Known as Turtle Island after Captain James Cook’s visit, Vatoa island is an outlier of Fiji’s Lau Group that the delegation also visited.

During TC Harold, five homes were badly damaged as their roofs were blown off during the cyclone and storm surge.

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) along with partners from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) did not hold back to help villagers in the post recovery stages of TC Harold.

56 households were fortunate to receive Cash Voucher Assistance (CVA) of $100 from the Australian government through the UNDP.

An added top-up of $50 from ADRA for persons with disability.

Village headman Jone Talai says families had to take shelter with relatives in other nearby as tidal storm surges swept through the village church and Health Centre.

“We are slowly recovering and with the CVA assistance it will greatly help us to buy basic groceries that we do not have in the village like, rice, flour, sugar to name a few,”

“These items are out of stock in the village canteen and so we have to patiently wait for the boat trip from Suva to supply us with our rations,”

Mr Talai said, “To sweeten our tastebuds, we rely on coconut water and rain water to quench our thirst.”

30-year-old, Seruwaia Ceguca said, “The assistance from the teams was my answered prayer as it will now help me buy groceries for my small family,”

“We are running out of food in our canteens and our food from our farms have just recovered from TC Harold,

“With this cash, we will be able to buy enough supply to last us for a month as the boat only comes once a month,” she said.

UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, Kevin Petrini said, “Our mandate is to leave no one behind, so working with government and partners in order to achieve this in the Lau group is truly an embodiment of that,”

“Seeing firsthand the devasting impact of TC Harold, the UNDP was able to work with some partners from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Natural Disaster Management Office (NDMO), iTaukei Affairs Board, Conservation International, and others,”

“We were able to put together a program to support communities, their recovery and to witness the resilience in these villages is what makes us all engage and work together to achieve a common goal,” Mr Petrini said.

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