Satitoa Diary

Wanganui Chronicle reporter Anne-Marie Emerson is part of the Wanganui District Council-led reconstruction team currently in Samoa. The team is helping the village of Satitoa rebuild after the devastating tsunami in September. Anne-Marie is reporting daily from Satitoa.

7 December 2009

Today work begins on the new building.

This morning the crew woke at 5am for a quick breakfast and cuppa before we started work.

By 7am it was already hotter and stickier than any day in New Zealand could be. Both men were working flat out ably assisted by several Samoan men. Our head builder Allan Hoskin said the local helpers were very keen and everyone had a good day's work.

"They were digging holes, mixing concrete and helping to bring truckloads of materials up to the site."

And even though most of them did not speak English, communication was not a problem, he said.

"We managed to get around the language barrier by using hand signals and so on. The way we are bulding is very similar to how they build, so they understood what we were doing."

The new building is a traditional Samoan fale - 10 metres by 5.4 metres, with an iron roof and a wooden floor and walls about a metre high. Many fale don't have closed-in walls because of the heat.

Meanwhile Allan McGibbon and I went into Apia on some essential errands, such as grocery shopping - (we've been living entirely on canned food up till now) - and ordering some extra iron for the roof. We also had to pick up some gear that had been sent over from New Zealand - among other things a chainsaw, steel cutter and toys. The chainsaw and steel cutter will be useful in tidying up the village - work which in the short time we are here we will only be able to make a start on. But we hope to at least make it safer for people to walk around.

The toys are of course for the children. We have already done one toy drop and the look of pure joy on their faces as they hug their cuddly bear was something we will never forget. The children of Satitoa seem amazingly resilient; when we see their smiling faces crowding around us it is hard to remember the terror they have been through. But one of the pastors told us yesterday many of the children are still suffering from nightmares. It is good to know this building will function as a pre-school, so the work we are doing will directly help some of these children.

Tomorrow's building plan includes putting the floor down and pre-cutting the roof so that it can go up on Wednesday. In the evening (Thursday NZT) we are also cooking a barbeque for the village Chief Te'o Uiva Simi and his entire household which we think numbers about 14.

It is going to be another big day.