10.31.15 MIT Presentation on Social Initiatives Beyond Borders

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Bangladesh Fusion student group invited us to present our work conducted in Bangladesh. It was a great opportunity for Ruhul and myself to share the work we have started as well as to obtain some technical assistance in creating our electronic forms and data storage. They are the right people!

The students were great - very welcoming, asked excellent questions, and had good ideas. It was also fun to  be back in the college "environment".

Our foundation is a 501c(3) organization named Health on Wheels for All. The project for garment factory workers is under the project name of Health on Wheels. You can find more about this on www.healthonwheels-usa.

While we have started our foundation work in Bangladesh, we are including projects in Yap and will entertain other project sites as we are funded.

Here are a few of our slides to let you know about the scope of our work in Bangladesh.

 

04.17.15 Fais

Fais. What can I say. As much as I enjoy Ulithi, I really like Fais. It has warm and lovely people and a beautiful shore line which is treacherous to navigate and cliffs to climb to enjoy a spectacular view. It is also as hot as the dickens. And they continue with the nu-nu tradition (leis) which I also enjoy. A garland of sweet smelling flowers is such a treat.

This island  had sustained less damage, but is poorer than the Ulithi atoll. They remain in reasonable good health and I ate very well here. We had rice, pork, tuna caught that morning marinated in soy and a spice, and luncheon meat and sweet potatoes. They also prepare a drink of pounded coconut that is refreshing in this heat.

The water tanks were donated by the EU as a separate project. They must still be installed to a smaller tank (? I was told) and rain gutters are to be placed that will connect with this system. Hope I get to see the finished product, but this step was a long time in coming.

Sunrise near Fais.

Large water containers. I am always amazed at the resilience and resourcefulness of some people and places. The Micronesians, just like others that I have known, do not complain and simply get back to work. These containers are heavy yet the men just lifted them from the water and carried them to where they needed to be placed. And they still walked really fast when they carried the containers.

 

 

Melissa and Carlos.

Baptist Church from Yap volunteering on each island. They brought three chainsaws. This helped a lot. The islanders would have one very difficult time using a machete on these large trees.

Fresh tuna. Lunch.

Trees starting to turn green. This is a breadfruit that survived.

 

Clay showing his pictures. He came on the boat with us. As he is a local, he helped with everything.

Eli and Joshua cooling off before we head back to the ship. Yes, I was in there in all of my clothes. We were wet from just the boat ride, so why not?

 A pet bird.

Solar panel goes for $300.00.

Madeleina. She is a school teacher who helps me and makes sure I get fed and enough to drink. She is lovely.

 

04.17.15 health surveillance and recovery efforts: Mogmog, Fedrai (Ulithi atoll)

Mogmog is a very traditional island and Yapese men are required to wear a thu and women are required to wear a lavalava. Both genders are topless. With the destruction of the homes and pubic buildings, the ban on clothes has been lifted and both men and women are wearing shirts and hats for protection from the sun. In addition, the men now have nice heavy clothes to protect their hands from injury.
This was a good visit for us - they have a doctor here - Dr. Arthur, who is a very kind and helpful person. It was a pleasure to meet him.

Fedrai permits any type of clothes, women are very likely to wear a lavalava with a shirt, the men have mixed attire. Fedrai has no health assistant and the people depend on Dr. Arthur (Mogmog) or Mark (Falalop) for help with their medical needs. Dr. Arthur asked me to check on some, so I did.

Here are a few pictures from Mogmog:

The man on the left is Will, a Peace Corps volunteer teaching on Fais. He is helping with off loading the ship of supplies. Notice men with hats, shirts, gloves and one with a bandage on his ankle.

A Micronesian living in Hawaii who came home to help with the relief effort. He forgot his shirt and is really sunburned front and back. A very nice man whom I enjoyed a brief conversation. He used up all ofhis vacation time to help as well as all sick leave.

Hats and gloves and shirts are very helpful.

Melissa and Carlos setting up the tetanus shot dispensary. Yes, on the beach, under a coconut tree. In the shade and a breeze.

Love the hat, shades and thu. Modern and traditional.

Her home was destroyed but she still has a big smile.

Unharmed shrine.

Tetanus protection. He just received his injection.

 

 

Sun protection.

Cute little girl.

Couldn't resist looking for the puppies.

Americans are by nature very, very generous. There are donations on every island from Americans. These boxes include hygiene supplies. Wish USAID could provide some supplies to the asylum seekers - the menin the green boat. The best contributions are monetary so the needed supplies canbe purchased and delivered.

Fedrai:

Neighboring island to Fedrai. See the damaged trees. It is uninhabited.

Clarissa, a Peace Corps volunteer. She teaches in Fedrai and will stay there as her home is functional and the school is in session. Exccept, of course, when the ship comes to  shore.

It is not easy in a lavalava.

 Healthy and cute baby.

Men unloading the motor boat from the ship.

She is doing well and has her teddy bear. The children do not appear  tobe traumatized by the typhoon, but we will have to see what happens during the next storm. That  may be more telling. Right now, they are playing and doing normal childhood activities.

Trevor, my little buddy. He is my tour guide and helped dispense candies to the small children. When I gave Dixon (next picture) a task (distributing mosquito repellant) Trevor looked disappointed, so I had  to think fast. He was quite happy  as a tour guide and they both have givenme some very beautiful shells.

Clarissa, one of her students and Dixon, who wants to be a doctor. Hope he studies hards and makes the effort. Not an easy goal coming from the islands, but it is achievable.

Pink shirt and grass skirt, this young girl is hauling some supplies home.

 

 

Albert received his tetanus shot. Love Carlos with his head gear.

 

The Church was mostly undamaged. Roof remains intact.