Aid Distribution 101 … How we did it (Part 3)

Etas Village is located about a 15 minute drive from Port Vila. It is the poorest community that we work with here on the main island, with the majority of the residents “squatting” on government land. Etas is a village primarily because it encompasses the land for the municipal dump. There are no power or water facilities in the area.

Many of the church members from Etas spent the night of the cyclone hunkered down in the church building in Port Vila. I took them back out to the village the following morning, only to find their tin shacks in pieces strewn for miles. They slept at our house for a couple of weeks, working tirelessly during the day to pick up the pieces and rebuild their homes, kitchens and toilets. It was amazing to travel back out there every day or so and see the progress they were making. The word “resilience” just kept coming to mind.

I was very appreciative of the wisdom exhibited by one of the local church leaders, Sam, as we discussed how us outsiders could most effectively help with their needs. Along with other church leaders, he made a list of families to focus on, both members and non-members of the church in Etas, and suggested a course of action. The families had been able to salvage much of their housing materials (most of which where originally salvaged from the dump anyway), but they had a genuine need for sheets of roofing iron. Roofing iron is a great building material for Etas, because it remains somewhat portable (unlike concrete) … a necessity when you are merely squatting on government land, because you never know when you might have to pick up and move house. He requested that we provide each family with 4m sheets of roofing iron, with quantity based loosely on how many family members their were in the household. Furthermore, the families naturally fell into 4 distinct areas of the village, and he so requested that we strategically place polyethylene water tanks in these locations. Helping Hands International, a Stateside non-profit organization associated with Churches of Christ, sent us over 100 water filtration systems that were coupled with the tanks, to ensure clean drinking water for hundreds of people in Etas.

We re-used the list system (adding names as needed, based on local recommendations) when it came time to distribute goods from the two 20ft containers that came from concerned brethren in Brisbane, Australia. It was our job to organize and box up the goods, which we then placed in the hands of the local leaders to distribute amongst their communities as they saw fit, with little or no parameters set by us. They knew far better than us where the greatest needs were, and also had a better feel for the most effective course of action. To my knowledge, this system worked quite nicely, and resulted in the local church being able to do much good in Jesus’ name.

Some three months post-cyclone, it would seem that “normal” is on the horizon. Gardens are beginning to produce, shade trees have regrown their leaves, houses are basically rain-proof once again, and the water tanks are in place and providing water. We still make a water run every so often, when the rains don’t suffice, but for the most part everyone is back on their feet and headed in the right direction.

Some of the Christians in Etas pose with their new water filters