Habitat For Humanity Rebuilds 46 Homes For Cyclone-Hit Families In Fiji

September 19th, 2011

Fiji Government, Donors And Volunteers Help Families To Start Afresh

(Top) Waisale Savuwalu and his family outside their new Habitat house in Karoko village. They were living in a temporary shelter (bottom) when their house was being built (middle).

SUVA, 19th September 2011: Habitat for Humanity Fiji thanked its donors and supporters at a recent ceremony to mark the completion of its rebuilding project for cyclone-affected families.

At the event held in the capital Suva, HFH Fiji also handed over its final report and certificate of completion to donors.

HFH Fiji rebuilt the homes of 46 families who were affected by Cyclone Tomas which struck in March 2010.

Habitat’s response was made possible by the memorandum of understanding which it signed with the Fijian government.

The New Zealand Aid program provided significant funding to HFH Fiji to help low-income families in 11 villages from the worst-hit areas in Vanua Levu.

Other donors included the Bank of the South Pacific (BSP), the only corporate donor to this rehabilitation project, as well as the Rotary Club of Lautoka.

HFH New Zealand showed its support by sending 34 volunteers to help rebuild houses.

“Through the hard work of the carpenters, families, communities and the international volunteers, we were able to complete the 46 homes in just over six months,” said HFH Fiji’s national director Richard Counts.

The donors’ generosity enabled the affected families to start afresh. “These families weren’t able to rebuild their homes on their own due to their financial hardship, but thanks to the donors their lives have been changed for the better,” Counts added.