After a very peaceful night in the sheltered Havannah Harbour, we had a rather bouncy trip up to Emae. Left Havannah just after 7am and arrived at Emae at 1pm. Beautiful reefs and clear water enticed us for a snorkel and a freshen up before going ashore. We set off walking the 5km to the school but half way we were collected by a local ute who gave us a ride in the tray of the ute, along with dozens of coconuts! There are 10 villages on Emae, with a total of over 800 people. We took our seeds to the school and handed them over to the Principal, Richard. He will liaise with their island Disaster Committee and ensure the seeds are divided up fairly to the 10 villages on the island. Emae was hit very hard by cyclone Pam. The mango trees and coconut trees have been stripped of all branches, fruit and foliage. Many large trees have been uprooted and lie on their sides. Skeletons of thousands of trees stand twisted and broken, pointing bare tips skyward like the set of some horror movie. This island depends on copra production for income. There won't be any copra here for a very long time.
We met up with people from the three Sea Mercy boats who are doing wonderful work here in Vanuatu, the good folks on Buffalo Nickel, Darramy and Perspherone (or something like that!)to make arrangements for some of our seeds to be delvilered to the Shepherd Islands. There are several islands in the Shepherd group. The largest, Tongoa, is getting aid from Vila. But smaller islands are missing out. Buninga Island is only 1.5km across, but 90 people live on this tiny island. Next to Buninga is Tongariki, only slightly larger in area but more than double the population of Buninga. These people have had very little help, mainly due to their isolation. There are no safe overnight or strong wind anchorages at these islands - and landing is difficult without vessels being set up especially for the task. Fortunately, Buffalo Nickel has a special tender made for the job and Darramy travels alongside to provide the hands on help required to get things ashore in difficult spots. We delivered a p ortion of our seeds to Darramy this afternoon, they are leaving early in the morning from Emae, to transport them to these two tiny islands who are desperate for seeds.
From Brian and Sue on Darramy we learned about some more needs they had discovered in the islands. Many small fishing boats, both aluminium and traditional dug out canoes, were damaged in the cyclone. Often just small holes, but definitely not sea worthy! These vessels not only provide food for the village, but they also sell fish to the markets to get income. While boats remain damaged, many families cannot fish for food, or income. What they need is fibreglass matting and fibreglass resin to repair their boats - and someone wiht the knowledge to help them do repairs. Water tanks and roofs also have small holes that can be fixed with fibreglass repair. Any boats coming from NZ or from Fiji could bring some supplies and help out - please! Also, any vessels coming this way, please bring roofing nails, screws and fastenings to secure guttering and downpipes back on to roofs so that water tanks can be used to collect water again. Another need is water taps/valves for the base of water t anks. Some aid organisation has delivered loads of water tanks to the islands, but they didn't come with a tap on the bottom! Until they get these valves, the tanks are useless. Please spread the word to any vessels coming this way - these items do not take up too much room on a yacht, but are desperately needed.
Tomorrow we head to the Maskelyne Islands - we are hoping for a better passage than the one we had today!