One month passed by after we had the official opening of Tarawa Health Center. Serge and I are very thankful to the volunteer, retired nurses as well as two young guys for their time and dedication to their clinical daily work. Serge is seeing patients at the clinic and is staying very busy. Currently and this past month I have been volunteering at the local Hospital. I have to admit, I’m very thankful for the experience of work I’m having at the Hospital which can’t be compared with anything else, the cases I’ve seen and the severity of the problems. And it’s exiting to make new friends among doctors and nurses of Kiribati. A great thing that our Lord gifted us is the ability to share, learn, and experience.

NADIA

Mauri Blog!
We have great news, on October 12, 2016 we had an official Tarawa Health Center Grand Opening. Our medical facility is finally recognized by the local officials. It is the first ever private clinic in the country. We had a beautiful ceremony, which was attended by many guest and government officials. Here is the list some of the speakers who were able to come and celebrate with us: Minister of Parliament Dr. Kautu Tenaua, Transpacific Union medical director Dr. Silent Tovosia, Chief Ambassador of Taiwan His Excellency Mr. Donald Lee (who’s country had sponsored construction of this building 8 years ago), Kiribati Director of Health Dr. Burentau, the president of Kiribati SDA church pastor Titau Tavita , we also had guests: Ron and Nita Clark (missionaries from Australia), Pelenise Alofa, and other pastors, church members and friends. It is a truly big day in the history of our ministry! We thank the Lord for all of you, who been involved helping with this mission project. Thank you for all your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. Our family would like to tell you: Good Work! We have truly seen God’s hand working through this entire project. We hope it is only the beginning of this Medical Center and through this clinic we will be able to serve more beautiful people of this nation, by bringing them closer to Christ through our service.
Serge Domas

Dear friends
My friend Tiria (Siria) and I had 2 weeks of good rest and good work on the island of Abemama. We were happy to have a few days of rest before we started seeing patients. Daily we saw between 10-30 patients. This time our trip didn’t turn out the way we planned and it was shortened for one week. It went better then we expected. The place we planned to stay wasn’t available, and the only other place we could stay was full of rats. So we had a great experience of sleeping by the shore. It was defiantly an unforgettable experience of waves sounds, breeze, and the bright moon. One day we had rain and all our bedding got wet. That night and several nights after we had to sleep in the local house. I told my friend to not be surprise if she’ll hear me screaming during the night, because of the rats. Sure enough, I woke my friend up with screaming and chasing a rat out of our “bed”. The next day we had a good laugh together. This time we had to cook our meals on an open fire and I got to experience REAL life on the outer island 😉 I was happy to see how local woman weave a mat (their bed, or portable mattress) and hear stories of all the work days it involves to make one of them.

We had a good time seeing people for medical checkups, back adjustments and giving away glasses. I was always happy to hear the positive reports from our patients on the treatments we provided recently and our previous family/team trip to Abemama. Their population is lacking patient education which is very needed here. Fresh salted fish, bread and rice is the main food on the islands. Most of the people have no refrigerators or freezers and they have to preserve their fish in the salt in order to provide food for their families for a couple of weeks.The majority of adults have high blood pressure, arthritis, and diabetes. A big percent of the young population has stomach ulsters. Bacterial and fungal infections are very common here, and treatments are practically not available. Most of our patients had back problems. The inner joy, satisfaction and the good reports we experienced each time after all the hard work is hard to explain.

The GREAT news we have to announce, is that the Tarawa Health Center is OFFICIALLY registered and Dr. Kautu and Serge are approved to work at the clinic. At this moment we are looking for a local nurse that could start working at the clinic and stay after our family leaves. About me – I received a phone call in Abemama from main island to return to Tarawa to start volunteering at the main hospital before they could give me an approval.

We know that God is doing His work and in His timing. Our biggest desire is to glorify Our Lord God and share the Good news with all the people around.

Our family would like to express our deepest thank you to everyone who continues supporting us in your prayers and financially. Thank you for being a part of His work on the Pacific Islands.

Nadia

Hi everyone, I got to join a health awareness program presented this week by the Kiribati Health Retreat at one of the villages on the island. A lot of work has been done by the Health Retreat and it has been nice to be a little part of it. There were about 40 people attending this program which usually lasts 4 days. The members of the program do health talks every day and teach people how to take care of their bodies. In a few previous posts I talked more in detail about the work the Health Retreat offers to their people. Basically, they do these programs every month in different villages for ministry outreach and health awareness. It’s great to see how people could benefit from this program spiritually and physically.   – Nadia

10 things you might want to ask us about how we live.
1) What was your first impression of the island?
It was hot and dirty, but the people were very kind and welcoming.
2) Where do you live?
We live in the middle of the island, right by the main road, in the Clinic.
3) What water do you use for drinking?
We use filtered rain water for drinking.
4) What do you do during your free time?
During our free time we play board/ card games, go to the beach and watch the waves, read, and/or go to the sea port to fish or just relax.
5) Do you swim?
No, we do not usually swim on the island. If we really want to swim (we usually never want to) we go to the end of the island which has a clean ocean and beach.
6) Are there any fruits and veggies on the island?
Bananas, papaya, and coconut are available at all times, since they grow on the island. There are a few stores that usually always have onion, carrots, cabbage, oranges, and apples, which are imported from Australia.
7) Is there any ice-cream or chocolate on the island?
They have a store that mostly always has ice cream that is made from rain water. It tastes pretty good, but doesn’t compare to ice-cream back home. The same store carries chocolate sometimes, but they are usually out of stock.
8) What is an example of a daily meal?
We eat lots of macaroni and canned food that we brought in the container with frozen fried veggies or cabbage salad and sometimes buy fish or chicken.
9) Are you used to the local life style?
We are not completely used to the local lifestyle, but defiantly more than before. Now we understand better why people here do the things the way they do them.
10) Do you want to go back home?
YES!!! All the time… but we are so glad that we are able to be here and help those in need.

If you have more questions about us or our mission, please feel free to comment below and we will be happy to do another Q&A sometime in the near future.               Domas Child

Howdy my virtual friends,
Two days ago our team came back from a new trip. This time we have spent ten days on the island of Abemema, we where able to see close to 400 patients. We had been provided houses by our friends from the Search for One mission. I’m glad to thank Garry and Linda Morgan for allowing us to stay in their place.
The island of Abemema is unique because it has the oldest Christian school in this nation. (Kauma Adventist High School) is nearly seventy years old. The school is an effort of many Christians, mainly Search for One mission from the US and the Clark Family from Australia. The ages of the students are 12 through 22. At this point there are approximately 160 young men and about same amount of young ladies. It is incredible to witness that many lives are being touched by  God’s spirit. On the island which has no infrastructure, good roads, electricity, clean drinking water etc. it was a true miracle to see years of work, missionaries from different countries invest into the future generation of believers. The school also has 50-60 teachers and personnel. It was a true blessing to me and my family. I realized that none of this work would even be possible without your faithful prayers and support. I had a privilege of also spending some time presenting the youth service and also Friday night meeting. Our family has made lots of new friends among the school personnel and students. One of the days we had an opportunity to borrow four motorbikes and spend that day exploring the gorgeous island. One of our local team members Tamaroauea Baiteke is originally from this island. He and another young man Tebakaro Kamaua that went with us, are both graduates of the school. They where very happy to revisit the school they lived in for a long time before. Tamaroauea also took us to his own village and introduced the team to his family. We spent one day helping his big family. He had the chance to show us his families land which looked like a beautiful Garden to us. I never knew that it takes generations to replant and grow a coconut forest. Abemema is an unusually peaceful place. I can only imagine what kind of child hood our friend had growing up in this place. Now we are back in our noisy, smelly, and hot reality, providing its own challenges. Our clinic is still waiting for the registration from the local officials. Tarawa Health Center still needs your continuous prayers. We believe that the Lord, has His great plan as always. And we choose to believe in Him day by day. I pray that the mighty God may bless you all according to His love and Mercy. Until next time yours Serge Domas

plane to Abemama

Greetings friends,
Two days ago we came back from a trip to the beautiful island of Maiana. We spent five days with a ten people team, doing medical work day by day from one village to another. The whole time being there we seen 350 – 400 patients. Usually we would divide into three teams. Daniel and Mark were In charge of the team helping people with prescription glasses. Nadia and myself where in charge of other two teams, working General Health. Deanna and Kristina were in charge of medications. About ninety percent of the population are fisherman. They lead a lifestyle of heavy smoking and eating much salty fish. This is the primary cause of their health problems. The medical problems we came up with time and time again where: Diabetes, Hypertension, Skin Disease, Back and Neck Dislocation, Ear Infections and others. The Island of Maiana has no electricity or any running water. There is one tiny road, twenty two kilometers long which connected seventeen different villages. There is only one pickup truck which belonged to the government. It was usually used as a means of transportation for the local students. Only a few people had their own private vehicles on that island. The islands main transportation where by motorcycle and bicycle. The Island of Maiana surprised us with its cleanliness and it’s hospitably from the local people. This made our stay their unforgettable! I would like to mention one of our friends, who made this trip possible. He works at the Kiribati Parliament, my deepest regards to Kauri Babo. He paid for the speedboat to transport our entire team, back and forth. Maiana is Kauri’s home island and he was very happy that we were able to go to his people, fulfilling great need in health care. One of my unforgettable experiences was, when we had the chance to visit one of the villages school on our second day of this trip. That elementary school had fifty children and three teachers. Personally I enjoyed spending time with the children, as we were checking them and talking to them about ourselves and hearing their stories. In the end we were able to take some pictures and give the kids some gifts and most importantly pray with them. Days like those make our mission worth it.
After our return back to Tarawa we are facing some new challenges, with the Kiribati Medical Board. We received news that we cannot receive any more patients at Tarawa Health Center. To make a long story short, almost six months since our arrival they are saying that we haven’t submitted all the necessary documents to them. I know that the enemy is trying really hard to stop our family from doing its work. But we are not discouraged. I ask you all to pray with us, since I am planning on having a meeting with the president of Kiribati very soon, to resolve this issue. To those who are visiting this blog, big thanks for your prayers and support! Please leave your comments, so that we know you are with us. May the Lord bless you all abundantly! To Him alone be all the Glory! Serge Domas

Greetings,
Our journey on this island has been long and hard but the fruits are starting to show from all of our collected labor.
The work with giving out glasses which I am doing has been a fulfilling task. I’m happy that there are people i can help.

There have been over 100 patients whom I was able to help going on to 200. We have an average of 7 people per day required there eyes to be checked, asking for reading glasses or those that are for distance. Very often we give each individual two pairs of glasses. Some days there is  a steady line of patents that have medical problems or require glasses, other days patients come in groups of three or four often friends.
I’m happy that I am able to work with the people of this island. I have steadily worked with patents for over a month now and I’m glad that we are of use here on the island. My favorite moments are those when there is someone who needs glasses and are often in poverty, I enjoy treating them to the best glasses and cases and it makes me happy when they here me say that everything that was given is a gift. I pray that all goes well with our readers, friends and family. God Bless             Daniel Domas