The last couple of weeks have been really weird, with a lot of really good moments, and a lot of hard ones too. Sydney's a cool city, and having all of the Peace Corps Volunteers, Trainees, Extendees, and Response in one place was pretty awesome. It was difficult not knowing for so long what was happening in Vanuatu; whether staff, communities and families were alright. Not knowing where we were going or when we would leave...only having been in Vanuatu for such a short time made it simultaneously easier and harder. I felt like I'd been here long enough to get attached, but not long enough to deserve feeling the same as the other volunteers who had been there much longer and have much deeper ties here. I'm amazed at how quickly this place and these people have captured my heart. I know that my service here will be different because of Cyclone Pam, but I'm so glad to have the chance to be back, and to see what I can do.
While my island Ambae seems relatively unchanged as far as the scenery goes, you have to understand that in a country of 250,000 people, everyone is affected in a huge way. Everyone has family, or knows someone that lives in one of the more affected areas. It's going to take a long time to recover from this.
As far as our trip back goes, we trainees were flown to Vila, then put directly on a flight to Santo (one of the least affected islands), to finish our training. It was jarring flying back into Port Vila, to see a previously lush, green, landscape, turned brown. Here's a photo I took during my first week here:
And one Keith took from almost the same spot, post-cyclone:
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