(Picture caption: Superintendent Fepa’i Kolia, centre, and parish ministers with their wives and Samoan Methodist Churches members, who have been coordinating supplies to be dropped off to cyclone victims in the Hawke’s Bay. Photo credit: Dr Mercy Maliko.)
All around Aotearoa, Pacific churches and communities are rallying to support their Pacific brothers and sisters affected the most in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Last week, the Samoan Methodist Churches of Samoa (Wellington Synod) came together to provide much needed supplies for those affected by the cyclone in the hard-hit Hawke’s Bay region.
Supplies were collected in Palmerston North from Samoan Methodist church branches across Wellington, Horowhenua and Manawatu-Whanganui.
Superintendent Rev. Fepa’i Fiu Kolia says the supplies would be dropped off in Napier and Hastings by a convoy of parish ministers to then be distributed among the wider Pacific community in the region.
“A big learning for our churches has been the impact of COVID and the support that was required during the worst of the pandemic,” the Superintendent adds.
“From these learnings, we developed a strategic plan, including a support and emergency response we have activated to help support our Pacific peoples.”
The Superintendent adds the synod were fortunate to receive assistance from the first round the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ (MPP) Pacific Aotearoa Community Outreach funding.
“This funding supported us with facilitating key workshops across the 1000 plus members in our synod regions,” the Superintendent says.
“The learnings and insights gained highlighted the need to build our internal capabilities and capacities to support our Pacific peoples, which has led to our coordinated support today.
“We continue to uplift our communities in prayer through this challenging time.”
Stay connected
Our main concern at MPP is ensuring our Pacific communities are connected, and informed about the support available to them, if required.
We have set up a dedicated MPP webpage with everything people need to know and links to services and support in the aftermath of recent emergencies.
Key information has also been translated into our nine Pacific languages.
Visit the MPP website for more details.