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Interview with Father Michael and

The backdrop to this interview is one of the school’s classrooms that has been completely destroyed and a few skeletons of other damaged buildings. There is fruit all over the floor that has been blown from the trees.

Father Michael begins the interview by stating that there has been a lot of damage to the area. He then describes how the cyclone arrived around 4pm. It was strong and maintained its strength until around 2am. It was not until 6am, the intensity of the cyclone began to move away. Harold was quick to reveal his true power, and Father Michael says at this point they realised it was a life or death situation.

They identified a house they could shelter in and gathered everyone they could to shelter in this house. Throughout the cyclone, everyone was trying to hold down parts of the structures of the building, to hold everything down against the wind, even as Father Michael was trying to cut more pieces of bamboo for reinforcement. By 3am, even the children were clinging onto the bamboo. By the time the hurricane was finished, he was relieved that everyone had survived the night. It had been a grim time.

Unfortunately, the ordeal was costly. One of the felled classrooms had only recently been built. Each classroom had cost the community 345,000 vatu to build – with no help from the government or otherwise. For Father Michael- actions speak more than words: he calls for actions and not empty promises. They are in need of a strong permanent classroom at the school so that next time there is a disaster, they can use it to store valuable possessions and use it as an evacuation centre for the community. Father Michael emphasises that they don’t want temporary solutions like tarpaulin, but long-term solutions.

In the second part of the interview, we hear from the Principal, Coline Tabi, who begins by thanking us for the visit despite the remote location of the village.

She describes hearing a vague warning on the radio in advance of the cyclone, but that they were under the impression it would not be that strong. The village is on an exposed location on the hill so this could potentially have been fatal.

The Principal remarks that everything they have achieved at the school has been achieved by their own willpower, and under the remit of ACOMV (the Anglican Church of Melanesia, Vanuatu). There has been no external support so far in the building and maintaining of the school; they are not a government school, so are not in receipt of state funding. Everything they have achieved is as a result of the community and not government support, so the extent of the damage is all the more devastating as they have no idea how they are going to recover.

The principal tried to save some books and some stationery but the vast majority has been destroyed. There was only a limited amount that could be done as the office isn’t very good and is prone to becoming wet inside. The principal describes how the community identified a local-material building in a less exposed site, as well as the school office, to take shelter in, as they believed these were the safest structures.

The local-material house was blown to pieces by the wind, and the people inside had to cling onto the walls. The water drenched the people inside – which included children and a baby. The office was drenched, too; but once the cyclone was underway, they couldn’t leave as it was too dangerous.

At 5am they were at last able to leave to have a look and they saw that all the houses and all of their stuff had gone. Everything is damaged; an unimpeachable pile of destruction. Everything inside the school that could not be stored safely has been destroyed or damaged, which means that they have no resources left.

The Principal has no idea how they will bounce back from this inconceivable disaster. Education is a human right and so Coline feels it is their duty to educate the children; but she herself is distraught, and has no idea how they will get back to a place where the children can resume their education. She hopes everyone will work together to repair the school and give thanks for the opportunity to take part the interview.

Father Michael ends by pleading for support and emphasising that they all need to work together to rebuild the school.