Yes that is right we need jumpers to fill a hole, CHILDREN’S jumpers to be exact…do you have any?

In 2009 I completed a volunteer program through Youth Challenge Australia. It lead me to a tiny village of just 175 people in the heart of Tanna Island Vanuatu, that town was Ima Imesine.

To say the journey changed me is pretty cliche but it did… and in ways I can not entirely explain. The village took us in like family despite language barriers, cultural misfits, completely different belief systems. Our departure was a three day ritual farewell that brought hours of tears and a sense of grief I had never seen expressed. We witnessed the beauty and hardship of the simply life, now when I start harping on about how much our society has lost by leaving our villages I  have a clear picture of the reality of that life, both the good and the bad.

My heart still aches when I think of all the faces I grew to know, because even though there was fulfilment in giving my time to help others I left Ima Imesine with a greater understanding of the magnitude of problems facing third world communities. It has remained in my consciousness like a black hole, I am still not entirely sure how to fill.

It is a hole that I believe we all feel, the sense of a problem so big you’re not quite sure where to start in solving it. But the fact is this black hole will be filled gradually by the simple act of each one of us picking up a shovel and adding a bit of dirt (which coincidently is the action that filled most of our days in Ima Imesine).

I met a dear friend on my trip, a fellow volunteer named Joey. If you’re looking for a big heart you will find one in her. Joey knows about the hole and yeah it scares her too but that fear doesn’t stop her. She has continued to keep Ima Imesine in her thoughts and this summer is collecting childrens jumpers to send our village for the cold winter (yes it does get cold in Vanuatu!!). SO we need kids jumpers people!! This is a shout out to all our buddies in the South East Queensland, got any second hand jumpers that need a loving home? All childrens sizes would be great! If you have them then message me on Facebook and I will arrange getting them to the right place. COME ON HELP FILL THE HOLE!!!

On a side note if any one is going to Vanuatu early next year and fancies carrying an extra bag let us know. Getting larger posted packages through customs is an expensive and sometimes corrupt process. So a jumper mule would be fantastic!