Friends of Tonga has been in frequent communication with our partners: The Civil Society Forum of Tonga (CSFT). As a reminder, Friends of Tonga transferred $15,000 USD to provide water, sanitation, and hygiene services (W.A.S.H.) and to fund their Cash For Crops program that assists farmers with harvesting their crops that were damaged by the tsunami wave before they spoil. This harvested food is then provided to the communities that were evacuated from outer islands.
The Chair of the CSFT (Mr. Drew Havea) has provided us with photos of the CSFT teams rendering these needed services to the most vulnerable communities, especially W.A.S.H. services to the elderly and individuals with disabilities. These photos highlight the CSFT teams cleaning community rain collection tanks, filtering and purifying the rain water from the volcanic ash, and water delivery services to the National Association for People with Disabilities.
We are proud to be a partnering organization of the CSFT and will continue to support projects and programs like these. A big malo ‘aupito (thank you) to you and to our entire community that are continuing to fund active disaster relief services to those impacted by the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai volcanic eruption.
Even though the news cycle has moved on, the Kingdom of Tonga is still actively facing multiple crises that will take months, if not years, to mitigate. We look forward to continuing to update you on both our impact and partners’ impact on the ground.
To support efforts like this, our fundraising campaign link is here: https://www.friendsoftonga.org/campaigns