Lessons in grief, hope and recovery from a seven-year-old boy.

Tavai Soalo, a facilitator in the UNICEF-supported Just Play sports for
development programme and Nalau.
UNICEF Pacific/2015/Berthe

“I remember Tavai. He came to my school and we played football”, says Nalau.

Tavai Soalo, a facilitator in the UNICEF-supported Just Play sports for development programme, also remembers Nalau. He was facilitating a Just Play session at Sorovanga School, Vanuatu, aimed at helping children to recover emotionally from Cyclone Pam, when Nalau shared his story. 

“We played games then I asked the children how they felt after Cyclone Pam” Tavai recalls. “I gently encouraged them to share their experiences, feelings, thoughts and even plans for the future.”

The tent that brought children back to school

Joana and Daisly used to miss school regularly before Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu. 
The unique experience of learning in a tent has brought them back. 
UNICEF Pacific/2015/Berthe

When Joana and Daisly share their experience of Category 5 Cyclone Pam, I can hear the horror of that night in their voices – voices that remind me of my two young sons and our own night of terror.

Seven-year-old Joana is from a small community in Port Vila. She was home with her younger sister and her parents when the cyclone hit Vanuatu with devastating force on 13 March 2015. She tells me the wind was so strong they had to shelter in a nearby shop after the cyclone ripped the roof of their house off. Fear still echoes in her voice when recalling the events of that night six months ago.

Cyclone Pam three months on: A school on the road to recovery

Ellen, a 13 year old student from St Joseph school near Port Vila stands outside the tent
that has been her classroom since cyclone Pam destroyed part of the school. If not for the
shelter supplied by UNICEF, students would have been sent home on a rotating basis.
© UNICEF PACIFIC/2015/McGarry

Three months after Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu with devastating force, Vila North School is a study in contrasts. Children released for break scream with delight as they scamper from tents set up as temporary classrooms, past the destroyed parts of their school. Builders work around them, replacing the roofing on classrooms and rebuilding destroyed facilities as teachers plan their lessons from a temporary office inside a repurposed shipping container. Students and teachers can see the progress around them – but much remains to be done. 

UNICEF overcomes huge logistical challenges to get life-saving aid to Vanuatu

Warehouse workers erecting a temporary storage facility to store supplies UNICEF received
from a 100 metric tonne shipment that arrived in Port Vila recently. © UNICEF PACIFIC/2015/McGarry

Port Vila, Vanuatu - It’s all hands on deck as 15 warehouse workers heave, push, lift and carry boxes of emergency supplies that have just arrived in a 40-foot container at the UNICEF ware-house in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

UNICEF’s emergency responses in support of affected children always include a strong supply component and the response to Cyclone Pam, a Category 5 cyclone that devastated the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu a month ago, is no exception. Today, 100 metric tonnes of essential emergency supplies have arrived all the way from Copenhagen.

Educators and creative artists come together with UNICEF’s support to address children’s emotional wellbeing after Cyclone Pam!

Two of the workshop participants Alex and Angelina in the field doing photo shoots with the children
of Vila East primary school. © UNICEF PACIFIC/2015/Hing

Port Vila, Vanuatu - More than 50 professionals from diverse backgrounds in health, education and child protection are now well placed to help meet the psychosocial needs of children distressed by Cyclone Pam and its aftermath.

A cyclone-affected school welcomes children back to class.

Dorah James and her eight-year-old son, Daniel at Mele Maat Primary School, Efate Vanuatu. Their home was completely destroyed by Cyclone Pam but Daniel is keen to return to school as soon as possible.
© UNICEF PACIFIC/2015/Sokhin

First grade student Daniel Jojo (8) is pleased with the finished blue and yellow paint on his face and proudly shows it off to his mother, Dorah James.

Yellow and blue are the colours of his school, Mele Maat Primary, on Efate Island, Vanuatu. Today, less than three weeks after Category 5 Cyclone Pam badly damaged the school, completely destroying four classrooms, Mele Maat Primary has opened its doors once again to welcome students, teachers and fami-lies. The students have not been to school since Cyclone Pam struck so the school has organized a special event that they hope will help the children to recover emotionally and think of the school as a safe space for them to come, learn and play.

Cyclone-affected family prioritises their children’s education

Nuku and her eight year old daughter, Evelyn at Mele Maat Primary School. Nuku’s family escaped serious injury 20 minutes before their family home was flooded and completely destroyed.
© UNICEF PACIFIC/2015/Sokhin

It took mother of four, Nuku Kilorie and her family 20 terrifying minutes to reach safety when Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu, completely destroying her family home on March 13, 2015.

Children go back to school in Vanuatu

Pupils sit inside a UNICEF tent, being used as a temporary school
structure © UNICEF PACIFIC/2015/Sorkhin

After a disturbing event like Cyclone Pam it's important to get children back to learning and playing as soon as possible. Unfortunately, many of the schools in Vanuatu were heavily damaged and will take months to rebuild. But, thanks to UNICEF's support, pupils from St Joseph's College and Vila East Primary school were able to get back to school yesterday.

Cyclone Pam affects everyone in the family

L-R. Joyleen, Nathan and Lawrence in the health clinic where they sheltered from Cyclone Pam with five other families. One family is still sheltering there after their home was completely destroyed. UNICEF/2015/Sohkin

Joyleen (16) comforts her little brother Nathan (4) as he recovers from the brief shock of a potentially life-saving measles vaccine injection. The tears soon disappear and he is quickly back to his curious and social self. 

UNICEF provides life-saving medical equipment and medicine to Vanuatu’s children

UNICEF is providing life-saving medical equipment and
medicine to Vanuatu’s children, through its implementing
partner, IMC. ©UNICEF Pacificy/2015/Sevenier

22 March 2015 - UNICEF and partners have been called upon by the Vanuatu Ministry of Health to respond to the emergency situation following Super Tropical Cyclone Pam. As part of its response UNICEF today provided Interagency Emergency Health Kits in order to prevent and manage serious threats to the survival and health of the children of Ambrym, one of Vanuatu’s most affected islands. The kits include medical equipment and medicines sufficient for 5000 people over a three-month period.

UNICEF’s implementing partner, IMC (International Medical Corps), will dispatch these kits along with mobile medical units, including doctors and local nurses, to Ambrym. 

Little beginnings

Linline with her father and daughter.
 © UNICEF Pacific./2014/Thakkar

Imagine being a little girl in a village of less than 500 people on an island in a country that most people don’t know exists. You live in a simple home – dirt floor with a tin roof. No modern gadgets like washing machines, vacuum cleaners or television. In fact, not even electricity. If you are lucky, there is a generator and enough fuel for it to provide some light after sunset. You are likely to drop out after primary school because your parents cannot afford secondary school fees. As a young woman, you will have your first child before the age of 21. Considering two out of three women in your country are victims of violent and sexual abuse, you are likely to experience that as well. Your daily routine involves waking up between 6-7 am, cleaning your home, doing the laundry, washing utensils, subsistence farming, cooking and caring for the family – every single day. This is your life.  

Who are you?

Over the weekend, I conducted an exercise asking people around me a simple question, “Who are you?” Think about this question for a moment. Have a quick three-sentence response in mind?

In my experience, invariably, the answer began with a name followed by either what one did for a living and/or where they came from or lived. Please do share and tell us more about who you are with #whoareyou. 

Queen’s Baton spends Christmas with children in Vanuatu photo story

The holiday season in Vanuatu was even more special with the visit of the Queen’s Baton Relay over the Christmas break.

Queen’s Baton spends Christmas with children in Vanuatu

A small girl in one of the villages
welcomes the Queen Baton Relay

The holiday season in Vanuatu was even more special with the visit of the Queen’s Baton Relay over the Christmas break. The Baton Relay is currently taking place around the world in the lead up to the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and has recently finished its leg of the journey through the Pacific.  UNICEF is the charity partner of the Commonwealth Games, providing a great opportunity to focus on the children of Commonwealth countries, highlighting what a contemporary Commonwealth country looks like and the dreams and lives of the children that live in them. Vanuatu was the last Pacific country to host the baton. But it was not just a relay that was held in honour of the visit – there was also a UNICEF-supported fun event held in Port Vila for children and their families to highlight the importance of play and sport in children’s development and learning. This is an issue of critical importance in Vanuatu due to challenges children face in accessing quality care and education.