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How you and Oxfam helped Fiji

Just over a year ago, on February 20th 2016, one of the most severe cyclones the Pacific has ever seen hit Fiji. Cyclone Winston had an average wind speed of around 230kph and affected 62% of Fiji’s population.

30,369 houses, 495 schools and 88 health clinics were destroyed, and 44 lives were lost.

But – thanks to you, Oxfam was able to respond immediately. And just over a year on, this is what we have achieved:

Photo: Alicja Grocz/Oxfam

Photo: (left) Alfredo Prado/OxfamAUS; (right) Alicja Grocz/Oxfam

In addition…

We constructed 234 single toilets and 24 other toilets attached to communal structures, as well as repairing 601 damaged ones. Drainage improvements were made, including the unblocking of drains and the removal of stagnant water.

Ilisoni (below), 28, suffered a stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair. His home was flattened by Cyclone Winston, forcing him to spend months living in the community hall before the people in his village could build a new house for him. Before the cyclone there was no bathroom near his house, so a family member would have to carry him to the nearest toilet.

Photo: Alicja Grocz/Oxfam

We conducted a series of community health worker training sessions which 240 individuals completed.

We restored water supplies:

  • 127 damaged water supplies were repaired
  • 75 tap stands were built
  • 53 showers were constructed
  • 38 new water tanks were built
  • 12 spring water sources were cleaned and are being protected
  • 25 rain harvesting systems and water mains were repaired in 24 communities
  • 76 affected communities and 4 schools received sanitation improvement works

“The tanks were constructed back in the days when I was still a student it worked only for one year and something broke down that remained unrepaired for the past 8 years, it took Oxfam a few hours to repair.” – Simione Koroicakou, Verevere community, Ra Province, Fiji.

“The community is now aware of the importance of Healthy Living in our community, the importance of wash, the caring of young children in the village, the cleaning of the village drain and the cleaning of our village at least every two weeks. The people have come to realise the importance of health and hygiene and of water treatment. The community has made good use of the water tank”. – Anasa Sevukiwai, 52 year old male, Raviravi Village.

Photo: Alicja Grocz/Oxfam

Oxfam’s Cyclone Winston response is earmarked to finish in June. Our main focus for these last few months are on enabling those affected by the cyclone to rebuild their livelihoods, access basic necessities and improve their access to services to ensure their long-term recovery.

This is your response as much as it is ours. You have reconstructed villages and provided people with life-saving aid. You have rebuilt lives and given people hope. You have set people up for a stronger future.

From the bottom of our heart – thank you.

10 tonnes of bananas an hour – but is it fair?

Kiwis are the biggest banana consumers per capita in the world. We eat 90,000 tonnes per year. That’s over 10 tonnes an hour! However – only 7% of bananas consumed in the country are Fairtrade.

Irene, from Zambia, South Africa, is a co-producer on a banana farm. The income she earns means she can have clean water and ample food, send her children to school and save to build a house. Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith.

Bananas are our favourite fruit, but new research brings forward the unsustainability of our banana supply. Major supermarkets and banana retailers must do more to support banana farmers.

‘The Big Squeeze’ report was released yesterday by the Bureau for the Appraisal of Societal Impacts and Costs (Basic) and commissioned by Fairtrade New Zealand.

According to the Fairtrade New Zealand website, the report says that “New Zealand’s banana market is placing a significant amount of pressure on banana producing countries, with small farmers and workers suffering the most from ever-increasing costs of production over the past decade”.

Alarmingly, only 18% of the retail price of bananas is paid to farmers, whereas major supermarkets receive 40%.

The Fairtrade New Zealand website also says that the new report describes how buying Fairtrade can offset the negative impacts being felt by banana farmers:

“Fairtrade provides major economic benefits for producers with a guaranteed floor price (the Fairtrade Minimum Price) for bananas, as well as a Fairtrade Premium (an additional sum that is received by farmer cooperatives/associations, which currently sits at $1 USD per box of bananas), which is used to invest in housing, health, better environmental protection strategies and education.”

“Fairtrade is key for banana producers because it offers not only a secure and stable price for produce and for plantation workers but it also means plantations are able to improve productivity and quality through the support networks and training provided through Fairtrade,” says Molly Harriss Olson, Fairtrade CEO Australia and New Zealand.

Read the full report here, or read Fairtrade New Zealand’s news release here.

Oxfam helps Syrians to find safety without risking their lives at sea

Oxfam has joined a program to help Syrians find refuge in Europe. 60 people, including many families, will arrive in Italy today to seek asylum as part of a humanitarian visa programme approved by the Italian government. The people will be hosted by Oxfam in the Italian region of Tuscany for the duration of their asylum process.

[Read more…] about Oxfam helps Syrians to find safety without risking their lives at sea

Our local heroes

Just when we thought our Oxfam Trailwalker volunteers couldn’t get any more incredible…

Terri Wilkins and her team from First Credit Union in Whakatāne ran Checkpoint Two at the Oxfam Trailwalker this year, and have decided to donate the koha they received from doing so back to their community to help flood victims.

Here’s what Terri had to say:

How have you and your staff been affected by the recent weather?

“Edgecumbe is only about 10 minutes away from us and I’ve got a staff member that lives out there – she lost everything. I’ve got another staff member whose mother lives out there and she was a little bit luckier, but she still had to be evacuated. I’ve also have a lot of members who have been majorly affected by the rain and the floods.”

What did you decide to do with the koha you were to receive from Oxfam?

“We didn’t realise that we would receive some money for running a checkpoint, and that was not our objective anyway because of the cause that it supports. When I was asked to send through an invoice I said that’s not why we do it, and instead to make a donation to the 1XX charitable trust on our behalf, which is for the flood victims.”

She wanted to give her support to an issue that’s so close to home for her and her staff.

“When you’ve got friends and staff members that are affected by it, you want to help as much as you can. We still have to work, so unfortunately we couldn’t get out there to help do the clean-up so the next best thing that we could do was to financially assist the people that have been affected.”

And it wasn’t just the koha they donated…

“I organised for staff across all our branches to have a mufti day, so the funds from this were also donated.  At Easter time staff would normally receive an Easter treat, so I asked the staff if, instead of receiving this, would they be happy to contribute those funds to the relief fund – and they all said yes of course.”

How important do you think it is for everyone to be supporting each other in a time like this?

“It’s incredibly important, just to be able to support people when they might need a shoulder to cry on or just somebody to talk to about it all. You can offer as much help as you like but in reality sometimes you can’t physically help but there are lots of other ways that you can.”

International community yet again falls short of meeting Yemen’s dire need

In response to the US$1.12 billion pledged to Yemen during the high-level event today in Geneva, Oxfam says the international community has fallen short in its support for the Yemeni people. Despite wide recognition of the dire level of need in the discussions, only about half of the US$2.1 billion UN appeal for Yemen was raised – which even if fully funded would only have met the basics needs of 12 million of the 18.6 million Yemenis in need of humanitarian aid.

Isabelle Moussard Carlsen, Action contre la Faim’s Operations Director, said: “Governments need to stop undermining the humanitarian response by fuelling the conflict with arms and violence. Starvation is not an acceptable strategy or consequence of the conflict. Donors must step up immediately and fully fund the Humanitarian Response Plan and actively engage with every stakeholder to facilitate the delivery of aid before Yemen reaches tipping point and we witness large scale starvation. ”

“The pledges made today mean the difference between life and death for millions of people. But donors are leaving Geneva without having committed enough funding to meet the needs of just the 12 million most vulnerable out of 19 million in need. I fail to grasp how the international community can see this crisis unfold without doing its outmost to limit the suffering that Yemenis are facing,” said Mutasim Hamdan, Yemen Country Director of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Shane Stevenson, Oxfam’s Senior Programme Manager for Yemen, said: “However much money has been pledged today, the best way to prevent famine in Yemen is for weapons to fall silent and for the parties to the conflict to return to the negotiating table. Preventing famine must be the priority – not military gains. Diplomatic engagement is needed with all sides of the conflict and pressure must be applied immediately to suspend all military operations that block access or safe movement of food supplies.”

Yemeni civil society activist, Nabil Al-Kumaim, said: “Ultimately, Yemen needs peace. The international community must engage with all parties to the conflict to address the root causes. There must be a political, not military, solution to this crisis. We need a comprehensive and nationwide cease-fire and an inclusive political process with meaningful participation of women, youth and other marginalized groups. The international community has a responsibility in seeing that this achieved.”

Furthermore, Yemeni humanitarian Non Governmental Organisations who are delivering much-needed aid to those in need and who came to Geneva specially for the conference were not allowed a meaningful role in the high-level discussions.

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Already more than 1,000 migrants killed or missing in the Mediterranean in 2017

Already more than 1,000 people have been reported dead or missing in 2017 while trying to cross the Mediterranean in search for a life in safety and dignity, figures published today by two UN agencies show. Also today, the European Court of Auditors has criticized appalling gaps in the EU’s ‘hotspot’ approach for receiving migrants.

In response, Oxfam International’s Deputy Director for Advocacy and Campaigns, Natalia Alonso, said:

On the death of migrants in the Mediterranean:

“The people who try to reach Europe are often desperate in their search for a life in safety and dignity for themselves and their families. For many, risking their lives in unseaworthy boats is the only option to escape violence, disasters and poverty.

“So far, EU member states have relied on shutting down their borders. But this does not stop people from looking for safety, dignity and a better life. On the contrary, the lack of safe and regular routes to reach Europe pushes many to rely on smugglers and increases the suffering of people.

“EU member states must expand safe and regular alternatives for people in need, so they are not forced to risk their lives in search of safety and dignity.”

On the Court of Auditors report:

“The suffering of migrants does not stop with the dangerous sea crossing. This new report confirms how many people, are forced to live in inadequate conditions, with children’s welfare in many cases put at risk. Oxfam’s own research in Greece and Italy has shown how people in ‘hotspots’ are caught in legal limbo and confusion, with their basic human rights being trampled on.

“EU member states must rethink their approach to managing migration, moving away from detention and harsh conditions to providing fair and transparent asylum procedures, decent accommodation and better access to basic services such as healthcare.”

 

Notes to editors:

Copyright © 2024 Oxfam Aotearoa.

Oxfam is a worldwide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against injustice. Oxfam Aotearoa is a registered charity with the New Zealand Charities Register (registration CC24641). Donations are tax refundable.

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