General News from Solomon Islands

Today Solomon Islands has celebrated its 25th anniversary of independence. Christian Himmelberger joined in.

The flag and the nation could use a fresh breeze, more than ever...	The General Governor (with flower wreath) inspecting the police corps
Various bands were playing at the Cultural Village between 12am and 7pm. People were in quite a happy and peaceful mood.	Sticker, distributed by the National Peace Council

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From 1990 to 2001 the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita dropped by 14%.

Today the parliament has unanimously passed a legislation change to allow for a foreign intervention force.

The first Australian troops and police units are expected to arrive next Thursday. Teams from other countries will follow later.

The first Australian intervention troops and police units arrived in Solomon Islands by warship HMAS Manoora and Hercules aircrafts. Everyday life in Honiara continues as usual.

Question to volunteers at NRH: did you notice any changes in everyday life in Honiara since the intervention troops arrived in Solomon Islands? E.g. prices going up?

Everyday life is continuing as usual and people are happy to have some help from foreigners. All the betel nut sellers disappeared and also the garbage. Honiara became a clean city.

Perhaps prices of handicrafts have gone up since the arrival of the intervention troops. We see prices increase regularly, e.g. the news paper has gone up from SBD 2.50 in spring to SBD 3.00 now, but hardly because of the troops. In little shops prices sometimes go up by up to 20%, maybe due to increasing fuel prices.

Members of the intervention troops are not allowed to buy goods from local stores, shops and markets in and around Honiara without being specifically authorized. Violators of this rule will face disciplinary action and may be sent home.

Right now there are three rifle companies in Solomon Islands: one from Australia, one from Fiji, and a "Pacific Island Countries" company with soldiers from Australia, Tonga and Papua New Guinea.

The military commander explained that the rule is not about banning soldiers from local shopping, but about limiting the number of soldiers in town at the same time. By requiring authorization overwhelming Honiara by a large number of troops can be avoided.

	From left to right: Christian Himmelberger (volunteer doctor), Jon Andri Lutz (volunteer doctor), Harrieth, Jessica Delarue (volunteer medical secretary), Priska Züger (volunteer nurse) and Philipp Schmid (volunteer doctor) gathered on 1st August to have raclette (Swiss cheese dish) and ...
	according to an old custom light a fire in the night

SIEA (Solomon Islands Electricity Authority) has asked RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands) to help with their ongoing power supply problems. AusAID experts had a look at the situation and have already done an emergency repair of the hospitals's back-up generator. The main power station needs extensive repairs estimated to be around AUD 150,000.

• Currently there are about 2,000 soldiers, police officers and other personnel from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tonga in Solomon Islands.
• 17 Australian financial advisors are assisting the Ministry of Finance.
• An ultimatum to members of the police force to return illegal weapons and ammunition as well as stolen goods resulted in the return of 38 weapons, about 2,000 rounds of ammunition, and four 4-wheel drive vehicles.
• Talks with militia leaders and a three-week weapon amnesty turned up more than 3,000 weapons (among them close to 600 military style weapons) and more than 300,000 rounds of ammunition.
• The notorious rebel leader Harald Keke and his associates have surrendered and been taken into custody.

By Jessica Delarue

Betel nut seller in Chinatown	Students wearing their school uniforms

As of today the airport in Honiara is no longer called "Henderson International Airport", but "Honiara International Airport - Henderson Field".

Why a new name? The Department of Infrastructures said the name was too old and a new one was needed. Because Japan recently invested a lot of money into the reconstruction and expansion of the airport, a name with a relation to Japan was considered. Understandably, this angered US veterans as well as many Solomon Islanders. So finally a neutral name was selected instead.

The airfield was built by the Japanese in 1942 and shortly thereafter taken and used by the Americans in the Battle of Guadalcanal. It was named after Major Lofton Henderson , the first US Marine pilot to die in the Battle of Midway in 1942.

• As of today a total of 3,620 weapons were handed in, among them 658 military style weapons. About 200 military style weapons may not have been handed in yet.
• Meanwhile, Harald Keke and two of his associates have been charged.
• Three local police officers and two special constables have been dismissed, about 10 members of the police force haven been arrested and charged.
• Currently there are 252 foreign police officers in Solomon Islands: 187 from Australia, 33 from New Zealand, 15 from Fiji, 10 from Tonga, 5 from Kiribati und 2 from Cook Islands.
• A new high security prison wing was opened in Honiara.
• A total of 18 police stations will be built in the country, eight of them are already operational (four in Guadalcanal, two in Malaita, one in the Central and one in the Western Province).
• Australia has paid a total amount of just over 3 million USD to the World Bank and ADB (Asian Development Bank) to cover the debt arrears owed by Solomon Islands.
• New Zealand will provide about USD 600,000 for the improvement of the electric power supply in Honiara.
• Australia has revised its travel advisory, it no longer advises against traveling to Solomon Islands, but still asks to be cautious.

A modified 50kVA generator running on coconut oil supplies power to Lata (Temotu Province) for a week now. There were a few problems with the oil not being clean enough and clogging the filter, but apart from that everything works fine. During the next three months the long-term viability of using coconut oil to fuel the generator will be tested.

Today, many residents of Honiara have removed litter from the steets along the main road and cut long grass short. Members of RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands) have distributed empty plastic bags and brought the full bags with trucks to the garbage dump. The day before, the Honiara Beautification Committee had asked people to support RAMSI in this campaign.

There are 60 internet access lines in Honiara, but only 30 of them can be used simultaneously, however, this never caused problems. But since the start of RAMSI quite often 30 lines are used at the same time, and further users get a message to please try again later.

Solomon Telekom was not prepared for this sudden increase of internet use, and is now going to expand its internet access capacity.

• A considerable number of members of the Guadalcanal Liberation Front (GLF), the Central Neutral Force (CNF, Central-Guadalcanal) and the Malaita Eagle Forces (MEF), have been arrested and charged. Among those taken into custody are two leaders of the MEF, Moses Su'u and Jimmy "Rasta" Lusibaea, and the leader of the CNF, "Satan" Stanley Kaoni.
• Since the start of the mission more than 20 police officers, among them a police inspector, have been arrested, charged and in some cases already sentenced.
• Another three police posts were opened. (Munda, Western Province, Babanikira, Weathercoast (Southcoast) of Guadalcanal, and Lata, Temotu Province.)
• Japan has revised its travel advisory, it no longer warns against traveling to Solomon Islands in general, and to defer all travels to South Guadalcanal and Malaita, but still asks to be cautious when traveling to the latter regions.
• Until the end of the year, the number of troops (but not the police force) is expected to be reduced to about one third.

• Another high rank police officer has been arrested, the 30th member of the police fore to be arrested since the start of RAMSI.
• Another leader of the Guadalcanal Liberation Front (GLF), Steve Peter, has been arrested.
• Australian and New Zealand troops have been withdrawn from the Weathercoast (Southcoast) of Guadalcanal.
• The number of Australian troops in Solomon Islands has been reduced.
• Another police officer has been convicted.
• Leading members of the Family Charity Fund have been sentenced to several years prison and compensation payments of SBD 2.4 million.
• As of beginning of October the Government is paying rents and electricity bills in time for the first time in several years.
• Important donors like e.g. the World Bank or Asian Development Bank are resuming talks with the Solomon Islands Government.
• According to Nick Warner, head of the intervention mission, Honiara is now a safer place than Sydney or Melbourne.

Jessica Delarue and Jon Lutz

From Honiara...	and Payerne, Switzerland

• A detective inspector was arrested and charged, the 33rd member of the police force to be arrested since the start of RAMSI.
• A former leader of the Isatabu Freedom Movement (IFM), Andrew Te'e, was arrested and charged.
• Two former leaders oft the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF), Leslie Kwaiga and Malcolm Lake, were arrested and charged.
• More than 700 persons (among them 42 members of the police force) have been arrested and more than 1,100 charges laid since the start of RAMSI.
• More than 200 refugees from the Weathercoast left the camp outside Honiara and returned to their villages.
• Public servants are now paid on time.
• Up to now, the Ministry of Finance has identified 50 persons on the payroll who were not registered as employees.
• Solomon Islands is no longer on the list of countries under the scrutiny of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, C-MAG.
• A vessel was prevented from leaving the harbour of Honiara with 400 instead of the allowed 300 passengers.

Health Services

As of today the Honiara city clinics are open again, after the salary arrears (for some five, for others six) have been paid.

Christian Himmelberger writes:

Today is Dr Shah's last working day at NRH. Like Dr Oberli, the anesthetist spent the last ten years in Honiara. He and his wife provided a magnificent farewell lunch for all OT personnel. We all thank him very much for his tremendous dedication.

Dr Shah and his wife	Everybody enjoys the meal

Back row (from left to right): Harrieth, Christian Himmelberger (volunteer doctor), Martin Keller (medical student); middle row: Gregor Hutter (medical student) Jessica Delarue (volunteer medical secretary), Sarah Schwertz (volunteer doctor), Rahel Leimbacher (volunteer kindergarten teacher); front row: Jon Andri Lutz (volunteer doctor), Matthias Walting (volunteer doctor), Natalie Stouder (volunteer nurse).

The picture was taken in mid-June. Click on picture to enlarge it. Standing (from left to right): Dr Rooney Jagilly, Dr Chester Kuma, Dr Christian Himmelberger, Dr Patrick Houasia, Dr Ien Puia, Dr David Danitofea, Dr Hermann Oberli, students Martin Keller and Gregor Hutter; in front: Dr Jon Andri Lutz and Dr Matthias Walting

Drugs and medical supplies worth AUD 440'000 and paid for by AusAID are expected to arrive in Honiara next week. This should prevent important drugs from running out and assist the treatment of an outbreak of yaws.

Additionally, delivery of chlorine for water purification is expected, too. Currently drinking water cannot be sufficiently chlorinated due to lack of funds, and people are urged to boil the tap water before use.

Medical supplies from AusAID and the National Medical Store have been distributed to several provinces with a Caribou aircraft and others will be brought to the Weathercoast (south coast) of Guadalcanal by the HMAS Manoora.

After a stay of about five weeks Mrs and Mr Hurwitz from Switzerland have left Solomon Islands last Thursday. Pathologist Dr Nina Hurwitz was here to verify the results of the telepathology cases and help improve the process. Surgeon Dr Peter Hurwitz passed on his knowledge and experience in the surgical department.

They invited to a farewell drink last Wednesday, where the pictures below were taken.

Dr Peter Hurwitz giving a talk about plastic surgery
Dr Nina Hurwitz and Dr Chester Kuma	from left: Dr Alex Munamua, Dr Chester Kuma and Dr Philipp Schmid

Today the Japanese Chargé d'Affaire officially handed over the renovated Solomon Islands Malaria Training and Research Institute SIMTRI and 54 microscopes with accessories to the Ministry of Health. The renovation cost of the SIMTRI building complex was nearly SBD 230,000, and the microscopes, which will be used for diagnostic services throughout the country, are worth about SBD 372,000.

Solomon Islands hopes to eradicate malaria in some of the provinces in 2004.

Medical student Corinne Thür from Switzerland joined the surgical team end of last month.

Dr Jon Andri Lutz and medical student Corinne Thür	from left: Corinne Thür, nurse Grace, Dr Jon Andri Lutz, senior nursing officer Vanita, nurse Edna

Today 26 nurses have graduated and received full registration together with five nurse aids. The nurses will go to various health centers in the country, while the nurse aids will work in Honiara.

When a mother was going through complications in delivering her baby, a helicopter of the intervention troops airlifted them from Auki to the National Referral Hospital in Honiara. Thanks to the quick transportation, the mother and her baby are both well.

Hospital personnel and patients at the National Referral Hospital are pleased with RAMSI, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands. They can live and work in the hospital without fear and disturbances again, and wages and salaries are paid on time. The employees hope to receive various outstanding contractual allowances soon.

Rove Health Clinic in Honiara, which was in a pretty bad shape, was renovated with support from AusAID and 10 crew members of a maintenance group of the HMAS "Manoora" who helped with painting walls, repairs and installations.

The Rove Health Clinic, which will re-open tomorrow, serves around 10,000 people and takes care of about 70 patients a day.

AusAID supports the renovation of Kilu'ufi Hospital in Auki (Malaita Province) with up to SBD 750,000. The money will be used to repair the water supply, to complete a new hospital section, for general maintenance work, and to buy medical and repair equipment. Work on the project is expected to start soon.

The Rural Health Center in Taro, the provincial capital of Choiseul, is to be upgraded to a hospital. About SBD 400,000 are needed for materials, the actual building will be done by volunteers. A fund raising campaign in and around Taro last week netted about SBD 30,000. Another campaign will start in Honiara on Saturday.

Once finished, the hospital is expected to provide medical services to people from Choiseul, the Shortland Islands, West Vella and even South Bougainville (Papua New Guinea). At this time there is only one hospital in Sasamunga serving the whole province and patients often have to be sent to Gizo or Honiara.

31.08.04 Addendum: According to Dr Millar, director of Taro Hospital, the fund raising campaign in and around Taro actually netted SBD 100,000 and because Sasamunga Hospital has no doctor at present (the last doctor left after his three-year contract with eed expired in 2002) and is without a functional lab or x-ray facility, it refers its cases to Taro Hospital.

A vaccination and yaws campaign was officially started in Temotu Province on Monday, although there is a shortage of Benzathin, vaccines, syringes, needles etc. There is hope that RAMSI will soon bring in the supplies by plane. The campaign, part of EPI (Expanded Programme on Immunization), is funded by Taiwan, AusAID and WHO.

According to the Director of Provincial Health Services, Dr Günter Kittel, the number of yaws cases has increased to more than 4,000, which corresponds to about 20% of the population. Most affected are the Reef Islands.

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services has received protective equipment against SARS (protective clothing, desinfectants, and laboratory equipment) worth about SBD 70,000 from Japan. At the APEC Health Ministers' meeting in Bangkok in June this year it was agreed, that every country should be prepared for another SARS outbreak.

Finally a RAMSI plane fully loaded with the expected medical supplies arrived in Lata yesterday. On the way back a child with a severe eye injury was brought to NRH in Honiara.

A Solomon Airlines and a RAMSI plane landed in Lata last Thursday, but non of them had any medical supplies on board.

According to Ray Skinner, Director of the National Pharmacy, there is currently no lack of money, but a lack of transport to distribute the goods in the country.

A RAMSI helicopter airlifted a prematurely born baby with breathing problems from the Mbabanakira Clinic on the Weathercoast of Guadalcanal to the National Referral Hospital last night. The baby was treated at the hospital and his condition is stable now.

Some people who witnessed the arrival of the transport at the hospital wondered how such emergency cases would be handled once RAMSI left the country.

A center for continuing education of health care workers was opened at the School of Nursing on the campus of the Solomon Islands College for Higher Education (SICHE) in Honiara today. Initiated by WHO, the project named "Open Learning Health Net" is financed by the Japanese Government and implemented by the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. The center has the necessary course materials and computer workstations with Internet access. The network will connect 10 such centers in the following 10 Pacific countries: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Links to WHO pdf documents:

Pacific Open Learning Health Network

Web sites:

Pacific Open Learning Health Net
Pacific Health Net COL Knowledge Finder

The Solomon Islands Copra Exporters PTY Limited handed over 10 boxes of syringes, 10 wheelchairs with spare parts, some hygiene chairs, as well as four walking aids and crutches to NRH today. The director of the company promised to continue to support the hospital in the future.

Nurse in charge of the Emergency Department at NRH, John Kili noticed an increase of diarrhoea cases during the last few days. He warned parents not to give children unboiled tap water, as this may have been the cause of the diarrhoea outbreak. Further, he advised parents to carefully clean eating and cooking utensils, prepare food in a clean environment, and make sure children have clean hands before eating food.

The Governor General recently invested John Kili with a bronze Solomon Islands Medal for his services in the nursing field.

Thanks to a new People First Net Station in Seghe (New Georgia, Western Province) the local hospital has now access to e-mail. Health workers were shown how to to use e-mail to contact doctors or hospitals in Solomon Islands or overseas, to transfer health related data, to search for information on the Internet, and use the system for continuing education.

A number of students from Solomon Islands successfully graduated at Fiji School of Medicine:

• two in dental surgery
• four in medicine and surgery
• one as a Master in gynecology and obstetrics. He was also awarded for being the best student in those fields.

Others graduated in environmental health, anesthesia, and reproductive health.

As part of an ongoing aid project Taiwan pays SBD 2,000,000 for the construction of a maintenance building with workshops and storage rooms for NRH. The construction of a multipurpose building with a lecture room, a library, and offices will follow later.

Vincent Tobe (left) from Switzerland and Peter Brookfield from Australia

Peter left Honiara yesterday, Vincent is going to stay until end of January 2004.

Media and Reports

New pictures on our page about Honiara and in the picture gallery.

Two Solomon Star articles:

• Dr Oberli leaves after 10 years
• A doctor with heart for SI

Two new pictures in the Picture Gallery 3: information on a toilet door in several languages (please note the influence of visitors from Switzerland), and how intraocular pressure is reduced before a cataract operation.

Another filled in questionnaire.

Un week-end à Maravagi, another report (in French) by Jessica Delarue.

Another filled in questionnaire.

Note: unfortunately, this questionnaire had to be filled in and sent two times. The confirmation screen you see after sending the questionnaire does not guarantee the form has actually arrived in the webmaster's mailbox. If all is well, you will receive an e-mail from the webmaster after a few days that your questionnaire has been uploaded to the web site. If you sent us a questionnaire but never received such a mail, please try again. Thank you.

Another filled in questionnaire.

New pictures on our page about Honiara and in the Picture Gallery 3. And here are two more snap shots by Jessica Delarue:

RAMSI vehicle at Mendana Avenue in Honiara	Girl students

Two filled in questionnaires: FO0301 and MS0303.

At the end of his new report (in German) Gedanken nach einem Volontäreinsatz auf den Salomon-Inseln (Reflections after doing volunteer service in Solomon Islands) Christian Himmelberger writes in English:

And now I want to take the opportunity to thank all the involved people who helped me a lot during my year in the National Referral Hospital. Dr. Lazarus I thank you for your support, it was a pleasure to meet you. You know what is up for the future. Dr. Pana I wish you all the best and good moments in the future, may God be with you. Philipp I will see you soon in Switzerland, be strong. Dr. Patrick thank you for all your instructions, especially the technical advises when it came to the removal of External Fixators. I appreciated your hard working, especially in the fracture clinic and in the ward, where you did most of the preparations for the orthopaedic patients, i.e. checking Hb-results, checking the consent form signed and the blood-units ready or not. Thanks also for your tips in the Minor OT. Big thank you to all the OT-Staff. Thanks for the service and the smile even on rainy days. Especially Esther, you just knew everything concerning screwdriver, spanner, k-wire and Co. Thank you Dr. Kaeni and Dr. Shah for your big trust in me after teaching me in anaesthetic skills and tasks. Thank you Dr. Oberli for your orthopaedic and surgical instructions. You gave me hard times, but yourself went ahead as an example of hard working, serious and detail loving performance. Thank you Elisabeth Oberli for your support, I really loved and appreciated your cooking, whenever I was invited at your place.

To the Solomons and its people: mi laikem iu tumas, lukim iu.

Christian Himmelberger

Another filled in questionnaire.

A picture illustrating lunch at the hospital.

• Lifhaus Solomon Island News with news and pictures from Solomon Islands. A private web site by a Solomon Islander living abroad.
• Operation Anode, web site of the Australian Defence Department with information about the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands and many pictures and videos.

Another filled in questionnaire.

A Guestbook for your opinion or comments.

Another filled in questionnaire.

Another filled in questionnaire.

Another filled in questionnaire.

Another filled in questionnaire.

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