Fiji cyclone: School bags an urgent need in devastated province

Hamilton woman Sianiti 'Sia' Bulisala with some of the donated school bags. She will be running a sausage sizzle at The Base shopping centre on Saturday morning. Photo / Supplied

More than 93,000 Fijians were affected and two killed by Cyclone Yasa that swept through Fiji's Bua Province and the rest of the northern island of Vanua Levu the week before Christmas.

The category 4 storm with winds up to 350km/h near the eye, flattened houses, destroyed crops, ripped out trees and caused wide spread flooding.

A variety of agencies - including the Red Cross - were quick to respond with help for immediate needs such as food, clothes and temporary shelter.

A Fijian Red Cross worker delivers supplies to residents of the Bua province hardest hit by Tropical Cyclone Yasa. Photo / Red Cross

Now one Fijian women in Hamilton - with the help of her parents and siblings in Fiji - is doing what she can to help children in her home province of Bua receive new school bags and stationery for the start of the new school year.

Sianiti 'Sia' Bulisala who is the Pacific Student Success co-ordinator in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Waikato, is asking for donations of school bags, and on Saturday, January 9 is holding a sausage sizzle at The Base shopping centre to raise money to send the bags to Fiji.

Her parents - who are both secondary school teachers - and her siblings live in Fiji's capital Suva, which was relatively unscathed by the cyclone.

They have launched their own drive in Fiji to gather school supplies to help children in the two Bua villages to which the family is connected - Navunievu and Nasau Navakasiga.

Sia is aiming to gather 250 school bags by February 19 to send to Fiji. She already has 70 bags donated. She will send them to Suva, where her family will fill them with school supplies and send them on to Bua.

"Any in excess of our target will be given to other affected villages in the province," Sia says.

A Fijian Red Cross worker talks with a resident of the Bua province in Vanua Levu, Fiji, sitting on all that remains of a house after Tropical Cyclone Yasa on December 19. Photo / Red Cross

"While we would appreciate new school bags, we will also take used ones still in good condition and without any damage."

If you would like to donate a school bag or make a donation to the cost of sending them to Fiji email Sia at nakabea.sianiti@gmail.com to arrange a drop-off, she says.

Or just drop by and buy a sausage or two on Saturday. Sia will be outside Mitre 10 Mega at The Base from 9.30am.