More Skin....

Having lead a rather office bound life for the past 4 or so years one would like to think this is the reason when I meet my island friends after sometime apart they suggest to me I have 'more skin!' In other words 'Lisa you lardy you have put on weight'!!

I love the innocence of English as a second language because the words that come out can be so descriptive if not always correct. The other day I was talking to a woman and she was telling me one of her work vehicles was 'turned over' instead of 'rolled' and a hilux had a sign on the window saying 'to sale' !!

Its now been a month since I joined Rob who has moved to Fiji to work for 3 years. I have been amazed at the ease in which I have settled into life here. The heat has been a challenge but it is cooling now and we are about to have the best weather temperature wise for the next 6 months or so. This naturally is when a lot more things can be achieved as the heat has a nasty habit of sucking the life out of you before the day even starts.

Nothing is ever as you would expect when you work and now live in the islands. I have warned many of our volunteers to never order a western style meal and expect it to taste like home. This is not a negative on the islands just a warning that one must not try and bring 'home expectations' away with them. I can remember Rob ordering an iced coffee one day and he got a glass of black coffee with ice cubes in it...we had a good chuckle to ourselves over that one. As we live here the realisation sinks in more and more but it just adds to the colourfulness of being here.

Just prior to me coming cyclone Winston dealt a mean blow to the Western side of Fiji's main island Viti Levu and the Eastern side of Vana Levu. (What is it with us and cyclone effected countries!)

We put the call out through our LHR facebook page and have been amazed and humbled at the response we have had.

Our local contact is a man we fondly call Uncle Tomu and we have known him since 2005 so you can imagine our excitement when we realised he would be living in the region we were to live. However the excitement soon turned to sadness when we saw that it was his region, his community and his home that was badly effected by Winston.

Rob visited him several days after the cyclone taking with him groceries and immediate relief supplies.

Rob is not one to fill the air with unnecessary words but he was quite impacted by what he saw that weekend.

He emailed me that night and said.....I'm a bit shell shocked over what I've seen. Many houses destroyed, families living in what is left of their houses. Today woman were at the creeks washing damp clothes etc while men were salvaging what they could and rebuilding. In all this I heard laughing and joking but fewer smiling faces than normal.

Two weeks later I arrived and he drove me through these very same areas. It was time for me to be shell shocked at the enormity of the destruction. To me it was all so raw and yet Rob said the improvement was huge from several week ago. The big aid agencies had been and there were all manner of tents and tarps boasting names like Unicef, Red Cross or China aid but not all people got them and homes were still over crowded with families and friends living together while trying to rebuild their lives. I saw communities working together restoring homes, recycling material we wouldn't have used in the first place. Poverty doesn't allow them such choices, rusty old tin, pieces of cardboard, timber or tarpaulins if it can keep of the rain or sun then it is used.

We have decided to wait till things settled and the aid agencies had been, their wallets were much bigger than ours and their sweep broader. We will come in and pick up where they missed which hopefully wasn't too many people.

However not longer after this Fiji experienced another dose of dodgy weather. High winds and heavy rain causing wide spread flooding in the very same area Winston had left its mark.

Last week I went with Rob to a community past Rakiraki (just so you have a mark on a map if you are looking) he was checking a nursery and I wanted to have another look at how the communities are getting on since Winston and more so since the heavy rains and flooding from earlier in the week. I really wanted to stop and take photos and yet I didnt coz I felt these people had suffered enough without me insulting them by stopping in my flash truck and taking a photo and driving on! I did see some amazing sights though, one was a small boy all of 5 on the roof of his house. He was tasked with the job of spreading the bedding out on the iron to dry. I saw lots of cloths and bedding stretched out all over the place, even the power lines that were still down made great clothes lines. Dotted around the country side were the tents donated by various aid agencies. But there is still many homes without roofs or missing walls. No sign of tarps or tents for them. I wonder how the agencies know just how many tents are needed and do they get to the people with the greatest need or the best contacts...human nature I guess.I spoke with a women who said no one in her community has seen any form of shelter assistance. Straight after the cyclone she went and purchased enough iron to put her roof back on - but then she was fortunate to have the money because she had a job and was the sort of person who just got stuck in without asking for help.I liked this woman, she was no nonsense, had some very informed opinions but wasn't sitting back grumbling. Her community was scattered and not a village as such which could account for why no assistance had made it to them yet. 10 houses needed new roofs and she guessed a house would take 20 sheets. If only she could find a way to get even 10 sheets for each house at least part of their homes would be water proof. It started raining as we drove away...another wet night for many again.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated whether it in person or in finances. Lost Hope Restored BNZ 02 0636 0134119 002 or any other aid agency working for Fiji.EndFragment