Emergency Relief for Fiji After Cyclone Winston

Dear Supporters, 

During the school break, GVI volunteers and staff banded together to make improvements to the community hall of Silana Village. As an area that is used so frequently by the community, and an area where a majority of Silana Villagers associated with the events of Cyclone Winston, improvements to the community hall would benefit all members of the village. GVI staff alongside the youth of Silana decided that painting and mending the community hall would be an important visual example of how much the village has worked together to rebuild their community and their lives over the past six months and how much pride they should hold in themselves and their village.

The community hall was always a hub of singing and laughter, a place for the community to come together. It was always clear to GVI volunteers when they were at the community hall how much happiness and care the members of the community held for each other as well as their homes. Whether it was a Sevu Sevu, Tatau, Village meeting, a celebration, a feast or a normal kava session, the importance of the community hall and the pride Silana villagers held in it was obvious. During Cyclone Winston the community hall became the place that villagers took shelter, the place they were forced to evacuate again for higher ground due to extreme flooding and sea surges. Six months after the cyclone, singing, celebrations and kava sessions returned, however, the community hall still wore the memories of what members of Silana Village endured during the storm; roofing tin still covered windows, walls and surrounding areas were degrading.

We set to work to improve the area and make it reflect how far the village has come after Cyclone Winston. Staff and volunteers soon learned that the way to make a community hall say happiness, pride and community spirit in Fiji is with colour- the brighter the better. Armed with lime green paint carefully selected by Silana Village members, we began making the community hall a space to use with pride. After a week of painting walls and beams and fixing new window louvers, the Silana Community Hall stood bright and tall. 

After disasters such as Cyclone Winston have occurred, the psychological impact of seeing local areas and homes in a damaged state can be long lasting. Losing pride in the village can cause people to lose pride in themselves, resulting in a loss of motivation and causing a large delay in the recovery process. Seeing the village get involved with the renovation of the community hall and the response after it was finished showed how immensely proud the community members are of Silana Community Hall. 

Thank you for your donations which we used to buy all of the hardware (paint, nails, wood, glass louvers, flooring material etc.) that we needed to give the community hall its face-lift. 

With Gratitude, 

GVI Fiji