Nayavutoka village

Saturday the 20th and Sunday the the 21st of February Cyclone Winston hit Fiji with a force never seen before on the islands. On Monday the 22nd I traveled up to Auckland to meet with several others to fly over with USAR and the New Zealand Fire Service to offer assistance.

I wont over indulge with the details. The link to the site will give you the details. https://www.facebook.com/NZUSAR/

I was very fortunate to be involved in the original recon and intelligence gathering along the east coast above Suva. An area made up of small villages relying on an economy of basic agriculture and fishing. Rarely, if ever visited by tourists.

The scale of devastation was incredible villages that had previously been nestled in a tranquil jungle setting next to the sea with palms and shady trees had been destroyed.

I was fortunate to be able to visit a village called Nayavutoka on two separate occasions. Nayavutoka is situated in Nakorotuba, in the Ra province. The head-man is Timoci Nabogibogi; an amazing humble man, who was faced with a village that had lost nearly everything. This included all the crops, food, medicine, housing, community hall, and church. He spent some time explaining what had happened in his village and you can read about his exploits here at :

www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?ref=archive&id=343340.

Of course being a humble man, he never explained this to me when I met him.

Sadly at the time, due to time constraints and equipment available, there was very little we could do to help. However, we did manage to spend an afternoon with Timoci, and with some sealant and a roll of duct tape, were able to fill all the holes in the iron they had managed to salvage to make temporary shelter.

I could see from the way Timoci moved about his village and the way he spoke with the people, that he was a very caring, loving man. His own house had been completely destroyed, but he never brought it up once. However, when I pointed to a specific concrete block house so badly damaged by the wind I found it was Timoci’s house. He just waved it off with a smile and a shrug.

I could also see from the few remaining things how beautiful the village had once been before the Cyclone. There are no roads that enter the village, only a small path which meanders from beside the river outlet along the sea shore and follows the curve of the bay. This is surrounded by what once was the houses in the village, but now a path of destruction. Just a few stones carefully painted white to mark the path remain. These villagers have no income, food, water or houses left and very little way of ever being able to earn enough money to get them back to anywhere near the simple existence they previously had.

When USAR left Fiji I realised that I couldn't help everybody, but that you only have to help one person to make a difference. A couple of days after getting back I managed to track down Timoci’s brother Sai and his wife Kirsteen who recently moved to Australia. After a quick swap of a couple of emails with his wife I managed to speak to him on the phone and pass on information regarding his village and family that he hadn't been able to make contact with since the cyclone. With this further personal contact, I decided that the one thing I could do was to try and help these people.

We have all seen and understood devastation here in Christchurch. The difference however is stark. These people have nothing left, no way of helping themselves financially, no jobs with which to provide income or, badly performing or not, no insurance to rely on. To give them a way to help themselves, their village and their community by providing them with building materials, tools, (we broke two plastic handled saws on one job and the locals couldn’t ask for them quick enough!), seeds for crops and a chance to see that other people care would be something to be proud of.

As such I am asking that if you would be interested in lending a hand, that you give a little to .....

To reassure you, and those that know me can testify to this: All money raised will be spent directly on Nayavutoka. No overheads, no administration costs.

To complete this work I am looking at two options:

1: I will travel back to Fiji (at my own cost of course) and purchase materials etc and deliver them to the village three and a half hours up a rough 4WD track from Suva. I made some good contacts while I was over there to help with this.

2: I will organise from here the purchase of materials which will be passed directly to Sai and Timoci in Suva who are already fundraising to purchase materials and food and medicine for the village.

I was truly humbled and inspired by the warmth and gratitude we were shown in such a devastated country by people who had nothing left to share but their love. I truly hope that you are too.