This sign has a whole new meaning to us now. We are alive and well. We do appreciate all of the thoughts prayers and packages we've been recieving. We will definitely have some stories to tell when we get back home. Jess and I have been through quite a bit in the past months and due to little to no internet access I have not been able to keep you all apprised of the goings on here. I will try to sum up a lot of the important events and some not so important events.
There was a rather large earthquake that originated southwest of our tiny island. If you've seen video or news footage you will understand the extreme damage that the resulting tsunami caused to Tutuila island. Jess had already gone to her elementary school when the earthquake hit. I was getting ready to go to my school. At this time she did not have a cell phone so I couldn't get in touch with her. This is what scared me the most. I was walking to school when I was picked up by one of the members of our host family that was on her way to work at the hospital on the far side of the Pago Pago harbor. She drove me a short distance when we saw cars honking their horns and making their way uphill to where we came from. We pulled over and I got some video of the wave receeding out of our former village of Alofau.
At this time I was taken to a small mountain where Jess' school was evacuated. Everything else was a blur. I remember getting back to our new home; and I remember being grateful that it is up high on a hill. It is hard to deal with seeing so much tragedy in such a close-knit and small area. Our music teacher took me on a tour of the island the following day where I took some of these images.
Power issues are still prevalent as we have roaming blackouts due to the generators that need to be refilled with diesel. The first week after the tsunami we did not have school. The second week we taught without power. Jess definitely suffered the brunt of this. Without power there was no fan to cool her off and she was dealing with temperatures up to 100 degrees. I was not allowed to teach in my building as there were some stress fractures found between the first and second stories. It was my great pleasure to hold classes in the gymnasium, which is outdoors, and along with six other teachers we spent the better part of that second week telling our own personal stories and helping each other cope with our losses.
Even though there was heavy looting, people have a lot of their villages in order...to a degree. As no one here has house insurance, people have filed claims to FEMA which has resulted in checks given to families who suffered structural losses. I have seen in several cases where this money has been spent on large flat-screen televisions and even new cars! There have been a few cases where I have personally witnessed houses being repaired. This is definitely teaching some of the youth here a terrible lesson.
On a lighter note, one of the largest holidays here in American Samoa is "White Sunday." It is a day to celebrate the youth. Children are dressed in their Sunday best and they get to lead the church services as well as perform skits and songs. Ther is also a large meal after this service, which was fantastic!
I'll try to get more pictures up soon. I've got to head out and get back to my loving wife! We are leaving off around mid-October. Maybe with the next couple of posts I can get you up to speed.
Much love,
Charlie & Jess
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