vsa vista june 2013

7/28/2019 Vsa Vista June 2013

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VSA's window on the world of development

Issue one 2013

BRINGING

TOURISMHOMETO THEPACIFIC


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One o the most enjoyable aspects o myjob is meeting our volunteers, both when theyreturn to New Zealand and while they are onassignment.

Im always struck by how dierent they are

but also by what they have in common. Onething they all share is their commitment totheir in-country partner organisations and tothe communities they work with.

I was lucky enough to meet many o ourVanuatu-based volunteers and to see them inaction with their partner organisations whenI visited Vanuatu in March with Farib Sos, thechair o the VSA Council.

I was impressed by how varied theirassignments are, and by the truly signicantcontribution they are making. Tey all demon-

strated excellent relationships with their localcolleagues and they have also developed greatrelationships with each other. Teyve used theserelationships to build connections between theirpartner organisations so that they benet romeach others skills and experience.

One example o this is the Millennium Caveour, a day-long walk through tropical rain orestthat takes in the spectacular Millennium Caveon the island o Espiritu Santo. Te Andikaramily have been so successul at developing andmarketing the tour that it is now the islandssecond-most popular tourism attraction. Te

Andikars have used prots rom the tour to setup two small kindergartens, and they are in theprocess o setting up a new school.

As you will read in this issue oVista, someo that success is the result o short periodso ocused support rom a succession o VSAvolunteers. Tey have helped in a variety o

ways, depending on the skills they have to share rom carrying out a saety audit o the tour toproviding business and building advice.

ourism is a large ocus o our work inVanuatu, and increasingly in the rest o thePacic, and imor-Leste. We currently have4 volunteers on tourism-related assignments.Te purpose o these assignments is to help

make sure that local communities benet romtourism, and not only large corporations andoreign-owned companies.

Te countries we work in have a lot to oertourists; its hard to imagine a more beautiulplace than Santos Champagne Beach, or JackiesBlue Hole which I visited with Farib during ourvisit to Vanuatu (pictured above).

But behind the picture postcard exterior thereare many challenges. Poverty is widespread andlocal people particularly those in rural areas have ew resources. However, they are alsodetermined, and I was delighted to see that itis possible to set up small, indigenous tourisminitiatives that provide an authentic experience

while benetting the local community.I am looking orward to seeing similar initia-

tives when I visit the other countries we work in.

Gill Greer CEO

Tena koutou oTe TuaoTawahiVSA (Volunteer Service Abroad)

is New Zealand's largest and most

experienced volunteering agency

working in international development.

Our Kiwi volunteers share skills

with people in the wider Pacificto help them build a better future

for themselves and their children.

We work with our in-country partners

overseas to make sure that all our

assignments are locally identified,

locally relevant, and locally delivered.

We also work with our New Zealand

partners to provide innovative

volunteering opportunities, making

it possible for more New Zealanders

to volunteer and contribute to

lasting change.

We are a registered charity and

are non-religious, non-political

and non-governmental.Become aVSA volunteerGo to www.vsa.org.nz to find

out about application criteria, to

register your skills, or to see what

assignments are being advertised.

Become a

VSA supporterWe send people not money, but we

need money to send people. Visit

www.vsa.org.nz to donate or to find

out about becoming a VSA member.

Join a local

VSA branchPhone 0800 VSA TO GO

(0800 872 8646) for details of the

branch nearest you.

Te Tu-ao Ta-wa-hi Volunteer

Service Abroad Inc is a registered

charity (CC36739) under the

Charities Act 2005

The New Zeaan

Govenment is

pou to povie

significant suppot

Kia ora

Te Tu-ao Ta-wa-hi Vountee Sevice AboaPaton: His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae GNZM, QSO,

Governor-General of New Zealand Pesient: Gavin Kerr, QSOKauma-tua: Awi Riddell (Nga-ti Porou), QSM

Counci Chai: Farib Sos, MNZNCounci membes: Don Higgins (Deputy Chair), Professor Tony Binns,

Susan Hinkley, Shona Jennings, Dr Simon Mark, Evan Mayson, Sandy Stephens MNZNChief Executive Office: Gill Greer

Te Tu-ao Ta-wa-hi Vountee Sevice Aboa, 32 Waing Tayo St | PO Box 12246 | Weington 6144, AOTEArOA/NEW ZEAlANd

Tel: 64 4 472 5759 Fax: 64 4 472 5052 Email: [email protected] Website: www.vsa.og.nz

Vista is the official magazine of Te Tu-ao Ta-wa-hi Volunteer Service Abroad Incorporated. Please note that views expressed

in Vista are not necessarily the views of VSA. Editorial and photographic submissions to the magazine are welcome.

Please address all queries and submissions to the Editor, Vista, at the address above. Please ensure all material is

clearly marked with your name and address.

VSA. A ights eseve. ISSN 1176-9904

Reproduction of content is allowed for usage in primary and secondary schools, and for tertiary studies. Vista is printed onenvironmentally responsible paper. It is chlorine free and manufactured using farmed eucalyptus trees.

though the New Zeaan Ai Pogamme

fo New Zeaan vountees who wok in aeveopment capacity oveseas.

Gill Greer, Diane Thorne-George, Jackie, Jim Bennie and

Farib Sos at Jackies Blue Hole in Vanuatu.


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Vista Bringing tourism home June 2013 3

Recipe forsuccess

Contents

News roundup Making adifference

with tourism

A businesson the rise

Putting the MillenniumCave Tour on the map

A day of upsand downs

Keeping it smallin Bougainville

Tourism trainingleads to jobs

Cover photo:Dominique Waes paints

VSA volunteer Chris Smarts

face with mud to prepare

him for entering the

Millennium Cave in Vanuatu.

Virtual library anever-ending story

More than justa number

Latest news, views

and happenings

VSA staffer Andrew

Johnston gets physical

Big isnt always better

in local tourism

VSA volunteers help young

Ni-Vanuatu find work

A new life for

chef Demi Vusi

E-readers transform the

volunteer experience

How VSA is bringing

tourism home to the Pacific

is working to bring the tourism dollar home to local communities in the Pacic


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Vista Bringing tourism home June 20134

Connect with VSAVSA recently welcomed a new part-time

sta member, John Bowis, who is working hours a week in our Wellington oceto help get VSAs new alumni association VSAConnect up and running.

John is well qualied or the role. He is

a returned volunteer who spent two and ahal years on assignment in South Arica

with his wie Alison. Tey returned toWellington last year.

John also has a long history in the NGO sector. He wasExecutive Director o Save the Children New Zealand or years, and he helped take the organisation rom being one runby volunteers to one with more than sta members and anannual income o 5 million.

Hes looking orward to helping VSAConnect get o theground. Our returned volunteers are a great resource, and werekeen to engage with them to help take VSA into the uture.

Seasoned volunteers takeScrabble to the next level

Save the date: VSA Congress

VSAs popular annual undraiser or children and youngpeople has a new element this year Dress up or Change.

As well as selling our popular handwoven riendship braceletsin schools throughout the country, were inviting participants toput on their avourite costume and raise money to help changethe lives o young people in the Pacic.

VSA Project Friendship 2013 runs rom 12 to 1 August.Te bracelets will be on sale in Te Body Shop during June.

Were still looking or returned volunteers to talk toschools about VSAs work during Project Friendship week.I youre interested in being a speaker, contact Helen Carter [email protected] 04 495 8546.

News roundup

Bringing tourism home to the Pacific

his years annual Congress and AGM will be held onSaturday 9 November at the Royal Society o NewZealand rooms in Wellington. It will be ollowed by an

evening dinner at the West Plaza Hotel. Mark the date in yourcalendars now well send you more details as we have them.

New look orProject Friendship

ter three VSA assignments the box that holds Kevinand Colleen Birds Scrabble set is looking a bit worse

or wear. Its more tape than box and no longer hasany identiying lettering on it.

But the contents are still intact and the Birds can conrmthat they are in good working order.

We must have played 6 to 7 games o scrabble over thelast two years, says Kevin who recently nished an assignmentas a Business Management Adviser in the tiny village o Kuli-puna, in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Te Birds met as volunteers in PNG in the 97s, and since4 they have been on three VSA assignments together, withKevin as the volunteer and Colleen as the industrious accom-panying partner.

Tey have taken their Scrabble set with them on each assign-ment, but it really came into its own on the most recent one.Kulipuna has no electricity, no phone coverage and no internet,and getting hold o books is dicult because it is so isolated.

Instead, the Birds took to Scrabble, playing several gamesmost nights. Eventually they stopped competing against eachother and, in true VSA style, started working collaboratively

to try to get the highest score.I think the locals must have wondered what we were doing

with the gales o laughter and howls o outrage that came outo our house every night, says Colleen.

John Bowis

For more information email John: [email protected]

Colleen and Kevin Bird battle it out on the Scrabble board.


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scar winner Ben Aeck got a lot o kudos in Aprilwhen, according to news reports, he was one o several

celebrities eeding themselves on just US$.5 a day orve days during the American version o Live Below the Line.It turns out that theArgo director didnt actually Live Below

the Line or ve days in act he managed just one day.VSA supporters will have a chance to do better than Ben

during New Zealands Live Below the Line event, which runsrom to 7 September.

VSA is one o eight lead charities taking part in Live Belowthe Line , in which participants have to eed themselves onNZ$.5 a day or ve days. Last year 7 people Lived Belowthe Line or VSA, and raised more than $, to supportVSAs education work in the Pacic. Were aiming to doublethat amount this year.

You can sign up to Live Below the Line or VSA by visitingwww.livebelowtheline.com/nz

News roundup


Book review

Do better than BenWe, the Navigators:The Ancient Art o

Landinding in the Paciic.By David Lewis(University of Hawaii Press)

n 5 Ferdinand Magellan was therst European tourist to enter thePacic Ocean. His navigational

skills were limited, his landalls were random, and hecould not understand how every island he ound was inhabited.

Pigaetta, Magellans chronicler, marvelled at the excellenceo the outrigger canoes he saw and asked how could Pacicpeople, without the western navigational aids o charts, time-pieces, compass, and sextant, have navigated their way across

the largest ocean on earth. Were their voyages random, or didthey have a navigation system?New Zealander David Lewis ound the answer.In 964 Lewis sailed rom ahiti to New Zealand using

Polynesian methods. In the ollowing decades he sailed underthe instruction o the ew remaining indigenous Melanesian,Micronesian and Polynesian navigators. He pieced togetherthe vanishing art o keeping course and dead reckoning bythe sun, swells and stars; xing position by swell patterns,phosphorescence, birds, and clouds, and recalling thisknowledge through chants, songs, and stories.

A revival o indigenous Pacic navigation, inspired by thework o David Lewis, led to the voyages o the Hklea, atwin-hulled Hawaiian canoe navigated by Mau Piailug andNainoa Tompson, and the renaissance o sea-going Maorihourua waka built and sailed by Hekenukumai Busby.

Last year 5 vaka made their way across the ocean to thePacic Arts Festival in Honiara a new generation o indigenousPacic navigators are sailing the Pacic using the ancient arts.

We, the Navigators, rst published in 97, is a detailed andinspiring account o how the rst people ound their way acrossthe Pacic, years beore the European tourists arrived.

* Peter Swain is VSAs International Programme Manager

Reviewed by Peter Swain

Link up on Linked-In

We're now on Linked-In, regularly sharing volun-teer vacancies, blogs, videos and all things VSA.

I you have a Linked-In prole come and ollowus: search VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) incompany proles.

I youre looking or a recipe toeed a crowd you could try theelephant stew rom Been Tere,

Ate Tat, a collection o morethan 5 recipes rom memberso VSAs op o the South(OS) branch.

According to the tongue-in-cheek instructions provided by

ormer anzania-based volunteerDallas Wilson the stew eeds 4

though it takes ve weeks tocook so youll need to plan ahead.

Been here, Ate hat is thebrain child o OS undraisingcoordinator Eric McPherson. Heteamed up with ellow OSmember Alison Moore, who didthe design and layout.

Most o the recipes are based

on dishes that volunteers atewhile they were on assignment

with a ew notable exceptionssuch as the elephant stew andthey include some interestinganecdotes.

Been Tere, Ate Tatcosts $5(plus$2post and packaging).

o order a copy contactSandy Stephens,

[email protected]

First catch your elephant


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Making a dierence with tourismDevelopment specialist Regina Scheyvens says tourism has a lot to oer developing

countries, but as she tells Ruth Nichol, its important to ocus on a range o tourismactivities and to have realistic expectations about what is possible.

ourism can play an important role in alleviating povertyin the Pacic, according to Regina Scheyvens, Proessoro Development Studies at Massey University.

However, she warns that it is important to have realisticexpectations about what can be achieved and she says thatsome Pacic countries are better placed to develop their tourismsector than others.

A lot o governments, both in the Pacic and in other parts othe developing world, make exaggerated claims about what theythink tourism can do, she says. But its not a panacea its notthe answer to every tropical islands economic problems.

Proessor Scheyvens specialises in tourism and povertyalleviation. She has written two books about the subject, mostrecentlyourism and Povertypublished in , as well as manyacademic articles.

She says that over the past years the value o the tourismsector in the Pacic has risen, while the income generated romexport commodities such as copra has allen in real terms.

Te tourism sector is denitely growing, even ollowing theglobal nancial crisis. In some Pacic countries tourism is alreadymaking a major contribution to the economy, and it could do thatin other countries as well.

According to Proessor Schyevens, countries such as Vanuatu,Samoa, the Cook Islands and Fiji are in a good position tourther develop their tourism industries, largely because they arerelatively cheap and easy to get to, and because they have theinrastructure needed to support a growing tourism industry.

Vanuatu, or example, has a long history o involvement withtourism partly due to the French infuence; a lot o tourists gothere rom New Caledonia. And o course Vanuatu hasnt acedany signicant political confict. International tourists are veryckle and i there is political confict, or a natural disaster like acyclone, they will cancel their bookings and go somewhere else.

However, she says even countries such as Solomon Islandsand Papua New Guinea, which are more dicult to get to, andhave experienced recent civil unrest, are well placed to establish

niche tourism markets. Tese include providing experiences orbackpackers and adventure tourists.

Te importance o backpackers spending cannot be measuredsimply by the total amount they spend: rather it is magnieddue to the act that much o the money they spend stays withincommunities, says Proessor Scheyvens.

She says its also important or Pacic countries to developtheir domestic tourism markets.

Domestic tourism can oten be a more reliable sourceo income. Domestic tourists include local people, as well asvacationing expats. Tey could be a group o sta rom agovernment department who go on a retreat to some beach

bungalows to discuss their mission statement.Perhaps more controversially, Proessor Scheyvens believes the

ABOVE:

A cruise ship

glides past

beautiful

Champagne

Beach

in Vanuatu.

LEFT:A Ni-Vanuatu

businessman

advertises his

local tours on

the beach



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Peter Swain, VSAs International Programme

Manager, retires at the end of June after

13 years with the organisation. Peter has

made an invaluable contribution to VSA in

that time. He expanded and consolidated

the Pacific programme while introducing

rigorous planning and evaluation processes and responding

to changing needs such as the introduction of shorter-term

volunteers and in-country staff. His knowledge and profession-alism will be greatly missed. We wish him well for the future.

Bringing tourismhome to the Pacifc

VSA has been sending volunteers to support localtourism initiatives in the wider Pacic since 9.Te purpose o these assignments is to help morelocal people benet rom tourism, and not only thelarge corporations and oreign-owned companiesthat currently drive most tourism in the Pacic.At present 4 volunteers are working in the tourism

sector in Vanuatu, onga, Papua New Guinea,Bougainville and imor-Leste.

Tey work at many levels, including:

buildingskillstoincreaseeducationand

employment options in isolated communities providingbusinessadvicetoincreasethetourism skill set

supportingqualityaccommodationandactivities sharingmarketdevelopmentskillswithtourism

advisers to increase prots and market shareamong locally-owned tourism ventures

advisingatastrategicleveltohelpPacifcnations develop an overarching strategy that connects thebenets o tourism with the people who needand want it most.

Tey work alongside communities, businesses,governments and other volunteer aid agencies, includingthe New Zealand Aid Programme, to help make sure thebenets o tourism are retained by Pacic populations.According to VSAs International Programme

Manager Peter Swain, the ultimate goal is to strengthenindigenous tourism ownership through increasingtraining and employment opportunities, and giving morelocals the proessional skills they need to run or managesuccessul tourism enterprises.

Our work is helping to increase market share andprots or communities, increasing the number o newtourism ventures and ultimately enabling a proessional,

sustainable and local tourism industry to thrive.

private sector has an important role to play in helping develop-ing countries use tourism as a way o alleviating poverty.

She believes the secret to success lies in a combination osmall, locally-owned tourism ventures and those run by largeprivate companies that are genuinely committed to working inpartnership with local communities.

I really like the beach ale model in Samoa, where small-scaleventures are run by local amilies, she says. I used to think that

was the way all good tourism should be structured. But the actis that most tourists want a conventional experience they canbook through a travel agent, with a higher level o comort thana beach ale, and a choice o activities and ood available onsite.

And that kind o experience can really only be oered by thelarger-scale ventures.

According to Proessor Scheyvens, responsibly run, oreign-owned tourism companies can contribute to economic growth inthe Pacic in several ways. Te rst is by providing jobs and air

wages and conditions to local sta. Te second is by providing

training and mentoring to local people so they gain the skillsthey need to set up their own tourism ventures.

A number o Pacic Islanders who now own their owntourism businesses were initiated into international tourismthrough working in a oreign-owned resort or hotel.

Te third way is by buying as many locally-produced goodsand services as possible. Examples include using local touroperators and local taxi services, selling local crats to tourists and,

wherever possible, buying locally-grown ood.By doing these three things, large private sector companies can

make a real dierence to the lives o local people.Its not a case o concentrating on just one kind o tourism,

rather than another, says Proessor Scheyvens. Its importantto diversiy the tourism market as much as possible.

VSA

Locally owned and run beach fales in Samoa.


Regina Scheyvens, Professor of Development

Studies at Massey Univeristy,

In some Pacic countries tourism isalready making a major contributionto the economy, and it could do thatin other countries as well.


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A businesson the rise

Short periods o ocused support rom

several VSA volunteers have helped a

Ni-Vanuatu amily turn their day-long

adventure tour into one o the most

popular tourist attractions on the island

o Espiritu Santo.

hen VSA volunteer Karen Henry rst met with theAndikar amily, who own and run the MillenniumCave our on the island o Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu,

she could see that they were onto a winner.Tey had a great product with a lot o potential, says Karen

who worked as a ourism Business Adviser in Luganville rom to . Te Millennium Cave our is not just a visitto a cave. Its also a trek through tropical bush, and a chance togo canyoning down a beautiul river. It really combines threeactivities in one day o adventure.

But like many rst-time business owners the Andikarsneeded some help to take them to the next level. Although theircustomer numbers were increasing by about 5 per cent a year,Karen says their product was still very raw. Tey had no oce,no email address and no online presence, and they did almostno local promotion.

Tey didnt realise how much potential there was to develop

their product, and they didnt have the resources or support todo it.

Tere were also concerns about saety; ew o the tour guideshad any rst aid or saety training, and the tracks were otenslippery and potentially dangerous.

Karen helped the Andikar amily take their rst stepstowards putting the tour on a more proessional ooting. She

produced a fier to put in the local inormation centre and inlocal hotels. She also helped the amily set up an email addressand she worked with them to nd an oce on the outskirtso Luganville.

Karen was the rst o several VSA volunteers who have beeninvolved with the Andikar amily, providing advice on budgetingand business planning, and helping them to make sure the trackis sae and well maintained.

wo years later the Millennium Cave our is Santos secondmost popular tourist attraction. Just over people took thetour last year, up rom 657 in 9, and many o them gave ita ve-star rating on rip Advisor.

urnover has increased signicantly, thanks to a change in thepricing structure introduced with the help o VSA volunteer Jim


Members of the Andikar family, who own and run the Millennium Cave Tour, wave

VSA volunteers Karen Henry and Jim Bennie at Vunaspef village.Chief Jean-Baptise Andikar outside the Millennium Cave Tour office.


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Bennie. Last years turnover was 7 million Vatu (NZ$9,),compared with just . million Vatu in 9. Te Andikaramily have used prots rom the tour to build two newkindergartens or local children, and this month they arelaunching a project to build a new school in the nearby village

o Lakruja.Tey now have an oce and an email address, and they

will soon have a website designed by Vila-based volunteerDianne Hambrook.

Saety has also improved. Last year short-term volunteer DaveMorgan carried out a saety audit o the tour, while Eric Torne-George worked with the Andikar amily to improve the trackand rebuild the bamboo ladders. In addition, all 6 tour guidesattended rst aid and saety training courses paid or by the

AusAid programme.As a result o these improvements the tour has recently been

certied as sae by the Dominion Insurance Company. Tat

means the Andikar amily can start marketing it to the largecruise ships that visit Santo regularly.

Tey have also set up several small associated enterprises, suchas selling handicrats and ood to visiting tourists, and they arein the process o creating village stays. Guests will be able to usethe new bathroom and toilet built last year with the help o EricTorne-George, who spent several months living in Vunaspe

village while he was working on the project.More recently, Jim Bennie helped the amily successully apply

or a .4 million Vatu (NZ$8,) grant rom the New ZealandAid Programme. Tis is being used to develop and market thetour, and to pay or maintenance equipment such as a chainsawand a weedeater. It will also und new liejackets, head torchesand helmets.

Te work the volunteers have done is a really good exampleo how VSA volunteers can make a dierence by providingvery specic support or short periods o time, says VanuatuProgramme Manager Diane Torne-George. None o themhave been assigned to the Millennium Cave our or very long;

instead they have provided very practical, ocused support whenit has been needed.

Te Millennium Cave our is notjust a visit to a cave. Its also a trek

through tropical bush, and a chanceto go canyoning down a beautiul river.It really combines three activities inone day o adventure.


the camera in Vunaspef village.

Cave tour participants clamber over moss-covered rocks. Children and teacher outside a new kindergarten built by the Andikar family.


10/16


he adventure starts with the driveto Vunaspe village. Te roughroad seems to go on orever,

through other villages, past schoolsand markets and, at one point, past acrumbling tarmac runway. Its a relicrom World War wo, when Vanuatu

was briefy home to almost hal a millionAmerican soldiers.

Eventually we reach dense jungle itstime to get out o the truck and start

walking. en minutes later we arrive inVunaspe, a beautiul village ramed bycoconuts and cattle. Its manicured andlandscaped to perection, and the villagechildren are running around, excited tosee the visitors.

Samuel, the tour manager, takes usto a nakamal (grass meeting house)to talk us through the tour andintroduce us to the guides who

will accompany us.Te orest, he explains, is home

or the people o Vunaspe; itis their hardware store, theirsupermarket, their pharmacy,their market garden and theirplayground.

Ten its time to lace up our

boots and head o. Ater around anhour o relatively gentle tramping we

arrive at a small clearing. We sit down onbamboo seats while our guides take ourbags and head into the bush theyll carryour gear or the next ew hours to makesure it doesnt get wet or damaged.

Meanwhile, Samuel and the teamtake us through a ceremony to prepareourselves or the cave. Te mud patternsthey paint on our aces represent dierentelements o the orest and our adventure.

Next up is the notorious bamboo ladder,an 8-metre climb down bamboo rungsnailed into the rock. Its exhilarating butterriying and our legs are shaking when

we nally reach the rock pool atthe bottom. Luckily its timeor lunch delicious butter-

ruit (enormous avocados)and resh French bread.

Ater this break weregiven torches and liejackets and we enter

the Millennium Caveitsel. Its 4 metreslong and pitch black;sleeping bats linethe ceiling andswooping swallowsollow you as you

clamber over therocks. here are

chains to hold on to, and the guides arethere to provide a helping hand.

Even so, its a relie to get to the otherside and start the relaxing part o the tour.Still wearing our liejackets we jump intothe river and foat peaceully downstreamor about an hour. We pass interesting

wateralls, jump o rocks and havethe slightly surreal experience o beingnibbled by sh ater the guides scattercoconut fakes into the water.

Finally we are conronted with theinevitable result o climbing down an8 metre bamboo ladder an 8 metreclimb back up again. We arrive at thevillage wet, muddy and exhausted, where

we are greeted with a traditional east and

ceremony. Its hard to leave and nowthat village accommodation is becomingpart o the business, some lucky visitors

will be able to extend the experience oranother night.

A day o downs and ups

The Millennium Cave Tour in Vanuatu has its challenging moments including an 80-metre

vertical climb but according to VSAsAndrew Johnston its defnitely worth the eort.

The downside of an 80-metre climb down? An 80-metre climb back up.A Millennium Cave tourist emerges into the light.


Pic to

come

To book a place on theMillennium Cave Tour callthe tour ofce:

+678 595 8635 (mobile)+678 37427 (landline)

The cost is 7000 Vatu. A medium to

high level of tness is required.Andrew Johnston


11/16


Keeping it small in Bougainville

The three-day trek to Lake Billy Mitchell is one o several small-scale ecotourism

experiences that are helping to improve the lives o people in Bougainville.

he last minutes o the climb to Lake Billy Mitchell,a spectacular crater lake on a dormant volcano north o

Arawa, was the hardest part o the three-day trek.Some o Nicola Fowlies party ended up crawling through the

bush on their hands and knees, while local guides cleared thepath in ront o them using machetes.

Its denitely tough in bits, but its doable, says Nicola, whodid the trek through dense, bird-lled jungle with a group oellow VSA volunteers and visiting tourists last July.

Te trip to Lake Billy Mitchell was one o several small-scaletourism projects Nicola checked out and in several cases wroteabout in the local paper during her -month assignment as aHospitality and ourism Assistant with the Central Bougainvilleourism Association.

Another highlight was the day she spent a day at ManeeResource, an idyllic oasis in the Kongara mountains that hasbeen developed by the Orinu amily. It eatures a traditional

shpond (tavinara), well-developed gardens and a traditionalhouse (saksak haus) where guests can sit and enjoy a picnic.

Manee Resource is an Eden-like oasis in a antastic location,says Nicola. It eels secluded and lets you completely orgetabout the outside world.

Te Central Bougainville ourism Association is a smallorganisation based in Arawa. It was set up several years ago,but when Nicola arrived it had largely allen into abeyance.She worked with a small group o colleagues to re-establishthe association and to provide inormation and advice tolocal people about how tourism works and what it can do orcommunities.

When it comes to tourism, Bougainville has a lot to oer. Aswell as gorgeous scenery lled with amazing birds including

the rare moustached kingsher it also oers opportunitiesor trekking, diving and, or those with an interest in militaryhistory, visits to old World War wo sites.

Some places in Bougainville really are the stu that travelbrochures are made o, says Nicola.

However, getting there is expensive and time-consuming, andat present Bougainvilles inrastructure is too basic to provide theservices most tourists expect. For that reason, Nicola and hercolleagues ocused on the possibilities o small-scale ecotourismprojects aimed at adventure travellers keen to have an o-the-beaten-track experience.

People were really keen to learn about tourism and we hadlots o people coming to our meetings. But its important notto give them unrealistic expectations about what you can do

with tourism. We talked about the benets o tourism, but alsoabout the risks.

Tey also stressed the importance o developing Bougainvilles

internal tourism market, rather than trying to attract interna-tional tourists.

Local people travel within Bougainville or work, and somepeople travel there rom other parts o PNG such as PortMoresby and Kokopo or business, or on NGO work. Small-scale tourism projects can provide them with the chance to havea great experience while helping to make a real dierence to thelives o local people.

* UniVol im Brosnan has taken over Nicola Fowlies work withthe Central Bougainville ourism Association. He is helping theassociation develop a plan or tourism in central Bougainville,

and is working with staf to develop a database to record tourismopportunities and activities in the area.

Nicola Fowlie (right) checks out the fish at idyllic Manee Resource.


Trampers make their way through dense bush to Lake Billy Mitchell.


12/16



Tourism training leads to jobsTwo new tourism and hospitality training courses set up in Vanuatu with help rom

VSA volunteers are helping young rural Ni-Vanuatu fnd work in the tourism industry.

ong-time hospitality proessionalJohn Garae knows how importantthe tourism industry is or young

Ni-Vanuatu looking or work.ourism is the source o most income

in Vanuatu that is why most youngpeople want to work in tourism, becausethey want to get money, says John, who,ater a career that has included stints atmany o Vanuatus top resorts, is nowrunning the tourism and hospitalitycourse at orgil Rural raining Centre onthe island o Ambae.

John also knows how important it isto be properly trained, especially i, likemany o his students, you only have a

primary school education and you havenever been inside a restaurant or a hotel.

Whether you are educated or not youcan nd a job, but i you are trained youcan nd a job more easily.

His commitment to helping Ni-Vanu-atu young people get the training theyneed saw him return to Ambae in to join VSA volunteer Linda Bennie, whohad set up and was then running theschools tourism and hospitality trainingcourse. When Linda let to start a new

tourism assignment in Luganville, Johnstarted running the course.

I Linda didnt teach me properly Icouldnt have taken over the responsibili-ties, he says. At the moment there is notrouble, everything fows really well.

Te results so ar have been impressive.Several students rom the rst intake nowhave ulltime work in the tourism industry,including che Demi Vusi (see page 13), anda number o current students have beenpromised work once they graduate.

Tese students were once considereddropouts, consigned to a lie o sittingaround the village without hope opaid employment, says VSAs VanuatuProgramme Ocer Andrew Johnston.Now they are some o the best-trained

hospitality sta in the country, and theyare in demand in the largest resorts inSanto and Port Vila.

Te orgil Rural raining Centre isone o 4 rural training centres operat-ing throughout Vanuatu. Tey providesecond-chance education to young ruralNi-Vanuatu who have been pushed out othe ormal educational system. Te goalis to improve the quality o lie in ruralareas, and to help young people developthe skills they need to nd work.

One o the most recent to open isthe Lonnoc School o Hospitality and

ourism on the island o Espiritu Santo.It was set up last year by local business-man Kalmer Vocor with help rom VSAvolunteer Jim Bennie.

Te Vocor amily own Lonnoc BeachBungalows, one o Vanuatus mostsuccessul bungalow businesses locatednear beautiul Champagne Beach. Like

John Garae, Kalmer knows how impor-tant good training is or young peoplelooking or work in the tourism industry.

We have to train our own people, itslike an investment or a lietime, because it

will be transerred rom person to person,he says. Its a human investment.

Jim worked with Kalmer to help develop

the schools curriculum and he also helpedtrain the schools main teacher, Wilsonabi. Te school opened with studentsin July last year, and it now has 8.

Jim has watched their progress withinterest and he believes they are wellplaced to pick up some o the 6 or so

jobs expected to open up in the Vanuatutourism industry in the next ew years.

Te students at the school have allgained so much condence, he says.I am so impressed with them i anyone

is going to get a job in tourism, they will.I have high hopes or them.

Tourism and hospitality students at Torgil Rural Training Centre on Ambae. Kalmer Vocor at his School of Hospitality and Tourism in Santo.


13/16



ublicity is vital to the success oany tourism venture and thatmeans having an online presence.

But setting up a website can be chal-lenging or someone who has never sentan email, let alone done a Google search.Enter Port Vila-based VSA volunteer

Dianne Hambrook, whose web designskills have provided invaluable supportor several tourism projects her VSAcolleagues urther north are involved in.

Dianne has generously developedwebsites or two businesses on EspirituSanto the Millennium Cave our andLonnoc Beach Bungalows, both o whichare expected to go live soon.

She also developed and recentlyupgraded the website or the Malampa.travel call centre which opened on the

island o Malekula in July with the

help o VSA volunteer Howard Iseli.Te call centre is the one place on Male-

kula with reliable internet, phone andemail acilities where visitors can bookaccommodation and activities. Last yearit received bookings worth more than 4million Vatu (NZ$54,), compared withbookings worth just 45, Vatu in .

According to VSAs Vanuatu Programme

Manager Diane horne-George, theMalampa.travel call centre has been sosuccessul that VSA is now developingan assignment to help open somethingsimilar on Santo.

Te majority o local business ownersdont have internet so its dicult or them

to build up their business, she says. A callcentre in Santo, with a website to go withit, will help them overcome this problem.

In Papua New Guinea, VSA volunteerAnt Rewcastle worked with an Austra-lian volunteer to develop a website andFacebook page to promote the beautiuloimtop area in East New Britain.

Te conservation area is spectacularwith big Kiwla trees, three species ocurry pines, countless snakes, cassowariesand wallabies, says Ant, who nished his

assignment last year.

Former Torgil trainee Demi Vusi

who is now working as a chef

at a resort in Luganville.

emi Vusi, 9, grew up in a small village onthe island o Ambae. Like many youngrural Ni-Vanuatu, once he inished

school he had ew employment prospects, and

or several years he spent his time hanging outwith riends in the village.

Demis lie changed in , when VSAvolunteer Linda Bennie set up a tourism andhospitality training programme at the orgilRural raining Centre on Ambae. Demis parentsscaped together the money or him to attend andour years later he is working ulltime as a che atupmarket Santo resort, Village de Santo.

As soon as Demi started the course I saw hehad a great deal o potential he shone, he justshone, says Linda.

While he was studying Demi spent threemonths on work experience as a waiter inRestaurant at Village de Santo, an -suiteresort on the outskirts o Luganville. Te resortowner was so impressed that ater he graduatedshe oered him a ulltime position workingront-o-house. It soon became clear that his reallove was cooking, and he started training as ache in the kitchen at Restaurant .

Demi is now second in charge o the kitchen,helping to produce a wide range o ood romhomemade chutneys and jam to tapas and

traditional Melanesian delicacies.Demi says his amily are very proud o him.Im the rst person rom Ambae to get a

job here my amily are so happy with me, hesays. I would encourage lots o people to do thetourism and hospitality training course.

Demi hopes to set up his own restaurant oneday. In the meantime hes busy learning lots onew skills and enjoying the compliments hegets rom guests at the restaurant.

People come and say Tank you, the oodwas delicious and thats always nice, he says.

Recipe or success

Getting the word out

Linda Bennie, centre, celebrates with Demi Vusi and

his classmates at their graduation ceremony.

Howard Iseli and Edna Paolo who set up the

Malampa.travel call centre. www.malampa.travel


14/16



eading Jane Austen on a tiny coralatoll in the middle o the PacicOcean was a slightly surreal expe-

rience or Kate Cushing.It was very odd, says Kate, who has

read more than books includingPride and Prejudiceand Sense and Sensi-bility on her e-reader since arriving onKiritimati (Christmas) Island in Kiribatias a VSA volunteer last August.

But Kate soon ound hersel caught upin Austens ctional world o empire-linegowns, country dances and ElizabethBennets on-again o-again romance withMr Darcy.

Id never read Jane Austen beore, butthey are stories you can lose yoursel in they are denitely other-worldly, saysKate, whose own world is rather dierentrom Austens.As an Engineering Project Manager she

spends most o her time dealing withrubbish in the local landll and helpingto install rainwater harvesting systems tocombat the chronic water shortages onKiritimati Island.

Kate is one o a growing number oVSA volunteers whose experiences onassignment have been transormed by theadvent o the e-reader. In the past, volun-teers in more remote locations had littleaccess to books or other reading material.

Gwen and Bruce Levick, who spenta year as Education Advisers in the tinysettlement o Kirakira in Solomon Islands,

were once so desperate or something toread that they pounced on a week-old

newspaper let by a visiting Australianand read the whole thing including theadvertisements.

At one point a riend sent us aDominionPostand that was like gold, says Gwen.

Kate Cushing, on the other hand, hashad easy access to a large virtual libraryand she reads almost every night. She

bought her Kobo two years ago and,knowing that internet connection can bedicult in Kiribati, she took the precau-tion o downloading more than books beore she let New Zealand.

It has turned out to be a wise move.I havent ound any books at all on

Kiritimati Island, she says. Im toldthere is a library here, but every time Ivisit the doors are locked.

Despite the limitations o the local inter-net she has even managed to download a

ew new books though in the case o thebest-selling young adult novel, wilight,shes not sure it was worth waiting an houror the download to nish.

I got it because I was tutoring a younglocal girl in English and I thought we couldread it together. But she then let or Fiji, soI ended up reading it on my own.

Her verdict: Its a terrible vampireromance but I just couldnt put it down!

Te heat and humidity in the Paciccan play havoc with electronic equip-ment but so ar Kates Kobo is holdingup, which is just as well as she recentlyextended her assignment or anotherew months.

Even better, she still has quite a ewbooks let to read.

Im not going to run out o books Ican always go back to some o the ones Istarted earlier in my assignment but kindo lost interest in.

Virtual library a never-ending story

Best historical novels:Minight in the Gaen of Goo an Evi, by John BerendtFa of Giants by Ken FollettTaito by Stephen Daisley

Best escapes to interesting places and lives:room by Emma Donoghue

The Night Cicus by Erin Morgenstern

let the Geat Wo Spin by Colum McCannThe Chi Thief by Dan Smith

Kates top picks forreading on a coral atoll

Kate Cushing is never short of a book to read.

Kate's work as an Engineering Project Manager

is a far cry from the world of Jane Austen.


15/16



of Pacific peoplelive in poverty

VSA is working to bring the tourism dollar home to local communities in the Pacific

More than just a number

VSA volunteers have workedin the tourism sector in the

wider Pacific. Of those,

Almost

50

In some Pacificcountries, more than

30of the total workforceis employed in tourism

%%

Tourismrepresents up to

%40of GDP in somePacific countries

14

ourism operators on Malekula Islandin Vanuatu are more than 4 million Vatu(NZ$54,) better o, thanks to a callcentre set up in July with the helpo VSA volunteer Howard Iseli. Tevalue o bookings made through theMalampa.travel Call Centre increasedrom just 45, Vatu in to morethan 4 million Vatu in .

Short periods o ocussed supportrom several VSA volunteers has helpeddouble the turnover o the MillenniumCave our on the island o EspirituSanto. Te Andikar amily, who ownand run the tour, have used the protsto build two new kindergartens orlocal children, and they will soon builda new primary school.

are currentlystill on

assignment.

Donatetoday

8 young Ni-Vanuatu are now studyingat the Lonnoc School o Hospitality andourism which opened in July withthe help o VSA volunteer Jim Bennie.Local businessman Kalmer Vocor set upthe school using prots rom his success-ul bungalow business, Lonnoc BeachBungalows, to help local young peopleget a piece o the tourism pie.

VSA volunteers have helpedcoach or train more than

1000people working in the tourism

sector in the last 18 months

So far youve helped raise $14,000

to support our work in tourism but

we need to raise another $35,000

to support new assignments in the

wider Pacific.

Donate today and help us bring

tourism home to the people of the

Pacific. You can use the donation

form attached to this page. Just fill it

out and post it to us you can use the

Freepost option but a stamp saves us

the cost of postage!

With your support VSA volunteers

can help people in the Pacific build

a better future for themselves and

their children.

4 million Vatu better off 2 new kindi and a school 80 students in training

27Since 2009


16/16

Caoine Phiips

Sentu dezenvovimenturekusu Apenizajen

WHErE OUr VOlUNTEErS ArE CUrrENTlY SHArING THEIr TOUrISM SKIllS

MELANESIA

Mike HotKabaia diveKokopoEast New Bitain

VSA

Tom BosnanAawa WomensCente loge

Jo Buffeydepatment of Touism(Shefa Povince)

PNGEAST NEW BrITIAN

Jim Benniedepatment ofTouism, luganvie

lina BennieSanma PovinciaTouism Associationluganvie

Eic an Anne SimmonsVanuatudepatmentof Touism

Tisha dwyeEast Timodeveopment Agency

robyn JebsonIntenationalabou Oganisation

SAMOA

Weny roge

Tongan BusinessEntepise Cente

Aison riey

langafonuaHanicafts

Suzanne day

Hanicafts anCutua TouismSuppot Pogamme

POLYNESIATIMOR-LESTE

Find out more at www.vsa.org.nz

BOUGAINVIllE

Meeana Misdepatment ofTouism, Pot Via

TIMOr-lESTE

VANUATU

TONGA

vsa vista june 2013

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