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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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Vista Bringing tourism home June 2013 5
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
Bringing tourism home to the Pacific
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,
First catch your elephant
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Vista Bringing tourism home June 20136
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
Bringing tourism home to the Pacific
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Vista Bringing tourism home June 2013 7
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.
Bringing tourism home to the Pacific
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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Vista Bringing tourism home June 20138
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
Bringing tourism home to the Pacific
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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Vista Bringing tourism home June 2013 9
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.
Bringing tourism home to the Pacific
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.
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Vista Bringing tourism home June 201310
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.
Bringing tourism home to the Pacific
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
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Vista Bringing tourism home June 2013 11
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.
Bringing tourism home to the Pacific
Trampers make their way through dense bush to Lake Billy Mitchell.
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Vista Bringing tourism home June 201312
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.
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Bringing tourism home to the Pacific
Vista Bringing tourism home June 2013 13
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
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Bringing tourism home to the Pacific
Vista Bringing tourism home June 201314
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.
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Vista Bringing tourism home June 2013 15
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
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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