Community rallies to help Tongans
‘Massive effort’ gathers essential aid for islanders
The Central Districts Tongan community gathered in Palmerston North for two days last month to fill 100 drums with aid for the Tongan relief effort.
Each drum contained basics — flour, sugar, cans of corned beef and tuna — but also personal items from each family here to loved ones in the kingdom. Things like baby clothes, school bags, chocolates and workboots.
In total, more than $70,000 of non-perishable food was loaded into a shipping container, joining the Aotearoa Tongan Relief Committee mahi in Auckland.
“It has been a massive community effort,” community spokesman Dr Nailasikau Halatuituia says.
“We have mobilised, loaded the drums, and delivered it to Auckland in a very short time.
“We’ve shown how it can be done, and are now talking to other regions about how they can support.”
News of the Tongan eruption on January 15 shook communities around the world.
“King Tupou VI gave a message to the nation,” Halatuituia says. “He told us —
now is the time for all Tongans to come together, so we are here doing our part. I needed to find a way to connect our community. That’s why it’s called C2C — community to community. We are not a committee
with a hierarchy. We are all just Tongans who are coming together to support our people in the islands.”
Halatuituia thanked Palmerston North MP Tangi Utikere, Mayor Grant Smith and Councillor Renee Dingwall for their help with logistics. Businesses had also stepped up to help — AC Plastics and Mana Pacific Consultants helped secure the drums. Good Bitches Baking and the Papaioea Pasifika Community Trust provided food for volunteers.