Rakiraki District School rebuilding

On the 20th of February this year, Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston struck the Fiji Islands -a Category 5 cyclone, the biggest storm ever recorded in Fiji.

According to Wikipedia, 55,000 homes and 350,000 people (nearly 40% of the population) were significantly affected -with 44 deaths.

Our family has a long association with the island of Nananu-i-ra and the nearby towns of Rakiraki, Vaileka and Ellington -these were all in the direct path of Winston and I have recently returned from a visit there to assist in repairs. Damage is severe -most village houses have lost roofs and all have water damage. Power to villages such as Rakiraki will not be restored for many months.

We have three school aged children ourselves here in New Zealand, and over the past 5 years have on a private basis supported three primary schools (Rakiraki District, Wairuku and Ellington Schools) with books, teacher resources and computers. These schools have all been affected -Rakiraki District School especially- and we now would like to ask for extra assistance in funding their rebuild.

UNICEF have already acted promptly and provided a large tent which is placed on the school grounds as a teaching space and I am sure that, in time, the Fijian Ministry of Education will also facilitate the rebuild -but according to the Fiji Times last week, there are 35 damaged schools and 91 UNICEF tents in the Ra District alone (64 affected schools in Ra, Ba, Tavua, Lautoka and Nadi districts total)....a massive effort is required and I fear that left without further external assistance it will be a very long time before all schools are rebuilt.

I was also horrified to see children at Rakiraki School accessing their only drinking water underneath very unstable block work -concrete blocks which WILL fall and could cause further unnecessary injury to the school children.

We were able to find a builder there and then and the "making safe" of the end of the school building is already underway and will be paid for by ourselves whether funds are raised here or not. But we would like to go further and re-roof and restore the school building completely -and donations are sought for that purpose.

Funds will be used for building materials and local contractors such as builders, roofers and electricians. Total cost of this is likely to be around FJD20,000 (about NZD14K).

If we can raise additional funds we will assist the rebuild at Ellington School. They were "lucky" to have lost the roof of two classrooms only, and one further teaching space/library -but did not receive a UNICEF tent so are having to make do with the reduced space. Around NZD8-10K is required to re-roof this school.

Extra funds beyond that? -well, then there's the fact that all these children go home to a house with a tarpaulin roof and no power....even simple things like solar powered lights go a very long way. Challenges such as not being able to do homework after sunset or re-charge cellphones when there are no other means of communication is challenging so all donations are gratefully received and will be used in the local Rakiraki/Ellington/Vaileka area.

Please help us to help our friends rebuild their lives -times will be tough for a long time until crops regrow and power is restored; rebuilding the schools will help not only in ensuring that the children's education continues but that they have some normality restored as quickly as possible -and school once more becomes a safe place for them again.

Vinaka Vakalevu!