Rebuilding shattered lives (and a crocodile encounter)!

Hi Folks,

Sorry about the delay in the blog posts – as you can imagine, internet connections are not always the best when you are visiting remote islands!

The plane we travelled in to Gizo had a sophisticated (!) refueling system. It was back to good-old hand pumping from 44 gallon drums of fuel!!

The airport is on an island by itself and to finish our journey we took a canoe to Gizo. From their, we set off by canoe to the two islands of Kuso and Kaza.

The first stop at Kuso was to see a new two classroom school. But the unexpected thing we saw first was a salt water crocodile (alive!) which had been caught by the local men the previous night by wading out into the lagoon with torches and spears!!

After the earthquake and tsunami destroyed the school at Kuso, the children resumed classes in a UNICEF supplied tent.

Later, the community built a temporary structure that could also be used as a classroom.

The new school being built by UNICEF is now almost complete, including new desks designed by a local draft person Rachel. Seeing the progress from a tent school, to a temporary structure, to a new school complete with furniture was really gratifying. That was topped off by seeing how excited the children and villagers were to have a new school complete with latrines.

The school has two latrines – one for the boys and one for the girls. It is important that the girls have their own toilet as they reach puberty, because if they don’t they will stay at home and miss school.

At our next stop, Kaza, we received a fantastic welcome starting with a canoe of warriors (friendly!) leading us in to the village.

And more warriors (I think friendly!) rushed out of the bushes to see if we were friend or foe. They were painted and armed with spears, rather sharp looking knives (probably used for cutting fish) and shields. Much like a Maori greeting there was much shouting and intimidation but under it all there was a really warm welcome.

A less frightening welcome awaited us around the corner in front of the new school, and was provided by the children who sang a song welcoming the New Zealanders. This was followed by generous hospitality in the form of coconuts to drink from, fresh fruit and a home baked equivalent of our scones.

For me, it was particularly satisfying to see this school completed, because when I was in Kaza in September last year the concrete foundation had been laid and wall frames erected. Now the school has been completed and is in use.

A marvelous result for this shattered community.

But in addition to the school UNICEF has built two houses for the school teachers. Without accommodation it is hard to attract trained teachers to these small islands. Both the school and the houses have their own latrines. Before having latrines the children and adults had to toilet in the sea.

This was a truly marvelous day, and all of our party – Gareth & Jo Morgan, TV3′s Carly Flynn and Stephen Johnson – were blown away by the welcome and joy of the people at having these new facilities for their children. In fact, during their welcoming speeches, the local people spoke of how grateful they are for the money New Zealanders gave to the UNICEF tsunami appeal that was part of the funding for the reconstruction.

The talk around the dinner table tonight was all about the day, the warmth of the people, the kids and the reconstruction project.

Bye for now,
Dennis