austraLasia
#1806
Touching Easter experience
- DB Henderson ship first to bring succour to Simbo Island
(first hand account by relief party member; follow up
to Archbishop Adrian Smith's comment on this venture reported in
#1804)
HONIARA: 9th April 2007
-- 26 students and 12 staff
from Don Bosco Technical College joined minds, hearts and hands in planning
immediate relief action in favor of Simbo island in the western Solomons (35 km
SW of Gizo) badly hit by the Tsunami last Monday in Holy Week, April 1. The
reaction was triggered by a staff member hailing from
On the
following day April 4, Wednesday, last day of class, after the washing each
other’s feet, staff and students felt they should do more for each other and
together for the people of
On April 4 at 11:00 am they sent an SOS to Europe's Don Bosco Organizations (DBN) asking for immediate support for a relief charter trip to Simbo. In 24 hours the amount had been pledged for charting a ship and bringing the needed goods. The school was ready to leave on Thursday April 5 but unfortunately no ship was available until Friday morning. Caritas organization joined in with a good amount of relief items. They left on Friday at 12 noon and reached Simbo at 9:30 am next day.
As they
approached the
The
welcome party at Lengana Wharf included the chairman of the relief committee of
It took a
good four long hours under the heat of the sun to unload the whole shipment of
supplies by the hard working Bosconians and the people of the
The
party left Simbo at 2:00 pm and went on to Gizo
where they reached at 4:00 and unloaded other relief goods for the Gizo and
Ranonga people. At 6:00 pm they sailed back to
Interestingly enough this was the first relief ship to reach
The
experienced deeply touched all Bosconians and staff members who are more than
eager to join in any rehabilitation effort as soon as plans will be in place. 40
carpenter students and welders are available with their tools to cooperate in
the reconstruction work. The main feeling shared by those who had these
two days and two nights working, exhausting experience was unanimous: they all
feel happy for what they did; this Easter Experience has been a truly meaningful
one.
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