In July 2013, a medical team of two doctors (a gastroentereologist/hepatologist/my mum and an emergency doctor) and three nurses, in collaboration with Redeemer Baptist Church, provided vaccinations against Hepatitis B and and some basic health care treatment to a remote cluster of villages in the Oro province of Papua New Guinea, known as the Barai tribe. 

Although I didn't go on this trip, I've been able to get more involved with the ever-growing team as they prepare to return in January 2014. Unlike the others, I'm not a health professional, so my role (labelled kindly as "documentarian", fancy word for "the pleb who takes some photos, writes some stuff and does some odd jobs to give an unskilled hand where they can"). To assist as a publications officer, write articles, record...

Sitting in through the meetings, if anything I've come to realise the frightening and amazing amount of preparation that is involved...transport logistics, gathering medical supplies that are essential yet locally sustainable, education resources, cultural understanding, planning for all the factors which could go wrong (of which there are many), collaboration with Redeemer and the Barai tribe leaders...planning planning planning...

It's a serious and unfamiliar world. Daunting but thrilling, I feel way out of my league.

For example, a snippet of the agenda of this morning's meeting:

• Progress update in terms of how registering the Hepatitis B Free charity, the website, constitution, logo/business cards
• Confirming flight tickets and briefly going over the itinery (a hell of a lot of walking through tropical jungle - true bush-bashing - to move from village to village, where the medics will set up clinics and treat like mad)
• Individual vs group medications for the team - which medications will be looked after for the whole group, which medications need to be brought for yourself. Eg. Post-exposure prophylaxis will be part of the group kit (this is to take in the event that you sustain a needle stick injury, as a guard against HIV and other blood-transmittable diseases.)
• Reminders to be safe, not to walk off on your own even for a minute. Basically don't be stupid, and don't die.
• Discussing water filtration - locally sourced water will not be safe to drink unless treated through top-quality water filters. Examining a lightweight, high-quality water filter that can be hooked up to a tap, and much less labor-intensive than the method used in July '13 (slow filtration, UV treatment, transferring from container to container...). Will upload a picture of the filter next year.
• Brainstorming future fundraising ideas - in addition to significant donor organisations, smaller-level fundraising will happen in 2014 (WOOT - keep an eye out for that!). It's about more than money, but raising awareness and giving people an opportunity to get involved and get their friends involved.
• Education: delegation of topics for team members to prepare short, simple (10 min) talks, as part of a health series. This includes wound care, worms, emergency first aid/ABC, childbirth. Sarah (nurse) and I were given simple hygiene/sanitation, including things like hand-washing, and a challenge to come up with some solutions for basic dental care in the tropics (think: no toothbrushes/toothpaste!)

I want to share these long-winded pointers to show the processes and preparations and thought that this team has done. It is by no means perfect, but they are fully dedicated to maximising the time, energy and resources of the trip to improve as many lives as they can, as much as they can: think 2800 people vaccinated in the space of...five days (if memory serves me right). It's a little ridiculous. 

NOTE: this ONE vaccine (The "Pentavalent vaccine") is a "combination of five vaccines in one: diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type b (the bacteria that causes meningitus, pneumonia and otitis)" (according to UNICEF http://www.unicef.org/republicadominicana/english/survival_development_12792.htm)

I can't comprehend the meaning of having nothing. I don't expect to understand the kind of NEED that this community faces, nor will I understand the slightest bit until I get down on the ground and experience it first hand.

Much more to come. Watch this space! I'd gladly appreciate any comments or feedback, and if you have been involved in something you'd like to have shared for others to learn and be inspired, this is exactly where I hope this blog will go. For now, it's primarily focused on Hepatitis B Free (for obvious reasons), but it is by no means exclusive. 

There is so, so much out there...big world. Little fish. Doing big fish things.

Carrie