Solomon Islands District - Cyclone Harold Disaster Relief

On the 1st April 2020, a tropical low formed off the east coast of PNG and was classified as a tropical cyclone over Solomon Islands waters the next day. As tropical Cyclone Harold passed by Gaudalcanal Province it caused significant damage along the coastline to low-lying communities. In Honiara, strong winds damaged properties along the seafront and heavy rain flooded food crops planted along riverbanks.

One of the communities impacted by Cyclone Harold was Burns Creek, a Settlement in East Honiara where the Honiara Corps Officers reside. Burns Creek is a very vulnerable community with a history of social unrest and is a known hot spot for crime. When the community leaders from Burns Creek approached The Salvation Army for assistance, there was a feeling of helplessness and desperation driving their request. The community leaders were deeply concerned about food security and the potential for illegal activity to emerge out of concern for how their people were going to feed their families. This concern was exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 State of Public Emergency that shut down satellite markets around Honiara.

At the time of receiving this request, I was contacted by a colleague in Tasmania who was approached by a humanitarian organization called ‘The Obed Centre’ that had raised some money for Cyclone Harold victims. While discussing the potential allocation of these funds with The Salvation Army International Emergency Services (IES), I was made aware of the Rapid Response Grant that could also help with this request for assistance. After navigating the application process we were able to offer a substantial amount of relief to the Burns Creek leaders, which would support 790 families across 16 communities. Given the social concerns surrounding this crisis in Burns Creek, I approached the RSIPF National Crime Prevention Department (NCPD) and invited them to partner with us in the distribution of our disaster relief. This partnership provided very generous support with transportation through the use of two 3 tonne trucks and the opportunity for the RSIPF to conduct crime prevention talks alongside our SAES personnel.

Through the donation received from ‘The Obed Centre’, we were able to purchase 3,500 cassava stems from local farmers to help replace lost food crops. The funds from the IES Rapid Response Grant enabled us to purchase enough rice and tuna to feed the 790 families for three weeks while they replanted their gardens, with the generous support of Soltuna who donated 100 cartons of tuna and Solrice who donated two pallets of rice towards our relief strategy. Starting on Tuesday, 16th June, our SAES team, together with the NCPD, distributed a weekly allocation of rice and tuna to each community in Burns Creek for the three week period. The community response was quite overwhelming, with a number of very kind expressions of appreciation received by our team from grateful community leaders. The opportunity to work alongside the NCPD was a real blessing that built on the relationship we established with the RSIPF during the National General Election last year. This partnership had a real impact on those who normally see the police as the enemy in their law enforcement role. Instead, they saw them working alongside a church in a community service role that genuinely cared for their well-being.

This disaster relief program provided our SAES volunteers with another opportunity to demonstrate a practical expression of Christ’s love at a time of need. Our volunteers worked hard and enthusiastically engaged with this community in a way that has laid the foundation for future mission and ministry opportunities. In fact, during our last week of distribution, one community leader pointed out a section of his land saying he would like to build a church for The Salvation Army to commence services alongside his home. This practical expression of faith had a powerful impact on each community and church we visited in Burns Creek, as our assistance was given without discrimination or expectation of anything in return. We were simply happy to bless these people regardless of their church affiliation. Any future ministry that emerges will do so naturally and will be pursued in relationship with the other churches already active in Burns Creek.

We are very grateful to the IES for their funding, The Obed Centre for their donation, Solrice and Soltuna for their generous support and to the RSIPF for their partnership. I also want to acknowledge Envoy Wency Ramo’oroa for his liaison and coordination role with community leaders.

Solomon Islands District - SAES

The Salvation Army Emergency Services (SAES) Team engaged in their first public deployment during the National General Election (NGE).  For six days over the  election period the SAES catered for the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) in Guadalcanal at the Henderson Police Station.   This partnership with the RSIPF enabled the newly formed SAES team to gain valuable experience catering for large numbers and provided a high profile introduction of this new service to the Solomon Islands.  Our team was well supported by the RSIPF Quartermaster, who provided daily food supplies and other logistics support throughout the week.  The food supplied by the RSIPF enabled us to provide a  quality menu that earned us the reputation of having the best meals across the three catering locations in  Guadalcanal.  Even the Commissioner of  Police  commented favourably when he called into Henderson Police Station on election day.

The National General Election evoked a huge security operation by the RSIPF, with support from local Correctional Services, the AFP and ADF personnel who flew in specifically for this event.  For the Solomon Islands, this was the first national election since the departure of RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands) in 2017 after the period of the “Tensions” with law and order  restored and policing returned to the local police force.   While there was no specific threat, maintaining security was of high concern for the government and police in a nation where ‘wantok’ allegiance runs deep and emotions are high.  Fortunately, the effort paid off with the week of the general election being largely incident free (the election of the Prime Minister is on the 24th April and similar security  operations are in force).

The opportunity to serve the RSIPF during such a significant national event provided The Salvation Army with a unique opportunity to demonstrate its capability to provide valuable community services.  For most of the members of this newly formed SAES team, they have never before had the opportunity to engage in such a voluntary role.  It is also a first for the RSIPF who have never before been served in such a manner by the  Churches in Solomon Islands (according to Provincial Police Commander Evelyn Thugea).  During the week a number of police personnel and even members of the public asked our team members if we were being paid to provide this service.  The response by our SAES Chaplain captured beautifully the spirit behind our service, “No!  We are serving those who serve our nation.” This is a powerful testimony to the attitude of our team who have fully embraced the Army’s “Heart to God, Hand to Man” mission.  I  believe the amazing performance of our SAES team during this operation has laid a positive foundation for future service opportunities, not only with the RSIPF but other agencies at community events or in disaster situations.  

In the lead up to the NGE week, two training sessions were conducted to prepare our team in the following areas:  Trailer Set-up & Equipment Management, Personal Hygiene & Food Handling, Menu Planning & Preparation, and Community Engagement.  From day one of this deployment we saw immediate evidence of this training through the way the team participated in all aspects of their catering roles and responsibilities.  Even the local phenomenon known as “Solo Time” gave way to the rare occurrence of punctuality, which I like to call “Salvo Time”.   

The equipment provided in the SAES  trailer introduced our team to methods of food handling and preparation that are unfamiliar in a village context.  Of particular interest to not only our team, but the RSIPF personnel, was the sophisticated hand washing unit. Everybody was impressed by this unit and didn’t mind being asked to ensure their hands were clean before handling food or receiving their meal.  The stainless steal food preparation trolley and utensils we take for granted also provided new experiences for our team as they applied existing knowledge in a new context.  The new experiences, however, did not just apply to our team members, we also learned how to cook large volumes of rice in a much more efficient manner that sped up the process of cooking 20 kg of rice for a single meal.  It was impressive to watch a village method of accurately measuring just enough water to eliminate the need for draining and wasting water once the rice was cooked.

Our menu choices captured the attention of not only those being fed, but those preparing the meals.  Common meals in the Solomon Islands lack variety and have given way in the town centres to imported processed foods (such as instant noodles).  The inclusion of soup meat, pork chops, minced meat and chicken pieces to the menu, combined with garlic, soy sauce, curry powder, and fresh produce created an  interactive “Learning Space” where culinary imaginations were ignited.  Meals like homemade hamburgers, Thai beef curry, Bolognese mince, marinated pork chops, soy chicken wings, chicken fried rice and tossed garden salad were enthusiastically prepared by a team that was excited by what they were learning and eager to apply these recipes at home.  The other valuable learning experience was about managing preparation time to feed large numbers of people on time. We started serving around 80-90 meals for lunch and dinner at the beginning of the week, with these numbers increasing to 240-260 meals by the end of the week.  It was incredibly encouraging to see the “aha” moments about value of time and planning emerge as our team realized their management of time had a direct impact on the roles of others.  With the change of RSIPF shifts and Police Response Units needing to be deployed to multiple locations throughout the day, our team realized that the importance of “time” is not just an Australian (or Robert Evans) obsession!

When the service of our team was offered to the RSIPF during the weeks prior to the NGE, I had a strong sense that our involvement would mark a significant transition in the development of The Salvation Army Solomon Islands District.  And it did!   This was in many ways a “Word became flesh” (John 1:14) moment where The Salvation Army took Jesus out of the sanctuary into society through a meaningful act of service.  Our “Salvation” mission was personified through a public demonstration of Christ’s love during a pivotal time in this nation’s history to those who serve this nation.  We could not be more proud of our SAES team!