The Salesians through Salesian Missions, Australia, have funded the manufacture of drum ovens, tables and chairs for the victims of the recent floods in Solomon Islands.

The machine fitting students at Don Bosco Technical Institute are making drum ovens for the most needy families in the Foxwood and Nalibiu area.

The carpentry students will be making tables and chairs for the Tumurora Primary School.

240 flood victims from the Foxwood and Nalibiu areas, and from Tumurora Primary School, spent 15 days at the Don Bosco Technical School.

They were all transported back to their homes on 23rd April by the Guadalcanal Province.

Aid agencies provided them with tools and food to help them clean up their homes, and to help them to start re-planting their gardens and rebuilding their lives.

Fr Ambrose Pereira says that while rehabilitation goes on, there is a need to work out long term solutions to deal with disasters - natural or man-made.

More important, the task of reconstruction needs forward planning and committed action over the months and the years ahead.

"Without doubt, education plays an important part in the ability to assist and deal with difficulties and disasters."

Pereira says it is also important that infrastructure specifications are clear and that building codes are adhered to.

"We are grateful to all who have assisted in several ways to ensure that those affected are able to deal amicably with the situation," he said.

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• Supplied by Fr Ambrose Pereira
• ANS
• Image: Supplied by Fr Ambrose Pereira

Everyone has been personally affected - directly or indirectly - and the weeklong floods have left painful memories that will be hard to heal.

The rector, Fr. Dominic Kachira, invited those who were struggling to travel each day to stay on the school campus. The boys will reside in the gymnasium and the girls will reside in the Savio Aspirantate. "It is important that your studies are not hampered due to long hours of exhausting and tense travel," he said.

The only main road leading to Honiara has now become a three-lane road with traffic moving at a gentle pace. The trip, which would take three quarters of an hour from Henderson to the center of town, now takes two hours and more.

While motorists wait their turn to cross the bridge in a single file, several hundred pedestrians cane be seen walking - right through the day in the heat of the blazing sun - till late at night.

Read also Displaced victims welcomed at Don Bosco

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Supplied: Fr. Ambrose Pereira read more
Image: Supplied Fr. Ambrose Pereira