WINSTON REFUGEES: ONE VILLAGE AT A TIME
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| DELACONI - flattened homes |
Malaka Bay, Vanua Balavu, May 31, 2016 (17*14.260S, 178*58.090W)
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| The 3 west coast villages of Vanua Balavu: Delaconi, Malaka, and Mua Mu |
You’ve seen it many times on TV, refugees in tents, precarious living conditions, but it doesn’t hit you until you see it for yourself. Never had I imagined that a cyclone could deal such utter devastation and perhaps the annihilation of a traditional lifestyle.
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| DELACONI - 3 months ofter Winston... still no roof, still no gutter... a disaster |
The three villages we are assigned are located on the west coast of Vanua Balavu: Delaconi, Malaka, and Mua Mua.
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| Mua Mua - devastated coconut and pine trees, 80% of the people under tents or precarious shelter |
Of the villages total 95 structures, 80 have been completely destroyed, and only 15 are still standing but damaged. Tents and Shelter Boxes line the villages lanes, flanking the concrete slabs where the houses used to stand. Women are cooking the last of the staples distributed by the government. All contemplate a lasting hardship.
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| In Delaconi, where the 3 school buildings have been flattened, the schoolmaster makes do under UNICEF tents. The Kindergarten building is almost rebuilt (Fiji Governement) |
Delaconi was the darling of cruising yachts, since its chief controls visits to the Bay of Islands, a favorite cruising ground. The we visited last year, we couldn’t help commenting how wealthy the village was. Indeed, the entire village had put together a traditional birthday celebration for Robbie (one of the cruisers), complete with roasted pig, flower necklaces and dances. Wealth no more. The school’s 3 building have been wiped out and the new schoolmaster copes with teaching all grades k-8 under UNICEF tents. “We’re coping,” says he, grabbing our soccer and rugby balls.
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| Sea Mercy delivering aid in Malaka |
Malaka, a favorite anchorage in good holding mud, is no better. On the beach landing, the fishery’s ice maker and blast freezer were damaged, but the fisheries department has just shipped a new freezer: help is coming. Along the main village path, again, tents line up under damaged solar panels. There is no electricity in the village, aside from individual solar panels.
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| Sonny, Malaka's headman, welcomes our visit. The pine forest is devastated, so are the coconut groves. The cassava plantations have been 90% wiped out |
Mua Mua is perhaps the poorest of the 3 villages, with little hope of quick recovery.
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| The very hard-hit Mua Mua |
As if the loss of their homes were not enough, villagers also have lost their way of income: copra. All coconut plantations have been severely damaged and the villagers estimate it will be 5 to 10 years before they will harvest a decent crop. Meanwhile, they need to clear the plantations of fallen trees and replant a new crop. But they just don’t have enough coconuts left to replant and must import them from Rotuma.
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| Mua Mua is a disaster zone |
Women, whose traditional occupation was the weaving of pandanus leaves into mats and trinkets for tourists, have lost their ways. Pandanus trees have blown away and they estimate that it will take up to 5 years before an adequate crop.
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| Unisi, Malaka's leading woman, tends the community garden and is desperate to fight the caterpillar infestation |
Yet, in this dismal picture, life goes on and we admire the spirit of the Fijian people. Women are leading the way with their community gardens. The gardening kits donated by the Australian government have been put to good use in all three villages and the community gardens are trhiving. In Delaconi, the women pride themselves in having been voted the best community garden in the entire island. And they should be proud: lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, and all sorts of roots. They are eager to start a composting program, boost their production and sell fresh organic produce to the yachts visiting the Bay of Islands.
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| Making do in Malaka |
In Malaka, the fisheries representative is eager to support the fishermen, who provide food and income for the village. The 7 professional fishermen, however, run on scant material and equipment: not enough fishing lines and hooks, masks, fins, snorkels. Women help with night fishing and we can hear them babble while they fish out of their canoes, on our port and starboard.
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| It's the same disaster zone everywhere we go |
In Mua Mua, the chief struggles to understand how to rebuild after such a devastation. The young men are overwhelmed with the task of clearing fallen trees and replanting the coconut farms. Yet, the nurses and dietitian come from Loma Loma to conduct their regular clinic… under a tent.
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| JP meets the health care team under their makeshift tent-consultation room |
The needs are staggering. The government is responsive: each family has been issued a credit card with funds to rebuild their homes. This week, all heads of households have travelled to Suva to collect their credit cards and order their building materials: work on building houses will start soon. But what about tools? Supplies? Household items? Clothes? Food?
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| In Malaka, the community garden: cucumber row |
That’s where Sea Mercy comes in. This week, 8 Sea Mercy yachts are working the “Sea Bridge” around Vanua Balavu, assessing the needs of each village and delivering what aid they can, from organizing water delivery to clearing trees and delivering food and tools.
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| In Delaconi, Biu guards our aid delivery on the beach |
As for us, we are working with our 3 villages.
In Delaconi, our guide Biu shadows us and makes sure that our supplies get to the people in need: food, clothing, shoes, tools are snatched up in a snap. On Sunday, after church (blown roof and windows), the pastor delivered our first case of canned goods. To the question, who should get the first of the canned goods, his answer was quick: “Widows and orphans.” And so it was that we met the many orphans and widows in the village.
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| The pastor lost everything, his home, his property, and lives under a tent. Yet, when we brought the aid, he distributed first to the neediest: orphans and widows |
In Malaka, the young headman and his wife (the village nurse) are keen on distributing our aid of equitably.
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| The fishermen appreciate the wetsuits |
This afternoon, the fisheries rep. is taking us to fit the 7 fishermen with wetsuits donated by Dive Tutukaka in New Zealand.
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| The chief fell in love with the Sea Mercy Luminaid solar lights. |
In Mua Mua, our guide Lo is taking an active role in making sure the aid gets to the chief’s house. In the afternoon, she calls all the women and distributes the aid. But it is the chief, who had to think a bit about according us Sevu Sevu and asked many questions before allowing to work in the village, who was dazzled by the LuminAid solar lights that will give each home a bit of light in this village that does not have any generator and where most individual solar panels have been blown away.
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| Do-Mini is loaded to the gills |
In the last 3 days, we have delivered 8 cases of canned foods, 110 lbs of rice, 10 kg of flour, 2 kg salt30 machetes with files, 3 bow saws, 3 boxes of nails, 50 solar lights, 3 tarpaulins and sails, 11 packs of fishing line, 7 boxes of fishing hooks, 4 bags of shoes, 6 bags of clothing, 2 bags of bedding, 25 bars of soap, 3 cases of water sanitation tablets, 7 wetsuits.
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| In Mua Mua, Lo is anxious to plant the seeds that Sea Mercy provided, thanks to the donation from the RamaKrishna, Fiji |
We are barely scratching the top of the iceberg. Village women are very eager to create sustainable community gardens, while the men will be busy to replant the coconut and rebuild the homes. It is an overwhelming task.
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| Tomatoes grow year-round |
Want to help? Gardening tools, gardening education, seeds, and of course for food, clothing, mattresses, bedding, sturdy plastic containers, home-building tools, linoleum floors… if you care to help, send your donation to seamercy.org - The Sea Mercy fleet of volunteer yachts will make sure it gets where it’s needed! One beach at a time, one village at a time.
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| The Delaconi school: the only building left standing... |
(Photo: Marie HF)
Marie Dufour, Yacht DOMINO Powercat
