Samoa Celebration Event Post Tsunami

Samoa Celebration Event Post Tsunami

New Zealanders and Samoans will gather together later this week to celebrate their achievements in the rebuilding of Samoa, seven months after October 2009’s devastating tsunami.

Lua Maea, a New Zealand born Samoan, is Project Manager for Habitat for Humanity’s Samoa Rebuild Project. This initiative has helped hundreds of Kiwi volunteers assist Samoan people with the building of fales and repairing of homes in five of the worst affected areas, following Habitat for Humanity New Zealand’s appointment as principal builder by the Samoan government.

Mr. Maea is humbled at how quickly the Samoan people have recovered from the tsunami that decimated families and lay waste to entire villages in a matter of seconds.

“You can never underestimate the resilience of the people,” he says, “The tsunami took so much away from them, including loved ones who can never be replaced. For many, everything they owned ended up being claimed by the sea yet they still want to give something back to volunteers, even though they have very little left themselves.”

“The Samoan people’s eagerness to get back to some resemblance of normality as quickly as possible should be admired and applauded,” Mr. Maea says, “The overwhelming feedback from volunteers is that it has been such an honour to be a part of the rebuilding effort.”

“We went to Samoa with the intention of blessing the Samoan people but so many volunteers returned home feeling so blessed themselves,” he says.

Volunteers included a number of New Zealand-born Samoan. For many it was their first visit to the birth country of their parents and grandparents. Mr. Maea says, “Their immersion in the Samoan culture and discovery of relatives they have not met before is an experience they will never forget.”

On Friday 7th May, a delegation of New Zealand and Samoan officials, corporate sponsors and volunteers have been invited to attend a special day of celebrations and commemorations in Samoa.

“The generosity of a number of New Zealand and Samoan corporate and not-for-profit partners was vital to the project’s ongoing success,” says Habitat for Humanity’s CEO Pete North, “It is a privilege to be able to show well-known organisations such as Air New Zealand, Caritas and World Vision New Zealand how their support has made a huge difference.”

Those attending will also include the Samoan Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, as well as representatives from both Habitat for Humanity International and New Zealand.

Planned activities for the day include a tour of the Habitat Resource Centre (HRC). This innovative mass-production facility converts raw materials into finished building products including pre-cut trusses, walls and rebar cut to the appropriate length. The precut components are then transported to the site where teams of volunteers, working in partnership with local volunteers, erect the fale.

Delegates will also attend the dedications of a fale on the south east coast and a small plaque at Saleapaga in memory of Rebecca and Petria Martin. The sisters were two of four Kiwis killed when the tsunami hit the Tafuafua Fale Beach Resort. Their surviving family made a generous donation toward Habitat’s costs in the building of two fales. Celebrations will conclude with a special evening event hosted by the New Zealand High Commission in conjunction with Air New Zealand and Digicel.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-denominational Christian not-for-profit organisation that helps more than 60,000 families across the globe into homes every year. Its aim is to help build sustainable communities and eliminate poverty housing worldwide.

Habitat New Zealand has helped more than 350 families into their own homes in New Zealand since its establishment here in 1992. The charity also has a growing presence in neighbouring Pacific countries where assistance with urgent housing need is required. As the Samoa project draws to an end, Habitat New Zealand is now assessing how it can best assist Fiji with its rebuilding efforts in the wake of Cyclone Tomas.

ENDS

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