I’m here!

We arrived in Honiara yesterday on a beautiful sunny day – quite a contrast to what we left behind in Wellington!

We headed straight to the UNICEF headquarters, where we met the amazing team of staff who work on UNICEF projects throughout the Solomon Islands. They gave us a very insightful briefing about the issues facing children in the Islands and we were blown away by some of the statistics.

I was most distressed by the fact that 91% of girls are believed to have been sexually exploited-sometimes by sailors and men who work in the logging industry. But the other statistics were not much better – 33% of people in the Solomon Islands are living in poverty, and only 23% of children go to secondary school!

And all this is happening right on our back door step!

I am very excited about what is in store for us today. We are meeting some Government officials and flying to Gizo, where we will have the privilege of visiting some UNICEF projects and meeting some local children.

I will be blogging again this evening so watch this space for updates.

In the mean time, why don’t you visit our website to find out more about our work in the Solomons.

Bye for now,
Dennis.