MANY Fijians who felt the full brunt of Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston on February 20 this year have tried getting back on their feet to rebuild their lives.
While this may take some time, some concerned individuals and organisations have taken that leap of faith to join and recognise the importance of supporting women and their communities toward the long-term goals of rebuilding after Winston, as well as building resiliency against future storms.
Fashion is something women from these affected villages have been involved with to assist them get back on their feet, forget the trauma and what had happened to them during the cyclone and rebuild their lives.
And rebuilding in the sense that women in some of the most-affected villages have been involved in fashion by making handicraft items to be sold or even ordered as gifts, wedding favours, hotel room drops, tour group swag bags, birthday gifts for friends and souvenirs to take overseas.
Rise Beyond the Reef, the organisation which has been heavily involved with women from most villages for many years was the first to visit some of the affected villages three days after Winston struck.
Executive director Janet Lotawa said about three weeks after the storm, their existing artisan partner communities started to produce again despite the majority having been affected by the storm.
“In addition to supporting them with relief supplies and raw materials to keep production going, we’ve also added four additional villages to our program from along the Nakorotubu coastline where 90-95 per cent of community members lost their homes” Mrs Lotawa said.
“We currently work with close to 250 women in 10 villages in Ba, four villages in Ra and with a few producers in Macuata and Bua.
“The concept of ‘relief products’ came about just after the storm as two things became clear:
1.) Any investment strategy needs to focus on building communities’ long-term resiliency, because it is just a matter of time before the next storm hits; and
2.) Although food and shelter aid are a critical first concern, communities need to earn income.”
Buying and supplying raw materials for weaving could provide cash and supply materials to benefit a wider network of women and moving quickly and resourcefully, “the weaving exchange” was started after the organisation assessed the damages and needs of their producer communities.
So far, they are still subsidising raw materials because of cyclone losses to producers for certain products as they want them to keep a steady pace of production and also income for the women.
Mr Lotawa said they wanted to encourage individuals and businesses to support sustainable recovery efforts. She said while temporary food and shelter was critical immediately after the storm, it was also critical to get communities replanting and earning as soon as possible.
The latest collection from these cyclone-affected women is named Shelter from the Storm. It basically means helping communities help themselves and is a way to allow those who want to help by purchasing a product.
“Part of what it means to come ‘home’ to Fiji is to find ways to stay connected to the people who make it feel like ‘home’ to the rest of the world.
“Each purchase helps us provide the communities we work with the means to build their own shelter from the storm for now and in the future.
“Now more than ever, the women we work with are motivated to produce as the income they earn from the art and craft income-generating program is now the primary income for themselves and their families.
“We noticed community members exhibiting symptoms of post-traumatic stress. For the first few weeks our immediate focus was emergency food and supplies into our partner communities and beyond. Within three weeks post storm, our existing artisans were highly motivated to product craft again as it is now their primary source of income.”
Products from these women are on display at Sofitel Resort & Spa (Denarau), Vuda Marina general store and the Fiji Museum gift shop and they also take orders from businesses and individuals.
To place an order, you can email order@risebeyondthereef.org or call 777-5742.
