Two Te Karaka locals on Gisborne's East Coast have shared a positive update in the "long road to recovery" following Cyclone Garbielle's devastation 10 months ago.
Dave Pikia and Pimia Wehi from the Te Atianga a Mahaki Trust told Breakfast they are "so proud" of everyone in the community.
"The feeling and the… I suppose the emotion [of] what we've been through the last 10 months... it's been rough.
"We just move on and our whānau are looking to Christmas and New Years but the long and the short of it is, when it rains it sends anxiety not only through us but through our tamariki," Pikia said.
Wehi said, despite the challenges of Covid over the last three years and Cyclone Gabrielle more recently, all Te Karaka Area School students have passed their Level 1 and 2 NCEA for the year.
"The resilience of our children has to be commended."
She described their "smiling faces" as an example for the wider community as they "get on with the mahi".
"We're so proud of everyone involved and that extends to the community," Wehi said, "they seem to have picked up the pieces and run with it."
Pikia thanked Jenny-May Clarkson for going out to Te Karaka immediately after the cyclone passed through and speaking to displaced residents.
He said: "We'll eventually get there… and one thing I have noticed is that we need support. We need just, having trust within us and especially within our councils and we have to go through a lot of politics to get things done or to try and push through those barriers."
Wehi acknowledged Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Te Puni Kōkiri, Red Cross and their iwi Te Aitanga a Māhaki who has "fully supported and resourced" them while the community get back on their feet.
"And our whole community for their support of the kaupapa which has given them a wrap-around service," she said.
SHARE ME