Newbies

The Newbies
I feel so bad for the Peace Corps Samoa 84.  What they have had to endure while getting used to a brand new culture and new language is so difficult.  Like many others, they were not expecting the cyclone to hit, and did not stock up on food, and they got quickly stuck in their flooded hotel (their rooms were not flooded at least) before they could get out and get something, especially because stores were closing quickly.
On paper, they were supposed to be sworn in on the day after the cyclone.  Obviously that didn’t happen and they had to endure living in a hotel without electricity, and toilet water in only several rooms, and only certain hours they could quickly shower.  It is so challenging doing all that they had to do.
Their schedule was up in the air, as the day came and went for them to go to their new villages, and they were stuck in town feeling in limbo.  No one had answers, so no one was able to give them answers.
They finally were sworn in on Tuesday the 18th, and instead of being a grand big affair with the Samoan Government being present, it was a Peace Corps/US Embassy family affair.  It was nice and it felt good to see the 13 that had started training able to finish their training.
The next day, as their hotel finally received electricity, half of them ventured out to their villages, By Thursday, when there were only two left in town, they even had running water.
Secretly I was becoming a little jealous.  Here I was going to work each day, and coming hope to try to find water, light candles and water someone else cook on a fire, while they now had it all.  I was becoming physically exhausted and just wanted their lives!
I just had to keep thinking, I can do it.  I can make it.  I can do it.

Peace Corps and US Embassy getting ready to volunteer at my work site.

Peace Corps helping scoop the mud.

A US embassy worker helping in our office.

After the water receded this was still how high the water was a day later.

Sorry that Dan is sideways....a RPCV helping clean the PC office.

Cyclone Evan- Back to Work

Cyclone Evan- Back to Work
On the 5th day without electricity and water (that is how I count my days now) I returned back to work.  I had passed by my office several times and had a glimpse inside it, and was aware of the damage due to flooding and mud, but didn’t expect it to be as completely bad as it was.  We experienced a total loss of everything inside.
The Samoa Victim Support Office is located at the police station, and above us is where the police band practices.  Their roof flew off and part of their building was destroyed, so apart from the ocean that surrounded our office for a block in all directions, we also received damage from above as the ceiling was leaking horrible stuff everywhere.   I knew it had the potential to be worse than the Peace Corps Office, which is much larger, and had the potential to hold more mud.
I arrived on Monday, ready for the challenge.  There were several shovels so I grabbed one and immediately got to work shoveling the deep mud on the sidewalk in front of our office.  However, my blisters that I received on Saturday from sweeping muddy water began to ache horribly.
While I was helping out, there was one causality, as my shoes drowned in the mud and were never seen again.  
As it was apparent all of the furniture had to be removed from the building, I was given a new task.  I was in charge of a few volunteers and the unloading and sorting of office materials and equipment from the truck to our homeschool.  We had to sort muddy items, from soaked items, and even managed to salvage a few dry items. As much as we tried to clean, the mud was everywhere and you could not avoid it.  Being without water made it extremely difficult to clean anything.
We did have help, plenty of volunteers came by to help us clean and move everything.  Two of the groups that came were the US Embassy and the Peace Corps.  It was nice to see my fellow Americans helping out when duty called.
Not to mention being without water took away our ability to go to the toilet.  The only toilet I could use was a 20 minute hike to my house and I was able to use the ground water I collected to flush the toilet.  This meant that there would be no drinking water during the work day until further notice.
Each muddy day we went in the back of a pick up truck to bathe in the ocean.   At first it disgusted me how dirty the ocean was because of all the pollution, but then I realized, water is water.  I need water to survive and it doesn’t always matter what it looks like.
Being without drinking water, and doing physically demanding work, makes you extremely exhausted, and grumpy….So I am sorry for the people that had to put up with me because of it!
During the week, we continued to work on cleaning our office, trying to salvage files by putting them in the sun to dry.  It shouldn’t have been as hard of work as it felt it was.
The rest of my office had divided into teams.  Donations were coming in, and like the Red Cross, we too were going to the community to help each other.  Volunteers were assembled to help clean houses and hand out food, bottled water, linen and clothing donations.  It was beautiful to see all the smiles on the faces of the people realizing they were just about to receive relief from it all.
I know the relief effort is ongoing and we are going to be busy with it probably until after I end my Peace Corps Service at the end of January.  I am just glad that I get to help out now.  It is weird in a way, I began my service right after the tsunami in 2009, and helped a little with the relief there, and I will be ending my service after hurricane Evan crushed Samoa.  I can only hope that nothing else happens along the way…

The police station missing some of their roof and walls.

Our kitchen at work.

All of our office furniture outside ready to go to the school.

There is a mud line on the door as to how high the water got to in our office.

Cyclone Evan Day 3

Cyclone Evan Day 3
The third day without electricity and not seeing any electricity around as most generators had broken because of the flooding had warranted us to keep phones off and only turn them to check for a message and quickly shut them off again.  I had received a message that the Peace Corps office was having their office clean up and I decided to join them.
I was happy to see that a majority of the flooding was gone from town, however I still had to trudge through mud halfway up to my knees to reach the Peace Corps office.  We were greeted with shovels and brooms and saw that basically the entire office still had muddy water, or just plain mud about 2-3 inches deep.  Over a dozen of us got to work with whatever we could find to clean up what we could.
Using dishes to scoop up and carry the mud outside, sweeping and shoveling it away, and throwing away any damaged materials that could not be salvaged, it was gruesome and tiring, but we felt proud seeing what we could accomplish.   I had not spent much time prior with the new volunteers being as they had just completed training, so it was a great opportunity to bond with them and get to know them.
We endured blisters, but had as much fun as we could as the Peace Corps office became a giant messy Slip N Slide for the day.
When I got home, I began my usual task of water collections.  We are really lucky as to where we live because although we are on a hill, there is a wall blocking some of the hill above us.  That wall has several holes that “clean” groundwater was pouring out from.  That water was amazing as it kept us clean (which is something you need when every day you are covered in mud!), bathed us, was able to go in our toilets and used for everything, aside from drinking of course.  We had several buckets that I would fill and then call up to my husband to come and bring the water to our house.  It was a great system.
Cyclone Evan was bad, but I felt confident that if I could continue to get water like this, I can endure the lack of electricity for awhile.

Down power lines on the road

More down power lines

Mud inside a house

destroyed trees

Cyclone Evan After the Storm

Cyclone Evan After the Storm
Cyclone Evan hit on Thursday the 13th of December and hugged our area throughout the night as it moved slowly away.  The house shook, the sirens kept going off, and all around trees were falling down.  I stood by our window watching as huge beautiful trees became uprooted, while others snapped in half, and roofs just blew off houses.
The next day, I was told it was too unsafe for me to go out as without a radio no one knew if the storn was over because of the constant heavy downpour and strong winds.…so just my camera did and brought back incredible news on what the rest of the city was like.  Flooding was a huge concern for most of town.  I saw that not only were roofs blown off, but in some cases the roofs collapsed on the house, leaving only a roof.  One of the bridges in Lelata (or Faatoia..I am told it is in both villages by different people) cracked on the concrete leaving a huge bend on the bridge and making it impassable.  Cargo crates were washed onto the road to further block traffic.  The beautiful Pulu trees came crashing down on the main road.  Some boats were swept away and the rivers were strong.
We were able to make a fire to cook our canned food, which was a plus, because sometimes you just get sick of easting crackers with peanut butter, crackers with tuna, cereal…and well…that’s about it.
When my friend Kyle dropped by, as he wanted to say goodbye as he thought his flight back to America would leave that night, he recounted for me about his tale of the storm living several feet away from the ocean, however, feeling safe as there were no trees around to come crashing down on him.
I decided to join Kyle on a walk to the airline office to check on his flight.  After walking carefully under fallen power lines, and walking out of my way to avoid other lines, I smiled as so many trees were cut up to make the road passible because of my wonderful neighbors.
Walking around you see so many animals, especially dogs looking disheveled.  No longer do you fear that they are going to bite you, as you feel bad for what they had just endured, because unlike you, they were unable to seek shelter since they are not palagi dogs, and have no home to go inside to.
When we finally reached the main road, I was in shock.  Everything looked so different in this new light.  Seeing the destruction first hand of what I was recently seeing in photographs was just incredible.  It honestly reminded me of the tsunami damage, only I knew that the damage was not confided to a small area in Samoa, and had plagued the entire country.  It was a little eerie walking around, as we have become used to taxis being all around and busses zooming past blasting music, but today there was none.  The streets were empty of almost all vehicles except people.
It was so horrific to see what some had to endure during the storm as water levels went high into their houses.  Most Samoans don’t own much in terms of furniture, and most things are left ground level, so I could only image how bad their total loss could be.
We trudged through mud that was almost to my knees, walked in brown water that was almost to my waste as the rain came and went, heavy at times.  I will never forget this sole who found a big piece of Styrofoam and was using it as a boat with a stick as an oar.  He offered us rides on his “taxi”.    When we finally arrived at the airline office, there was a sign saying the flight was still on, so I decided to walk with Kyle to where the other Peace Corps volunteers were evacuated to, as some of them had planned on ending their two years of service that night.
When we arrived, we learned that still one of the volunteers was not accounted for, as telephone service was down in many rural areas.  However, they went to go and find her and bring her back to town.  I was told she arrived later that evening after I had already left…but somehow a strange rumor had leaked onto the internet before they had tracked her down.  There was a rumor on twitter and some other website that one Peace Corps Volunteer had passed away during the storm.  Apparently someone in her village had informed another that they hadn’t seen her, and rumor quickly spread that she had died.  Luckily, this was all a rumor and she and her cat are as healthy as can be.
While visiting the other volunteers who were stuck at their hotel due to flooding all around them, I had heard that the cyclone was coming back.  They had announced on the radio to be ready for round two.  I rushed home as fast as I could through the rain and mud, but thankfully the storm never came and I was safe at home.

Car  came inside house

destroyed house

Destroyed house and destroyed cars

Destroyed house

Expanding river during the storm

The river enters the gate to go inside a home

Cyclone evan- during the storm continued

With everyone going all the time, i became lonely, and i wanted to
experience what they were only giving me glimpses of go
photographs..so i begged to tag along. I was told it was unsafe.. I
explained i didn't care about going to the main road, just down the
hill a little bit. Finally i got my wish and bundled up in rain gear i
headed out. We walked for only about a minute when i deemed it truely
unsafe. We saw half a dozen trees down.. Some blocking the road,
others crushing houses. But then i saw the most disturbing thing..a
dog thought someone was touching its tail, and went to bite it and bit
what was touching him..one of the last live wires of electricity. His
teeth were still clenched on the line. I ran quickly up the steep hill
and stayed in for the remainder of the storm..watching trees fall all
around me, interrupted only by the siren of emergency vehicles going
to the hospital. I am not ashamed to say i was scared ..

Cyclone evan-the storm

I've been in a fair amount of almost cyclones.. And was prepared for
an almost cyclone. However when the winds are so strong that it shakes
a concrete house more than an earthquake.. And the city is finally
sounding the emergency alarm,making you think that a tsunami is also
on the way, you quickly learn the difference. Being without water or
electricity i think the men of the house got antsy and decided to
survey the damages.. During the strongest part of the storm they went
out to help their neighbors with trees down clear the road. It is
incredible that the cyclone didnt bother all these people and they
just wanted to help

Cyclone evan part 3

There were no evacuation centres like most countries have when a huge
natural disaster is about to take place..however those that could
afford evacuated to hotels, while others went to neighbors' palagi
houses if they could find one, or a nice sturdy church. Samoa needs to
find out a new way to warn people about cyclones..as no one seemed to
really know it was coming. People were walking around Apia in the rain
unaware that in a few hours some of their favorite landmarks would be
knocked down by the wind. As for my family, we were safe from flooding
in a palagi house up a hill..our only hope was the wind didnt do
anything terrifying..