Now the villagers in Port Vila where the goods eventually arrived have passed on their thanks to the people of Narooma who donated items and organised the local relief effort.

Instigating the Narooma effort were Jim and Bev Wilkinson of the Narooma Uniting Church, who set up a relief centre at the Narooma Plaza shopping centre with the gracious help of centre management.

Previously, the couple organised campaigns to collect goods for both the Boxing Day tsunami sending 1.5 tonnes over to Sri Lanka and then again for the Lockyer Valley floods. Jim and Bev have since moved away to Orange, but their effort is fondly remembered in Narooma.

Once the goods starting flowing in, they connected with fellow Narooma resident Madeleine Kalotrip-Loader, originally from Vanuatu who has lived in Narooma for 16 years working in aged care at IRT Dalmeny.

Mrs Kalotrip-Loader still had connections to her family in Port Vila and with the Pango AOG Family Worship Centre, where her family members worship and also work as pastors.

Pastor Berry Kalotrip from the Pango AOG Family Worship Centre has passed on his deepest thanks to the people of Narooma through Mrs Kalotrip-Loader. 

“We managed to hold on to some and distribute to the Pango community, to the islands of Shefa Province and to Tafea mostly to pastors for distributions to affected areas,” Mr Kalotrip said. “The banner displays our appreciation and of your generosity buy the people of Vanuatu. God bless the people of Narooma.”

There was a delay in getting the items to the Pango community, when the container organised by Rotary and Apex clubs containing the Narooma donated items was mistakenly sent to the island of Tana.

The Pago Assembly of God congregation eventually paid $2000 to get the goods sent back to Port Vila and they arrived at the evacuation centre at Pago late last year, according to Mrs Kalotrip-Loader.

“There were lots of good things like cans of food, clothes and even toilet paper that was distributed to families that needed it,” she said.

Her own family and all the villagers were still struggling to overcome Cyclone Pam with their houses and crops all but wiped out. The rebuilding of infrastructure such as schools and hospital was taking priority but had been slow and getting paid work was difficult, while food in the markets was very expensive.

“When the trees were knocked down, they used them to make houses with tarpaulins that were donated,” she said.

Tourism and visiting cruise ships were vital in the nation consisting of 84 islands, and if there was one way locals could still help, it would be to book a holiday to Vanuatu.  

Previous stories:

Narooma shows overwhelming support for Vanuatu

Narooma district digs deep for Cyclone Pam relief