Vaini Village Report (Tonga Eruption relief)

We imme­di­ately reached out to Tongan com­mu­nity leaders to see how we could support our Tongan whānau.

Working with the Pacific Lead­er­ship Forum, we were able to send NZD$8000 to the village of Vaini on the island of Ton­gat­apu. Through your kind dona­tions, we were able to pur­chase non-per­ish­able foods, hygiene items, water, and other essen­tials to be deliv­ered to the most vul­ner­a­ble in the Vaini community.

The agreed approach was that two nom­i­nated shop owners oper­at­ing in the village would receive NZD$4000 each, as payment for the pro­cure­ment of 200 care pack­ages. This approach also helps to boost the local economy. It is esti­mated that up to 20% of the 2,700+ res­i­dents of Vaini will have had some benefit from these care packages.

The con­tents of the care pack­ages con­sisted of items such as:

Water 6 x 1.5L, 2 kg flour, 2kg rice, 2kg Sugar, Milo, Coffee, Tea, Milk, Break­fast Cracker x4, 3x Corn Beef, 4x Tin Meat, 6x soap, 6 xToilet Paper, Razor, 6x tooth­brushes, San­i­tary Pads x2 packs, Colgate, Dis­in­fec­tant„ Laundry powder 1.2 kg

Kind con­tri­bu­tions covered by Hon Tevita Unga Tan­gi­tau Ma’afu and his family included the mobil­i­sa­tion of vol­un­teer labour, venue for oper­a­tions, cost of meals and refresh­ments for the pack­ag­ing and dis­tri­b­u­tion teams, as well as petrol and rent of the trucks to pick-up and carry out dis­tri­b­u­tions. We are so thank­ful for this con­tri­bu­tion to the work of sup­port­ing the village of Vaini.

Email kelly.enright@nzbms.org.nz for the full report of erup­tion relief.