Launch of Surviving a Tsunami : Dealing with Disaster : Lessons from the Samoa Tsunami 29.09.09 by Angela Jowitt, Jackie Faasisila and Walter Dudley

Fittingly today, on the 2nd Anniversary of Samoa Tsunami, Jackie and I launched our book. It is with many thanks to Rae from Read Pacific Ltd for making this possible in such a short time frame to meet the deadline of today!
The ceremony was fitting and included a moments silence in memory of lives lost 2 years ago.
A copy of the book was donated to the following people:-
• Nelson Memorial Public Library
• Salelologa Public Library
• Atua Farmer’s District Library
• Clea’s Library at Lalomanu Primary School
• Poutasi Secondary School
• Saleapaga Primary School
• The Reverend Lotu Uele
• The NZ High Commissioner – Nick Hurley

Tili Afamasaga was our keynote speaker and commented on the UNESCO International Tsunami Survey Team, that Jackie, Walter and I were a part of, explaining its formation and the research report presented to the Goverment. She also made brief comments on the book saying that “it includes lessons and what can be learnt from the disaster. It includes basic information about Earthquakes and Tsunamis and combines scientific information with the experiences of the survivors. It is written in simple and informative language, using photographs, graphic illustrations, simple maps, iconic images and the voices of survivors in brief but startling excerpts. Every reader young or old whether in or out of school should find useful information in this book.”

Books are available for purchase through Read Pacific Ltd or by email to our publishers in New Zealand or through the following bookshops in Samoa - Samoa Stationery and Books, Business Systems, MaxKar and Plantation House.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our launch today especially our friends who came to show their support and to the schools from the South Coast who came over. We are very pleased to be able to present this information for the people of Samoa.


A USP Colleague reading the book and Jackie and I autographing copies.

In central downtown Apia the MaxKar bookshop has it's windows plastered in a book cover display!

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Our beautiful Samoan girl

On Saturday 3rd September we lost a light from our lives. After a week of illness and going down slowly Lucky lost the fight to breathe and her heart stopped.

It was not until she refused to eat for 2 nights running that we knew something was really wrong. It took 2 of us and a whole day off work to get her in the car, only her second time ever, and take her to the vet. A thorough check was made but no definite conclusions could be drawn as to what was the matter. She was young, only 4-5 years old and prior to this was strong and healthy. We could only conclude it to be some form of poisoning or something dreadful she ate.

Apparently in Samoa 4 years is the averge lifespan of a dog. There are not many options available for testing, certainly no x-ray or sophisticated blood tests. If tthere was no improvement the next thing to try was opening her up for exploratory surgery of the stomach to check for obstructions. She did not appear to have a tender stomach though. It was more the short heavy breathing. In the mean time we administered hourly fluids by syringe. A combination of water and Niu, coconut juice, to combat dehydration.

We are going to miss her welcoming us home every night. Tearing around the section like a mad thing with her ears flapping up and down, chasing the pigeons and running towards us in such great excitement to see us that we thought she would bowl us over. You had to be quick too, to dodge the big lick she had waiting for you. She was a protective and jealous dog at times which was something we had to watch out for and she was the main suspect for the excavations in the garden but she came with us whenever we walked up to the shop and waited for us outside. She learnt to "sit" very quickly, no mean feat for a Samoan dog, and she learnt to wear a collar and to chase a ball, which we thought was pretty good for a dog suspicious of foreign objects and new experiences. Most of the time however she would roll on her back with her legs in the air waiting for a tummy tickle. She loved it when Adam rubbed her ears hard and she would lean her head against your hand until you did this for her.

She was the first dog I ever trusted and learned to love. When she had her puppies she led me up the street to show me where they were and she trusted me to pick them up. She may also be the only dog around who could scale a 1.2 metre high fence by climbing up it and fitting between the mesh and the barbed wire that was on top. This meant we could never keep her in. She was a free spirit who ran the street and was always up for chasing off the strays. She was a slightly palagised Samoan dog who didn't have a bath in the whole time we knew her as she was crafty at avoiding water.

Our beautiful Samoan girl will always be in our hearts and our minds. She is buried wrapped in a Samoan lavalava and surrounded by frangipani and hibiscus and she will be here in her street and at the place where she knew she was loved forevermore.

RIP our Lucky. We are glad to have spent time with you and glad we could show you some happiness during your life but we will miss you dearly.

The pineapples

Our pineapples are getting bigger. We have it on good authority that the purple flowers are normal and that after this it will take until about Christmas for the pineapples to be ready. Runners are coming out of the base below the pineapple and if we replant these we'll get more in another year.

Pineapples at 2 weeks



Pineapples at 4 weeks

The little one holds the big Log of wood

This Saturday, 30th July the Hyundai girls A team won the netball shield off top of the league SCOPA in a controlled and skilled game. Well done ladies!!

Pineapple Season

After almost 2 years of sitting in the garden and doing nothing other than getting big and spiky our pineapple plants are starting to make pineapples!

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Back to Reality

Well, our wonderful holiday is over and we have made it back safe and sound to Samoa.

Since our last post we spent our final day in Singapore exploring the local markets and Chinatown. Yes, a bit more shopping, but by then we were running out of room in our suitcases!

One of the things we wanted to do in Singapore was have High Tea at Raffles. Fortunately Angela had contacted them and made a booking otherwise we wouldn't have got in. We were warned about the dress code, so we put on our best clothes - coming from Samoa I thought I was doing well to find a pair of long trousers and shoes, luckily I didn't have to wear a jacket and tie! Even with our best clothes on we still felt a bit out place, but the high tea was great. We started with our tea and plates of delicious pastries, cookies and slices. Then we realised that there was a buffet with dim-sim, dumplings and spring rolls and another selection of scones, cakes and fruit. I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and was hungry, so tried to have a taste of everything on offer, but couldn't manage it. After enjoying our high tea we had a look around the rest of the hotel and ended up in the Long Room where we had the obligatory Singapore Sling. We even had some peanuts and threw the shells on the floor - its the done thing apparently. I suggested that if it was good enough for Raffles then we should do it at home, but Angela didn't agree! After Raffles we took a last look around town, ending up at the Merlion park.

We were sad to leave Singapore behind, but we did have a couple of days In Surfers Paradise to break up the trip home.

I hadn't been to Surfers Paradise before so it was nice to look around, but July isn't really beach weather! We couldn't fit anything more in our bags, so Angela wasn't allowed to do any shopping, not that that stopped her!

Although we weren't brave enough to get in the water for a swim we did enjoy a nice run along the waterfront from Surfers Paradise to The Spit and back. By the time we got back we both had cold noses and ears and had to have a hot shower to warm up.

We also checked out Jupiter Casino. Neither of us are gamblers, so the gaming tables and pokie machines didn't really interest us, but we did enjoy their Dinner & A Show deal. Dinner was lamb shanks and the show was Stomp and we really enjoyed both.

On our last day on holiday we went to see the final Harry Potter movie in 3D.

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Singapore Flyer and Marina Bay Sands sight seeing

Our body clocks are all out so we seem to have been making it out the door around lunch time each day and are still going at 10pm at night but everything is still open then! Today we stopped at our local Kopitan which apparently means coffee shop, though it has a lot more than the coffee shops we are used to. After our usual $2.50 breakfast with a plate of mixed fruit we headed back towards the Marina Bay Sands area for some sight seeing.

First stop was the Fountain of Wealth which is apparently the biggest fountain in the world. Pretty impressive. Adam had read about the Hindu tradition of walking around the fountain 3 times for wealth and luck so we thought we would have a go. We very quickly found though that walking around the top in the wrong direction doesn't cut the mustard!! We then discovered that you can walk around and touch the lucky waters at the centre of the fountain at certain times of the day and that there is also a light show at night so decided to come back a little later for this.

Next stop on the tour was the Singapore flyer which is a big wheel similar to the London Eye. We were in a capsule with 4 others and the view was fantastic. Would recommend this to anyone visiting Singapore. It took 45 minutes to do a full revolution and if you so desire you can hire the champagne capsule and drink your way around or do 2 revolutions while you eat dinner!

We then visited the Marina Bay Sands hotel itself which is an engineering feat. We had seen on the National Geographic channel on the TV a programme about the building of this hotel. It is pretty impressive, huge and is known for it's leisure facilities up on the roof looking down on Singapore. This was also certainly a view though a little disappointing not to be able to see the swimming horizon pools up there, though if I was a guest I wouldn't want to be one of the attractions on view in Singapore so suppose that is only fair.

Here are some shots from thr Flyer and the Hotel observation deck.





Feeling a little weary after this we found the TWG tea shop back down in the plaza. Much of this newly developed area of Singapore is still being working on so it is currently a bit of a walk from the Promenade MRT stop to the hotel and the feet needed a rest! The plaza itself is also a place to get lost in. Anyway we had a very delicious but expensive afternoon high tea and I swear it took me half an hour to choose which tea to have from the several hundered on offer.

Feeling refreshed we then visited the Art Science Museum which is in the lotus flower shaped building. The museum is currently hosting Salvadore Dali and Vincent Van Gogh. Dali was of course weird but many of his quotes made me laugh. The only thing I could understand of his was his "soft clocks" which are distorted clocks and to me this meant distorted time. Well I never can seem to arrive anywhere when I'm meant to and there are never enough hours in my day to achieve all I set out to! The Van Gogh exhibition was an amazing digital multimedia display with constantly changing projections of his paintings onto canvases in a 360 degree view. It was hard to know where to look and I could have stayed in there all day but there was so much else to see.

We ended the day with a pub meal at an Irish pub in Singapore complete with Asian Irish band, Guiness on tap and a Guiness beef pie, Bangers and Mash. Lovely!

Here is the Fountain of Wealth.