Emergency Disaster Relief for Moturiki Fiji

The four communites of Motutiki that we are focused on with the Hurricane Winston disaster relief and recovery project and that were trained in the Happy Chickens livelihood project, continue with the work in their communities.  Over three thousand dollars of materials for chicken houses have so far been purchased, and sent out, build with the contribution of local labor.  Three hundred chicks were sent, and now the chickens have begun laying and are providing high protein food to the communities. 

Mr. Simione Koto has visited the four Moturiki communites twice since our last report to folow up on the project. He reports that two of the village communities are doing much better than the others, and this is due to the training that community members received at the Sigatoka workshop.  Women have been key to project success. 

We are now considering how best to expand and improve on the project based on these initial lessons learned, but again we have decided to focus on building and restoring livelihoods rather than helping repair houses, which people are getting support from elsewhere, although we did initially send three large chainsaws, with which they continue to mill felled trees into timber with for rebuilding.  

We recently received the tragic news of the death of Mrs Kasa Dilo, our project leader in Daku village.  She was a key mover of the project.  Her health was suffereing from the stress of the disaster, as concrete home had been completely swept away by the waves in the hurricane last year, and she suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes, complicated by the stress of coping wth all the damage and destruction.  We have yet to visit her husband Johne and the family fro condolences and to ensure that the work continues in the village in her absence.  She will be greatly missed, but we must ensure project success for the sake of the community.  

Thank you again for all that you have done to help make this project a success- touching the lives of so many in need.  It is not always so easy, so please remember us and of course these gentle island communities in your thoughts and prayers.