07th March, 2017 New books were presented to the students of Fasi Moe Afi Government Primary School (GPS) by New Zealand’s Prime Minister the Rt. Hon Jacinda Ardern this morning.
Ms. Ardern told students and guests that they felt a real connection to all of the Pacific Island neigbours as TC Gita was moving closer to Tonga.
She said that one of the ministers, Jenny Salesa came to Tonga right after cyclone Gita and she told her that what upsets her the most was the devastation of schools.
“We know that over 50% of the schools have moderate or severe damages to them and so that’s why today we wanted to bring piles of new books.”
“But we know that you need more than books. You need your roofs to be fixed. I’m so pleased the tents made it from New Zealand within one day. But tents can get hot and we know that you need more space in there.”
“So one of the things that we have done today is, we talked to your Prime Minister and we’ll be making sure that Tonga has an extra 7 million dollars from New Zealand so that we can rebuild.”
Ms. Ardern also read out some of the cards prepared by the students for her.
One of the cards stated, “We thank you for all the school material.” Another read, “We hope that we will receive many in the future.”
A class six student Miss Mele Mahe thanked the Prime Minister and the delegation for the donation of “much needed tents and Tongan reading books” to assist them in their learning.
She said that she represents the all children in Tonga who have been affected by the cyclone and although there are no roofs over their head they still attend school.
“It is my hope and wish with all the children of Fasi Moe Afi ‘a Tungī that our two buildings that were damaged by the cyclone can be rebuilt so we can use it.”
According to her, rebuilding of the classrooms will facilitate class six students with their preparation for the National Entrance Examinations at the end of this year.
Miss Mahe also thanked UNICEF for their assistance to her school as well as the other schools in Tonga.
The visit to Fasi Moe Afi GPS gave Ms. Ardern and the delegation the opportunity to greet students inside one of their makeshift classroom and to witness the damages to one of their classrooms.
ENDS
Issued by the: Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications.