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S. Sahai et al.
area of the church, the sanctuary, to which only the priest and sacristan, who looks
after the church, or Eucharistic ministers, have access.
To Reijeli and her family, it was not merely an extraordinary situation that the
ciborium had been removed from the sanctuary in the church. It was as if Christ
himself had been brought into their home. They reverently placed the ciborium on a
piece of cloth, high up on a shelf and the only candle in the house was lit and placed
next to it. That night they all sensed a spiritual presence in the house:
It was amazing because He was there … everybody … noticed that He was there … so they
were not frightened … we were doing our work in the dark with one torch and one candle
… but the Light was there … inside our house … a different Light.
Late at night, when the floor of the living room had been cleaned and dried, the
tarpaulin, rug and mats that Reijeli had stored away safely before the cyclone were
laid out and the families sat down. Reijeli wanted to give thanks for being alive.
Though a few young men wanted to explore the situation in the village, Reijeli asked
if they could all first sit down and pray. She felt she had to be in control as it was
her house and she felt a responsibility for the eight families who had taken shelter
there, so she started conducting her usual evening prayers. She could hear the sobs
of the women sitting around her. Although no one was praying the responses, she
continued. She ended with the much-loved Fijian hymn to the Virgin Mary, ‘i Maria
na Tinaqu’ (Oh Mary, my Mother) which everyone joined in singing. “I did not feel
down”, Reijeli later reflected, “I knew we were all saved”.
In the Evacuation Centre, people also prayed their own personal prayers. Akanisi
prayed for her family and for the restoration of her home that had almost all been
destroyed by the waves. Lisi felt sad for everyone’s loss but was grateful to be alive.
Her prayers, as she lay down to sleep that night, were for her family, the villagers, and
for God’s intervention in relation to the loss of her family’s home and belongings.
After
As day broke on Sunday, the villagers ventured outside to assess the damage. They
walked through the ravaged village in silence, trying to comprehend the devastation.
Rooftops of houses had been blown away, doors and windows washed away. Driftwood, thick layers of seaweed and debris lay all around, inside homes and across the
road. Clothes, fridges and stoves had been swept out of homes and tossed about the
village. A fiberglass boat had been swept through the village as far as the Evacuation Centre. The road was cracked and damaged. The church and school were badly
damaged. Never before had Tokou been so badly hit by a cyclone. All was different;
“as if everything was dead”, one woman said.
The first supplies to arrive, on Day Three after the cyclone, were from Fiji Red
Cross: one package for each family, containing blankets and non-perishable essential
household items. After this, government aid packages with food rations arrived.
S. Sahai et al.
area of the church, the sanctuary, to which only the priest and sacristan, who looks
after the church, or Eucharistic ministers, have access.
To Reijeli and her family, it was not merely an extraordinary situation that the
ciborium had been removed from the sanctuary in the church. It was as if Christ
himself had been brought into their home. They reverently placed the ciborium on a
piece of cloth, high up on a shelf and the only candle in the house was lit and placed
next to it. That night they all sensed a spiritual presence in the house:
It was amazing because He was there … everybody … noticed that He was there … so they
were not frightened … we were doing our work in the dark with one torch and one candle
… but the Light was there … inside our house … a different Light.
Late at night, when the floor of the living room had been cleaned and dried, the
tarpaulin, rug and mats that Reijeli had stored away safely before the cyclone were
laid out and the families sat down. Reijeli wanted to give thanks for being alive.
Though a few young men wanted to explore the situation in the village, Reijeli asked
if they could all first sit down and pray. She felt she had to be in control as it was
her house and she felt a responsibility for the eight families who had taken shelter
there, so she started conducting her usual evening prayers. She could hear the sobs
of the women sitting around her. Although no one was praying the responses, she
continued. She ended with the much-loved Fijian hymn to the Virgin Mary, ‘i Maria
na Tinaqu’ (Oh Mary, my Mother) which everyone joined in singing. “I did not feel
down”, Reijeli later reflected, “I knew we were all saved”.
In the Evacuation Centre, people also prayed their own personal prayers. Akanisi
prayed for her family and for the restoration of her home that had almost all been
destroyed by the waves. Lisi felt sad for everyone’s loss but was grateful to be alive.
Her prayers, as she lay down to sleep that night, were for her family, the villagers, and
for God’s intervention in relation to the loss of her family’s home and belongings.
After
As day broke on Sunday, the villagers ventured outside to assess the damage. They
walked through the ravaged village in silence, trying to comprehend the devastation.
Rooftops of houses had been blown away, doors and windows washed away. Driftwood, thick layers of seaweed and debris lay all around, inside homes and across the
road. Clothes, fridges and stoves had been swept out of homes and tossed about the
village. A fiberglass boat had been swept through the village as far as the Evacuation Centre. The road was cracked and damaged. The church and school were badly
damaged. Never before had Tokou been so badly hit by a cyclone. All was different;
“as if everything was dead”, one woman said.
The first supplies to arrive, on Day Three after the cyclone, were from Fiji Red
Cross: one package for each family, containing blankets and non-perishable essential
household items. After this, government aid packages with food rations arrived.