WARM ocean and beautiful coral will soon be but a memory for former West Devon GP Rupert Gude and his wife, Annie, who have just returned to their home town, after a year working as VSO volunteers in Vanuatu, a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean.

It is the second time Rupert and Annie have done voluntary work for VSO — following his retirement from Tavistock's Abbey Surgery in 2006 the couple worked in Tanzania for 15 months.

Rupert said: 'We were posted to a hospital in Kagera on the west side of Lake Victoria. I worked in HIV outpatients where about 500 patients attended. Half were on antiretroviral treatment and half were being monitored before starting.

'Annie worked in the Maternal and Child Health clinic and was the link person to the HIV clinic. The prevalence rate was about 8% and we were registering about 30 new patients every month.

'Our work was mainly improving the system. The nurses had a good standard and by the end of our 15 months we felt we had helped make it more efficient and effective.'

Rupert and Annie returned to the UK two years ago, but when a post for a family planning/sexual health nurse became available through VSO in Vanuatu, Annie jumped at the chance, with Rupert accompanying her.

He said: 'We arrived in February 2011 and were posted to Luganville, a town of about 10,000 on Santo. Annie was working with two non-profit organisations.

'Vanuatu Family Health Association is a family planning clinic which also gave general health care, especially to mothers and children.

'The other organisation Annie worked for was the sexual health/family planning clinic at the Northern Care Youth Centre (NCYC) which was run by Wan Smolbag, a theatrical group that made videos, put on plays and generally provided good education for young people about all kind of topics from drugs to sexual health to disability and corruption.

'Her role was mainly supportive, helping to make things run smoother as well as giving advice and sharing problems with the NiVanuatu nurses.

'She helped guide and set up a "teenage pregnancy" workshop that met once a week and took groups of 10 to 15 teenage girls from different suburbs and taught them about sexual and reproductive health and how to avoid unwanted pregnancy. This eventually became a very successful programme and in 2012 will expand to target young urban out of work boys and youth.'

Rupert obtained a post with the ministry of health, working in the outpatient department of the hospital, providing general practice care.

'Most of my time was spent trying to improve the standard of the nurses, who provide 90% of the health care. Many of the clinics are in isolated areas that are difficult to get to and they rarely have visitors.'

Rupert said he would always remember the warmth of the air in the islands, the huge distances between them, even between villages — and the difficulty of life in those villages — plus the communal living, sharing of resources and co-operation between clans.

'We were very fortunate in Luganville in having a lovely house, electricity and good running water. The shops sold everything one could want (except when it ran out!) and there were lovely places to visit.

'There was plentiful food fish, sweet potato, yam, manioc, bananas, pawpaw, peanuts etc and the people have enough to eat. They had a natural curiosity about where we were from and what we were doing and were courteous and had broad smiles.

'We worked with some lovely people who welcomed us cautiously at first and gradually relaxed and were sad to see us go. Some of the friendships we made we will never forget.

'I would have loved to have got out to the clinics earlier — as I asked when I first arrived — but one has to achieve what one can. I think when one gets to our age and experience one tailors one's work to what one can achieve without too much stress.

'We managed to get out to some of the rural clinics, albeit sometimes with difficulty: car getting bogged down, radiator boiling, boat swamped with water, sleeping in a draughty chapel or in a small leaf hut with bucket shower in the morning, and the long drop loo a small trek from the house.'

Rupert said they had enjoyed a good year in Vanuatu and although they could have achieved more in a further year, the need to return to the UK to see family and friends was strong.

He said: 'We enjoyed working with VSO whose motto is "Sharing skills, Changing Lives" and met and made firm friends with some marvellous volunteers.

'I think we will miss more things when we get back to Tavi. The warmth, the view of the sea, the smiles and greetings of the people, the  interesting people we met — a lovely chief Whitcliffe, some volunteers, some expats washed up over the last 50 years, the beautiful warm sea with amazing coral and reef fish, the fresh tropical fruit.

'It is an experience that we would recommend to anyone who is willing to take a bit of a risk and do something different and who is willing to want to share their skills with others.'

For more information about VSO, go to http://www.vso.com">www.vso.com