Outside of the Bubble....

Well last Saturday we volunteered for the Red Cross to see what we could do to help the tsunami victims. We dutifully packed our back pack with "survival" stuff such as first aid, gloves, non-perishable food, water, jandalls (we were actually wearing the closed in shoes), hand wipes and sanitizer, the camera, phone and ..... well you name it and we probably had it in there!! On the way we picked up our friend from netball Molia who wanted to come help too. We were all very keen to get stuck in and help out with something.

In the morning though I received a call from the USP Campus Director asking if I could go and take a picture of "the vision" that had appeared on the John Williams building while we were in Fiji and which was apparently growing stronger after the tsunami. The Vision was of Mother Mary and 8 Disciples. Luckily Molia was there to show me where to look! We got a couple of good pictures of what Adam refers to as the stain from the guttering! You can be the judge. It is however giving a lot of people a lot of hope that it is a sign.

Next stop was the Red Cross at Motootua next to the main public hospital in Apia. After registering a ute pulled up which we were told was our ride so we jumped in after loading clothes, food, water etc on the back.

The drive around the coast took a while. I was feeling a bit apprehensive about what we would find at the other end. It was however nice to get out of Apia and to see that not all of the beautiful coastline of Samoa has been damaged. In fact there is still a lot of beautiful places left untouched. This began to lift the spirits in the heart.

When we got near to the Aleipata area it wasn't until we came down the hill that we saw the destruction. Houses gone, everything brown and dry and dead. It was easy to see where the wave had washed in to. Surprisingly the palm trees around the coast were still standing. They are tough little b*ggers!! Made a mental note if ever caught in a tsunami to hang on to one of them!! We pulled in at the hospital on the Aleipata side and lept out of the truck to help.

A lot of standing around happened next. I approached a palagi guy and asked him what we were meant to do. We managed to register again and help with sorting some stuff into piles for families and then realised all the vehicles were gone and we were still standing there so a bit more standing around happened.

Sadly they brought in a body while we were there. The police pulled up with a faded blue canvas stretcher on the back of the ute and a white body bag. After lumbering the body off the back of the truck and putting in under a makeshift shelter the poor men were retching along the fence line. There were flies all over the white bag and I really felt for them and what they were having to deal with and see.

When the vehicles returned we managed to get on the next delivery run out to a family who were sitting under a tarpaulin propped up with sticks looking at the concrete slab which was all that was left of their home. We delivered some pillows, mats, water, food, kitchen utensils and household items to them. They were very grateful but it was very sobering to see what they were having to cope with.

After our delivery run Adam and I decided we were not being of much help so took at walk to the Taufua area. Along the way we saw first hand the destruction. There were many diggers out moving great piles of rubble and rubbish from the beach. The road had already been cleared of rocks. There was a bit of a stench in the air like the mangrove swamp due to the rotting fish and sea life that had been thrown onland. We sat at Taufua and picked out where our fales had been when we had stayed and remembered the dining hall and the benches that used to be on the beach that were now smashed to smitherines. The NZ Herald photographer and reporter came to talk to us for a while but they were more interested in people who had been staying there during the tsunami.

All in all getting to go last Saturday helped a lot with our healing. Even though there was massive destruction of certain areas of the south coast there was still hope and a positive feeling that all would be OK. Nicola and Fraser went past in their car so picked us up and gave us a lift back to Apia via Cross Island Road which gave us a chance to check out Sea Breeze and the now non existent restaurant where we have had a few nice meals.

The past week has continued to be sad but not as much so as the week of the tsunami when so many horror stories had us all scared. We attened the funeral for our friend the firefighter, Peter Letiu. This was an experience in itself as after waiting 1/2 hour to get into the funeral home following a previous funeral we were then all asked to leave and wait outside as another funeral had to happen first! This is the first time we have ever been kicked out of a funeral! Sadly though the funeral homes are under pressure and many services are happening back to back and in Samoan time so it's a matter of taking your place in the queue. The service itself was very good though and we rounded the day off with a few drinks and much laugher as we remembered the things Peter used to do. We also put up photos to remind us of the happy times with the "Happy Juice" that he so liked to partake in.

Since this there has also been the state funeral this week where all 143 of the tsunami victims were acknowledged. We didn't go to this. Felt it best to let those who had lost family members etc the opportunity. We watched it on the TV and saw people we knew in tears. I have since heard it was a very sad occassion. 10 or so bodies were part of the state funeral and have been buried together in a place where a memorial to all victims will be placed. I plan to go visit that when it is ready.

We have also had another tsunami warning following the earthquake in Vanuatu. This turned out to be a non-event but certainly caused a large amount of panic in Samoa. The roads out of Apia town were jam packed with cars going nowhere and there was much distress from people trying to get themselves and their family up the hill. The phone lines blocked up so I couldn't get through to see if Adam was evacuating OK and just had to hope and pray he was on his way to USP. Very frightning times. We have a few plans laid out now for emergencies and where we will meet up etc.

Well this has been a bit of a long post. I hope you are still reading! This weekend is White Sunday here in Samoa so a long weekend for us. Unlike last year we will not be heading away but staying put at home. This year is a very difficult year for people to celebrate children especially in the wake of so many who lost their lives last week. There is still grieving to be done but I would like to hope we are moving on now while being ever vigilant of Nature!