The Clackamas print., February 22, 2017, Page 8, Image 8

Engineer lends hands for books
RODNEY OSTERHOUDT TRAVELS TO THE SOLOMON ISLANDS TO BUILD A LIBRARY
BY ELIZABETH KESSEL
In N ovem ber, Rodney O sterh o u d t, a
m aintenance engineer for 20 years at
C lack am as, traveled w ith h is w ife to
St. Isabel, which is part of the Solomon
Islands. Through his church, Osterhoudt
and his group built a library for the village,
Kia, which has about 3,000 people. On the
side, Osterhoudt also visited hom es to
help fix solar panels, which are the main
energy source o n the island they went to.
T h e C la c k a m a s P rin t: W hat was the
purpose of going?
Osterhoudt: We went to build a library
and whatever else they wanted done. And
the library was a multipurpose building.
I t w as b u ilt w ith in sp ecificatio n s to
withstand a category five typhoon. So it
would also hold 200 people if they needed
to.
T CP: W hat would the library do for the
people qn the island?
Osterhoudt: The reason for the library
is because they had their school going
from grades first through sixth-grade.
But they would only go for three hours a
day, so they only probably are getting a
first through third-grade education. And
with a library and more books, instead of
shipping their kids off to another island to
go through high school, they would have
the potential o f having high school all
the way right there on the island, which
would be a whole lot better.
TCP: Did you have any difficulties building
What’s for lunch? Fish. What’ s for dinner?
Fish. A nd I had squid one tim e, it was
a little tough. We had turtle one tim e.
That’ s the only place in the world where
the natives are allowed to hunt sea turtles.
Everywhere else you’re not allowed to.
T CP: How modern was their village?
O sterhoudt: They had their solar panels
which Would charge up a 12-volt battery.
That’s all they had. They have people that
run a store. T hat’ s it, there’ s ho cars;
they have their boats. To get there, we
had to fly to Brisbane, Australia, which
was a 14-hour flig h t, and then a tw o-
hour flight to Honiara, Solomon Islands,
which is Guadalcanal area. Then it was
another hour trip by a real small plane to
this grass field, and then an hour and a
half boat ride to where we were at on the
island. It was four days travel time to get
there and back home again.
out, because of my electrical background,
I got this one guy’ s solar panel going.
The word w ent around really fa st. If I
volunteered again, and if I had to go back
there I’d fix solar panels all the time I’m
there (if I had the right equipment). But
I had five or six people come up to me
and say, ‘My solar panel is not working,
can you fix it?’ W ell I’m only there in the
country for 11 days, and so I can only do
so much.
TCP: Would you go again? Or somewhere
else?
O sterhoudt: In a heartbeat. I would go
back to the Solomon Islands. If somebody
said, ‘We want to go to H aiti,’ I would go
back there. I’d go back to Honduras. I have
this friend o f m ine, h e’ s getting ready
to go to Papua New Guinea. He wants to
know if I want to go with him to Papua
New Guinea. I would!
T C P : W h at w as one o f your m o st
memorable m oments there?
O s te rh o u d t: W hen we started raising
the trusses on the building itself. One
o f m y other tim es was w hen they had
a celebration for the people who cam e
in. There were a group of kids that were
playing panpipes. Those are the bamboo
pipes that you blow on. And then they
had some that they were beating w ith
hammers, rubber mallets, and those were
probably about eight feet long. It was fun
to w atch, because you just learn to live
and do with what you got.
Rodney Osterhoudt stands in front of the Kia village in November.
the library?
O ste rh o u d t: N o. The first group built
steps going up from the lower school to
the upper school, and we finished the
steps. They unloaded the barge, and then
we started building from ground up. Then,
I think about two weeks later they had the
w alls on. They had the solar panels on
because in the Solomon Islands you have
to have a climate-controlled environment
to where your books are not going to mold.
They would only be good for about a year
because o f the humidity.
T CP: W hat did you eat in the village?
Osterhoudt: They make very good bread.
8 Clackamas Print FEBURARY 2 2 ,2OI7thedackamasprintcom
T C P : W hat other travellin g have you
done?
O sterhoudt: I have gone to H aiti, and I
worked in an orphanage there. I’ve gone
to H onduras, and I ’ve gone to M exico
several tim es, just volunteering.
TCP: Anything else you would like readers
to know about your trip to the Solomon
Islands?
O s t e r h o u d t : T h e y ’ re very fa m ily -
oriented, and the people—I mean some
places I have gone to I felt unsafe walking
around—here, the people on the Solomon
Islands are very nice people. They found
People of the village help raise the walls of the library.