Help us help Sam family and our animals

Hello, We are Tris, Dave and Dior Sheen. This fundraiser we have created is to help a family that have helped us. We are a family that have lived and worked in Tonga for the past 12 years, we run a family business called Whale Discoveries. 7 years ago we started to build a home on the island of Nomuka in southern Ha’apai. We started from nothing, slashing the coastal jungle with machetes to make room for our small home. Over the years we employed many, they came and went, each with their own input. Then Sam ( Halangahu Kivalu ) and his family came along. Sam grew with us, he was dedicated and worked hard. His beautiful children would come over to our place to swim, surf, snorkel, play and have fun. They really loved having a shower or bath, in the village they don’t have running water let alone hot water. Years of fun and connection with Sam provided us with stability and security in our island home the Lolofutu Beach Barn. Off grid remote living is challenging and Sam was always there for us. In July 2021 Sam’s family home burnt to the ground, his family safe but everything was gone. We and others organised donations of clothing, home wares and food. We invited Sam into our home so he had a place. He kept everything of value to him at the Barn. When we sailed to New Zealand in Dec 21 to maintain our yacht Sam and family moved in fully, caring for our place. Including our 3 dogs, our 2 horses, 8 laying hens a cat, gardens and the off grid systems. Quite a job. And then Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano blew up! The tsunami that hit Nomuka was horrid. We are stilling reeling from the consequences. We are relieved and grateful to know Sam and his family of 4 beautiful children are safe. Our animals apart from our loved cat and laying hens are also safe. But our home is gone, the land it sat on unrecognisable!! Us and Sam have lost everything we had on the island apart from each other. We are raising funds so we can still support Sam and his family and so that he can still care for our animals. The amount we are trying to raise for Sam is AUS $10,000 Thank you for helping us help Sam and our animals. We are also aiming to raise a further $5,000 to help us host our 3rd vet trip in Ha’apai to spay and neuter, medicate and heal the animals that will have survived this horrible event. When boarders open we will operate this vet trip from our sailing Catamaran through several islands in Ha’apai. Thank you for caring and helping us to help. Please join Dior on YouTube or follow any of us for updates.