Pre-Departure Briefing

Our Pre-departure Briefing was in Melbourne (4-6 Feb 2026)

I was surprised by how many volunteers (35 in our group) were departing to countries across the globe. Places including Bhutan, Mongolia, Africa and all across the Pacific. Timor-Leste, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Niue.

The ages of the volunteers varied from about 25 to 70+ and the skills they came with were also were very diverse. Medical people, doctors, physiotherapists, radiography, ambulance and other allied health.  Marketing and IT, Engineering, Aquaculture, Administration, an AUSLAN teacher and a Soccer Coach. Their assignments varied from 6 months to 1 year. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter 1 Getting Ready (Dec 2025)

T he news that our application for volunteer work in Kiribati for 2026 came at the end of 2025. Being accepted, was just the start. The position of IT mentor with the Kiribati School of Nursing and Midwifery is in Tarawa for 12 months assisting with a moodle course content learning platform.  We both could do this work so Bryan applied and I was advised to tag along as another position in-country for me could be arranged. My husband Bryan and I were excited to be able to do something professional again after COVID-19 and time out dealing with our own health problems. We both have IT experience and I worked for 25 years with the Queensland University of Technology. The visa application process was relatively straightforward and the importance of doing this quickly was stressed by our in-country support person (Abi). We started straight away.
Read more

Sandbar

Image
 A beautiful view and sea breeze with music (Men at Work-  Land Down Under) playing sets the scene for a nice night. Lots of expatriates from places around the globe.  We met lots of Australians, a few Kiwis, and people from Japan, Spain and Ireland. This was a great networking opportunity and nice to find out about some of the projects people are working on. For example a guy who works for a land clearing company who find unexploded ordinances (UXO) on land and sea. They found UXO items at the site of the new police barracks and out in the shipping channel. These would have been from the battle of Tarawa in WWII. Two people working with the women's Institute are working on a social protection program. An urban planning consultant from Japan is working on a hotel project. 
Read more

Coloured Round Containers

Image
Co loured round plastic containers with lids are also seen everywhere. They are used for food and for taking home leftovers.  After attending a first birthday party on our second weekend. I am proud to say that I was given a round container with lid full of leftovers. I have it soaking lentil sprouts on the kitchen bench.   The ants are trying hard to get in but seem unlikely to succeed. I can see the round container will be very useful. I may have to buy a couple more.
Read more