"I was so afraid" - Roslalinda remembers Cyclone Pam one month on

In Ohlen Nampanga, a 15 minute drive from Vanuatu’s capital city Port Vila, children like Rosalinda spent the evening that Cyclone Pam struck, terrified for their life.

Rosalinda was afraid of the strong winds which reached more than 300 kilometres an hour.

“During the cyclone I was so afraid because the covers (iron roof) will fly and sometimes some of the branches will fly into the house and kill all of us,” she said.

For 10-year-old Rosalinda, Cyclone Pam didn’t just destroy her village, it damaged her home.

 The covers (roof) came off her home and also off her school.

At times of disasters like Cyclone Pam, children are not just the smallest victims, they are also the most vulnerable.

In disasters, children are at increased risk of being sick, missing out on going to school as well as the stress and worry of surviving a disaster like a cyclone.

World Vision has been working in communities like Ohlen Nampanga to help people not just rebuild their homes, but also their lives, so life can return to normality for children.

Throughout Vanuatu, families have received tarpaulins to help patch up their homes and prevent further water damage of possessions they have left.

Basic items like pots have been distributed, which mean mothers are able to boil water that has been contaminated so children don’t get sick with preventable illnesses like diarrhoea.

Many families in Vanuatu rely on their gardens to grow food to eat, but also to sell at markets. Cyclone Pam literally washed these gardens away leaving families without food and without their main source of earning money.

World Vision has distributed items like rakes and shovels so people can rejuvenate their gardens, to help re-establish their livelihoods.

World Vision has also been working with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to ensure people have access to seeds so they can regrow the gardens they once had.  As a sign of new beginnings, leaves are starting to sprout in this fertile country.  

It will take a long time for Vanuatu to return to the lush tropical oasis it once was, but for children like Rosalinda at least life can start returning to normal.