Pohnpei, FSM

Well, all good things must come to an end, but we saved the best for last. Pohnpei, of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) was our final stop. The island, a lush, tropical garden situated in the Pacific about 500 miles north of the equator and a few thousand miles west of Hawaii, where it rains on average 17.5” every month, was a gorgeous location for our final mission with Project HOPE. Needless to say it rained regularly, sometimes more than four times a day, but between each quickly moving rain shower, the sun would shine and keep things nice and toasty-warm.

This weather made for interesting transport to and from the ship on the LCU (Landing Craft Utility), which has no roof or covering, so we were always praying that we would miss the rain, unfortunately it didn’t always work out how we wanted. We did get to watch a bunch of gorgeous sunrises and sunsets though. So, there were more than a few days, where if you didn’t soak your clothes sweating in the heat, you were rained on and soaked anyway.

The locals were used to the rain and heat of course, and again like in Timor Leste, despite the weather thousands of people made their way from all over the island to visit our clinics. The first week, I worked at Nanpei High School, a complex where for the first time our pharmacy was set up inside a building, and occasionally we were blessed with electricity and ceiling fans. During the second week, I was at Pohnpei hospital, where we worked alongside the Micronesian pharmacists and techs. They were great, and went out of their way to serve as translators for us, which was reassuring in that they already had some experience and training in counseling patients.

The people in general were very friendly and grateful, and many of them spoke English, which made all our jobs a little easier in that we didn’t have to rely on the interpreters as much as in Timor. The main health issues I saw were musculoskeletal problems, and so the pharmacy dispensed a lot of ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Apart from treating back and knee pain, we sent out a lot of de-worming regimens, which made up a good deal of the rest of the prescriptions. I suppose that was a good sign, but with a diet mostly consisting of fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, it is not hard to see why they were a generally healthy people.

After the clinics work was complete, the ship’s schedule changed and had to head back to San Diego a day early. As this was the last part of my rotation, quite a few people left the ship for good a day early to fly out of Pohnpei and head back home. But because our planed flights and accommodations didn’t coincide with this recent change of schedule, we were provided with other lodging. The lodging came as a surprise to the ten of us departing from Pohnpei though, as we were put up by the U.S. Ambassador and his wife at their residence. They fed us dinner with vegetables from their own garden, set up the rooms for us to sleep in, made us breakfast, and even drove us around for some souvenir shopping. It was quite an experience, and was a very special cap on the end of our time with Project HOPE. After a few more days on the island and after catching a tour to visit some waterfalls, some ancient ruins and swimming with manta rays, I did a bit of unwinding from, and finally boarded the plane and enjoyed a wonderful 33 hours of travel before arriving back at home in Virginia.

It is amazing how quickly the trip has come and gone, but it is an experience I will always remember. The wonderful people I was privileged to work with, all the people helped, the different and interesting cultures I interacted with, and the time working and living with the Navy are all irreplaceable experiences that will travel with me wherever I go. It was such a great time and I recommend it to anyone. I especially want to thank Project HOPE and Shenandoah University, but to everyone who made this possible, I want to thank you so very much.

Andy