Post Cyclone News

It's been quite a week. Finding out about a potential cat 5 cyclone headed our way and that all current volunteers had already been evacuated to Vila. Being evacuated to the capital ourselves on Tuesday. Watching the path projections only to see the storm moving closer and closer to Vanuatu. Being told we were evacuating, and packing and loading onto buses only to be told the DOD had not approved our evacuation on the military planes. Being told again the next day that we were actually evacuating to Sydney. Playing the tourist in Sydney for the last few days, while simultaneously watching Cyclone Pam making landfall in the capital and the southern islands, and reading all the news stories about what's been going on in the country we so recently left.
Suffice it to say that it's been a little hard to process.
At the moment, we don't know what happens next, how long we'll be in Australia, where we're going when we leave, what we'll be doing when we get to wherever we end up...it's hard to not know. It's hard to not know what's going on in the country I so recently left, and so recently got to know.
All that being said, we're all looking for ways to help, regardless of whether we go back or we go home to the US. I'm going to make a shameless plug here for a few organizations that are currently taking donations to help provide relief in Vanuatu:

• UNICEF’s Cyclone Pam relief fund: UNICEF works to ensure that communities have the knowledge and resources necessary to provide for the needs of their children.
• CARE Australia’s Cyclone Pam relief fund: CARE works in communities across Vanuatu, preparing the people to face disasters such as this, and gives them the skills they need to respond and rebuild.
• OXFAM’s Cyclone Pam relief fund: OXFAM works to help governments, businesses, and communities be as prepared and strong as possible. They assist organizations in working together to build a stronger future.
• RED CROSS’s Cyclone Pam relief fund: The Red Cross focuses on first aid training as well as responding to crises, helping under-resourced communities across Vanuatu.

I'll try to update again when I have more information about next steps.