USP Alafua 2011 Graduation

Congratulations to all the Graduates of USP Alafua 2011.

Josie from the Public Library with her USP Certificate in Library and Information Studies.

The Graduates.

Adama and I in the Procession march.

The Library girls working as ushers.

New friend Sofia from Vanuatu.

USP Alafua Library inaugural Authors' Tea

On the 14th December 2011 USP Alafua Library hosted an inaugural Authors’ Tea to celebrate research work published by Alafua staff in the last three years. In the presence of the USP Vice Chancellor, Professor Rajesh Chandra, six staff members presented their work, outlining the basics of their research. The event highlighted the various subject disciplines covered by staff and their contribution to the body of knowledge for topics of interest to the region and world. It is hoped this event will be the first of many annual Authors’ Teas, showcasing research taking place at USP Alaufa. The following list identifies the USP Alafua campus staff who have become Authors, often working in collaboration with others. This research can be accessed from the USP Alafua Campus Library:-

• Adama Ebenebe
o The cabbage webworm (Hellula undalis) on tickweed (Cleome viscosa) in Samoa
o Relative impacts of some insecticides on infestation and damage by leaf-eating caterpillars and on non-target arthropod diversity in head cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) crops in Samoa
o Exploring the source of corm rots affecting fresh taro exports from Fiji (Poster)

• Tolo Iosefa
o Improving taro production in the South Pacific through breeding and selection
o Linking Farmers, Genebanks and Networks for Genetic Enhancement of Taro
o The taro improvement programme in Samoa: sharing genetic resources through networking

• Angela Jowitt
o Surviving a tsunami : Dealing with disaster : Lessons from the Samoa tsunami 29.09.09 (Book)
o Learning from the victims: New physical and social science information about tsunamis from victims of the September 29, 2009 event in Samoa and American Samoa

• Jagdish Bhati and Sonny Lameta (edited by Ruby Vaa)
o Planning and management of agricultural projects : A manual

• Ioane Malaki & Tolo Iosefa
o Subsistence food security in the tsunami affected areas of Samoa

• Pradeep K Singh
o A case for prioritizing agriculture for development in Pacific Islands countries
o Development of agrientrepreneurship in Samoa : Opportunities and challenges
o Rural and agricultural credit in India and Gujarat
o Modernizing agricultural entrepreneurship in Samoa: A small island country in the Pacific region
o Managing Sustainable Development of Rural Economy through Integrated Planning of Farming Systems and Natural Resources

Apia has Fireworks c/o BlueSky SamoaTel

Old man and his coconut

He's a real Samoan this one. Loves coconut, papaya, taro, palusami and any Samoan food going!!

Waterfall Adventure

The things I let myself get talked into! For the last year or so our Russian friend Slava (the crazy runner and unicyclist) has been wanted to walk to the Papapapaitai Waterfall. This is an impressive 100m high waterfall that you can see from Cross Island Road, but there is no track to the waterfall.

Anyway, he had managed to find where the river comes out down at the coast and had made one attempt to walk up the river to find the waterfall, but this had been unsuccessful. Apparently some of the group that accompanied him weren’t properly prepared for what they were tackling and they turned back.

This time he wanted to tackle it again, properly. No ‘sissies’ (his term!) and an earlier start, and he wanted to know if I was keen to join him. For some reason I said yes! Angela has already warned me that Slava must be a little bit crazy, but I thought it would be a good little adventure. As it turned out I was the only one foolish enough to join him this time round. So, we made an early start – the breakfast buffet at Aggie Grey’s at 6.30 to get fuelled up for our trek! We also helped ourselves to a few pastries, bananas, and fruit salad to take with us.

Our Goal - Papapapaitai Waterfall

Slava managed to find the way to the river no problem, so it was time to leave the car and start walking. He had warned me that there were no tracks and the only way to go was to follow the river, so I wasn’t surprised when he waded straight into the water. I quickly discovered that the river bed was made up of round, slippery boulders and finding a safe footing in the flowing water could be tricky. We seemed to be making good time – twice as fast as last time according to Slava – but it was hard work. After 2 hours we had a break, and some bananas and pastries! By this stage we had covered about 3.6 km, but figured that the waterfall must be at least 7km from where we started, maybe further, so it w as time to carry on.

The trek was awesome – some parts of the forest were very much like New Zealand with lots of ferns and moss. The temperature was not like NZ though and walking in the water helped to keep us a bit cooler. By this stage we were coming across some deeper pools which we had to swim across, but this was easier than scrambling over slippery rocks.

As we continued we could hear some serious thunder and sure enough it started to rain. We were already wet, so the rain didn’t really worry us. After more than 4 hours we were starting to reach the stage where we would have to turn back to avoid being stranded in the forest in the dark. We both were hoping that we would come around the next corner and see our waterfall, but each time we were disappointed. Eventually we came to a smaller waterfall that we couldn’t climb up. It did have a nice deep pool so we decided to jump in for a swim before heading back.

The trip back down the river was probably harder than heading up, and we were getting pretty tired. About 10 hours after setting out we finally got back to the car. It had been quite an adventure. Although we didn’t manage to get to our waterfall and we were worn out we had had a great day exploring places that very few people have ever been. Slava is keen to come back and try again – with ropes and more equipment next time. I will recover from this effort first before I agree to another of his crazy adventures!

Lunatics!

So who knew there was a lunar eclipse the other week?

Our crazy Russian friend Slava told us about it and asked if we wanted to get up an watch it. We were planning to do the 5km fun run the next morning, so when he said that it would be at about 3.30 am we decided to give it a miss!

As it turned out we were woken up in the middle of the night by the dogs, and when we saw that it was about 4.00 am we decided to get up and check out the eclipse. The proof is in the photo below. Unfortunately just when the eclipse was at its best a few thin clouds blew in.

For the record, only one of us made it to the fun run the next day!

S

This is a Manutagi or Crimson Crowned Fruit Dove, enjoying the red berries off our palm tree. Pity about the barbed wire in the photo!

New Church

Pictures of the newest church in town - Our Lady of the Rosary. It is very big and impressive looking, but some people reckon the towers are on a lean!

High Tea in Vaigaga

Inspired by our High Tea at Raffles earlier in the year Angela decided that she would have her own high tea here as a Xmas get together with a few friends.

In the weeks leading up to the high tea there was plenty of consulting recipe books and magazines to find suitable recipes (with ingredients that we can get here!) and slowly the menu started to come together – actually the menu got a bit out of control with dozens of suggestions on the list. Anyway, the day before the big event Angela hit the kitchen and I made trips back and forth to the supermarket for vital ingredients! She really cooked up a storm – good enough to rival Raffles!

Our high tea started with a champagne cocktail and fresh fruit platter, including pineapple from our garden, passion fruit curd tartlets and scones with guava jam and lemon curd.

The second round was custard squares, passion fruit tart and guava shortcake with ice-cream.

The final round was for the chocolate lovers - chocolate lamingtons, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate rum balls!

All of this was served with selections of teas that we brought back from Singapore – strawberry tea, French earl grey tea, rose and vanilla tea, with chocolate tea to finish.

This was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

A truck full of Vailima!

So we are driving to work today and turn up the road by the Vailima Brewery factory following a water truck. The truck indicates and turns into the Brewery gate.

My perspective is "Oh they are taking some water to the factory to brew the beer". Adam's perspective is "They are taking the water truck to the factory to fill it up with beer"!

And is the glass half full or half empty?????

Ready for eating!!

The pineapples have turned yellow and when I tested pulling a leaf out of the top, it came away easily. I think this means they are ready to eat. Yippee! Just in time before we are away at Christmas. Time to plant those slips now too I guess so we can have more pineapples in a year's time. Yummy....

Telesa : The Covenant Keeper

Last week Lani Wendt Young was here in Samoa to launch her new teeanage fantasy/romantic fiction novel Telesa : The Covenant Keeper. I have been reading this as my first ever e-book on my Galaxy Tab and I have to say it's ............ brilliant!! The story flows so well it's hard to pick a spot to put the book down. Hence a number of after midnight late nights recently. It's a magical, spiritual Samoan story weaving contemporary Samoan life with an old legend of the Telesa who were women with elemental powers of earth, air and sea. The love interest is Daniel, who is portrayed by Ezra Taylor one of the Manu players (and not at all based on Daniel Carter as Lani informs me!)


Anyway we were invited to two launch events. A pre-launch at Plantation House which was a small and personal affair where we were treated to a speach by Dr Emma Kruse Vaai, launch of a new jewellry range by Beau Rassmussen and delectable delights by Marita Wendt herself. On Thursday 17th November was the offical launch of the book at the Millennia hotel fale. This was a combination of speeches, multimedia interviews and live shows of song and dance. Great entertainment.


In the end though the most important thing is that this book is fantastic and is the first Young Adult fiction authored by a local Samoan Author. It is the first in a trilolgy and we now can't wait for the second part due out early next year. The e-book is very reasonably priced at US $5.99 and can be purchased here http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/82460 or http://www.amazon.com/Telesa-The-Covenant-Keeper-ebook/dp/B005I3WD8Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1315609616&sr=1-1


I recommend you all buy it and read it!


I spoke to a real live teenage boy who read the book in 24 hours, thought it was awesome (especially the powers - maybe not so much the mushy bits) so this is a great recommendation!!

Well done Lani.

Sunday To'onai

Angela's prize for 'Most Committed' at the recent netball tournament was a Sunday Lunch (for 2) at the Orator Hotel. So, last weekend we got dressed up in our finest Samoan clothes and enjoyed our Samoan Sunday lunch. There were all the favourites - umu cooked pig, fish, taro, palusami and fresh oka (raw fish cocktail) along with more palagi style dishes - salads, pasta etc. All finished off with some chocolate cake and ice cream. Yummy!

This was the first time I had been to this hotel and I was impressed. The surroundings are very pleasant and the food and service were excellent. We had to have a bit of a laugh though - even in an upmarket hotel we were still served by a waitress in barefeet!

G'Day Samoa Fun Run

This Saturday morning I managed to drag Angela out of bed to take part in the G’day Samoa Fun Run. As you might have guessed from the name, the event has been organised by the Australian High Commission.

Despite the heavy rain on Friday night there was a big turnout for the event. The local paper reported a crowd of 800, but I am not sure how reliable that number is. Anyway, there were heaps of kids doing the 3km route and plenty of familiar faces from netball and work tackling the 5km run.

They organised the event really well, there was crew taking us through a Zumba warmup before the run started. I think some people were there more for the Zumba than the run. I decided to save my energy for the run rather than embarrassing myself trying to Zumba. After the run there was a bit of food and some prizes handed out.

This is part of a healthy lifestyles programme and will be held every month until July 2012. They have promised an even bigger and better event next month, with the contestants from the Miss South Pacific Pageant attending.

LAS Fundraising Dinner

The other night the Apia Community Group organised a fundraising dinner for the Library Association of Samoa at the APTC (Australia-Pacific Technical College) restaurant, Visions. This is a training restaurant that is staffed by the Polytech students of the tourism and hospitality courses. We have eaten there before and have been impressed by standard of the food and service delivered by the students.

This dinner was something a bit different for us – a Degustation Dinner. For those of you that don’t know (and yes, I had to look it up in the dictionary) degustation is that act of tasting or savouring.

In this case we were served 7 courses, each with a wine matched to the course. We were even given instructions on how best to enjoy the experience – thoroughly chew the food, then take a sip of wine just before you swallow. I am not sure if these instructions were followed at our table and I know that as the evening went on a few of the food-wine matchings were a bit mixed up by those that couldn’t keep pace or those that decided that they didn’t want a red with the next course and would just have another glass of the yummy Riesling!

Anyway, a good time was had by all and the food was great. Certainly a step up from our usual options for dinner out here in Apia. Once again the students did a wonderful job with preparation and service of the food and drinks.

As far as we can remember the menu was something like the list below, some of the details are a bit hazy, but For the wine buffs out there, sorry they didn’t give us any details of the wines, other than the variety and why it had been matched to that particular course.

• Aperitif – Campari, sweet vermouth, gin and soda


• Prawn mousse tarts with chilli and mango salsa


• Oysters with sesame oil and lime - Sparkling Cuvee


• Caramelised Onion Tart - Merlot


• Reef Fish on rice noodles - Riesling


• Chicken with mushrooms – Sauvignon Blanc


• Chocolate fudge cake with Cabernet Sauvignon


• Cheese platter and tawny port

Netball

It has been a few posts since we mentioned netball, but last weekend there was a one-day tournament organized by the SCOPA netball club. It was a full on day of netball. We got down to the courts around 8.30 am and over the course of the day Angela played 9 games and umpired another 8. Meanwhile I manned the BBQ where we sold about 300 sausages throughout the day.

For the record the Hyundai team came third and Angela won a prize for being The Most Committed.

We Count

Recently there have been a number of ads on the TV that seem to be about the upcoming national population census, but because they have all been in Samoan we haven’t really been sure what it is all about.

Then, a few weeks ago some stickers appeared on our gate post, which we figured must have been related to the census, but again we didn’t really know what was happening.

Unlike in NZ there didn’t seem to be any forms being distributed to be filled in, just ads saying that the census would be carried out from 1^st – 10^th November. We figured that maybe we would miss out on being counted because we didn’t know what we were supposed to do to get our forms.

Then last Sunday afternoon a strange car pulled up at our gate and a woman armed with her census ID and booklets got out. It turns out that they do things a little differently in Samoa. Here the census officer comes to you and fills in the questionnaire for you. Well actually, she noted the answers in a separate notebook, and was going to transcribe the answers to the proper forms later when she went home. Talk about doing things the hard way!

So, we sat down and went through the questions. Most of them were the usual sort of things – age, level of education, do you rent or own your home, jobs, etc etc. But there were a few that I haven’t seen on a census form in New Zealand, including ‘Do you have a sewing machine?’ She seemed quite pleased when we said, yes we do have a sewing machine! There was a whole range of questions about which household appliances we have - washing machineü, fridgeü, air conü, dishwasher û. They also wanted to know if our kitchen was inside the house or outside. There were also the expected questions about religion and children (everyone here seems to ask those questions). The children one seemed to come up several times, and each time we got a very sympathetic ‘how sad’ when we answered that we have no children.

Anyway, we can now rest happily knowing that we have been counted.

Guavas Galore

When we first moved in here we didn’t realize that there was a guava tree on the property, and for the last three years it hasn’t produced any fruit. Earlier this year it was starting to flower, but then much to our dismay the lawnmower gang gave it a severe ‘pruning’, chopping off most of the main branches. Anyway, the tree not only survived this brutal attack, but has flourished and is now producing lots of nice, big guavas.

We now have more guavas than we can eat, and the house is full of the sweet smell of ripe guavas, so we decided to make some guava jam. Neither of us have made jam before, and didn’t really know what we were doing, but we hade a couple of recipes to follow, so decided to have a go.

We completely underestimated how much fruit we had and therefore how much sugar we would need, but after a morning of preparing the fruit, a quick trip to the shop for another bag of sugar then boiling up our brew we had a pot full of guava jam. We weren’t sure if it was quite ready, it didn’t seem to be meeting the ‘set test’ as described in the cook book, but it smelt and tasted pretty good, so we decided it was ready.

The other challenge for us was trying to find jars or some type of container for our jam. After searching all the local shops all we could find were plain drinking glasses that were about the right size, but of course these have no lids. These were all we could find, so we decided we would have to make do. After searching the internet we read about various ways of sealing jam jars without screw on lids, including wax, silicon, waxed paper, cellophane etc. None of these things we could get here in Samoa, so we figured we would put our jam into our glasses, let it cool, and then cover it with glad wrap.

We are happy to report that not only does the jam taste great, but the glad wrap seems to be working ok. I don’t think that this is a very good solution if you want to keep your jam for a long time, but somehow I don’t think that this jam will last too long anyway!

The drought is broken

For several months now it has been hot and dry here in Samoa. We have had water shortages meaning nothing coming out of the tap for entire afternoons. The earth went dusty and we had to eek out any water we did have so that the plants could also have a small drink. At work they are collecting water bottles for Tokelau who are in even more dire situation to us.

But this afternoon the heavens opened, the temperature dropped 10 degrees (is this now winter?) and it hasn't stopped raining since! The male students poured out onto the field at the back of campus with rugby and soccer balls in tow. After a short run up they dived with a splash into what was now a mini lake and slid in glee while everyone else watched on shrieking in laughter.

Just goes to show you are never too old to play in puddles!

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Our New Kitchen

This is our kitchen before....
















And this is our kitchen after renovations!!
















Very flash albeit a few more chips out of the tiled floor in the process. Cupboards and drawers that open and close with ease and no termite dust everywhere. Hoping the pesky geckos will also stay out along with the spiders! The bench under the window is now a bit longer as well which is great. The only issue now is where to store the dog biscuits!!

NZSS Netball

Talofa. Well as Adam mentioned we have just returned from Napier where I was invited to umpire at the NZ Secondary Schools netball tournament. This tournament features the top secondary school teams from each of the regions in the Upper North Island, Lower North Island and South Island. Needless to say the standard of the competition was fierce and fast!

I expected to have to hit the ground running (ha ha) however the speed and skill level of the game was still a bit of a shock to my Samoan system! The week was thoroughly enjoyable, exhausting and enlightening though. I have a long way to go still and need to find a way to gain more experience at this level if I wish to progress further.

Meanwhile check out below my fantastic umpiring uniform and some of the group of umpires I met there. There is even one of me in action!!

What We Miss Here in Samoa

After being here for more than 3 years we think we have adjusted pretty well to the things you can and can't get here, but there are still a couple of things that we do miss -

The biggest one is THE DISHWASHER!! Everyday I have to put on my rubber gloves and tackle the dishes, not my favourite chore, and one that Angela will not tackle unless it is a real dire emergency!

That brings us to one of the other things we still can't get here - dishwashing gloves! I can not find the good old, basic rubber gloves for doing the dishes. Whenever we go to NZ that is one of the first things I pick up at the supermarket - while Ang is stocking up on chocolate, shampoo and hairspray!

Things got a bit desperate recently. My last current pair of rubber gloves sprang a leak and there were no more in the cupboard - apart from this flash pair Mum gave Angela for Xmas! Fortunately we are heading to NZ next week and I will be able to get some 'real' gloves.

Netball end of season prize giving 2011

Last night was the end of season prize giving for Samoa Netball.  This year Hyundai club did very well with the womens U21, A Reserve and A Teams all taking prizes.  During the season the A team held the shield for 4 weeks and then played some tough games to come 3rd in the grade.  This was an excellent achievement and a much improved performance on previous years.  Congratulations to the SCOPA club for coming 1st in the A Grade and to Faleula a new club for taking out 2nd place by beating Hyundai in our final game of the season by only 1 goal!!  Nail biting stuff.

USP struggled this year however this did not dampen spirits with the boys and girls teams showing up each week keen to take the court and play the game.  I am proud to say the USP boys showed great commitment this year and developed their skills during the season having some close matches and taking out the prize for Sportsmanship and Best Development so congrats to them for winning 2 new balls, a ball bag and some cones to assist with our training.  Girls found the A Reserve grade they moved up into challenging.

Many thanks as well to SNA for my prize for top umpire which I greatly appreciate.  Here some of the A grade team are pictured with Ray and Tate who also received umpiring prizes for passing their Centre Badges.  Well done on a great season everyone!!

Samoa Library Week 2011

From the 26th - 30th September 2011 Samoa held its 3rd ever National Library Week.  During the week events and activities were run to celebrate and promote literacy and reading in Samoa.  This year the theme was "Reading is your Pathway to Success" and many schools and people joined in with the book character, story and poetry writing and poster competitions held.  Library Week was launched with a parade through Apia town with 500-600 people joining in and then the opening ceremony at the EFKS hall in Mulinuu where the School Library Assistants performed a mania siva and the story of Little Red Riding hood was acted out by library staff from LDS Pesega.

Here is the banner from the Robert Louis Stevenson School

 This is the prize winning costume of the Very Hungry Caterpillar

 Here we all are parading through town past Carruthers store and the Apia town clocktower

On Tuesday the Library Association Committee members went to the Atua Farmer's District Library in Lepa for stories and activities and then on Wednesday it was over to the big island of Savaii for more parading and book character fun with approximately 300 participants.  Thursday saw the book launch of new children's book "Surviving a Tsunami : Dealing with Disaster" by Jackie Faasisila, Angela Jowitt and Walter Dudley and finally on Friday was more stories and activities in the Nelson Memorial Public Library before prizes were awarded for the story writing and poster competitions and librarians ended the week with a dinner.

Faafetai tele lava LAS Committee for a job well done and a very successful Library Week 2011.

Pineapple update at Week 7

As you can see the Slips are now forming and getting quite large under the fruit and the plant is on a bit of a lean.  Might need to stake that up!  Wonder how long we let the Slips grow there before we take them off and plant them.  Hmmmmm must consult a book in the library....

Go da Manu!

Well Rugby World cup fever has certainly been gripping the country.  There have been flags flying, banners up and people have even gone so far as to paint their cars with "Go the Manu" and decorate their bonnets with the Samoan flag.  No matter whether they won or lost people were still positive and happy about their performance such that there was great celebration and racket of car horns tooting after every game.  Samoa also experienced it's first "flash mob" last Thursday 29th September when everyone was invited to gather on Beach Road dressed in their garb with flags in tow to storm the road at 3pm, perform the Siva Tau while being filmed by TV3 and this was then hurridly edited and put up on YouTube in time for the boys to see it before their game.

Meanwhile Old Man stays true to the All Blacks!!  Oh well that's what he gets for being adopted by NZ Palagis!!

Friends in Samoa

 We recently had visitors to the island our good friends Ang and Dave from NZ.  This is us all in our back yard next to the pineapple garden.

Nicola and I also farewelled Elenoa with dinner at the yacht club, Swashbucklers.  It was a fun filled evening full of laughs and we hope 'Noa' will settle back into Fiji with her family and new job.

Samoa Perimeter Relay 2011

The 17th September was the 3rd running of the Samoa Perimeter Relay, and once again I found myself lining up with the NPI Flyers.

The event was pretty much the same format as the last 2 years - 104 km, 24 legs, 6 members in each team. There were a few changes to some of the legs, and all of us that struggled with the heat in the middle of the day last year appreciated the organisers decision to put the longer legs earlier, when it is cooler, and give us shorter runs at the end when it is hot.

From last year's team only 3 of us are still in Samoa, but Slava (the crazy Russian vet) decided that he was going to run the entire 104km himself, so that just left Darryl and I. We eventually managed to round up 4 willing(?) volunteers to make up our team, including a last minute substitute when one of the team was injured only a week before the event. My own build up was very disrupted, including a 2 week lay off recovering from a sprained ankle suffered when I stood on a rock while out for a run (it didn't help that it was dark and the street lights were not working!)  Darryl too had his training interrupted by injury - he managed to break a rib while playing business house soccer! So it is fair to say that we were not the best prepared team, but we did make it to the start line!

This year I must have drawn the short straw as somehow I ended up with the longest leg and the section that has earned the nickname 'Heart Break Hill' over the last couple of years.  The 6.1 km leg around Lalomanu didn't worry me too much - it is a really nice stretch to run and is fairly flat, but I wasn't looking forward to the steep section of heart break hill, or the steep downhill that follows it.  As it turned out it wasn't too bad. The uphill had me huffing and puffing, but the downhill was much harder on the legs. The dodgy ankle managed to survive they day and I made it to the end OK.

We did have one small drama when Andy, our 4th runner, hurt his knee during his 3rd leg. He managed to walk/run/hobble to the end of that section and we were able to use a substitute runner to run his final stretch for him.  I had bravely/foolishly volunteered to take up his last leg, but I was very relieved when our spare runner Pete said that he was able to do it.

For the record we made it to the finish line in 9 hours and 37 minutes, about 17 minutes ahead of our target time, and good enough to win a Pizza Feast from Giordano's which was very much enjoyed by the team . This is becoming a habit - Angela also won a Giordano's voucher at the Independence Day Run.

NPI Flyers at the Finish Line

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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