For some time the two of us have been interested in short term mission trips and travel that gives something back to the community. As we are both high school teachers the opportunity to use our skills voluntarily appealed to us. While considering the possibility of a trip like this we discovered Uplift Tours and Travel in a Christian Business Directory. After looking at their website we discovered their ‘volunteer then relax’ trips which includes a period of volunteer work with various organisations, followed by a holiday. We made contact with Uplift and a short time later they had found an opportunity for us to teach at Jehovah Jireh Christian School in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Day 1 – The adventure begins! We flew from Sydney to Port Vila, which was a relatively short flight. Port Vila International Airport is a quaint and somewhat run-down airport. We were pleasantly greeted by a local musical group playing traditional songs. We spent the afternoon settling in and familiarising ourselves with Port Vila.
Day 2 – We were met by Jehovah Jireh’s principal, Lloyd, at our hotel. She walked with us for the short trip from the hotel to the school, giving us an insight to what we were to expect for the coming week. On arrival, we discovered that the school building is owned by a church, with temporary furniture used by the students during the week. It was a very basic building, certainly very different to most school buildings here in Australia. We were introduced to the students who had already begun their school day and immediately started getting to know them and assisting them with their work.
Day 3 – Our volunteer work continued. Jehovah Jireh short term mission trips operates on an individual, self-paced learning programme, using home schooling materials written in Australia and New Zealand. Students were very shy and hesitant to ask for assistance. Being a mission school, most of the teachers were untrained, only having a high school education themselves. Despite this, the students were very self-motivated and worked hard throughout a comparatively long school day, beginning at 8am and concluding at 3.30pm.
Day 4 – The school day started with a time of devotions which we had been asked to lead. Having had little time to get to know the students we decided to share our testimonies. There were considerably more students at school on this day due to it being sport day. The usual class time continued until lunch, which was then followed by the girls playing volleyball and the boys playing soccer. We had the opportunity to talk with some of the older girls during the afternoon. It was great to get to know them a little better. They shared with us what it is like to be a teenager in Vanuatu and some of the temptations that they face, which are quite similar to those faced by teenagers in Australia.
Day 5 – This morning we were once again asked to lead devotions. Having been made aware of some of the apparent struggles within the students at the school we decided to focus our devotion on spiritual battles. We concentrated on passages from Hebrews 4, Luke 4 and 1 Corinthians 10. Student attendance was significantly lower on this day. We asked Tari, the secondary teacher, about this and he reflected on the difficulties that the students have to regularly attend pressures and a low priority on Christian education were some of the reasons mentioned.
Day 6 – A group discussion started our final day at Jehovah Jireh. The discussion was on the topic of forgiveness. The previous afternoon Tari had set some ‘homework’ for the students to talk to their families about this topic. The discussion went for well over an hour as a number of students shared their thoughts. Most of the students that shared came from Christian homes. One of the older students, Wilkinson, who had experience preaching in his local church shared passionately about the topic. Their maturity and insight was an encouragement to us. The school day finished at lunchtime and just prior to this we were farewelled by the staff and students. It had been a great week getting to know the students and helping them with their studies. It was a blessing to watch them open up and share some good discussions with us. It was sad to say goodbye.
Feeling encouraged and blessed after our time at Jehovah Jireh we commenced our week of relaxation. This started with an early morning flight to Tanna Island to experience more of the culture and specifically to see Mt Yasur, which is an active volcano. Flat tyre and all, we eventually made it to our night viewing of the erupting volcano, an example of God’s awesome creation. Following this we returned to Port Vila, spent a few days relaxing at our resort and concluded with a tour around the island of Efate.
The communication from and preparation by the staff at Uplift Tours and Travel was first-rate and led to a smooth and stress-free experience. Overall, we felt challenged, blessed, encouraged and thankful that we had this opportunity.
Authors:
Eleasha Vos and Megan Talintyre
Tags: chistian school, Jehovah Jireh, mission trips, vanuatu