Hamilton’s help for Tonga
Mefi Naufahu was drinking kava and playing music with friends in Hamilton on Saturday night.
But everyone went quiet and the mood turned solemn as news hit of the volcanic eruption in his Tongan homeland.
With no real news or pictures coming out of the island group he has imagined the worst based on experiences from his boyhood on Tonga.
‘‘When I saw that on Saturday my memories during Cyclone Isaac [in 1982] . . . flashed back to me, the damage that cyclone did.’’
He says it’s stressful not knowing what’s happening, given those memories.
Naufahu says there are about 3000 Tongans in Hamilton, where he is chair of the Waikato Tongan Community Charity Trust.
He and others, including church ministers, have been providing emotional support to Tongans worried about relatives and friends at home.
‘‘They’re really stressed about not knowing the unknown.’’
Talking helps them and ‘‘it helps me as well’’, said Naufahu, who is the lead Pacific adviser, engagement at the Ministry of Education in Hamilton.
He has a brother and many relatives in the village of Haveliku on Tonga’s main island.
He says the ongoing lack of news about them is really distressing.
Members of the Tongan community met Monday to discuss the situation.
‘‘The Tongan community here is really desperate to know what’s happening in the islands.’’
The situation means a lot of pressure on people here and a great sense of uncertainty.
Naufahu has sent a request to Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate, via letter, for help in organising empty containers that can be loaded by families with food and clothes for their relatives in Tonga. The community also wants help with freighting them over.
He says that, usually, at a time of crisis families would send financial assistance.
‘‘Normally at this time each family will send money over to help out’’.
While he expects New Zealand and other countries will send community-wide
scale aid, families here will want to help their individual whā nau themselves as well. He was yesterday awaiting a reply from the mayor.
Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate has asked Hamilton city councillors to support a one-off grant to support relief efforts in Tonga for an as yet undisclosed sum.
A statement from her office said the money would come from Council’s existing community grants budget.
It would be used to help fund the cost of containers and freight to send essential goods including food, clothing and basic supplies to the islands. Southgate’s statement said the situation is Tonga is dire and that the local Tongan community is desperate to help.
‘‘I know many people have still not even been able to contact families which is incredibly distressing. Our hearts go out to our local Tongan community and to their families. New Zealand knows what it is like dealing with natural disasters and I think we all want to help in some way.’’
Southgate said she was confident that some local businesses, that were in a position to do so, would support on board the council initiative if it went ahead.
‘‘I know a lot of people will want to help – that’s how our city works. So this would be a relief package from Hamilton, not just from the council. The Tongan community contributes a lot to our city and now’s a time when we can all recognise that and offer practical assistance to people in need.’’