Vanuatu Communities Support - Cyclone Pam

Further steps into post cyclone recovery, World Vision is generously funding 32 tonnes of root crops and fruits to be distributed with the support of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) to the Shefa and Tafea provinces. The message here is simple, there is no small help and when we sum the efforts we get big results. After the delivery of food and fruits to Merelava, Okenaos sailed back to Santo to collect other 3 tons of root crops, fruits and cuttings supplied by DARD in Santo to deliver to Tongatiki, Emae, Mataso, Buninga and Makira. Then Okeanos sailed to South Malekula to collect 1.2 tons of root crops and fruits that was delivered to Nikaura in East Epi before sailing back to Santo to collect other 3.5 tons that were delivered to Port Quimi in South Epi, Tongoa, Emau and then Nguna. Okeanos  sailed last week to North Ambae for another shipment of 3.8 t of root crops that were delivered to 4 villages of South Epi. Another trip is planned next week to North Ambae for another shipment of fruits and root crops.

Coordinated actions between the three NGOs and the DARD would not be possible without tremendous efforts from the communities and ACTIV wants to thank the cocoa producers who arranged the collection of the crops in South West Bay Malekula and South Malekula, the Fanafo Navota Kastom association in Santo and also the women from the North Ambae Women Group. Without this cooperation we would not be able to operate as efficiently and maximise the use of the boat. We have now reached a stage where people are getting back to normal life and most immediate response actions have come to an end, it is critical to ensure there are no communities left aside and everyone has really moved forward in the best conditions. 

With your support, we were also able to assist the St Joseph school from the second lagoon, which lost two class rooms with the cyclone PAM. The Alliance Française of Port Vila covered half of the costs of the materials with the timber for the roof structure and the corrugated iron. The materials were delivered this week to the school. We will help the school to rebuild their roof with other parents of the students the coming week end. The students will then be able to go back to their classroom. They are now under a tent.

Other activities were also done with seeds distribution donated by people from New Caledonia. We distributed them to women from the Teouma community. And finally we started this week to re build the ACTIV centre. We received the first hundred natangora leaves from South West Bay in Malekula. We are waiting for other nine hundred leaves. We hope to be able to reopen the handicrafts centre at the end of this month.

We sincerely thank all of you with also Trip advisor and Global Giving for your contributions, which really help us to assist the communities who suffer from the path of the cylcone PAM. We will continue our work with the support of the foundation Okenaos and their boat to reach the most affected communities.

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, tankyu tumas

The ACTIV team