In April last year, my son, Mr Byrne (TAS), submitted an article about a mission trip I made to the island of Tanna in Vanuatu.

The purpose of the trip was to carry out all the plumbing and drainage work for a new maternity hospital on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu.

The new hospital is designed to provide much-needed maternity care to the entire Tafea province, which consists of the following islands: Tanna, Aneityum, Futuna, Erromango, and Aniwa.

The main hospital serving the province is in the town of Lenakel on Tanna, and it was adjacent to this hospital that the new maternity hospital was built.

It’s interesting to note that there is only one Doctor for this entire province, which consists of about 35,000 people.

The building and completion of the new maternity hospital has been the central focus of a Toowoomba-based Christian charity called the Tafea Health Care Association.

The charity is headed up by a dynamic lady called Jeannie Barton, and the project has been 12 years in the making.  They have managed to raise over $750,000.00 dollars to fund the construction of the new hospital and shipped to Tanna ten 40-foot shipping containers filled with all the building materials.

Construction started in 2024; however, by February 2025, the work had come to a standstill because they had no capability to do the plumbing and drainage.

It was about this time that I found out about the project and, as I have been a plumber all my working life, I felt that I could help.  After discussing it with my family, the decision was made that I would go.

I managed to take time off from my work on the Property Team at the school and spent two and a half weeks there in March and early April this year.

Physically, I found it extremely challenging; however, the satisfaction and privilege of being able to help certainly outweighed any hardship.

Whilst there, I managed to inspect the existing maternity unit in the hospital and found the conditions to be extremely basic at best.  There were two birthing beds about a metre apart with a simple curtain separating them.  I was told that it is quite common for both beds to be in use at the same time.

At the end of my time there, I had managed to install 2 septic tanks, approximately 80m of absorption trenching, drainage and water supply to 10 hand basins, 1 dirty utility sink, 1 kitchen sink, 2 stainless steel wash sinks, 1 cleaner’s sink, 2 showers, 3 toilets and 2 roof mounted solar hot water heaters and the building was able to progress towards completion.

The solar hot water heaters were particularly satisfying when you consider that the main hospital, which is nearly 50 years old, does not and has never had a single hot water outlet in its existence!

The new maternity hospital is clean, hygienic, and offers expert care and dignity to the birthing mothers of the province.

Back in June this year, my wife and I received an invitation to attend the official opening of the new Maternity Hospital, which has been called The Jehovah Jireh Birthing Hospital.

The opening was planned for 2^nd October, and my wife and I decided to go as it would be great to see the building finished and handed over to the people.

Fortunately for us, the dates coincided with our 40^th wedding anniversary and an annual mission trip that we make every October to assist at the Scripture Union Christian Campsite at Port Vila.

We arrived in Lenakel for the opening, and it was fantastic to see the building complete and looking wonderful.

The opening ceremony was beautiful and filled with colour, singing, and speeches,s all in the local trade language of Bislama!

One of the extra features has been the erection of a large bell that is rung every time a new baby is born, and because the hospital is built on a hill overlooking the town, everybody is able to hear it.

Whilst on Tanna, we had the opportunity of visiting a primary school up in the remote hill country in the central part of the island.

The school was called the Loanuialu Central School with a student population of about 200.  All the children had a yellow uniform, and every one of them walked miles to school every day.

The local trade language is Bislama; however, English, French,h and their local tribal languages are also spoken, and it is quite common for people to speak 3 different languages.

All school education is taught in English, as they realise that children need to be proficient in this, as it will give them more opportunities in life.

It was great to visit the classrooms and see examples of the children’s work up on the walls and on the blackboard.

After arriving back home again, we were amazed to be told that in the first 2 weeks of full operation, 85 babies had been delivered in the hospital!  This is an incredible number and represents many mothers now choosing to come to this purpose-built facility to deliver their babies instead of having them at home in their villages.

It has been a privilege for me as a member of the college staff to be able to uphold the college virtues of compassion, courage, hope, humility, and integrity, and to simply use my skills in helping others.

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