7 Cyclone Winston: Catholic Women’s Faith …
135
Conclusion
Our ethnography shows how central iTaukei women were to community coping
before, during and after TC Winston. We argue that the key roles women play in
practical coping with disaster and in passing on their faith are complementary and
mutually reinforcing. Our study shows women’s organisational strengths in different
ritualized everyday actions, such as caring for their families’ and neighbours’ wellbeing. It shows how women are the holders of faith, the ones who ensure that faith and
faith practices are handed down through the generations in families and maintained
in everyday life. And it shows how women had core roles through their faith and
prayer in maintaining a sense of spiritual order during the crisis of the cyclone which
gave hope and comfort to people and empowered them to act in the midst of an
unprecedented situation.
We conclude that a holistic DRR conceptual framework is needed that is malleable
enough to integrate within it from inception to completion a gendered approach to
the specific socio-cultural, spiritual and faith complexities of the local context. A
one-size-fits-all approach based on non-local conceptions and assumptions of what
is needed is not effective. Such a holistic framework needs to integrate within it time
and space for local dialogue. It needs to be open to listening to and integrating local
voices, local knowledge, local experience and local wisdom. In particular, it needs
to be tailored towards learning from women and their experience, as well as partnering with women on how best to strengthen community resilience. Strengthening
women’s options for agency and resilience empowers not only women but the whole
community.
Acknowledgements We thank Margie Sahai, Ruth Sahai, Akata Conoa Baranisavu, Alekisio
Kubunavanua, Fr. Donato Kivi SM, Lomaiviti Provincial Council, and Katherine Foi for their time
and assistance. To the Tokou women in this study and the lead author’s family in Tokou, vinaka
vakalevu for sharing your faith and experiences. And we thank Dr John Lowry, Massey University
for providing the maps.
References
Asugeni R, Redman-MacLaren M, Asugeni J, Esau T, Timothy F, Masse P, MacLaren D (2019) A
community builds a “bridge”: an example of community-led adaptation to sea-level rise in East
Kwaio, Solomon Islands. Clim Dev 11(1):91–96
Bandak A (2017) Repeated prayers: saying the rosary in contemporary, Syria. Relig 47(1):92–110
Bird C (2016) God and natural disasters, 1 March 2016. www.methodistji.org
Charan D, Kaur M, Singh P (2016) Indigenous Fijian women’s role in disaster risk management
and climate change adaptation. Pac Asia Inq 7(1):106–122
Clissold R, Westoby R, McNamara KE (2020) Women as recovery enablers in the face of disasters
in Vanuatu. Geoforum 113:101–110
Cox J, Finau G, Kant R, Tarai J, Titifanue J (2018) Disaster, divine judgment, and original sin:
Christian interpretations of tropical cyclone winston and climate change in Fiji. Contemp Pac
30(2):380–411
135
Conclusion
Our ethnography shows how central iTaukei women were to community coping
before, during and after TC Winston. We argue that the key roles women play in
practical coping with disaster and in passing on their faith are complementary and
mutually reinforcing. Our study shows women’s organisational strengths in different
ritualized everyday actions, such as caring for their families’ and neighbours’ wellbeing. It shows how women are the holders of faith, the ones who ensure that faith and
faith practices are handed down through the generations in families and maintained
in everyday life. And it shows how women had core roles through their faith and
prayer in maintaining a sense of spiritual order during the crisis of the cyclone which
gave hope and comfort to people and empowered them to act in the midst of an
unprecedented situation.
We conclude that a holistic DRR conceptual framework is needed that is malleable
enough to integrate within it from inception to completion a gendered approach to
the specific socio-cultural, spiritual and faith complexities of the local context. A
one-size-fits-all approach based on non-local conceptions and assumptions of what
is needed is not effective. Such a holistic framework needs to integrate within it time
and space for local dialogue. It needs to be open to listening to and integrating local
voices, local knowledge, local experience and local wisdom. In particular, it needs
to be tailored towards learning from women and their experience, as well as partnering with women on how best to strengthen community resilience. Strengthening
women’s options for agency and resilience empowers not only women but the whole
community.
Acknowledgements We thank Margie Sahai, Ruth Sahai, Akata Conoa Baranisavu, Alekisio
Kubunavanua, Fr. Donato Kivi SM, Lomaiviti Provincial Council, and Katherine Foi for their time
and assistance. To the Tokou women in this study and the lead author’s family in Tokou, vinaka
vakalevu for sharing your faith and experiences. And we thank Dr John Lowry, Massey University
for providing the maps.
References
Asugeni R, Redman-MacLaren M, Asugeni J, Esau T, Timothy F, Masse P, MacLaren D (2019) A
community builds a “bridge”: an example of community-led adaptation to sea-level rise in East
Kwaio, Solomon Islands. Clim Dev 11(1):91–96
Bandak A (2017) Repeated prayers: saying the rosary in contemporary, Syria. Relig 47(1):92–110
Bird C (2016) God and natural disasters, 1 March 2016. www.methodistji.org
Charan D, Kaur M, Singh P (2016) Indigenous Fijian women’s role in disaster risk management
and climate change adaptation. Pac Asia Inq 7(1):106–122
Clissold R, Westoby R, McNamara KE (2020) Women as recovery enablers in the face of disasters
in Vanuatu. Geoforum 113:101–110
Cox J, Finau G, Kant R, Tarai J, Titifanue J (2018) Disaster, divine judgment, and original sin:
Christian interpretations of tropical cyclone winston and climate change in Fiji. Contemp Pac
30(2):380–411