Officer enjoys stay in Honiara

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE: A mother and child made great subjects for keen photographer Adele White.

MAKING FRIENDS: Adele White with some warriors at Veravaolu village.

HELP APPRECIATED: The contingent left their towels behind for a maternity hospital.

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LOCAL VILLAGERS: A woman and child wait to see the doctor.

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A Howick police officer who took on Third World conditions to make a contribution would jump at the chance to do it again.

Senior constable Adele White was part of the regional assistance mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

She relished the eight-month challenge last year and says she didn’t have any fears about going.

There was an element of "the unknown" but she felt training before she left prepared her well.

"It’s life-changing to work with a totally different community and to see that people who have materially very little are generally pretty happy with their lot."

She says the children would radiate happiness as they played with an old tyre and a stick, while children here with PlayStations and Xboxes are not happy if they don’t have enough games.

Based in Honiara, Ms White worked in public affairs combined with some community policing alongside staff from 15 Pacific countries.

"We were made to feel welcome wherever we went. The New Zealand police have a very good standing there, they really seem to like us."

Travelling to other villages could be a hair-raising experience. A normal route involved negotiating roads that involved scaling banks, driving through fields where the grass was higher than the truck, and crossing swamps and wide rivers.

"I think New Zealanders do well working at the outposts because we have that sense of adventure."

Ms White visited maternity hospitals as part of her interest in childbirth education and persuaded the contingent to leave behind bath towels for them.

"The schools are incredibly under-resourced and yet the teachers seem to make do with the little they have and the children always have smiles on their faces.

"It was wonderful to be able to take things to them that friends and colleagues sent over."

She was sent supplies from home to distribute to needy people that included boxes of reading glasses. Some of the glasses were bought from the $2 Shop which she says shows how a small amount
of money has a huge impact for those living in poverty.

The Solomon Islands held "an element of danger" but Ms White felt well-trained to deal with it. She says periodically tensions flare up around election time.

Leaving was an emotional and re-adjusting to life back at home was difficult.

"I had gone over fully open to life over there and I really embraced it. I felt I was making a difference and I had only touched on a job that I was really loving," she says.

"I underestimated the friendships that I would form and it was a very sad parting, leaving behind people I had formed a great bond with over that time."

- © Fairfax NZ News