Jim's family and Vanuatu community
Donation protected
My partner Jim is from the islands of Vanuatu. Many have heard our story, but the condenced version is as follows. While I was a sailor on a tall ship, I met and fell in love with a man and his beautiful welcoming country. I jumped ship to live on Jim's island, Malekula. That was seven years ago. Since then, I have gone back to school and raised our son, Isaac, going back and forth between the states and Vanuatu.
This Christmas, for the first time, Jim got to come to the United States to see my home. In March, while he was away from his family and home, Cyclone Pam, a category 5 cyclone, took a direct path through the islands of Vanuatu. Many homes in the port city and some on the islands were destroyed. When we made contact with our family on the island, they said that the homes were safe but that many crops had been leveled.
Vanuatu families in the island villages depend on the subsistence farming that is done all year long for the primary source of their food. They also depend on their crops to sell to earn money for things like school fees for their children. While the family has enough food from the crops currently, we worry about the dearth that may occur in a couple of months when the new banana plants and crops planted before the storm would have been harvested. We are also worried about some of the families in the village that may have not been as lucky as our family in terms of damage to their homes and gardens.
We have had many generous friends ask us if there would be anyway that they could help Jim's family and his home in Vanuatu. This fund is to send Jim home this May with money to pay for extra stores of food, such as rice and sugar, to suppliment the smaller harvest. It is also to help those families that had damage to their homes or to the community buildings. Jim will be able to purchase supplies and tools in the port city before going home to his island. We may also start a fund to give to the school to aid parents with school fees throughout the coming year.
This fund is a place to give for those who have expressed concern to support the area of Southeast Malekula that has been home to my son and I and to give back to Jim's family and to the Retur village community. If, however, you would like to fund the rebuilding of Vanuatu on a larger scale, please direct donations to Unicef and other first responder organizations.
Thank you, (Sipa!)
Brittany, Jim and Isaac
Isaac and our Vanuatu family enjoying a picnic lunch while building a thatch home (in the background).
This Christmas, for the first time, Jim got to come to the United States to see my home. In March, while he was away from his family and home, Cyclone Pam, a category 5 cyclone, took a direct path through the islands of Vanuatu. Many homes in the port city and some on the islands were destroyed. When we made contact with our family on the island, they said that the homes were safe but that many crops had been leveled.
Vanuatu families in the island villages depend on the subsistence farming that is done all year long for the primary source of their food. They also depend on their crops to sell to earn money for things like school fees for their children. While the family has enough food from the crops currently, we worry about the dearth that may occur in a couple of months when the new banana plants and crops planted before the storm would have been harvested. We are also worried about some of the families in the village that may have not been as lucky as our family in terms of damage to their homes and gardens.
We have had many generous friends ask us if there would be anyway that they could help Jim's family and his home in Vanuatu. This fund is to send Jim home this May with money to pay for extra stores of food, such as rice and sugar, to suppliment the smaller harvest. It is also to help those families that had damage to their homes or to the community buildings. Jim will be able to purchase supplies and tools in the port city before going home to his island. We may also start a fund to give to the school to aid parents with school fees throughout the coming year.
This fund is a place to give for those who have expressed concern to support the area of Southeast Malekula that has been home to my son and I and to give back to Jim's family and to the Retur village community. If, however, you would like to fund the rebuilding of Vanuatu on a larger scale, please direct donations to Unicef and other first responder organizations.
Thank you, (Sipa!)
Brittany, Jim and Isaac
Isaac and our Vanuatu family enjoying a picnic lunch while building a thatch home (in the background).Organizer
Brittany Hoback
Organizer
Orlando, FL
