Vanuatu after tc pam.

As anyone who watches the news will know, Vanuatu was hit pretty hard by tropical cyclone pam.

I grew up on the island of Tanna, one of the hardest hit. I still don't know if my friends are ok. If you look online, you can find pictures of Tanna airport, and some of a few of the stores, e.g. Tafea coop. These are the best buildings on the island!!!
Everyone lives in huts with a stick frame, woven bamboo walls, and a thatch roof. (Talking about Tanna, not port Vila, although it's not much better)

People will all have their homes rebuilt writhing a month or so, they will all chip in, and the cleanup will be done quickly.

The real issue, however, is the long term. 95% of the Tanna population are sustenance farmers. All their gardens will have been destroyed. It will take months to grow their crops. In the meantime they have nothing to eat.

It's not like Aus, where we panic if the power goes out, or the Internet is down for a few days. The garden is their living, and it's all completely destroyed.

So please consider donating to the relief funds, through any agency (though preferably one that puts 100%of your donation through)

These are the friendliest people on earth, and while very resilient, they have limited resources.

Thanks.

Had a mate work there and I have been able to speak the language a little, so excuse me if I get it wrong but its Tida Vargous
Water ,food and shelter is the priority atm the Aust Army are awesome with these relief efforts, the PPl are the friendliest too

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Originally Posted by threedogs

Had a mate work there and I have been able to speak the language a little, so excuse me if I get it wrong but its Tida Vargous Water ,food and shelter is the priority atm the Aust Army are awesome with these relief efforts, the PPl are the friendliest too

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Can't thank the Aust army:gov enough for the help they are giving.

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Originally Posted by threedogs

Had a mate work there and I have been able to speak the language a little, so excuse me if I get it wrong but its Tida Vargous Water ,food and shelter is the priority atm the Aust Army are awesome with these relief efforts, the PPl are the friendliest too

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And sorry but tida vargous? Not sure what you mean.

To true. I visited pt villa a few years back on a Cruze and the locals were fantastic.
Tried some interesting fruits while there and they were really nice.
Such a devastating thing to happen and I hope you get in contact with loved ones soon PH..

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Originally Posted by Punderhead

And sorry but tida vargous? Not sure what you mean.

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no good isnt it, no idea how its spelt

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Originally Posted by threedogs

no good isnt it, no idea how its spelt

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you may be correct, there are about 6 different languages on Tanna alone, with a few different dialects for each, I just don't know that one.

Donation sent last night. We keep thinking of the family we spent time with on Tanna in 2006, living in bamboo huts on the opposite side of the bay to PRYC. They will be like many others - without food, water & shelter. I heard of children having to drink salt water this morning.
Just to reinforce Punderhead’s comments, these people live from hand to mouth, most have no money whatsoever. They live on what they grow in their bush gardens. In many ways it is an idyllic existence, but when something like Cyclone Pam happens that existence becomes a life & death situation very quickly.

This family cook daily like this, here they are cooking ‘lap lap’, a traditional food baked in a parcel of leaves. Despite the obvious differences in wealth between us & them (they had no monetary wealth) they insisted we eat with them, & even added some extra protein to the lap lap specially for us, a few small fish, caught that morning in the bay from their dugout outrigger canoe.

If you possibly can, please do donate, even a small amount could save a life.

I would like to Donate but I want 100% going to Aid.

Which Aid ?????

yeah not like the Tsunami fiasco, good call but as you said which one
not a good look when the CEO drives an AMG 6.3 merc

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Originally Posted by Bob

I would like to Donate but I want 100% going to Aid. Which Aid ?????

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Honestly not sure mate. I donated through my church, but that is primarily for the support of the families in our church over there, i.e. The people I know.

Quite disappointing when people try to profit off of the disaster of others.

oh they come crawling out from under the floor boards makes me sick and would love to catch one ,one day

Our donation went through unicef. I too tend to not give to most appeals for the reasons that I have tired of the ‘charity industry’, but in this case because I’ve seen first hand the subsistence existence that these people live & know 100% that time is of the essence I have been willing to send to a charity I knew was already on the ground there.
You can google those listed below.

You can assist with donations to the aid agencies listed below to help with disaster relief and humanitarian support. They are members of the Australian Council of International Development (ACFID) and signatories to its code of conduct.
Oxfam Australia - 1800 034 034

Australian Red Cross - 1800 811 700

Plan Australia - 13 75 26

Care Australia - 1800 020 046

World Vision Australia - 13 32 40

UNICEF - 1300 884 233

Save the Children - 1800 76 00 11

Adventist Development and Relief Agency - 1800 242 372