Santo.

Before coming to Vanuatu we are briefed about expectations and trying to limit these to make our experiences easier. Despite this I was holding a small hope of being able to install a new system from start to finish, and I’m very lucky to say that this goal was realised.

In a joint project between the Ministry of Health and SANMA Provincial government we were able to install a springbox to collect the water, 1.8km of HDPE pipe, two 6000L Poly storage tanks, and 5 tapstands. This was all done in a week which was pretty good progress I would say, and was a good exercise in organisation and planning as it is a very remote location. If anything was forgotten or lost, it could take a long time to find a replacement.

As has been my experience on all my travels so far in Vanuatu, the people are extremely welcoming and generous when you enter the village and I’m sure you can see by the video we had a lot of fun. I managed to make some good friends during our time in Vutkara sharing stories of music and our respective homes. It’s a real privilege to spend time in these villages as they don’t normally get many Tasale (whiteman). 

The strength of the communities and the connection that people have with their land is a real asset to Vanuatu and it’s a great insight for me to see how this can affect indigenous people all over the world. Development and globalisation moves on, water is most definitely a part of that, so things will inevitably continue to change. My interest is to see how we can embrace and promote the ways of those that  remain more in tune with nature to undue some of the environmentally and socially destructive pathways we have followed.