Mission Opportunities

Short Term Opportunities (1-5 Weeks)

Want to go on a short term Mission? A number of teams are being organised for later this year or next year.

1. BUILDING TEAM TO REFURBISH ONE ONE CLINIC IN NORTH MAILATA. (June 24th to July 10th 2006)

The One One clinic (pronounced oney oney) in North Malaita has become run down and almost inoperable due to the ethnic tension and lack of finance for maintenance. The team from Wollongong CRC will rebuild and upgrade this clinic. Maliata is a short flight (30 mins) or a two hour fast boat trip from Honiara. One One is about 2 hours north of the Auki port, but truck. Contact Jack for further information.

2. BUILDING/MINISTRY TEAM TO JEJEVO IN SANTA ISABEL. (Late September to Mid October 2006).

A team from the Wamberal Christian Reformed Church near Gosford, NSW is currently preparing to come and rebuild this Clinic on the west coast of Santa Isabel. Joining the team will be a group of people doing outreach ministry. Also there will be some members skilled in nursing who plan to teach the village women about good, healthy and clean habits to better care for their families.Contact Jack or Machi for more information. The building team is expected to arive a little earlier than the ministry and health team.

3. MINISTRY TEAM TO WHEREVER.

If you have a desire to organise your own team for any kind of outreach, preaching, teaching, kids, youth work, dressing clinic or music ministry. Contact Machi. Several options are available in this area. If you want a life changing, faith challenging experience with God, this is the mission for you. Ministry teams usually come for 2 or 3 weeks. Locations can be in Honiara, closer to "creature comforts", or out in provinces on one of the islands which can be reached by boat or plane. Several Christian schools have found this a great place to bring their year 10 to 12 students for a real cross cultural and faith challenging experience.

4. SHORT TERM OR LONG TERM SERVICE MISSION.

In the past, we have placed various short term workers in volunteer positions. Nursing, School teaching, lecturing in a Bible college, dental work, occupational therapy, building skills, and more. Whatever you want to do, we will try to find you a placement. As long as you have the skills or qualifications, this is the place for you. However, you will need to be self funded.

Contact Machi for further details. Long term arrangements can also be made. Currently, we have a school teacher entering her third year of teaching here. Jenny originally came for one year, but she is enjoying her work and this country so much she has decided to stay on.

5. SWIM BASE ASSISTANCE

Come and live on the base, and assist with the general care of the base and see some of the ongoing local ministry projects. We can also organize some small projects around the hospital, or the Wycliffe centre. Sorry, no air-conditioning, but plenty of new experiences. Suit handyman, all rounder, single people, retired couple looking for a new experience etc. Available almost anytime.

Want to go to other places with SWIM apart from Solomon Islands? Contact Jonathan Vandenberg

Medium Term Opportunities (1-6 Months)

Healthworker Placements

We can assist with finding placements for healthcare workers, particularly students doing final year practicals. We've recently had 2 Occupational Therapists; Ana & Zeena (right) doing a very successful 10 week placement, mainly in Honiara. Nursing, Physiotherapy, Dental and Medical positions can be found. Please allow adequate lead up time for finding and arranging placements.

Other areas such as computer, horticulture, agriculture etc may also be possible.

Longer Term Opportunities (6 Months - 3 years)

There are some longer term opportunities available, such as those listed below. Though none of these are specific, we are more than willing to negotiate with various groups/churches/institutions to arrange for a placement for you. Please indicate which area you might be interested in and what skills, qualifications and experience you have.

1. TEACHERS

Some of the schools in Solomon Islands have the ability to place teachers, both primary and secondary for anything from a year and upwards. Many of the schools are run by the mainline churches, and others by the Government, Province or local community. It would be easier to negotiate a position with one of the church run schools. Rates of pay would be comparable to local teachers, if accepted into the Government system. This could be run in conjunction with Australian Volunteers International.

2. PROPERTY MANAGERS

Positions for one or two years can be negotiated either with schools, clinics, or rural training centers. Duties would involve managing, maintaining and upgrading the resources and properties of the particular institutions. In many of these places, it could incorporate the training of local staff in these duties. It may also include the setting up of self sufficiency programs such as gardens, poultry, piggery etc.

3. HEALTHCARE WORKERS

Positions for nurses, dentists, doctors and other auxiliary medical services can also be found. These positions would probably be self-sponsored.

4. THEOLOGICAL LECTURERS

Anyone with a good theological education willing to assist local churches with their theological training will be most welcome. The United Church is usually looking for assistance in this area, but work with other churches might also be possible.