Chapter 7
Cyclone Winston: Catholic Women’s
Faith and Agency in a Coastal Village
in Fiji
Shirleen Sahai, Tammy Tabe, and Jacqueline Ryle
Abstract This paper concerns experiences of women in Tokou, a coastal village on
the island of Ovalau, Fiji, during Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016. It discusses
how Tokou women, reflecting on how they acted during Cyclone Winston, see their
Catholic faith as the source of their strength and survival. Their belief that God
would help and sustain them enabled them to support their families emotionally and
spiritually. Bringing families together for prayers and devotions, such as praying the
Rosary to the Virgin Mary in homes and in the village evacuation centre, women
recreated in the midst of chaos a familiar, ritualized and empowering devotional
order. Women’s central roles during the cyclone and after—caring for children and
the elderly, cooking, cleaning the debris, cleaning homes, washing clothes, walking
to town to get medicine, fishing—were all enacted in the belief that God was present
during everything that happened and was guiding their actions. It is essential, we
argue, that Disaster Risk Reduction studies and implementation take into account
the hugely empowering efficacy of people’s faith and spirituality, how it informs their
decisions and actions, and women’s core roles in disaster situations and post-disaster
rebuilding of everyday life.
It was the middle of the afternoon and Tropical Cyclone Winston was battering Tokou. The
winds were powerful and heavy rain pelted down from a dark sky. The first tidal surge hit.
From her kitchen window, Reijeli 1 saw branches and roofing iron flying and waves pouring
across the road into the village. She couldn’t bear to look and turned away from her window.
Families whose homes had been struck by the waves had sought refuge in her home. One
woman was particularly distraught. Reijeli wanted to pray to comfort her. Her husband said
this was no time to sit down and pray but Reijeli went ahead anyway. Reijeli, her daughter
with a child in her lap, and the woman sat on a bed together. Reijeli started to pray. She
1 In agreement with the women of this research, all names in this chapter are pseudonyms.
S. Sahai · J. Ryle (B)
School of Law and Social Sciences, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji
e-mail: jacquelineryle@usp.ac.fj
T. Tabe
Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development, The University of the South
Pacific, Suva, Fiji
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. M. Luetz and P. D. Nunn (eds.), Beyond Belief, Climate Change Management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67602-5_7
117
Cyclone Winston: Catholic Women’s
Faith and Agency in a Coastal Village
in Fiji
Shirleen Sahai, Tammy Tabe, and Jacqueline Ryle
Abstract This paper concerns experiences of women in Tokou, a coastal village on
the island of Ovalau, Fiji, during Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016. It discusses
how Tokou women, reflecting on how they acted during Cyclone Winston, see their
Catholic faith as the source of their strength and survival. Their belief that God
would help and sustain them enabled them to support their families emotionally and
spiritually. Bringing families together for prayers and devotions, such as praying the
Rosary to the Virgin Mary in homes and in the village evacuation centre, women
recreated in the midst of chaos a familiar, ritualized and empowering devotional
order. Women’s central roles during the cyclone and after—caring for children and
the elderly, cooking, cleaning the debris, cleaning homes, washing clothes, walking
to town to get medicine, fishing—were all enacted in the belief that God was present
during everything that happened and was guiding their actions. It is essential, we
argue, that Disaster Risk Reduction studies and implementation take into account
the hugely empowering efficacy of people’s faith and spirituality, how it informs their
decisions and actions, and women’s core roles in disaster situations and post-disaster
rebuilding of everyday life.
It was the middle of the afternoon and Tropical Cyclone Winston was battering Tokou. The
winds were powerful and heavy rain pelted down from a dark sky. The first tidal surge hit.
From her kitchen window, Reijeli 1 saw branches and roofing iron flying and waves pouring
across the road into the village. She couldn’t bear to look and turned away from her window.
Families whose homes had been struck by the waves had sought refuge in her home. One
woman was particularly distraught. Reijeli wanted to pray to comfort her. Her husband said
this was no time to sit down and pray but Reijeli went ahead anyway. Reijeli, her daughter
with a child in her lap, and the woman sat on a bed together. Reijeli started to pray. She
1 In agreement with the women of this research, all names in this chapter are pseudonyms.
S. Sahai · J. Ryle (B)
School of Law and Social Sciences, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji
e-mail: jacquelineryle@usp.ac.fj
T. Tabe
Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development, The University of the South
Pacific, Suva, Fiji
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. M. Luetz and P. D. Nunn (eds.), Beyond Belief, Climate Change Management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67602-5_7
117